The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-09-02

Author of "The Forsaken
lnn," Etc.
By Anna Katharine Green, AD''
! copypicnr 1880 eY RosrRT sohhrh's soHs.

7 He was very much absorbed or lie
| might have taken look at the old
crone seated in her low chair behlnd
| him. If he had done so would he not
have lost himself in further questions
Would he not have wondered why she
gazed at him so intently, with eyes
that were certainly not lacking IN
| earnestness if they were in candor?
And would he not have queried why
her glances only left him to travel to
the clock, and so, with one quick flash,
to the young girl and back again to
him. There was mystery in all this, II
he could have seen it, for there was e1-
pectation in her look; an expectation
| that increased as the minute hand OF
| the clock moved on toward 8. and ex-
pectation here meant interruption, and
interruption meant-what? The sly
face of the crone made no revela'
tions.
But he saw nothing behind him.
Life. hope and love were all, for the
moment, concentrated in the end of his
pencil, and not the sound of opening
doors and hurrying feet could have
aroused him now from the dream OF
creation that engaged him. But there
was no sound; all was still; even the
mysterious watcher behind him seemed
to hold her breath, and when the clock
struck, which it presently die, the
faint noise seemed to be too much for
her aged nerves, for she half rose, and
pantingly sank back again, clasping
her hands with energy, as if to still
the beatings of her heart.
But the artist worked on.
Suddenly there was change in the
room. No one had entered it, and yet
it seemed no longer like the same spot.
Something strange and unaccountable
had occurred; something which caused
the moisture to start on Hamilton De-
graw's forehead, and the expectancy
in the old crone's look to deepen into
strong excitement. What was it? The
artist, catching his breath, listened.
What silence! What an oppression Of
silence! And yet there, it comes again,
that soft sigh, so light as to be almost
inaudible, and yet, to his ears, so thrill
ing with promise that he leaped to his
feet like one who breaks some bond
asunder.
At the sight of his eagerness the old
crone, who had risen also, smiles hun
grily to herself. If she has heard the
sigh also, she shows no anxiety to ad-
vance, but stops where she Is. content
that he should take the precedence and
stand first at the young girls side. He
was there in an instant, and though no
signs of life greeted him from the mo.
tionless form he could not tear his gaze
away from her face.
Sweet one," welled up from his lips,
"was that the sigh of your departed
spirit grieving it had left body that
could be so loved? Or is life but paus-
ing in these pulses, and will it"
He does not finish. How can he,
when at these muttered and well nigh
incoherent words he perceiVes the
faintest flush Of color suffuse the
cheeks? Or was it but a fancy? 1t
has fed now, and the breast does not
heave. 1t must have been hallucina-
tion like the sigh. And yet-and yet
those lids seem to lie less closely.
There is something in the face he has
not seen there before. 1t is not life.
and yet, surely, it is not death. Where
are her friends? Where is there ply
sician? Why is he not one instead of
being useless artist? With cry he
turns to the old crone.
"Helpr' he shrieks. "See! her lips
are growing red! And look at her
hands; they are becoming warm! Now
now, they futter! The roses on her
breast are disturbed! She is not dead!
We shall have her again"
He paused, struck even in his frenzy
by the abandon Of his own words. Il
am a fool" he muttered, but then the
old witch does not understand me.
Will she understand what she sees"
And bounding to the old woman's side
he drew her, wondering and chattering,
up between the candles and pointed to
the young girls face. AS he did so he
uttered an irrepressible cry, for in the
instant he had been gone the miracle
had happened, and two wide dark eyes.
luminous with wonder, stared back
into his from amid the wreaths of
those tangled locks of hair.