Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-05-30

THE LIGHTNING sKETCHED THE FIGURE
OF A MAN.
husband might approach and hear her,
abruptly she had stifed her sobs and
had begun to undress.
All her womanhood was in revolt.
Her husband had been detestable; he
had been brutal; he had uttered things
that she never woul>t have believed he
could. and she had been led into as
sertions now keenly repugnant to her.
Oh, he was SO irritating, so masterful
so unreasonable! And thereupon
thronged into her tossing mind retort
after retort which she might have
made, but which she had not thought
of in time.
She crept into bed and softly cried
afresh. These were not angry tears,
but tears from the depths of deSOlate
heart. Thus at last her married life
had gone the way of so many other
married lives of which she had read
and heard. The prophecies of cynical
and imbittered acquaintance had come
true-that she would discover she had
loved the ideal and had married the
real. The dreams of her girlhood had
been beaten to death.
Well AS an end to the chickering's well
come the separation. She would prove
to him that she was not dependent
upon him, not in the slightest She
would answer defiance with defiance.
Worn out by her turmoil of resent
ment and grief, she sank asleep. She
awakened with a start, sitting up in
bed, every nerve on the alert. A thun-
derstorm was over the city. How long
it had been in progress she did not
know, but wind and rain combined
were lashing roof and pane. The at
mosphere was surcharged with cleo
tricity. She was quivering; a weight
seemed to be upon her.
AS she endeavored to collect her scat
tered senses her thoughts flew to the
parlor window. She must go and shut
it, for the rain was from that direction.
Norman would not do it, and she would
die rather than ask him, much as she
shrank at the trip through the bris-
Ting darkness. Drawing on her feecy
house slippers, she threw about her the
first wrap upon which she laid her
hands-a raglan coat-and desperately
set forth.
Not movement in Norman's room.
Surely he was awake; he never slept
through a thunderstorm. How cruel in
him to stay still and permit her to
make the journey-she, such coward!
How silent the house was in the
midst of sough of wind and rain and
growl of thunder! Almost she was
forced into speaking ITO Norman to as
certain if really he was awake. But,
no; she never, never would acknowl-
edge need for him.
However, even hard in her indigna-
ton, she could not help playing the
wife, and mindful that her door stuck
and was difficult to open, to avoid rous-
ing him if perchance he was asleep she
felt for the portieres and passed
through in order to reach the hall by
the door from his room.
She had taken only one or two steps
when, instant as a Saber stroke, came
a fare of lightning which for the frac
ton of a second tipped everything with
fire and was swallowed up. Brief as it
was, it gave to her dazzled eyes the
glimpse of a man just on her left, mo-
tionless. arrested like herself.
A burglar! A desperate! In Nor
mans room. What had been happen
ing there in the night? Why was Nor
man SO still? And this. then, was the
subtle dread which had awakened her
AN intuition of the tragedy.
All, could she but have Known! Could
she but have last evening back again,
Could she but have the last year again!