Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-06-03

of precipice that dropped sheer 500
feet Three walls of each structure
were windowless, unbroken save by
heavy doors-the third, fronting the
precipice, had abundant light and ven
tilation. And between the two struc-
lures, opening into each, was long.
covered corridor, lighted from the
north. but through which, when it
was completed, no man could pass.
Old Richard Dumble, who had as
sumed the role of the professor, took
his son to the end of this strange cor
ridor. and, pointing to the door that
doomed at the other end, said:
I'm the room at the end of this long
passage is the foolish young girl you
| profess to love better than your own
life. This door here, as you see, is
open, and will be left unlocked. Yon-
der door is likewise freely passable.
But between these doors is this strange
passage, through the floor of which,
when either of you tries to pass, you
will fall upon the rocks 500 feet be-
low. have had marked upon this
passage floor the point beyond which
\ you may not go without breaking
through. On the girls side have TAX
en- the same precaution.
II shall keep you both up here until
| you are tired of this farce you call low
ing. | can trust my keepers. | have
everything ready to keep you year il
necessary. Whenever you are ready
come to me and swear that you have
| banished all thought OF Miss Schouler
| from your mind l will have you both
released, send you back to Harvard,
and make a man of you.
But if, in reality, you love one an
| other better than life, you have only
| to rush together through this passage
| to a romantic death. Rather than to
see you mated with that girl, would
| come up to this mountain when the
snow is gone in the spring and gather
| your bleached bones off the rocks. You
won't do anything so foolish, know,
and SO goodbye, my boy, until you
send for me-"
The old man went out hurriedly,
| choking a little over the last words. A
ponderous lock grated as the fathers
form disappeared through the door.
and the boy turned to gaze, fascinated,
down that fatal corridor
Presently, as he watched, Edwin saw
the form of Henrietta Schouler at the
opposite door, and he started forward
impulsively in an ecstacy of welcome.
When the girl saw her lover, she, too,
strainted forward pace, and then re-
coiled with cry of terror. That tell
tale maker which the old brewer had
showed her stretched it's impalpable
barrier almost under her feet.
On his side, Edwin approached the
white line with an unnatural caution.
With his toe on the edge, he felt the
fragile floor quake and sway He crept
back to the doorway, blind animal
terror clutching him, and the sweat
beading on his forehead. lie stood
for moment gazing at the face framed
beside his fathers, in that other prison
door. He stretched his arms toward
the girl, and cried out to his father
for pity. The man finished his talk
to the girl and went out, paying no
more heed to the boys cries than to
the wind that ratified the window
frames
Then, for the two young people, be-
gan the most curious Imprisonment
that a prosaic twentieth century chron-
icle has ever recorded. In an age that
fostered intrigue and inquisition, old
Dumble would have been a master
plotter. Now he was a shrewd, rich
old autocrat with a purpose in view
which he was determined to accom-
plish as quickly as possible.
Thus reasoned the old man: "Once
in a thousand cases, perhaps, man
and a woman will love one another
better than life. In this practical age,
though, the proportion may be cut
down to one in ten thousand. What
youth mistakes for the divine passion.
lasting through and beyond the span
of life, is the impatience of young
years, the desire or child for the
moon, the changing within of an eager
age. Fan this quick fame to white
heat and 1t will soon die to cold ashes.
Now, II Edwin is of the nine thousand
nine hundred and ninety-nine, he will
soon wear out this love in daily sight
of his desired one, and come back to
me a wise boy; and no law will be
broken-the girl will go unframed. If
he is the one in ten thousand, and the
girl is the one in five thousand for
that sex is certainly more impulsive),
why then-but pshaw! he isn't"
The brewer knew humanity passing
well, and watched his experiment with
confidence. Old Schouler was wild at
the disappearance of his daughter; the
little world in which the Schoulers
and Mrs. Sears moved was in a tur-
MOL; but-old Richard Dumble's
world had wider orbit! No suspicion
attached to the old man, and the world
or that part of it that fretted over
the young peoples affairs, had to fall
back upon the theory of an elopement
Deserted by the world, ministered to
by grim, close-mouthed servants, sup
piled with the comforts and amuse
ments of normal young people-Edwin
with books and gymnasium apparatus;
Henrietta with music, the latest novel.
embroidery-the two prisoners passed
their days in maddening proximity.
The corridor was far too long to per-
NIT the tender whisperings that lovers
commonly use; indeed. there was al
ways the believing wind as rival in
any exchange of vows. But there was
the language of signs. and eternal
trust that could be expressed in a
clutching at vacancy.
Books Knocked the young man-what
did they say but that love was always
rewarded in the end Music, such as
she knew, spoke to Henrietta of love
that blossomed in free young breast,
and here the blasts that whirled up
that precipice face turned her plaintive
notes to a thin wailing. The grim
faces of the servants, passing in and