Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-05-06

) Her Secret
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~ " W W ~ " - O-O-V
flushed in an awful quiet was the
big house, for its mistress lay sick
unto death. Strange that she should
be summoned when there were 9TH
ers, sorrow marked and stricken in
years, who waited for the call and
prayed it might come quickly, yet
waited and prayed in vainl There
were others, too, not old or gray
before their time, who might have
slipped away into the unknown al
most unnoticed, while this woman
had so many ties to bind her to earth
her husband, her child, her rela-
lions, her legion of friends.
1t was hard she should be called
away so early from the rich banquet
that lay spread before her.
Yet the angel of death was ex-
pected. His emissaries had arrived
and told of his approach, which may
not be stayed-nay, nor even long
delayed.
The doctor, who knew too well
the signs of these fateful envoys,
shook his head gravely in reply to
the anxious queries of those who
loved her best-her sisters, her
mother, her husband-but he gave
no CLEAN of hope, for she lay in
deadly lethargy from which it had
been impossible to rouse her. In
vain her mother spoke to her as she
had done in days long gone by, when
she was yet child, In vain her
husband stood by her side and took
her hand and called her Sy every
endearment she knew so we'll. In
vain her child clutched her breast
and cried for her mother to look at
her and talk to her again.
Surely if it were possible to bring
her back from the edge of the grave
these dear ones could do it. But
there she lay, stonily impassive, with
her great eyes staring into space,
cold and unheeding as the sphinx.
She gave no sign of life, and the
hours fraught with hope sped slowly
on, and each one registered step
nearer the grave.
One by one they withdrew from
the chamber of death, the husband
being the last to obey the doctors
orders, and now none was left in the
room but the physician and the
nurse-her old servant, the one up
on whose knee she had climbed TWEEN
ty years and more ago.
How slowly the hours passed for
the watchers, and yet surely they
passed too quickly Just so many
hundred more vibrations of the pen
dulum, just q few strikings of the
hour, and all would be over for her,
so richly endowed with all that
should make life worth living.
The doctor never left her side.
He sat there with his keen, observ-
ant eye fixed upon her, ready to note
any change, but. there she lay inn
passive, and the watcher could
scarcely see that she breathed.
Her beauty seemed even more per-
feet now than he had thought it.
Absolutely faultless was the CHS
cling of those clear cut features.
Her dark hair waved loosely around
her Grecian brow and trailed across
her shoulders, fit setting for the
marvellous whiteness of her face.
The great violet eyes-her chief
glory-were wide open, staring with
terrible tixity into nothingness, or
was it into the something beyond /?
Her lips had lost their vivid color,
but this was scarcely fault; her
hands were outside the coverlet,
white marble family marked with
blue, her wedding ring the one dis
cordant note.
For long there had been no sound
in the room save the cracking of the !
fire and the faint ticking of the
clock.
Suddenly the doctor bent eagerly
forward. Her lips moved. With
eagerness he listened. "Linlev," she |
scarcely more than whispered. Then |
all was silence again.
The nurse rose hurriedly from her |
chair by the fire. She had only |
heard a sound.
The doctor raised his hand, and |
she resumed her seat. Long, long
ne waited, hoping for another sound |
of returning consciousness, but none
came.
At last he came over to the nurse.
did you hear her?"
what did she say, sir?"
"One word only-'Linley'"
The nurse suppressed an involun-
tary exclamation.
What did it mean, nurse ?"
But the woman only shook her
head.
Strange" muttered the doctor
as, with knitted eyebrows, he reflect
ed and strove to catch some clew.
Then he returned to the bedside.
There she lay as impassive as be-
fore.
"Linley! Linley!" he kept repeat
ing. "What did she mean?"
The nurse made no reply, but sat
looking into the fire.
"Nurse, tell me-" he said at length.
have you an idea what the mistress
meant by that word?"
But the nurse did not or would
not hear.
Look here, nurse" continued he,
VI must have an answer, You are
keeping something back. Your mis-
tress' life may hang upon you. Tell
me, do you know to whom or to what
she alluded?"
81 do"
Then, in heavens name, tell me.
She must be reused from her leth-
argy If she is to live. What did she
mean?"
Doctor, l cannot tell you"
But you must. insist upon it.
Is that life of no consaouanoa fo