The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-05-31
DREAM OF AN HOUR

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was af-
ficted with q heart trouble, great care
was taken to break to her as gently as
possible the news Of her husbands
death.
1t was her sister Josephine who told
her in broken sentences yelled hints
that revealed in half c%oncealing. Her
husbands friend, Richards, was there,
too, ear her. 1t was he who had been
In the newspaper Office when intelli-
gence Of the railway disaster was re-
ceived, with Brently Mallard's name
leading the list of killed" He had
unly taken the time to assure himself
Of it's truth by a second telegram and
had fastened to forestall any less care
full, less tender friend in bearing the
sad message.
She did not hear the story as many
women have heard the same, with a
paralyzed inability to accept it's sig
n%ificance. She wept at once, with sud-
den wild abandonment, In her sisters
arms. When the storm of grief had
spent itself she went away to her room
alone. Facing the open window was a
comfortable, roomy armchair. Into
this she sank.
She sat with her head thrown back
upon the cushion of the chair, quite
motionless except when a sob came up
into her throat and shook her, as a
child who has cried itself to sleep con-
tinues to sob in it's dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm
face, whose lines bespoke repression
and ever a certain strength. But now
there was a dull stare in her eyes,
whose gaze was fixed away off yonder
on one Of those patches of blue sky.
It was not a glance of reflection, but
rather indicated a suspension of intel
ngent thought.
There was something coming to her.
and she was waiting for it fearfully.
What was it? She did not know. 1t
was too subtle and elusive to name,
but she felt it, creeping out of the sky.
reaching toward her, through the
sounds, the scents, the color that filled
the air.
How her bosom rose and fell tumul-
tuously! She was beginning to rec
ogniZe this thing that was approach
ing to possess her, and she was striv-
ing to beat it back with her villas
powerless as her two white, slender
hands would have been.
When she abandoned herself, a little
whispered word escaped her slightly
parted lips. She said it over and over
under her breath, Gree. free, free!'
The vacant stare and look of terror
that had followed it went from her
eyes. They stayed keen and bright.
Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing
blood warmed and relaxed every inch
Of her body. ... ..
She did not stop to ask if it were or
were not a monstrous joy that held
her. A clear and exalted perception
enabled her to dismiss the suggestion
as trivial.
She knew that she would weep again
when she saw the kind, tender hands
folded in death; the face that had new
Ell looked save with love upon her,
fixed and gray and dead. But she saw
beyond that bitter moment a long pro.
cession of years to come that would
belong to her absolutely, and she open
ed and spread her arms wide out to
them in hearty welcome.
There would be no one to live for
during those coming years. She would
live for herself. There would be no
powerful will bending her in that blind
persistence with which men and wo-
men believe that they have a right to
impose a private will upon a fellow
creature. A kind intention or a cruel
intention made the act seem no less
a crime as she looked upon it in that
brief moment Of illumination.
Ard yet she had loved him-some-
times. Often she had not. What did
it matter? What could love, the I'M
solved mystery, count in face Of this
possession Of self assertion which she
suddenly recognized a. the strongest
impulse of her being?
"Free! Body and soul free!" she
kept on whispering to herself.
Josephine was kneeling before the
closed door, with her lips to the key
hole, imploring for admission. Louise,
open the door. Please open the door.
You will make yourself i'll. What are
you doing? For goodness sake open
the dOor!"
"Go away. I am not making my
self ILL.," No; she was drinking in a
very elixir Of life through that open
window before her.
How fancy was running riot along
a
those days ahead Of her-spring days
and summer days and all sorts of days
that would be her own! She breathed