Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-06-06

would fall i'll, but she only answered,
with a quiet smile. that she felt no
fatigue"
Il do not know how it is" said the
boy to her one day, in his faint voice,
but when l am resting in your arms,
always think of my mother"
perhaps it is because I love you,
and she did the same" replied Mrs.
Rivers, kissing unheeded the white,
shadowy face.
''You love me?" said the boy. "Then
have the love of two good women.
You do remind me of my mother.
Your hands are like hers; they have
the same touch She used to lay
them on my head as you do. They are
Just as white and soft. If l die, let
those hands clasp me in death, be-
cause they are so like my mothers"
81 suppose all sick people have
fancies." continued the boy. do you
know, Mrs. Rivers, think sometimes
that If my own beautiful mother we're
alive to nurse me, should get we'll"
She could only answer with her
tears; the eyes, shining with fever
were fixed full and bright upon her.
There is something in your face
slightly like my mothers, too" he con-
tinued. "only her hair was like a
golden cloud, and yours is dark When
| was quite little, used to sit upon
her knee, and she would veil me with
her long hair. She was so sweet-my
mother!"
The tender arms chung to him with
a convulsive cry. She held him to her
heart. All. Heaven. but it was hard
to bear. He was her only son!
eff I die" continued the boy, Il
am quite sure that l shall see my
mother first She loved me so; you
could not think how she loved me.
When I die. she will stand here by my
side. with a shining face and golden
hair. and light all round her, light
like that upon the picture, where the
head is crowned with thorns. She will
hold our her arms to me, and we shall
go higher and higher up, through the
clouds and the stars, until we reach
heaven"
She laid him down upon the pillow.
Not TO have saved her life and his
could she have borne it any longer.
She laid him down and turned away.
1t seemed to her in that hour that
her heart must break-that she could
no longer live and bear the weight OF
her secret. While she stood hesitat-
ing where to go, what to do, Lord
Selwyn entered, TO see how Rupert
was going on.
mo change-still no change" only
the white face growing more shadowy;
the eyes, so like Violante's, growing
larger and brighter. The thought of
his mother seemed to haunt the child;
for, when Lord Selwyn knelt down and
asked him if he felt any better, Rupert
whispered to him with his poor, gasp
ing breath:
Papa, do believe should get well
If my own mamma were here"
She saw how he started at the words.
MY darling boy" he said, that
cannot be; your mother is where the
wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest Every one is
kind to you"
Yes" he said, family; they are all
kind. But / want my mothers lips
and hands. | am sure should go 10
sleep If she were here"
And the pale-faced watcher heard
him whispering:
MY punishment is greater than ]
can bear. oh, Violante, you are in
deed avenged"
She stood quite silent; the power
of speech and of movement seemed TO
have left her. Who can describe the
longing TO fling herself down by her
child's side and cry to him that she was
his mother, and had come to save him?
In after years she never knew what
restrained her. Perhaps the few
words that followed restored her to
calm.
Papa" she heard the boy say, look
at Mrs. Rivers. Do you not think
she is like my own mammal"
But his lordship did not even look at
her.
No" he said; your mamma, my
boy, was beautiful as an angel. She
had the sweetest fact / ever saw-the
dearest and the truest. l have seen
no one like her since she died, Rupert.
And then, lest she should betray her
selt-lest the longing impulse tortur-
ing her should be too strCng-she
quilted the room silently. Neither
father nor son knew that she had gone.
1t was bitterly hard. If, when the
temptation came to her first in the lit
tie village of Campo, if she had fore
seen this, she would never have fallen
into the error that had led TO such fear
full complications.
If she had sinned, she said to herself,
she had indeed suffered. Was ever
fate so hard? Her dying child called
for her. yet she could not comfort him;