The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-07

I dull to the point Of crime but now
my wisdom would begin to sharpen
| and brighten itself.
Still 1 had so much GOODNESS TO can
my own that l was glad of the fact OF
! Rivera. ! remember thinking on tnat'
| for, with no more words that the duInb'
| he was as secret as mole ana as
/ honest, withal and single-hearted as
! hound There would be none to know
as Peg said. she had torn a night from
! eternity to be ours and ours alone
| While these thoughts went tumbllng
| down the sleeps of my conjecturings, /
continued mechanically TO caress Peg
| hair. and it felt like a web of gossa-
mer in my coarse fingers.
"Contemn you, child!' said 1, ana
my voice was not much louder than
| had been hers, and l bent down my
head so that she might hear; con
tenn youl l would as soon impeach
the snow outside. new given from the
sky, denouncing 1t for SCOT
Peg began to weep, and l could hear
the sharp catching of her sobs. Sud
denly the moan came signing up 10
me:
ooh, if there were no such word as
right, or justice, or duty, but only
love-just lovei"
Then with a quick backward twist
of her form that was like an impulse,
and as replete of a swift grace as any
suppleness of that long ago leopard
whereof she would so often make me
think, Peg turned herself in my arms,
and with her own encircling my neck
lay crying on my bosom. l held her
close-closer. could tell the beat
ing of her heart, count the footballs
of her nature as though she were par
Gel of myself. How loved her! ador-
ed her!-my prone spirit would fall on
its knees to her for its Diety.
The while, too, and with my soul at
these prayers my candor would arrest
me for the traitor l was. Where should
be that conscience the General spoke
on? Or where that honor which was
to have been as a sentry to check my
strayings? That honor was recreant
where love would take the field against
it,; that conscience was so much apos-
tate of the right 1t would frame an
argument of equity and claim superior
liberty for superior love, and be all
for carrying Peg away. My boosted
manhood was a rope of sand!
Even now, as weary-white with
years / tell this tale of dead and other
days, l yet wonder upon that discov-
cry of myself. This was what l be-
held: 1 had loved Peg from the start;
the Generals jest was sober truth. l
would worship her and then cheat my
self with lie and sophistry to hide my
villainy against my own detection. And
now when the mask was fallen and 1
stood face to face with the true Image
of my infamy, would I still press for
ward to my sins? Or would / think
on the good General, and the pain and
the foul stain for each of US which 1
was about to compass?
1t was this to run in my mind, but
al in dimmest way to be imagined,
and as though 1t were a dream and
nothing true. AS bonds to stay me,
these thoughts came to be no more
than packthreads; as props to uphold
me, trembling to a fall, they proved
the merest reeds to lean on. With
Peg Graded in my arms, her heart beat
ing on my own, she filled out the world
for me and thrust all else beyond the
frontier of my outmost hope or fear.
l wanted only Peg, would heed no
other call, and whether it were right
or wrong or black or white, 1 cared
not Caught fast in the mills, / was
wholly ground between Peg and my
mighty love for her. In a supreme
egotism and the selfishness that goes
wanting heart or conscience, I would
set torch to the skies before l gave
her I'D.
1t is the fair wellhead of amazement
how man is thus strange to himself;
how he win defeat his own best proph-
ecy and be as opposite as night and
day to all he promised. Folk have
never accounted me weak, and l my
self would have said l was a man of
stone. / have been described for one
of resolution. 1 have spurred my horse
across the front of beaten troops, ter
ror- whipped and in retreat. I've rid
den against them, and with word and
point of sword forced them to a halt.
I've wheeled them, and, since they
would not go without, driven them
back like sheep: and then, when they
would be of a drawer hope, taken their
lead and whirled them like lions upon
the foe they lately fled from, and won
a battle with them. And now !, who
was granite in the face of men, had
only a will of water for this girl who
wept across my heart.
"Take me away!" she cried; "oh
take me awayi"
Then it was my love swept down
upon her like a strong wind. I take
shame to repeat what l said. Blunt
ly, l would disregard all claims, for
felt honor, forget the General and defy
the rest; we would wander to new re-
gions. she and l, and set up our idol
of blind love. Carried by my souls
wish, / would leave her nothing untold;
would bow down at her feet and
beg of her to come with me.
AS | spoke, Peg would seem to turn
more calm and comforted. She did
not withdraw from my arms, but rest
ed in them like a child. And yet there
arose a sad steadfastness to wrap her
about that was a check and a bar to
me.
Watchdog" said Peg at last, and
her manner was the manner of one
who grieves, Watchdog. ain a wick
ed woman. / live my life backward
and it would be as though l could
not help or save myself. My feet take
hold on baseness. and my hands spin
evil for those who do me good. My
touch is a darkness-a palsy-a death.
Oh, why was / born" Peg walled;
why was / sent to destroy the ones
/ Lowell"
Not a word would now come from
me. l was si1enced and sat like one
convicted. waiting sentence. But that
cold thought still crept about my heart
like q snake. would must have
Peg: I would give my share in God to
make her minel
What should be the wrong in me?'
Peg went on. Knowing the right
from the left. I take ever the left hand
turning; seeing good and evil. choose
the bad, and there rises a black glory
in my heart like a cloud of pleasant
sin to swallow up repentance. Oh, il
/ might only tame myself to an APP