The San Francisco call., 1905-05-07

~ ELF-SLAlNt' The words oI
@ the priest. as Gordon stood
there. seemed TO re-eoho about
- him with infinite variations OF
agony. lie had ridden vacant
OF purpose. destitute Of piali-thrilling
only TO reach her. Desperate, iawiess
thoughts had runs through his mind as
he galloped. Entering the garden he
g had seen the c-rriages ana heard the
chaplain's cry at the same moment
Their. with the awful instantaneous
ness Of an electric bolt, the biow had
fallen. II was the last fnality-the
closure of the ultimate gateway of hope
the utter assurance Of the unescapa-
bic doom in which all ends save the
worm that dies not and the fire that
Is not Quenched.
Hc drew closer to the altar. his step
dragging as he Walksd-hiS infirmlty
grown all at once painfully apparent
and gazed at the mute face on the
cushions. The priest and his escort
were forgotten. He knew nothing save
thar dreadful assertion that had sent
the nuns hastily from the 6cor. telling
their beads, and had forbidden even the
servant TO enter.
Seif-slaing No, but slain by George
Gordon-the accursed bearer of all
maranatha. damned TO the last jot and
uttle lie had done her to death as
surely as il his own hand had held the
phiaI living there TO her lips. Il was
because he had stayed in RaVenna that
she lay here dead before the cruclfx-
me symbol that she had sought at san
Lazzarro, that Padre Somaian hao
prayed TO-
Staring across hueless wastes of
mental torture to a blank horizon.
something the friar had said came 10
him: Every man bears a cross or
despair 10 has Calvary" What a Vacu-
Gus futility. Inhnity, systems, worlds'
man, brain. Was this the best tne
aecn-long evolution could offerE rms
bioodless image nailed upon tree
What had il aVailed her?
He suddenly fell on his knees beside
her. Dead2 Teresa dead2 why,
few months before, at the monastery,
he had regarded death for himself with
calmness, almost with satisfaction But
not for her-neYer for her. Was she
dead. and he 10 live on-never to see
her, to hear her speak, not even TO
know that she was somewhere in the
world2
He saw for the first time the little
book lying open on her breast IN the
can6le-Iight He took it mechanically
his eye read, not sensible Of what 1t
translated, but as surcharged agony
unconsciOusly seeks relief in the doing
of simple, habitual things:
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold ana drowsy humor; for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest;
30 roses IN thy lips and cheeks shall iaoe
To paly ashes; thy eyes windows fails
Like death. when he shuts UP the day Of lie.
And in this borrowed likeness Of shrunk oeaen
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours.
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep
The last words of the monk Gordon
repeated aloud, And then awake az
from a pleasant Sleep"
A sudden tingling sensation leaped
through every nerve. He snatched al
the phial and bent to its label-'Ma
dragora."
With an inarticulate cry he sprang
up. leaped to the nearest window and
smashed it frantically with his fist. The
splintering glass cut his hand. but he
did not feel il. He caught fragment
as IL fell, and in a second was hold
ing it close over Teresa's parted lips
He waited a time that seemed q
dragging eternity. then lifted it to the
candle light and looked with fearful
earnestness The faintest tarniSh
light as gossamer film. clouded it.
The crystal clashed upon the floor
He seized and emptied one of the rose
bowls and rushed out through the
darkening flower paths to the fountain
in the garden. Goldfish flirted anc
glistened IN panic as he filled the bow
with the icy water. He hurried back
dipped Teresa's stirless hands into III
coldness and dashed it over her face
drenching her white neck and the dul
gold hair meshed on the velvet
Three separate times he did this
Then. breathless. he seized her arm:
and began to move them as one re-
suscitates a half-drowned person. try
ing TO rouse the lungs to acton t
throw off the letllal torpor OF The bella
donna-like opiate.
He worked for many minutes. tbs
moisture running from his forehead
his breath coming in gasps- Laboring
he thought of the dire risk she haC
run, trusting all TO his promise to re
turn and to his divination. He re
nembered he had said a drachm. T'
make assurance doubly sure, Nigh
she have taken more?
He kept watching her features-th'
rigor seemed to be loosening- tn
marble rigidity softening its outlines
But heart and pulse were still. In de
spair he laid his warm lips close upol
the cold ones and filled her lungs Will
q great expiration, again and again.
He lifted himself trembling nov
with hope. The lungs. responding L
that forced effort. had begun TO renew
their function. Her bosom rose an,
feIl-slowly, but still it was life. H
dried her face and chafed her hand
between his own. She commenced t
breathe fnore naturally and rhythm
fcally; ct length she sighed and Etirre,
on the cushions.
A rush of tears blinded Gordon
eyes-tlle first he had shed since tn
night in London when he had ben
above the little empty. snow silent be,
that had held Ada. He dashed then
away, seeing that Teresa's eyes wer
open.
Her hand, wavering. touched his we
cheek
My love." he said. "Efy lovetY
The FIRST fact that came to her out o
The void was that Of his tears. A trou
lied locx crossed her brow.