Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-09-05


field was Implicated in the mystery?
All the painful experiences of the
day revived at thought of him. But
now as she sat still leaning against
the wall near the dark sky, no sign of
life about her beyond themurmur of
the damp evening breeze that futter-
ingly fingered on her heated face the
gloomy defiance with which she had
tried to arm her wounded heart gave
way and she burst into tears.
Now it was all, all over. She had
broken forever with the Lindhof com
pany. She had destroyed Helene s
ideal, and Herr Won Waldo, who imag-
ined that he was making her happy
by giving his consent, had had his
gift thrown in his face, so to speak.
This had doubtless deeply wounded
his pride. She would probably never
see him again. He would go on a jour
ney and be glad to lose abroad the~pn
pleasant impression which the in
gratitude of the poor piano-player
had made upon him. She buried her
face in her hands and the tears
trickled between the slender white
fingers.
Meanwhile night fell, but it did not
grow perfectly dark. The little new
moon rose and the other glowing
wanderers followed their paths, not
dreaming that the planet that circled
with them all, incloses within itself a
million little worlds, of which eacn
one possesses its own heights and
depths, its roaring seas with ebb and
flow, it's mighty storm, and very rar.-
~ the calm of peace.
There was life and motion in the
tower. Anxious groans and slight
meanings were heard. There was Il
slow Tapping upon the stair and a
knocking at the door The owls and
bats we're awake and seeking in vain
their accustomed exit. Down in the
forest, too, there was rustling. The
game came out of the thicket and
crossed the lawn in full security. In
the far distance toward the east,
their primeval wiIdness and loneliness.
descending into deep valleys and
cIambering up the farther side I'M
hindered, a faint shot echoed now and
then. Each time Elizabeth leaned
trembling, closer to the wall beneath
the protecting roof, as though some
i'll boding pair of eyes could penetrate
hlther, for they who were hunting
there were breaking the law.
Still no help came. Her anxiety for
her parents fears had been well
founded. In any case they must sup
pose that their daughter was at the
castle, and were perhaps much dis
pleased at her absence, waiting pos,
sibIy until ten o'clock for her return.
1t might, therefore, be midnight be-
fore her release.
1t became unpleasantly cool. SILVER
ing, she drew her light mantle across
her bosom and twisted a handker-
chief about her neck. She was obliged
to leave the bench and pace I'D and
down the platform to avoid taking
cold. She frequently leaned over the
Dalustrade and looked down.
White clouds played about the
clearing, nearing each other, then
parting again. 1t was the mist
which arose from the moist ground
OF the forest Elizabeth ceased to
think OF the motely splendor, the
presumption and vanity, which had
assembled a few days before beneath
her tower prison; of the many
trivial words that had been dropped
there, and had brought with them a
CONFUSION of tongues, as though the
nuns tower stood not upon ancient
and respectable Thuringian soil, but
upon the banks of the Euphrates.
Out OF the midst the shades of the
cIolster nuns appeared. with immov-
able, passionIess faces. their burnr-
out hearts beneath the flowing robes
and WaXen broWs behind their family
shlmmering fOrehead-bands. released
from the unquiet, torturing thoughts
winch had constantly crossed the
ROAD from earch to heaven and had
PerSlstently fallen back to the world
IuII OF sin and evil wishes.
Elizabeth thought of the gloomy
tunes when these dusky walls rose