Evening journal., 1908-12-05
s:seoseossoososesoosesssss,
: A Forbidden Inquiry.
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lorisinall


And suppose | never return"
Il will go and weep over your grave"
''You won't have TO go. l have no
mind to be buried over there. / made
my VIII yesterday and gave directions
that IL ] die abroad my body shall be
sent home to lie in the family lot at
Avondale"
Then will weep there"
"IIow longT
For my lifetime"
He hurried ashore and stood looking
from the end Of the dock up at her,
throwing her kisses which she threw
back at him.
A month later word was cabled from
abroad that she had died suddenly OF
heart disease while climbing noun
tain in Switzerland. He remained for
three days In a stupor, then was about
to 20 abroad, where her mortal part
was, when he remembered ner farewell
words. As soon as thy cool weather
set in an oblong box was received from
Switzerland and buried In Avondale
cemetery He was not notified Of the
burial by her spinster cousin. her only
relative, who gave as reason that it
would be better he should not be pres
ent. But MS soon as be learned of the
fact he went to the cemetery and stood
uncovered by her grave, tears rolling
down his cheeks. He had brought some
plants TO set out where their flowers
the next spring would hang over her
grave. Some one had been there be-
fore him on a similar errand. Flowers
were strewn oyer the mound so fresh
that they must have been cut but
few hours.
He spoke Of these flowers to her cousin
and asked II she had placed them. She
had not and seemed surprised.
He was troubled. It is singular that
we should be jealous IN case Of the
dead
Every Sunday afternoon he went TO
the cemetery. and every time he found
fresh flowers on the grave They must
have been placed there in the morning
The next Sunday he went at dawn and
waited and waited till 10 o'clock for
this rival for the dead. At that hour a
/ young girl came and strewed flowers
on the grave A great relief came to
him. He advanced and addressed his
fellow mourner. She had been a friend
Of his former fiancee.
Every Sunday morning these two
met at the grave Of one for whom they
had a common love. He grew to look
forward to the meeting not so much as
q melancholy event as a reunion with
one who was Cling the void in his
heart. a void which. II filled at all, can
be done only by living person. But
this girl Of flesh and blood was from
the first constrained. and her constraint
had grown on her When they met her
eyes would brighten; but, looking down
on her friends grave she seemed
moved by some inward emotion.
When winter came their visits were
omitted by mutual consent till the
spring should come. Their meetings
were not, as before, on Sunday morn
ings, but on Sunday afternoons. and
were often prolonged until late in the
evening. 1t was pleasater TO sit by n
warm fireplace than stand out in the
cold cemetery, where the winds shrek
ed through the leafess branches.
He besought her to marry him. She
refused. From the expression on her
face his words seemed to have had the
effect rathe.' OF clods falling on n
coffin than Of great comfort.
When the crocuses were springing up
she proposed that they go again to the
cemetery. Vie sighed and consented,
but at the appointed time he made ex-
cuses. She said, though with evident
reluctance. that she would go alone.
SO he went with her. On the way she
was silent and melancholy. To see her
one would have thought she was going
TO her own funeral.
He carried the flowers to the grave,
while she stood at the gate Of the in
closure. He had strewn them when,
| looking up, be saw n figure coming
down the roadway Shading his eyes
with his hand to see more distinctly, he
/ staggered back against the iron rail.
The woman over whose grave he had
strewn flowers his lost love-was
coming.
She advanced with a slow step. a Sc.
rious expression on her face. There
was nothing ghostly about her On
the contrary. she was plainly mortal.
What astonished her betrothed most
was that her friend appeared in no
way surprised at this return from the
dead TO the quick
This is a wrong have done you, $
said the returned one, "and regret
It, but laid the plan long ago and re-
solved that l would carry 1t out,
When we parted began a brooding
over your words that you would "weep
over my grave Then l became pos
sessed with desire to learn how long
you would weep for me or II you would
be faithful to my memory. gave out
that was dead and caused an empty
box to be buried here. More than
that. I arranged for her." pointing to
his fellow mourncr. "to come here to
meet you. l have learned what 1t is
better should not know-that the
dead have no place in the hearts of the
living that cannot he easily occupied
by another"
These were the only words spoken.
What else was there to say7 The three
left the cemetery by different routes
and never met agnin.
How far the mortal heart reaches
into immortality is one OF the hidden