Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1908-04-22
HE

That life is not wearied of yet.
Faustine. Frasoletta. Dolores.
Felise. and Iolande. and Juliette:
The fragment kept repeating itself
In musical cadence as Olney Beaumont
sat before his open hardwood fire.
Yolande? Juliette? No. those were
not the names. They We're Helen. and
Louise, and Ethel, and Marie. and
Edna.
Daughters OF dreams? Rather were
they the mothers of dreams. for each
in turn had given birth to visions and
fantasies until, in the inconsequent
manner of dreams, one picture had
displaced the other, but they were all
shadowy phantoms brought up from
the depths OF memory
But how clear they were on this late
December afternoon, with the wind
swirling the snow against the window
panes, as he sat gazing on the blazing
logs just ready to fall into glowing
Goals.
Yes, he could call them all up to-
day: some forgotten for years, but
now. by some subtle necromancy, as
vivid as when in his hot youth his
pulses had bounded more quickly. and
a delicious thrill had shot through him
at the touch of soft hands. the fra
GRANGE from shining hair. the tantaliz.
ing temptation of red lips.
There was Helen. the first girl he
had ever loved. fair. plump, white
skinned, luxurious: but she had proven
mercenary, and the seductions of
wealth, more alluring than himself,
had married a man old enough to be
her father.
Then there was Ethel, delicate. fra
gle. spirituelle. dainty as a flower
Poor Ethel, She sleeps in the little
cemetery just under the hill, where
the sunlight loves to linger and the
first violets peep in the spring
And Marie! Tall, slender, supple,
with eyes like sloes and n mass OF
raven hair. Once he had seen II
loosened and she had seemed yelled IN
mystic midnight; but, alas! Marie had
a temper.
Once he had inadvertently over
heard her berating her mother and
sister when something had gone
lad
enveloped her had vanished like mist
before the sun.
And so with each but one-Edna.
Yes. he had loved Edna well. Had
loved? He had never ceased to love
her. and that was why, at thirty-fve,
he sat alone in his bachelor rooms
calling up the visions of the past.
What a fool he had been! Why had
he allowed his silly jealousy to get the
mastery and make him say things he
would have bitten his tongue through
sooner than have said in his cooler
moments?
And she? Too proud to deny. too
gentle to answer back, too brave to
show her hurt, she had simply looked
at him and turned away. And he had
flung at her like a melodramatic ac-
tor, I'll show you you cannot play
fast and loose with me-" But the look
stayed with him, and by degrees he
read its meaning, read it when too
late, the reproach, the sense of injus-
tice, the injured pride, and, oh. the
after-bitterness, as later he could sec
through it all her yearnlng love.
Cooler the next day, he determined
TO be magnanimous and forgive her.
apologizing for his words. but not for
the thought that prompted them; but
when he went In the evening she had
gone, gone to visit an aunt in New
York. who he knew had not liked him
because his contemplated marriage
would cut short the musical career she
had planned for the girl.
The maid handed him a packet
which she said she had been told to
deliver to- him. When he opened il
later he found his love tokens and two
words penciled on a card, "Good-by."
And that was seven years ago. No
reply had come to his letters sent to
New York, and when he was finally
able to go in person he found that
Mrs. Arlington had gone abroad and
taken Edna with her
SO, In despair he had made applica-
ton for the position Of medical bot
anist to an expedition going up the
Amazon, and was accepted. His work
proved so satisfactory that he was re.
quested to undertake a further com.
mission on the Pacific side, and after
few days I'm New York again found
himself in South American woods and
jungles, from whence he had but re-
Gently returned. and was now dream.
ing before the open fire on this gloomy
December day.
He reused himself with start.
Pshaw! What was the use? Couldn't
he rid himself Of the longing Tor that
one face? He had learned before his
departure that his Jealous suspicion
was baseless. but too late to make
amends for his unjust accusation. and
her look as she turned from him never
ceased to haunt him.
On the bosom Of the mighty river,
In the depths OF the tropical forest. at
night in camp with his Indian guides.
he saw It. but to-day IL was moro vivid