Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-01-10
THE WOMAN'S VOICE.

4AG Wv OIMkAIN ~ VO4O1.
| Manrieve had presentiment that he
would not survive the operation. Men
get these queer forebodings sometimes,
and in 80 per cent. of the cases they
prove sound conclusions On what the
presentiments are based none can say,
but somewhere, far down in the con-
seriousness of the patient, there fingers
a queer little fear, half -formed, perhaps,
but very much alive nevertheless. 1t
was thus with Manrieve as they
wheeled him from the ward to the cool.
whitewashed theater, where the opera
ton was to take place.
Throughout the day which had pre-
eeded this great day he had been torn
with physical anguish, but now that the
real moment of experience was at hand
there came to him the resignation
which nearly always comes with won
drous kindness to the man who needs
it most. He felt little fear of the
ehloroform and the knife; only he wished
that his conscience had been easier
that his brain had been bare of GER
tain memory which stabbed him with
strange persistence. 1t was a memory
which had been commonplace when he
was strong and full of life, but now that
he seemed on the brink of new expert
encc the commonplace assumed new
garb. Every episode in connection with
her whom he had called Babs was
cleaning in his vision, and he told him
self that he had behaved very, very,
very cruelty The first lapse of passion
had been Cxcusable, but what followed
had been all evil He could find no ex-
cuse Tor his behavior. In the hot Joy
of life at the noontide he had put aside
these reproaches, determined to enjoy
the day and forget what lay behind it.
Put now. row it was otherwise. In his
nature, as in most sensual natures, there
was u deep layer of superstition. He
trembled, wondering what awaited him
if the operation failed and he went out
into the darkness that stretched before
him.
A smell OF something sweet and over
towering stung his nostrils. They were
administering the anaesthetics now, and
under It's influence he felt himself
drifting into strange region Then
darkness then a sudden dawn
ing of light, and lo he seemed to rise
from the operating table, and, with
look of plying disgust at the senseless
body that lay there, he strobe forth free
from the burden of the flesh
So this was death. 1t was very much
like life after all. He remembered read
ing years ago a story in which a man
had died and had found that the diff
ference between actual and spirit exist
enee was only question of corporal
covering. The writer of that story had
boen perfectly correct, he told himself.
Heaven and hell, then, did not exist.
They were distractions of the theolo-
gist fairy tales to entrap simpletons.
There was no hereafter except this liv
ing world, in which the living man had
suffered and enjoyed. Well, it was good,
perhaps, for he trembled to think what
would have been his punishment had the
theologians been right.
He was safe enough now
Suddenly he found himself in a small
room in London suburb. He remem-
bered the room distinctly 1t was here
that he had deserted Barbara on that
shameful morning, when he had stolen
away like a thief, leaving her to bear
her burden alone. Remorse caught him
in cruel grip. He was terrified to
discover that, although all physical SEN
satinns had vanished now, the sensations
of the soul were thousand times more
acute. His misery was overwhelming,
Such anguish as this he had never
dreamed.
Ii only he could find Barbara and beg
for her forgiveness, Surely that pardon
would soothe his pain 1t would come
to him with wondrous balm, and per-
chance the agony of remorse would be
hghtened.
"Babs, Babs,' he moaned.
He looked up, and saw that Barbara
was in the room She was standing as
he had often seen her stand. by the win
dow. looking into the street The light
OF the lamp was shining ON her brown
hair. He had often stolen up silently
and kissed her hair, and she. half star
tied, half delighted, had turned swiftly
and put her soft arms round his neck
How sweet-how good-she had been
And he, he had been a brute and a cad
But here she was, ready to listen to
his words ready perchanee to accord the
forgiveness which would bring back the
peace TO his wandering soul. He APP
preached her and touched her hair
She did not move, sudden horror
gripped him. What if he could not make
her understand, feel, and hear? So
strong was his sense of life that it had
not occurred to him that he now bore no
earthly shape that. indeed, he was not
visible to those whose eyes were eyes of
flesh.
"Babs, he said, "Babs, my own dar
ling, listen"
Still she gave no sign OF consciousness
OF his presence. His fear grew more