The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-12-09


look OF him, the sound of his voice.
the pressure of his lips, the clasp Of
MS arms, she began to realize that as
ne grew older, unless she was so alb.
solutely mistaken in him as to make
all estimate of him mockery, he would
realize the falsity of his view, the lit
tleness of his action, and if he were in
truth the man whom she could rightly
love, his years would be one long re-
greet that he had failed. What would
happen when he realized that, when
ne came to the knowledge that she
was indeed all that she had seemed
and that he had been nothing that he
should? She knew, as she had writ
ten. that the man would never, could
never, forget her; that wherever he
went and whatever he did, she would
be present with him; that she had
stamped herself too indelibly upon his
heart for any attrition with humanity,
however close and persistent, to erase
the image. He would come back per-
haps
20 Cod" she knelt down and
stretched out her arms, bring him
back she prayed-a few short, brok-
en- words. lacking the eloquence of
long and studied petition, the appeal
of the heart every throb of which is
a prayer-"bring him back to mel"
She thought that she would have
had him back on any terms. She said
that she had been mad, a fool, not to
have taken him, not to have gone to
him, not to have married him in any
way, with any conditions, under any
circumstances. All her thoughts were
merged in one great passionate long
ing to be with him.
For the first time In her life the
pangs of jealousy tore her breast. She
thought of him in the world with 9TH
err men, with other women, young,
handsome, a perfect godlike form and
face of man. rich, the widest romance
with it's charm and mystery to attract.
His story could not be hid, neither
could hers. The man would be court
ed, sought after, made much over, be-
loved. 1t would be enough to turn the
head of a saint. How would he stand
it? Would the recollection of her
make him strong? Would that God in
whom he and she both had trusted
until the crisis came, lead him in the
straight path? Would her purity, her
sweetness-stop! would he think her
thus lowered and possessed? Not
now, certainly, but every hour that
took him farther from her would add
to his knowledge and would tell him
the truth and these would help him.
Another thought came into her
mind. His story would be known and
hers as we'll. The world was filled
with adventurous men. Would not
some Of them come in search of her
island? The officers Of those two ships
could determine accurately the situa-
ton of that island. 1t would be as
easy for a navigator to find 1t as for
denizen Of a city to go to any given
street corner. People would come
back to that island, not to seek her.
for the world would believe her dead.
but simply to see the place. Idle
yachtsmen might find that an object
for long cruising and she would have
to hide and hide. But would she hide?
Would she go back to that world?
Never, she said, unless he came to
fetch her.
And then her thoughts turned again.
Why had he gone away? Had she
been he they could as soon have up
rooted the island itself as torn her
from it under similar circumstances.
Had he been gone, she would have
fingered and died on the spots that
we're sacred where he had walked. II
she had known that at that moment
her lover lay fighting for life and req
son in the cabin Of the swift moving
ship. she would have understood bet.
ter his absence. That he should be
stricken never occurred to her.
She pictured him. not happy away