Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1909-12-17

Il might take the part myself, II
Gillespie were not already cast for it."
"Gillespie?" she said, wonderingly;
then added at once, as though memory
had prompted her: "To be sure, there
is Gillespie"
There is certainly Gillespie. Per
haps you would liefer call him Or
lando?" l ventured.
Let me see," she %pondered, bending
her head; then: 80, that's a brave
man! He writes brave verses, speaks
brave words, swears brave oaths and
breaks them bravely, quite traverse,
athwart the heart of his lover; as a
puisny litter, that spurs his horse but
on one side, breaks his staff like 6
noble goose; but alTs brave that youth
mounts and folly guides"
THAT is Celia's speech, but well
rendered. Let us consider that you
are ROsalind, Celia, Viola and Ariel
all in one. And [ shall be those i'm
mortal villains of old tragedy-first,
second and third murtherer; or, if it
suit you better, let me be Iago for
honesty; Othello for great adventures;
Hamlet for gloom; ShylOck for relent-
l~esSness, and Romeo for love-sick-
ness"
Again she bent her head; then draw
ing a little away and clasping her
hands, she quoted: "FCome, WOO me,
WOO me; for now I am in a holiday
humOur and like enough to consent.
What would you say to me now, aa
I were your very, very Rosalind?'"
l stammered a moment, dimly re-
calling Orlando's reply in the play.
l did not know whether she we're dar-
ing me; and this was certainly not the
girls mood as we had met at st. Aga
tha's. My heart leaped and the blood
tingled in my finger-tips as
searched out the long-forgotten scene;
and suddenly 1 threw at her the line:
How if the kiss be ~denied?'"
She shrugged her shoulders.
THE rehearsal has gone far enough.
Let us come back to earth again."
But this, somehow, was not so easy.
Far across the AXE a heavy train
rumbled, and its engine blew a long
blast for Annandale. l felt at that in
slant the ~unreality of the days events,
with their elimination in this strange
interview on the height above the
k Never, I thought, had man par
leyed with woman on so extraordinary
a business. In the brief silence, while
the whistles echoes rang round the
shore, l drew away from the bench
that a stood like a barricade be-
tween us and walked toward her. l
did no believe in her; she had
Haunted her shameful trickery in my
face; and yet 1 felt her spell upon me
as through the dusk 1 realized anew
her splendid height, the faint dis
closure of her noble head and felt the
glory of her dark eyes. She did not
draw away, but stood quietly, with her
mead uplifted, a light scarf caught
about her shoulders, n on her head
a round sailors cap, tipped away from
her face.
You must go back; 1 must see you
safely to ST. Agatha's," 1 said.
She turned, drawing the scarf close
under her throat with a quick gesture,
as though about to go. She laughed
with more honest glee than 1 had
known in her before, and 1 forgot her
duplicity, forgot the bold game she
was playing, and the consequences to
which it must lead; my pulses bounded
when a bit of her scarf touched my
hand as she flung a loose end over her
shoulder.
My dear Mr.. Donovan, you propose
the impossible! We are foes. you
must remember, and 1 cannot accept
your escort"
But l have a guard about the house;
you are likely to get into trouble if
you try to pass through. l must ask