Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-04-30

returned to my lounge. | was weak
and languid.
While was recovering from my gid
diness a door opened and my lost love
came into the room. At first she
looked anxious, then smiled.
For a moment | was in doubt If it
were really she. 1t did not appear
that she was changed, but that
looked at her through different eyes
from before. Her figure did not face
me, but she was looking at me side
wise was troubled. | longed for
her, she was with me, but | was not
sure she was the same person. While
| gazed in perpleXity she turned, and
l saw the birthmark on her neck.
Then she came to me, seemingly wad-
ing through water, and took my hand.
l drew her down beside me and said
reproachfully:
"Why did you leave me?
Il couldn't help it. 1t was fate. Ev-
erything changes in this world"
1t did not occur to me that this was
vague answer At any rate, | was
SatlSneu with 1t.
"Are you going away again?" asked.
mo, not now; some day"
"When will that be?"
"A long, long while from now"
"And will you love me until this sep
aration comeS?"
II will love you always, here and
where | go"
Il will so with you. You shall not
go without me-"
Then hand in hand we were climb
ing the mountain | had seen from the
window. We seemed to be ascending
as if bOuyed by wings. Eager to reach
that cloudlike summit | had seen, we
pressed on and on, but whenever |
looked up to see if we neared it we
were as far below as before. Turning
to look back, the houses beneath ap-
peared like ant hills. Then | fclt~ the
snow slowly moving beneath me.
ut is an avalanche" | exclaimed
We were turned toward the valley
and hand in hand slid down the noun
tain. Though we moved with accel-
Grated pace, we kept our feet We
were like two gulls soaring, then, turn
ing their wings aslant, sailing down an
aerial incline. Suddenly the snow be-
fore us began to pile up against the
base Of cliff We lost our balance,
and, head downward, | felt tons of
snow piling on top of me.
mo bones broken | heard a voice
say close beside me. "If there's no in
ternal injury he will be all right"
| opened my eyes. l was lying on
hard snow. while people stood about
me, all looking very anxious. One Of
them, girl, stood gazing down upon
me with a pair of mild eyes in which
there was a world Of sympathy. There
must have been something in my
glance to affect her. for she lowered
her eyes. bushed and turned away. AS
she did so she exposed one side Of
like rose leaf.
"What's the matter?'' | asked.
Matter. Why. you have fallen twen-
ty feet from the ledge up there"
l remembered passing over ledge,
but l didn't remember anything else.
"IIow long have / been uncon-
scious? ! asked,
"You fell this very minute, Here;
take little of this"
A party of tourists happened to be
passing when | fell and among them a
doctor, From where | lay l could see
the Alpine peak Jungfrau. l had been
looking at 1t during the period of my
unconsciousness. which might have
been an infnitesimally small fraction
of time. | had seen the girl with a
birthmark only during the same space
Of time.
They wished to assist me to the ho-
tel Just below, at Sheidig, but ] con-
cluded to try my legs. The doctor
gave me his hand, and | got on my
feet. One of the tourists who stood
about me volunteered to go with me-
but l got on fairly we'll without his
assistance.
What have recorded Is the begin
ming of love story; but, though l
have no objection to telling dream,
/ shrink from giving the thoughts and
feelings of myself and the lady of my
love. l was less interested In dis
covering whether l had displaced any
Of my internal parts than getting on
the track of the girl with birth
mark. l missed her at Sheidig, but
saw her the next evening at the Kur-
sail (caSino) at Interlaken, slipping n
lemonade. I dogged her footsteps for
days before l succeeded in eOrralling
her-that Is, before l could find her
lighted, so to speak, and | could get
q mutual acquaintance to introduce
me. finally cornered her on the RiSo,
lear Lucerne. and, as luck would have
it, my friend Jim Thompson was there.
too, and was acquainted with her.
/ expected under the influence of my
dream that l should have as easy q
time getting her as / had during that
long drawn out infinitesimally short
period. Instead, l had real woman
to deal with and not creation of my
own fancy,
There was no dream for her. I was
to her an ordinary parsonage with
whom neither dreams nor romance had
anything to do. | was obliged to lay
siege to hrr heart and advance by reg
ular approaches. | made very slow
progress. Nevertheless by persistence
finally conquered. and it was not
till then that / told her this sttry.