Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-09-26
III 1 would let. myself dwindle down

Lou! I dare not even kiss your hands.
and yet my whole body aches with the
longing to press my lips on them. You
see how easily l drift into being a driv-
elling fool? Would to God l could lie
on the ground here before you and feel
the soles of your feet on my neck. How
lucky slaves were in older days.
weren't they? They could kneel before
their mistress and she would place hei
naked foot upon their necks. l am q
drlvelling fool. you see-I talk and alk
and let the moments slip BY am go
ing, Lou. and this is the vision which
l am taking with me. the last impress
sion which will dwell in my memory.
when memory itself will seem only q
dream. You. Lou. standing just here.
SO close to me that your sweet breath
fans my cheek. your deal hands in
nostrils. The light of this lamp throws
a golden radiance over you, your lips
are quivering-oh! ever so slightly,
and your eyes reveal to me the ex-
quisiteness of your soul. Lou. l am a
lucky mortal to have such a vision on
which to let my memory dwell!"
She listened in silence, enjoying the
delight OF hearing him unburdening his
soul at last. His love for her! Never
had 1T seemed so great and so pure,
now that he spoke Of parting! And
there was a quaint joy in hearing him
AHSAA OAA-AlS LIN xSSOk GU
man OF the world. Convention had so
often sealed his lips and restrained his
passion when he was wandering hap
PLY win her on the smooth paths of
love. Now Fate had hurled stone upon
stone down that path. The way was
close at hand; all the restraint OF past
months tore at the barrier Of v
ton. Luke about to lose the mortal
presence of his love. allowed his lips
to a that which he had hidden in his
heart for so long. The man Of the world
lost himself In the man who owed.
When he had ceased speaking she
said, quietly:
You talk. Luke, as IL we were going
to part"
Tonight. Lou. I must catch the
night boat to Calais"
~rejoined. simply. II am quite ready to
start"
ITO start?' he repeated. vaguely.
Why. yes. Luke" she replied with
q smile. IF you go tonight or at any
time, go with you"
almost stupidity. feeling quite bewild-
cred. for he had been forcibly dragged
back from a happy dreamlike state, to
one Of impossible reality.
Why not?"
You have said it yourself, Lou. I
oaAoAA NC u IQ8lIIV0 lTOIu JuSLlC0
a man with whom no decent
woman would al to link her fate"
Let us admit. them she said almost
gatly. that I am not a decent woman,
for my fate is i~rretrievably linked with
yours"
This is preposterous ."
The began.
But already she had interrupted him.
speaking quietly in that even, c%ontralto
voice OF hers which he loved to hear.
Luke" h said, you must try and
understand. You must, because / have
50 fully made up my mind, that nothing
that you could say would make me
change 1t. unless you told me hat you
no longer loved me. And this" she
added with the ghost of a smile. you
cannot now pretend. Luke, after all
that you said just now. 1t is not that
my mind wanted making UP. My mind
has very little to do with it all. 1t
knows Just as my heart does that l
could not now live without you. I'm
not talking nonsense, Luke, M I seem
to be too old for mere sentimental
twaddle! therefore, when I say that I
could not now live parted from you, /
say 1t from the innermost conviction
OF my heart. Sh-sh-dear." she whis-
pered. seeing that he wished to inter-
rupt her, don't try and Jay anything
Just yet-not Just yet-until I have
told o everything. / want you to
remember. Luke. that I am no longer
very young and that EVER since I can
remember anything. I have loved you.
I must have loved you even though /
did not know 1t. But IL you had never
spoken Of love to ne. II you had never
written that letter which I received IN
Brussels. I probably would have been
satisfied to go on with my humdrum
life to the end Of time; who knows?
! might have found ~contentment, II not
lnADn1no00 nv and nv with Gonna Ntho~
mar. we wOmen are meant to marry.
Men are fond of telling US that our
only mission on earth is to marry. But
an this possible quiet content, one let
ter has d~issipated. I could never be
happy now. never. save in continuing
to owe you. Life to me would be un-
speakably hideous without you and
your love. Therefore. I say, Luke, that
you have no longer any right to
keep me at arms length. You
nave no right, having once come
into my life. having once given
substance and vitality to my love,
to withdraw yourself away from me.
Love, dear. is a bond. a mutual bond.
as sacred. as binding as any that are
contracted on this earth. You-when you
wrote that letter. when you iirst
spoke to me Of love = entered
into q bond with me. You have no
right to force me to break It,"
voice died down in the heavy atmos-
phere OF the ROOM. They echoed and
re-echoed In the heart Of the man.
who was kneeling before Louisa,
az he would before the Madonna, dumb
with the intensity OF emotion which
her sacrthce had brought to an almost
maddentnG pitch. She stood there near
him. % devoted. 80 noble, and 90 pure,
do you wonder or will you smile, when
you geo him with fair, young head