Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-06-19
The Daily Story
THE RED SPOT ON THE wATER-B F. mitchell
Copyrighted 1918. by Associated Literary


In certain lights it looks like blood"
1T is blood! Come away. 1t affects
you unpleasantly."
She turned and walked back q short
distance from the verge OF the cliff.
What could l do but follow her? She
sat down on a rock surface that form
ed convenient seat and such position
as to make room for me beside her.
Wonderingly 1 asked:
Are you from the hotel where I am
staying?"
No" she said, but offered no word
as to where she came from.
II cannot imagine" l continued,
"any of those young ladies coming
here alone and at this hour"
There is not sufficient TO tempt them
TO break through the conventional
forms that bind them. Perhaps it is
well that they do not. l stayed at one
of the hotels hereabout one season and
was bound by the same code as they
are bound. pinned for freedom.
came here alone. have been coming
ever since" &c..
"Why?" -ss;;s ,{<ssiiss.s-,
Il cannot keep away"
There was silence between us for a
few moments while wondered. Pres
emily l asked;
And why can you not keep away?"
Something happened. II were to
tell you what it is it would shock you.
1t would have shocked me had known
that 1t was to happen. For brief
a.
She paused.
NO" she continued. at am not here
to increase your burden of life. I
know that you have been looking for
ward for months to your outing and
now that 1t has come you are disap-
pointed. You see about you that CON-
partnership which would enable you to
enjoy every moment of It. but between
YOU and me it is that hedge of conven-
tionality which you find impossible.
know what it Is, for 1 was once fet-
tered by it myself Now it is nothing
to me. l can go where like, express
what feel I ain disenthralled. And
to prove it will tell you that tonight
1 come here to meet you"
ITO meet me-"
"Yes. You do not know me, but
know you. Often / have seen you
leaning over the rail looking down into
the chasm. Every thought that passed
through your brain vibrated in my be-
ing. You are nearer the line that d.
| vides the finite from the infinite than
one mortal in millions, and when you
/ look over the cliff down upon that
| {cI, Col
! another in never ending succession,
you feel within you that which is akin
to the infinite"
She paused while I looked at her In
! wonder, then added:
"And why have 1 come to you to-
night who have seen you so often
here? Why have made myself known
to you? ! will tell you, and I am not
ashamed to tell you, for / am abso-
lutely pure. 1t is because ! love you."
l have a dim remembrance OF her
rising and going to the cliff. of my
following her and leaning on the rail
beside her and looking down into the
chasm. Then ] was alone. The scene
below was beautiful as before, and the
red spot was gone.
l stood gazing on the water where
it had been, now limpid, like the rest.
while an awe crept over me. Then l
cast glances about me for my COM
panion and shuddered. at the vacancy
she had left. Then / was seized with
desire to get away from the place as
quickly as possible.
l walked back to the hotel filed with
emotions Of which 1t would be impos-
sible to afford the slightest inkling.
All can say is that they were such as
had never experienced before.
At the hotel / found no one to tell
me anything about the cliff. but on one
of my walks, stopping at house for
cup of water, an old man told me
there had been n special reason for
placing the rail at the verge of the
abyss. Years ago, when the region
first became n summer resort, a farmer
saw a girl standing there. He turned
away his glance, and when he looked
again she had disappeared. Going to
the cliff, he looked down and saw what
he at first supposed to be a red shawl
floating on the water. Upon investi-
CATION it was discovered that the girl
he had seen had fallen over the cliff
had struck the rock surface below and
bounded off into the water. II was her
blood that appeared to him like red
garment
Until writing this have kept my
secret. First, have shrunk from re-
vealing il; secondly, I have not dared to
do so for fear Of being considered Of
unbalanced mind. I have never since
visited the cliff nor would do so for
the world. That which prevents me is
having felt. while looking over 1t when
the apparition led me back TO 1t after
telling that she loved me, an almost
uncomfortable desire to throw myself
down into the chasm.
While do not pretend TO assert that
my experience may not have been the
result Of temporary mental aberra-
ton, / cannot refrain from thinking
that some mortals may have in them
certain leanfngs toward the infinite 70
which the grent mass of humanity are
strangers