The Washington herald., 1914-12-27

body attended it, and the few that did
were rather drawn by curiosity than
respect: Those who knew Persis well
were afraid to be seen in the companv
even OF her body. They were busy
denying their earlier intimacy or tell
ing how they had foreseen this disas-
Ter. she went in lonely state TO ioin
tne silent throng in the cemetery. and
she knew no more of the storm that
ragged about her than the world knew
OF the one high achievement of her
soul. She was like some little bril-
liant bird of paradise flung to m.
ground by lightning stroke. The
storm roared on, the ferocitv oF tbs
newspaper attacks increased wifi sy-
cry extra. The fact that a tbrorx
was hinted in an early cd;t;on ~
taken as proof enough for a positive
statement IN. later. Finally there
husband.
The district attorney was bu.,.
however, on an Augean task-t6e
cleaning ont OF the police stable. He
Gelayed or torborc to take up the Ems
lee matter. He was accordingly at
tackled as a toady to the rich. This
stung him TO an investigation.
And at last the police entered into
the affair. EnsIee was sent for and
cross-examined by commissioner
he was at bay. and he revealed unex-
pected gifts of evasion. Willic's law
yers stood by him. They were high
priced men. and they earned what
ever he paid them. They succeeded
IN lighting off an Indictment.
Conflicting bits of Enslee's testi-
mony were published in parallel col
umns, and his explanation that Per
SIS, IN her final rage, had seized the
knife from his hand and stabbed her
self was declared impossible and IN
convincing. Her dying statement as
sworn to by Crofts. stood, however
as the ono strong shelter over Ems
lees head.
The skeptics insisted that Crofts
beng deaf, had heard wrong or been
6ribed to perjury. None of them
dreamed that Persis could have de-
Vlsed that snow-white lie as her
atonement to the man she had be-
traycd.
The political ambition of the dis
trict attorney finally yielded to the
coercion An order was obtained from
the court commanding the officials of
the cemetery to unseaI the tomb
where Persis' body had been stored
until the great monument Enslee had
commissioned could be made ready to
weigh her down irretrievably.
Forbes, having reEained his courage
IN his absence in the wilderness, was
seized with a mad desire to gaze upon
his beloved's face once more and to
whisper TO her a prayer that she for
give him for abandoning her in her
desolation and her peril. Ten Eyck
used every plea to dissuade him; but,
failing. determined to go with him.
Permission to be present at the ex-
humation was secured with little dii-
tculty, and the two men joined the
group OF court officials and the six
experts who were to decide from ex-
animation whether or not Persis
could have inflicted the fatal wound
upon herself
And so Persis came back again to
the world in a mockery of resurrec-
tion, back again from the sodden
earth to the light of day that had
blessed her beauty and not known
her sin.
Forbes waited her appearance in a
frenzy OF anxiety. 1t was to him a
kind Of holy tryst that he must keep
at any cost.
Slowly the casket was raised; one
by one the screws in the cofin-lid
were removed, and at last the board
was removed from over the white.
white face. Some impulse OF protec-
tlon led Ten Eyck to thrust Forbes
back until he himself had taken the
FIRST look. He gazed and groaned at
the havoc death had wrought in ali
that beauty. When Forbes pressed
forward, Ten Eyck whirled and clap
ped his hands over Forbes eyes and
dragged him aside, whispering husk-
lily:
Don't look! In Gods name keep
the memory OF her as she was"
Forbes suffered himself to be led
aside. He and Ten Eyck waited at
a distance while the tests were made.
The knife was closed in the icy fingers
and the exquisite arms moved here
and there. Over the cold and silent
body the experts wrangled. And the
upShot OF the dcsecration was that
they could not agree: three Of the
jurors declared that Persis could not
have reached so Jar around to set the
knife in her side; and three that she
could have done it, whether she did
or not.
Persis. wherever she was, kept her
secret. And Willie, abiding the de
cision in stupor of terror, thanked
God and her for their silence.
The newspapers had much to say
of this last phase Of the Enslee mys-
terry. They summed up again all the
old scandals. and then they, too, went
silent. Their readers grew weary Of
the juggle of facts and falsehoods. The
mishapS OF other lovers furnished
them with uniailing supply OF the old
mistakes that are the eternal news
Forbes. who had withheld his rcsigna-
ton from the army at Ten Eyck's bid
ding, was received back into his place.
shorn of his ambitions, his youth, and
his pride.
Often and often when he is alone
he takes from its hiding shelter a
little nightcap of ribbons and laces
and shakes his head with vain regret.
He thinks of Persis always as she
was that morning when the hlmy cap
fell from her lawleSS curls. He can
not but feel that there was something
eject in her, something divinelv beau
tiful, however thwarted for this world.
But then he loved her, he could for
give her anything. If God loved her,
could he not do as much?