Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1919-06-05
The Echoes of
Silence
Copyright. 1919. BY Western Newspaper Union.
BY VICTOR RADCLIFFE

and then had stayed DIS hand. Sne
had sung it through one great tri-
umphant season and then her voice
was mute-he, Bertram Vernon, she,
Viola Davenant. An abyss had opened,
d shock had come and they two were
sundered.
Ten years back they had met and
loved. he a young man of ample for
tune, she a proven Young queen of
song, dazzled BY the adulntion that
poured in upon her. She had gone
abroad with her sister, promising him
that with the following spring she
would abandon all professional duties
and live and sing for him alone.
Surely never had there been so
deep, SO feryent a love as his-he
knew it, she realized 1t. Day and
night during her absence Bertram
Vernon lived in a bewitching dream.
He had planned out a home fit for a
princess. He had anticipated tour
taking in the fairest spots of earth.
He had so shaped his life that the
coming years would be devotion to
art, to music, to the higher literary
taste, above all, to love.
one day the closest friend of Yer
non, a lawyer named Joyce Elwood,
came to the office of the former He
closed the door after him. He seated
himself opposite TO Vernon.
"Bertram," he said, II would be TO
you a false friend if l stayed my lips
concerning discovery that must
cause you pain, distrust, heart wreck.
1t is of Viola that | must speak. Be
brave, be strong-she has deceived
you"
THAT would not be possible"
said Vernon, simply and with n smile
of utter confidence,
Then read" answered Elwood, and
he produced crumpled newspaper
and written sheet. Viola was at
Palermo when she last wrote YOU.
This is a Palermo newspaper. | hap
pen to have client. an Italian, Who
receives the paper from abroad. He
noticed the name of Miss Davenant.
He knows you, myself, and that we
would he Interested | have had a
translation made of the article--read,"
And Bertram Vernon read-his
death warrant, it seemed.
When Joyce Elwood called to see
his friend the next nay he found him
absent, and then week, month,
many of them, but the missing man
did not return.
One month later Bertram had found
the spot he had been looking for. AT
a Wild spot in the Rockies he had dis
covered a partially isolated segment
of a chain of hills Here at one time
an erratic hermit had lived. Here
now, a broken wanderer, Vernon APP
propriated the old cabin, spanned u
broad abyss with kind of a draw
bridge, never lowered except when he
toiled to a distant town to secure the
neceSSaries of life. Then began an
anChorita existence. Grim silence held
the barren spot and there day or
night as he moved about the narrow
hilltop or tossed upon his rude bed of
straw, the self-eXiled being constantly
dwelt, not amid silence, but amid the
echoes of silence. They possessed
him, they pursued him. Ever there
was the sembance of dying note of
sweetness, the faint accent of the
voice he had SO loved. The newspaper
had reCounted the marriage abroad OF
Viola Davenunt to famous opera
singer accepting the announcements
as natural, rs logical, Vernon had
abandoned all Of hope or faith ia Won
ankind.
He could not silence those echoes of
silence. They obSessed him, they gave
him no rest. Exhaustion came. one
night he dragged himself toward his
wretched hoyel, so weak and prostrat-
ed that he fell to the ground beside
the drawbridge and lay there unable
to move farther 1t was u royalty
grand mooulit evening ana he glanced
weaily at the glowing stars, and felt
thar not for many hours longer would
he greet their plying gleamiugs.
Suddenly amid the huuclnatiou Of
growing fever there rang our a loud
er, more distinct echo of silence"
lie smiled. This was the beginning
of the end The song he had written
ana which Viola had sung stole forth
upon the ambient air-and ln Violn's
tones Al, sweet delusion as he
ncared the dark river II closed It
was repeated, and beyond the chasm
a white-robed form seemed TO pause
in gh"stlike walk and listen.
What impeIled him? Strength
seemed given him to seize the ropes
of the drawbrdge and loosen them.
The rude framework spanning the
abyss crashed into place.
1T is DEATH he cried. oh fair
one oh, false one come l
come ''
\ form fitted across the rude
plankS, his weary head was lifted to
throhbing, longing bosom.
My wounded love! my poor, dear,
lost one found-found - And a glory
inefable came into his face and earth
faded away.
A week later, Viola beside him In a
Dar+rn N.rr,s, faYsnv,s