Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-12-30
vi. TIE STORM.

vi. THE STORM.
Body and soul seemed welded into
one taut string vibrating in agonized
response to the fury of the tempest:
she found herself standing far from
the chair in front Of the easel. in
quivering alright gazing over-shoul-
der ut the featureless long rectangle
of the portrait in the shadows.
Rain Sluiced the skylight in wind
whipped waves, with a crisp, tearing
noise. Thunder rocked the skies,
ripped and raved, rumbIed away in
lessening reverberations. Then with
out warning the gloom was. abolished
by a CHASTITY lilac glare-and the face
on the canvas started out of its dark
background with an uncanny look of
life, the gay mOckery of it's smile dis
tOrted into grinning malice. She was
fain to switch on the lights to lay that
ghostly eer.
Even then she dared not look again.
With head averted, she swung the
easel round so that the painting faced
the wall
Still she was i'll at ease in the COM
pany of the thing. She could not for
get how that cold electric blaze had
seemed to wake the painting into Cob
lin life, transient but terrible. The
memory of its jcering smile persisted
Like Specter unseen but impOrtunate
at her shoulder round a corner of
her consciousness, denied but insis-
tent, the notion lurked of the work
of her own hands turned monster pre-
ternaturally inspired with spirit Of
ia ! animus
She had a crawling SILVER of super
Stitiou8 dread. Commonsense was
powerless to- comfort her with its. as
slTancel that she had nasyely had one
more hypnotic hallucination induced
by auto-suggostion. Instinct insisted
GsQslnlm9nsease. for once IVA S, wrong,
that there was more in this than the
human mind, fettered TO tb6F1aims of
natural laws, e8uhFd Comprehend or Of
cope with. Surely supernatural forces
were. here at work ...a..
She Strove without success to cast
out that thought. 80 ?.~ e.,
Comparing her wrist watch with
memory of the hour marked by. the
cleeks in Eeoporas REFUGE; shdf reck4
oned her lapse from full waking con-
srioHsness had not lasted, le4ger than
.ffte nlTflHGsFoiFr t4iat sGant Sell her
soul had tourneyed far tarricd while
il, (ou!munliop., with .anQtherssandtFe.
'tTffTT>d With L frefeJt n ftsars, 6f
dou.HS and Cares that thrcateued the
| sl22' itN of .her treason; IN those few
/ lnqgftepts theswdrk eta weeEshad, sepii
undone.~ She stood now where she
had been Immediately after the last
f4ffeeediug dream, poised, pefitausIy
near the verge of derangemcnt, haunt
ed by a shape Of fear no whit less aw-
A9fulnif it were ,aftersall qIlg,7the erea7
GIufe of her imagination a, .S':-,E
| Within fives hoHrs her other sef
must 90 to keep an asst gnation With d
I murderer. Fancy pictured Leon0ra
| t9htftiIlS llllOVSHt SWcelSt. bl SINISTER
|4shadOw to that rendezvous with u fate
inSCrutable
But not for LeOnOra was all this tor.
ture of solicitude. Through unhappy
| mischance Mario had been marked for
| Reds enmity. And where Red hated
tenure of life was treacherous
4 "'' Now it was revealed to her that
however ineXpltcable the affinity of
their souls, however dissimilar their
circumstances and irreconcilable their
ways Of thought and standards, in this
respect LeonOra and Priscilla Maine
were one: in love with Mario.
Acknowledging this incredible fact
without protest, Priscilla told herself
she had loved Mario always, ever since
that time, long past, when he had first
figured in her life of dreams.
And contemplating the prospect OF
living through the night to come, un,
der whose impenetrable cover Marie
and LeOnora must work out their dark
entangled destinies, while she waited
powerless to help or hinder, in an ig
norance irremediuble and maddening
Priscilla felt Il shadow fall athwart
her understanding, as black and cold
as Death.