The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-08-25

hers had been the look, except for
which the hand had not been lifted.
She turned to her fellow-criminal,
the youth so lately innocent, whom
she had drawn into her doom. and
pressed him close, close to her bosom,
with clinging embrace that brought
their hearts together. "Yes, Donated
10, you speak the TRUTH" said she.
my heart consented The deed knots
us together like the coil of a serpent"
They threw one glance at the heap
of death below TO assure themselves
that II was not all a dream-then
turned from the fatal precipice and
made their way back into the city
arm in arm and heart In heart.
An agreement had been entered into
before the moonlight tragedy had
taken place that the four friends
should meet next morning in the
Church Of the Capuchins to study to-
gether Guidos famous picture of st.
Michael and Satan. Thither at the
hour agreed upon Miriam and Dona-
tello turned their steps. Conscious
of secret guilt, they we're the more
anxious to keep a casual engagement.
But, when they drew near the
church, Kenyon alone was waiting for
them. Hilda had promised to be Of
the party, but she was not there. The
three pushed back the heavy curtain
and entered the nave, only to have
their gaze arrested at once by con-
spicuous object. On slightly elevated
bier lay the dead body of monk, tall
candles burning at his head and feet.
The rigid figure was clad in the brown
wooden frock of the Capuchins. with
the hood drawn over the head but
so as to leave the features uncovered.
Something seem to act like mag
net upon MiriamYShe passed between
two of the lighted candles and looked
down. my God" she murmured,
''what is this?' She grasped Dona-
tello's hand and felt him give a con-
vulsive shudder. No wonder that their
blood curdled. The dead face OF the
monk gazing at them beneath its half
closed eyelids was the same visage
that had glared upon their naked souls
the night before as Donatello had flung
him over the precipice. What did 1t
mean? Kenyon drew near, perceived
their agitation, and started to say
something. But Miriam laid her
finger to her lips and quietly said,
Hush" From the shadowy church
the tree emerged into the Roman sun
light, Kenyon to go in search of Hill
da, but leaving darker shadow still
to settle down upon the lovers. The
young Italian was petrified with hor-
ror. Miriam tried to cheer him, assur-
ing him of her undying love. But she
met with no response. They parted.
almost as strangers, Ii being agreed
that Donatello should seek his castle
in the mountains.
Thither, in the summer, Kenyon
went TO pay long-planned visit. He
found the poor faun sadly changed.
The idea of a lifelong penance had
taken firm possession of Donatello.
He was intent on finding some meth
cd of self-torture Kenyon, knowing
now something Of what had happened,
arranged with Miriam that she should
be in the public square of Perugia on
a specified day, near the statue of
Pope julius. There the lovers met
again. The sense of their mutual
crime had stunned, but not destroyed
the youths affection. They needed
one another. Kenyon cheered and en-
couraged them. Their two lives flowed
together and the great bronze statue
of the Pope, his hand outreached in
a papal benediction, beneath which
they had met, appeared to impart
blessing on their marriage.
So Kenyon went back to Rome to
WOO the gentle Hilda. whose sensitive
soul was burdened by the knowledge
of the awful guilt Of her friends. The
secret weighed upon her heavily She
sought the seclusion of great churches,
and at last, Protestant though she
was, she found relief by pouring out
in the confessional at st. Peters the
story of the crime that she had wit
messed.
But for Miriam and DonatellO the
end was not yet reached. The sense
of sin had awakened in the faun-ike
youth what human love could not as
suage. Miriam could not rid him of
the idea that he must surrender him
self to justice. Kenyon had glimpses
Of the pair, now taking part in revel-
ries. but again concealed behind habili-
ments of woe. In a desolate spot in
the Campagna Miriam at last dis
closed the mystery surrounding her
own past. 1t was the story of mar
riage 10 be forced upon her from which
her soul revolted. She escaped, though
not without unjust suspicious of
crime. Concealing her identity she
gave herself to art. Then, in the Cat
acombs, the man whom she loathed,
half brute and half religious maniac,
had reappeared, logging her steps and
threatening TO disclose her to the
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