Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-20

THE dOof was open when she dr.
rived. She stepped up inside and took
the electric flash out of her pocket
| The battery was nearly expended. but
! in the dim light she could make out
a woman standing before her, a child
| in her arms, and man in a sheep
| skin coat fastening Il mule in one of
| the empty cow-stalls.
The man stopped abruptly.
DO you understand that, DOCTOR"
The doctor was startled. He had
| forgotten about the narrator in the
chair. He had entered into the scenes
of the story: he had been following
the woman, both in her physical en-
vironment and in her tragic emotional
perpleXity
Yes" he said. Il understand it.
! 7 understand il as a story. but l don't
/ understand It as Il miracle
Again the man in the chair made
some sort of gesture which the doc
tor could not see.
That's the reason I stopped just
here he said. Il wanted YOU to
realize this. 10 understand everything
! about II right here. You see, I am
coming To that part of the Gospel ac-
cording TO St Luke that / was talking
about a while ago"
X x n
lie WENT on as though there had
been no break In the narrative: as
though he were reading a story from
a book of romance.
she knew who these people were:
they We're mountain people. The man
did not speak, but the woman nov
addressed her. Her voice was soft and
gentle as are often the voices of
| these mountain women. 1--WE got
lost: an the mule came in here. /
reckon she knew there was a stable;
animals know lot
Lost"
The woman in the door echoed the
word in establishment.
How could you he lost? Where
were you going?'
1--WE We're going home; we live in
the mountain
sible. Every one knows the roads
about here
I've don't. We never came to the
town before
THE woman in the door seemed,
all at once, to realize the situation be-
fore her.
You. with young child. out on
a night like this. You can't remain
here. You must come with me, to
the house. at once. I heard the
child cry. 1t must be cold
Inc others answered Softly.
Yes, he did cry. I don't think he
was cold. / don't know what made
him cry
Then she came forward out of the
shadOwy darkness that enveloped her.
But at the threshold she paused
and indicated the man beyond her in
the cow-stal.
Can he feed the mule? We've had
our supper. But the mule might be
hungry
Certainly. feed the mule and come
on to the house
THE man did not reply The won.
an spoke for him.
No. he'd rather stay here. He's
got a big sheepskin coat. He won't
be cold: he can sleep in the hay
Then she added. as though the
idea were a comfort 10 her:
Animals are friendly
she came out into the light. and
the mistress Of the great house saw
her clearly.
she had the slender figure of the
young mountain women; the dark
hair and the olive skin. She wore q
linsey dress woven IN some loom OF
the hills and dyed with copperas; a
narrow shawl. hand-woven of soft
wool, also dyed with copperas, was
around her head. The baby in her
arms was covered with a white
lambskin.
THE COWS, scarcely visible in the
line of stalls, disturbed doubtless by
the man seeking food for the mule.
uttered a low sound. The sound fol-
lowed the woman and the child as
they came out from the stable and
entered on the path toward the house.
Halfway UP the hill. at the first
fringe of oak trees, the mistress Of
the house looked back.
THE path was band of silver ris-
ing out of darkness, as over the rim
of the world, and under the vague
white light Of the myriad stars
clustered above her. the mountain
woman, in her garments dyed with
copperas, was n golden figure, that
followed bearing a child in its arms
And suddenly as by some en-
chantment the scene, to the one who
led, became unreal. She fled, and the
other followed. The intent In things
had changed. This was a figure from
which she wished to escape. 1t must
not overtake her. At any cost at any
hazard, she must evade it. The fancy
seemed to extend itself: to overlie the
duration and the vicissitudes of a life.
To extend itself into every event of
that life Of pleasure upon which she
would follow; she could never escape.
1t would be there just behind her. in
evitable and insistent like a shadow.
And the woman, stimulated by the
fancy, visualiZed in exquisite detail
the exotic scenes Of the life into which
she was about to enter"
THE mans voice ceased He was
= silent for some time before the doc.
tor in the dark by the rail of the yacht
realized that the monotonous voice
did not go on. 1t was a strange voice;
there seemed to be no emotion in it;
no feeling in 1t, and yet 1t evidently
issued from the deepest feeling, from
the most profoundly disturbed emo
tons. For a moment the doctor was
alarmed. Had the dying man ceased
to exist in the midst of this narrative?
Finally he addressed him.
WELL" he said, what happened?"
The voice went on then.
II suppose you would call this
hallucination-some sort of a mental
arrangement. But it was real to this
woman il was just as real as the
deck of this yacht, as this hot night,
| as that great flaming cross up yonder.
She said that she saw the Lake Of
Como.
Ever been to Como, doctor? It's
heaven on this earth. She said she
| saw 1t as clearly as she had ever seen
| 1t in life. A white villa dreamy In the
| sun: a path leading from the green
| tiled terrace to the water; a narrow
path descending through the Towering
! shrubs. The lake below 1t looked
| like sapphire: 1t looked like a molten
| sapphire poured into the cup Of the
| hills. She saw a man ascending on
! this path whose features and whose
! figure were vitalized with expectancy.
He advanced among the Towering