Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1925-09-25

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this woman who had robbed her; this
man, who, in his stupid blindness, had
failed to see that which lay within his
grasp. AS the night wore on she fan
cied that she was pursued by a mon
ster, a leopard-like thing with a weird
superhuman quality. Grasping knife,
as the thing was upon her, she stabbed
1t through the heart. Meanwhile a
great black bird was pecking on her
door, which was, she knew, the spirit
Of that which she had slain.
Miss Hallam soon afterward went
away on one of her long, solitary
journeys, and when she returned the
minister was revealing In domestlcity.
Fortunately she was spared frequent
Intercourse with the manse.
The autumn wore itself away, and
in mld-winter pang of anxiety
gripped the village. EVE was Ill, des-
perately Ill. During the weeks through
which the young wife fought for her
life Agnes inquired daily at her door,
listened, seemingly sympathetic, while
being told of the prolongment Of the
anguish, but the crook In her soul
had grown during this siege of misery,
steelng 1t against all pity.
On the night that Evie lay dying,
Miss Hallam watched in her great
house on the hill, every nerve as taut
as though she had been actually In the
death chamber, her reason swaying
back and forth as 1t had done on
the night of Ewes marriage. In the
dawn she listened, outwardly calm, to
the sacred details Of the death. In
wardly she was shaking with muir
derous eXaltation.
All day the sleet fell with mourn
full monotony, clicking against the
windows insistently. A cedar In the
front yard succumbed to its burden Of
ice, in its fall blocking the entrance
to the porch, against which 1t raped
clammy fingers, as If legion Of
ghosts were demanding admlttance.
Agnes, watching dry-eyed saw the
nelghbors come and go, come and go
all day from the melancholy little
house. Finally she saw the minister
himself go out on some last sad err
rand STOPPING like an old man be-
meath the weight Of his sorrow.
A morbid desire possessed her to
see the dead, to view the downfall Of
that insolent young pride. Swiftly
she went down the avenue, where the
skeleton trees were merging into the
dusk her heels crunchlng through the
Ice with a harsh, rasplng sound, the
sleet singing no color into her gray
cheeks.
Cautiously she opened the house
door. In the sitting room two care
takers were crouched over the fire,
the very flame Of which seemed
frozen, and, wan and blue Tapped the
wood Intellectually. Passing silently
through the yault-llke hall, she ascend
ed the stairs. In the room at the
head Of the stairs the cold took on a
new force, creeping, nerve stralning.
A hyacinth vase, on stand near the
bed, had been spllntered by the freez-
ing; amid the fragments Of glass the
hyaclnths lay, their wilderness turned
to transparency, their pale stems
frozen In a block of Ice.
Forcing herself forward, Agnes
stood over the bed. BY degrees deaths
miracle was wrought upon her. Bit
terness and hatred shrlveled away be-
fore the piercing sweetness Of that
young face A mighty pity seized her,
bringing with 1t the first rush Of wOm-
anly tenderness in all of those griev-
Gus months. A feeling Of personal loss
overwhelmed her, her early love for
the girl awoke and cried aloud, In
her wretchedness she tried to evoke
some comfort from the serenity, after
long pain which was frozen on the
still face. This very serenity, though,
was an unknown quality In face
which had been so plquant, supersedlng
all familiarity. And the hands-hOw
could such eager hands lie so mo-
tlonless? She noticed, numbly, how
long and thin they had grown. The
ring, the wedding ring, was almost
slipping off, but when she tried to
push II into place her own fingers fnl-
tered away, shocked by the feel OF the
Icy flesh.
The click OF sleet was the only
sound In the gray universe. Sud
denly, with a slckenlng creak, the up
per half Of tree split from lie trSiik,
crashed on the roof. and fell with a
thud to the ground. TO the woman,
draining her cup Of trembling, II
seemed that the world was being rent
asunder. As the tree swept pnsi :he
window the wild waverlng Of the
shadows caused the expression OF the
dead face TO flicker and n movement
to pass apparently. over the figure.
Her knees slipped from under her,
Agnes fell down by the bed, breath
Ing mute, futile prayers TO the dead.
"Oh, forgive, forgive!
precious little girl, come back"
Convulsve sobs rent her thin frame.
Tears came TO her relief The won
drous peace Of the dead form was
communicating itself 10 her. The
dead, seemingly, had understood. Her
own forgiveness had evoked q CORE
spending forgiveness.
In her paroxysm Of grief she had
not heard approaching footsteps. The
minister stood gazing down upon her.
too absorbed In his own grief to won
der at the intensity Of hers. His first
emotion was one Of gratitude, such
passionate grIeving was the dearest
tribute to his dead. But his was not
the nature to look upon grief without
attempted comfort.
Agnes his hand rested lightly on
the crooked shoulders, agnes, we
must not rebel Heaven Is for such as
she"
At his touch new heaven and a
new earth opened for the poor,