Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1890, Page 7

ee THE EVENING ZOE'S DOUBLE CHAINS; Or, FOR LIFE AND FOR LOVE. OE A aaa WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING STAR- BY E LYNN LINTON. a (Copyrighted. } CHAPTER L HE was young. consequently thought- less; and she was willful, as was but natural. Four brothers who were her devoted slaves—a futher who idolized her—a mother who was like her elder sister, and as much a playfellow as a guide— how should she not be somewhat hard to manage and bad to bit and bridle when the humor for restraint took her? It was a mis- take to try. She ought to have been given her head; and what came after was due to myself, and myself only. I should have understood her better. I should have been less exacting— less sensitive for my own part—more consid- erate of hor weaknesses—cal! them even faulta if you will. But it is so easy to be wise after the event! When passion is strong and the heart blinds the eyes we see ail things as through a veil, and we know the truth of what we have scen and the evil of what we have done only when too late, We were engaged. it had been a hard fight to win her from the triple rank of guardians surrounding. Father, mother and brothors had all alike protested: the grandmother alone had taken my part. Zoe herself, while this epposition actively went on, had stood by me loyally and had refused to give me up. She had agreed to wait, and as she was but cight- éen I had not much to say against the three ears’ probation iusisted on by the family. Perhaps it was only fair, as they all said, to give her the chance of changing her mind. She has seen nothing yet of life, and did not know what she wanted out of it. Let her then have her three years of qnasi-freedom, when I was not forbidden, but she was not bound. If I could Fetain my position in her heart and make good my holding well for me. If Icould not 1 had no cause, no claim, no charge against her, So ast Le acknowledged that an uncomfortable position forme. Still, Iwas thankful to be allowed even so much, and I thought I could trust both my own influence and her constane The most devoted lover is put in a false posi- tion when he comes into a family of which all the members are united in adulating, yielding to, and generaily spoiling the girl he loves. In the midst o' vile worshipers his rights are made to look like tyranu nd the more he loves the more he offends. ‘The jealousy which is inseparable from love—the doubt which must arise at times when the door is left open and he who will may come through and steal away the treasure—-the sick suspicion that tortures itself more than any one clse—th less craving for some assurance—all this puts the lover at a disadvantage, aud makes his very love a nuisance. Young people want ease and pleasure; and Zoe above all shrank from the ravity of passion—the intensity of emotion, Bhe was like some iridescent bubble flung off by the great soul of life—the very impersona- tion of jocund mirth and ¢areless merriment, She was like some humanized elf brought from the underground world of fairies to serve a brief apprenticeship to mau and sorrow beneath the sun. Like a cloud you could not hold her—like a rainbow you could not seize her. Beautiful, tormenting. inconsequent, willfal. she was the human representative of some gem-like hamming bird flitting out of reach, imt so seductively near as to seem close when you thought to have ped and flashed in the sun far above your head—gone! gone! 1 sometimes doubted if she had a heart at all. I sometimes doubted if she had a soul liko other human beings. But her very willfuiness was her charm; and the more she eluded me the more she compelled me to seek and follow after her. et she was true. I knew that afterward. three years’ probation had in it suffering h to send m: a man mad. I think I Ever fluctuating between hope and doubt. jealousy and love, — whole inner being was rasped and strained. yeti of figure would a gloomy, satarnine and tor- tured lover cut in that house of facile qgaicty «deasy rule? [had to eat out my heart in en When I “saw blood” I had to paint in nose color. When the world and all it con- tained were lying in the blackest shadow of death [had to woave gariands with the rest aud crown the image of sorrow and despair with roses wetwith'tears for dew. But so far was to the good of the account—Zoe still seemed to like me best and no other man had come through the open door and stolen my trea ‘Thus the time passed and on her twenty-first birthday the prohibition was removed. My probation was over; I was formally engaged— the fumily consenting by no means enthu- astically, but always consenting, like honor- able folk bound by their own proiise—and Zoo herself seeming to regard the whole thing as a joke rather than a solemn vow, This engugergent, releasing me from the terrible constraint of the last three years, per- haps slackened the former close-set bonds too much. Icrhaps the knowledge that Zoe was now at the least provisio lay own—openly assigned tome and publicly betrothed—gave ngth to the feelingot possession, ip. which had all along not so much ut ag been repressed. I do not wish myself, Perhaps I ulone was to arnessed a butterfly—caged a humming bird—planted my field with flowers, then asked it to yield me iruit and grain. On me was the shame of sin, as on me came the sorrow of sorrow. And yet I loved her—heaven ‘amily wished her to marry me. They bad no special objection to me as a man @r as a fortune. By education I was their equal—in birth and fortune a shade their superior. My character stood well; and if the ermine of my life wasn not entirely spotiess it was not disgracefully stained nor smirched. Still had I been twice the man I was they would have disliked the marriage. They loved her too well themselves to wish to part with her toany one. This was true of all; but Algernon, the younger brother and the one immediately before Zoe, was per- haps the most hopelessly irreconcilable, He took the eugagement as in some sort a personal affront and he would have broken it off if he Could even at the eleventh hour. His methods toward this end were various. Sometimes he found mare's nests of scandal, which he paraded as things proved and posi- five like so ma nmetic, Some- timeshe made mischief by repeating what I had said in another intention, or carrying as true reports what I had never said atall. Some- times he tried despair, and sometimes en- treaty—now he caressed and now he sulked; Dut ali came to the same thing in the end-—he Wanted Zoe to break off her engagement. And she held firm, if indoed we can apply such @ term to the light way she had of holding on to anything! At last he hit on another method altogether. On the principle of oue nail knock- ing ont another, he brought up to the house Gil the best and most.eligible men he knew; end as Zoe was one to turn the head of an an. GEE WAS NOW CLOSEIY SURROUNDED WITH ASPI- RANTS. 4 ehorite, she was now closely surrounded with “aspirants” of more or less pronounce: devo- tion. For men are not very honorable when the passion of love sets fire to the character; aud rivairy isa game which recognizes no blow 4s foul. no stratagem as unfait Naturally [ had nothing to any. The house was not mine; and if Algernon or any other chose to ask his friends it was not for me to object. I might see the motive. but seein; ‘was no valid argument; had I objected I shoul have put myself so much in the wrongas to be unable to Ai right again. - had nothing possess my soul in patience for the one part and to tighten so far at Leowld mr hold on Zoe for the other, But that was = the difficulty. The closer I sought to hold tho more certain she was to escape. Like round with impenetrable obstinacy, If I in my turn assumed indifference, then she broke out into the wildest frivolity; and when that did nothing, she adopted a manner of such flirta- tious audacity as compelled me to drop my poor mask of poco curantism and take some kind of action. But whatever the kind I took she al- ways, as it were, headed me and turned mo back into the craven path of submission, And then, when she had it all her own way, she made herself so infinitely lovely, so madden- ingly sweet and seductive as to rivet her chains yet more securely. From rigitcous indigna- tion she reduced me to blissfai essentially ignéminious content. For ail my love I knew e full extent of my fall. 5 Ofall the young and handsome eligibles whom Algernon brought home as marshlights wherewith to mislead his sister from her allegiance the one I most feared was Lindsay Korshaw. He waseverything thatI was not and nothing that I was. Not above the middle height, fair haired. blue eyed, a little in- clined “to put on flesh,” as are #0 often the men of the fair races, good tempered, full of fun, superficial without a touch of the darker passions—how different from the man I was— the tall, lean, dark-haired and sallow-complex- ioned offshoot of southern France, with whom pin pricks were hke saber thrusts, and a thistledown as heavy as with him would weigh @ ton weight of pail! The very contrast made this young fellow, this Lindsay Kershaw, for- midable to my mind, aud gave his attentions to Zoe a meaning—a prepotency-—that threatened to swamp all my own acreage, And that was what Algernon Hazeldine saw; and that was the reason why he brought him up to the house 8o persistently as he did. If Lindsay could distance me the way would be clear for every one. Algernon had no fear of the ultimate success of the young Oxonian. His claims he could manipulate. It was ouly I who threat- ened the peace of the family by taking from them their one incomparable jewel. The others went for nothing and could be managed. CHAPTER IL ‘The day was heavy, close and gloomy, Thun- der clouds hung lowering in the sky and the glory of the summer sun was hidden. A storm was evidently brewing, and all nature seemed to know that some catastrophe was at hand, The birds were silent; the butterflies, resting with folded wings, were indistinguish- able from the moss, if patent enough on the flowers, No gnats nor day-flies danced or flashed overhead; but big black hairy flies, blue-bottles, hornets, dragonflies and all stinging creatures were in full activity, and in the breathless stillness the spiders wove their cruel nets in covered places without fear of failure from the wrecking of the wind. Iwas as usual at the Hall. Also as usual Lindsay Kers! was there, too. Algernon had brought . as he did whenever he could—and that was whenever the young ath- lete had nothing more exacting on hand in the way of cricket or foot ball. It was too sultry to sit in the house and we were all scattered about the lawn—some lyingon the tiger skin and some sitting on the garden seats, ZOR WAS SWINGING LAZILY IN THE HAMMOCK. Zoe was swinging lazily in the hammock and I was standing by her. The atmosphere had evi- dently oppressed her, for she would not talk, but lay there with shut eyes almost as if sleep- ing. and disturbed to petulance if I spoke to her. But 1 could see the shining line between her half-closed lashes and I knew that she was notasleep. For some reason unknown to me she was pouting—I will call it by no harsher name—and when she was in this kind of mood she was what the French call possible,” and neither to be reasoned with nor coaxed out of per mood. I had offended her by some unsuspected gaacherie, some masterful word or look, and she was taking her reven 1 wonder if she knew how much she pained me! 1 do not think she couid! Kershaw yawned, stretched himself, and lounged up from the tiger skin where he bad been lying. this is slow work enough,” ughing. “Let us.do something.” ight,” sang out Algernon. “What shall lotus do somethin; ied Zoe, throw- ing off her pretense of sleep as if it had been a ribbon ovet her eyes. “Let us take a ride,” said Lindsay. “No, said ‘a storm is coming on and every one will be drenched.” You need not come, Justin,” flashed out If you are afraid of a few drops of rain stay at home—no one wants you.” was thinking more of you than of myself, I answered, but I felt a kind of spasm go over my face and I knew I turned pale, d, I'm sure, old fellow,” “but I think we may be ited to take care of our sister.” “You shall not come, Justin,” said Zo, with per pretty little peremptory manner. I did my best to smile as at a good joke, but I made a very poor affair of it, “Why this comedy?” I asked, with the awk- wardness of a man trying to conceal pain and mortification under a joking manner. “I want to go with Algy “And I should be de tr: “Very much de trop,” said Zoe, with mock gravity. “I never see Algy alone now, and I want to talk to him today very seriousl; “Tam sorry,” I began, and then I stopped; something choked my words and I could not utter another sound, Zoe looked at me and for a moment seemed as if she was about to say something pleasant, sweet, soothing. Then the mutineus little ex- pression came over her face again and she turned her eyes from me to her brother. “You are not quite married yet.” said Al- gernon to me, disagreeably. oe say: she and I are never toget now; and if wants to be with me she shall not be thwarted. “I do not wish to interfere,” I said, with the same sense of choking in my throat, “Well then, don’t,” was the reply. All this time Lindsay Kershaw had been standing silcut but attentive to what was going on. He was deeply flushed, but save tor this his face had “no message” ‘to me nor to any one else. “Come, Zoe, run and put on your habit,” then said Algernon. ‘1 will go to the stables and get the beasts saddled, James”—to his eldest brother—"you will come? and Lindsay, you! Yes,” said both the men at one: The earth reeled under my feet. I should have fallen hadI not caught hold of a branch of the lime tree which formed one of the “up- rights” for Zoe's hammock. shall know what to think, Zoe, if you make. yourself a party to this insult to me,” I said in low voice to my little love, who by this time had sprung to her feet and wa: ing near me. “I usk—I entreut you not or at least if you do to include me,” tinued earnestly. “If you do not— There was niy false move! My unfinished threat roused all there was of recalcitrant and mischievous, self-willed and thoughtless in thi wayward child. Her bright eyes flashed, h little figure stiffened. - “You may think what you like, and I don't care what you do think,” she said. going all the same, and you shall not come. If you do I shall stay at home.” On which she ran across the lawn and dis- by oe into the house, felt half mad and wholly bewildered. I knew to my cost what it was to quarrel with Zoe. Whatever had gone wrong was made ten times worse. If she had struck me with a whip before she then struck me with a braid of scorpions. And all these little tiffe—which are, I suppose, inevitable to the time of court- ship—had only reduced me still more to a state of abject slavery, and increased her power and predommance, And if I dared not resent this affront on Ler, still less could I on her brothers, This would be to hi her as —— them against me, aud I could not afford It was a terrible moment; but in all the press and passion of my thought came the one warn- ing thought, like an inner voice speaking to “Patience! bear with patience.” di, ight reaching in the far ry and dreary immedi- ate fab eage pa the faith, the belief, the knowledge iu spite of all her ‘ward- ness, she loved me. If I had not known thas I would havo — up the whole . even though I had biown out my brains the next moment. But I knew that she loved me. She ‘was wayward and her tty petty tyranny was meant for my di iture—but she loved me, Bewil: by passion, dazed with suffering, I stood there scorning yond the point of self. it she loved mie though Meauwhile"Zoe was putting o1 habit. and the hofses were brought round, while the heaveus grew darker wud the threat- ened storm was iow momentl# more imminent. There was that ‘mysterious hush—that eerie silence below, broken by the strange soughings of the unfelt wind in the upper branches of polls, which is so ve ird ve almost ri ly. signewere, however. of no avail. The gods wished to destroy, and they first ‘THE RIDING PARTY ASSEMBLED. made the victims mad. The riding party as- sembled, and soon the horses were cantering down the drive. Zoe had so far relaxed in h forbidding hamor as to allow me to put he: up. Her little foot lay in my hand as lightasa flower, and she sprang into the saddle as if sho had been a bird lighting on atwig. When farly sented and adjusted, and as she was starting, she half reined in her horse and looked back at me, as if she were going to speak tome. She did not; she only smiled and waved her hand pleasantly. as if no shadow had come between us. At this moment she looked like a lovely child whose wayward will had been gratified. Being atatified. her heart was now free to act. Where he had been willful and disobedient sho now became penitent, atid her eves prayed for the ‘ace of reconciliation. Iam glad she looked Ieee her now, her graceful her childish shoulder, and the golden fringes of her hair glistening as ifthey were burnighed by the sun. Those golden fringes and that tender smile seemed in ®& manner reproductive one of the other—the same thing in two different forms. With this I was fain to be content, and with this smite on my heart, lying as a ray of sun- shine across a barren desert, I started to go to my own desolate home—my sole possession of joy, a girl’ feetiag. backward look, But why shoulf'f not await their return at the Hall? ‘ue, I had not been asked and was not expected, but as Zoe's betrothed was I not exempt from auch ordinary social pr i tions? It took ail my self-control to k from directing my steps to the drawing room, where Zoe's picture was hanging, where her piano stood opened and a number of her fa- yorite songs lay upon the music rack, where the very air would be perfumed by the charm of her individuality. Iwas, as it were, drawn thither by » magnet and I twice turned my face toward that Mecca of my yearning soul and twice I refrained and turned back again. At that time Icaught the sound voice whinying affectionately left him at the stables with directio shoulda’t t Ra joy- ous bound, I'd léap on Sealskin’s back and overtake the merry party, for, although not much of an te, I was an excellent horse- man, and Sealskin could show his hind hoofs with ease to any Morse in the neighborhood. ddenly Zoe's words, ‘You shall not come, sounded strangely loud in ind ears, And again I stood motionless, drawn by two forces of equal power. Now it was that some mysterious voice prompted another course, I caught the whisper and, quicker than thought ittelf almost, I hastened to obey. It was to disguise myself as @ groom, over- take Huggins, who would naturally be nearly a quarter of & mile behind the party, send him back and follow the pleasure seekers as ir equerry. - Would it look as if I were distrusting Zoe and were spying upon her movements? Oh, how silly such —— t: It would add to their mad merriment, end I pictured to myself how Zoe, with a sweet moue, would cry out: “Huggins, dismount and arrange my etirrap, Huggins, fall back to your place. Huggins, don’ on your horse like de: where, with the aid of one ily transferred myself in livery. Sealskin shot out of the yard ltkeé bow from an arrow. But joy was short- lived, for when I reached the open highweyt became a forthe first time of the geld rogreme jtorm was e ; the thunder ‘was of that Booming viva which always fdtetelis storm, and in the western sky, now-blaek as night itself, the lightning was zigzagging with a lurid hue. I knew the course the party was to take and in a few moments aye Up slongaide of Hug- ina. Algernon had nettled me one day by telling me that I looked like Huggins aud I be- lieved it now, for that man actually turned pale as his eyes rested upon his double. He told me afterward that be took me for his ghost and gad felt his hair stiffen with fear of death, I slipped a sovereign into the fellow’s hand and told him to turn bridle and put for the Hall. He thrust his tongue into bis cheek, gavi wink and obeved, d so now that I could scarcely see the figures of the riders ahead of me. I was quite certuin that I knew their in- tent; it wis to gain the club sheds on the road to the cliffs, and take shelter there till the rain was over, But I saw that they would not be able to accomplish.their purpose, for the storm was upon us; it came with that sudden and tremeudous violence which seems to shake the vory earth fo its center; expected it, yet startled, stunned, appalled. It was more like torm in the tropics than one in our milder- mannered temperats zone. The thunder peuled aud the lightoing flashed with terrifying force and vividness, and then the rain came down in very shoets of huge and pelting drops, whereby the rivulets were swollen to rivers and the rivers became unmanageabls torrents. Seal- skin turned his beautiful head toward the play of the mad thunderbolts in the western sky and snorted nervously, but at the touch of my hand and a few words of encouragement he quieted down and bore himself like a rational being. Thad pulled up to within about 100 feet of the others, for there was a dull and heavy pain about my heart and it seemed almost imipossi- ble for me to get my breath. Suddenly a long, loud, shrill scream of terror rang out rbove the noise of the swirling wiud and the rattle of the thunder. The ery cut into my heart hike « kaife. Sealskin answered my call and stretched his splendid body till he seemed almost borne along on the wings of the storm. In a few seconds’ time I was thero, ‘A mad fright had seized upon the three horses. Alj on's had reared and fallen upon him. Lindsay wns making unskiliful efforta to control his long enough to dismount aud hasten to Algernon's assistance. A flash more intensely w! and blinding than any yet showed me Lindsay terror-stricken face, his parted lips and nerv. Jess grasp, for athlete though he was, he lacke: entirely my courage and presence of mind. Sealskin answered the reins as readily as if the soft, atill air of a June day were over out heads. I lad discugaged my right foot from tho stirrup, when, to my horror, I eaw that Zoe was not there, Her horse had broken away with her. Frail child at beat, she had, in her terror at aight of her falling brother, lost 4ll control over him and wis now sayy heaven knew where—dend, perhaps, trampled beneath the pitiless hoofs of the maddened beast or dragged at his heels, her fair form beatin, aguinst’the roadbed; or worse even than ine her scat only to be dashed to death when the panic-stricken animal abould come to make bis last wild leap over the eliffs. I know not what kept me from thing out my life then and there. { think it was Sealskin, stood so like a thinking, reasoning creature, oni; waiting for me come to myself and fi him the word to At last my bewilderment vanished. I drew the reins tly over that arched, velvety ueck and cried like a madman, shrieked is-a better word: “Go, go, Soalskin, iF life; go, you bewutiful beast, go! For Zoe’ mals 50s you alone can save her, my Zoe, my life aud my love!" f CHAPTER IIL’ Nover, if I live to bes thousarfd years old, shall I forget the shrill of delight that entered my body from Sealskin's as he sprang forward at my call, his long, beautiful ugek. out and his delicate, pointed ears Iaid back, PTEMBER 13, 1890—-SIXTEEN PAGES, fagitiven. ‘Tho sight of Zoe steadied Geughte at once, “With = gentle tug’ fee 2 Was JUST IN TIME, Sealskin to the rightof her. I was just in time. Another ten seconds and she would have been over the cliffs. Throwing my reine over my arm as Sealskin caught the gattof the other horse. I loaned forward and passing my arm around Zoe's slender waist I called out in a calm, commanding voi “Cast yourself loose from the saddle, Miss Zoe; I have hold of you.” At that instant there was a simultaneous flash of lightning and deaf rattle of thunder. Freed from all restraint Z60's horse dashed forward and disappeared over the cliffs. It was hardly necessary for me to rein in Seal- skia, 80 alert was he to do hi lightning had cut ite way through th cloud; I had caught s glimpse of Zoe's fice, Death could not have made it paler. She had swooned. completely. Her eyes were closed and her long, black lashes, beaten against her cheeks by the rain, gave hor beautiful face the look of death by drownin; keeper's lodge stood only « fow hundred feet away. Thither I turned Sealskin’s head, and lifted that loved burden to which my arms Were 80 accustomed gently down and bore it into the house, As I was firmly resolved, if at all possible, to keep from Zoe the knowledge of my having saved her life ly confided her to the care of the koeper's wife, saying that I would ride back to the Hall to get a carriage. Up to this moment I had not given a thought to Algernon and Lindsay. Should I not ride to their assistance? yet'l hated to betray mysolf, As the storm hi ent its fury and nature was once more serene and smiling I could get a view of a long stretch of roadway. My mind was relieved of a terrible weight of anxiety upon secing the two young men can- tering slowly toward me. I had just time to avoid them. By the timo I was back into my own clothesagain the carriage came around from the stables and springing upon the boc I took the reins out of the coachman’s hands, for I wanted to do everything myself, and would have been only too liuppy ‘to drag the carriage. In a few moments I had clasped my beloved Zoe, radiant and smiling, but a bit agitate my arms. She broke down completely the moment the carriage door was slammed upon us, and lay for a moment or so weeping and ing in my arms. Suddenly she burst out in a deliciously naive w: jut, dearest, what shall Ido for Huggins? What do people generally do when other people save their lives? It was really a piece of impertinence on his part, just as if I didn't know the cliffs were there. I have a great mind to discharge him, All at once her gayety left her, her face clouded up, her eyes opened ith a strange look of mystitication in them, ‘Justin, Justin, look, look!” she halt shrieked: “tho print of your ring on the back of my hand. What does it mean? Speak, teil me, when did it happen? Oh, miserable man, I see itall, It was you and not Huggins who saved me. Look, look, wretch that you are, see the imprint left upon me, I felt it as you lifted me from my horse, Justin, Justin, you have branded me, poor slave that I am. I shall never draw another happy breath,” Idid not know then what this wild talk meant. I thought it was natural that Zoe should be somewhat hysterical and paid little attention to her strange words. In fact, I at- tempted to pooh-pooh the idea that I and not Huggins had saved her life. But no, the evi- dence was overwhelming. There ‘upon the back of her soft white hand was the perfect im- press of a strange seal ring which I’ wore upon the third finger of my left hand—a class ring— a jeweled serpent coiled upon a large moon. stone with bis tail in his mouth encircling the Greek word “i” (forevei So as we neared the hall I made a full con- fession, and as 1 said to Zoe, “threw myself upon the mercy of the court.” ‘Miserable she exclaimed, ‘you shall receive the heaviest penalty tho law allows,” Zoe seemed quite herself when her father and mother met her at the door, both of them too much overcome ty do more than rain Caresees upon this wildand wayward child whomI had snatched from the very jaws of death for them and for myself. oh,, what a season of sweet triumph this jas for me, for me who had been for so many butt of indifference, the abject of the target of moly 6t thea | oaily baliove "s love for me ath at the hands of these Jealous brothers. Now they hugged me, quar- reled for the privilege of handing me a cigar- ette or doing mc some amall service. And how Pe to me was the spegtacle of the neglected indsay! How entirely delightful was it for me. And yet there was a voice, a low, thin, cold voice that — my triumph, I didn’t recognize it at first, and was startled to find that it came from Zoe's sweet lips. As she turned to go upstairs she leaned over the rai ing. drew her hand outof mine and whispered: “That ring. I took it off and handed it to her. When dinner was unnounced Zoe was 4 little late and we were wuiting for her. To the surprise of aul and to my secret disquiet, the beautiful Zoe glided iuto the drawing room clad not in her customary white, butin black. Although the ral was a tulle and displayed through its japhanous web the faultless symmetry of her figure, making her look as radiant as the even- ing star, yet I was troubled, Haugiug on the same chain with the locket which held my likeness was the mysti¢ rin; fou see, dear she murmured, as she raised her speaking eyes to me, “your slave wears the symool of her bondage. ‘It is AFI, When night came a strange silence settled upon the hall. Every one acemed too weary for music or cards. Zoe and parted atan early bour. But I could not sleep, and tossed about, passing the time studying the fantastic shapes [amen by the moonlight on the walls and ings. What wasin my room tonight? What pres- ence haunted it with forebodings of sorrow: Sighs seemed to fill the air—oue would have said that a woman was gently weeping. I ered all around, but no one was to be seen. Vhen I drew back the curtan ud looked out the moonlight lay like a silver sheet over the ‘ass, aud the moon herself shone high like o urnished shield in the clear, unclouded sky, But in the room was still the consciousnoss of @ presence, the faint echo of sighs, and a woman's quiet weeping. Iwas not asleep; I had not.lost conyciousness for half a moment, when suddenly became aware of something more than myself close to me, I opened my eyes, and there, loaning over me, but as af hor ig in tl ‘ir, not standing on the earth, I saw the face and form of Zoe. The moonlight shone on her it shone on the grass and ie of the garden— asitshone on the silent trees and the still waters of the tranquil Inke. I saw her as clearly as I saw that moonlight itself, She-was as visible—and as intangible. I put out my hand to her,as she bent over me, but it met nothing—grasped nothing. It scomed to part, to disperse, the substance, whatever it was, that formed this intangible vision; and when £ withdrew it and sank buck on the pillow she reappeared as visibly as before. ~ She bent over me and her face camo nearer tomine. AsI live 1 felt the shadowy tonch of her sweet lips on mine and I heard—and yet I did. not hear with my outer ears, but in my inner senses—hor soft voice whisper tenderly: “Justin, [love you. Forgive me; I love you! love you, Don't doubt it; but I'dare not be yours. Forgive me, poor weak woman that I am; I cannot help it,” & Hark! Was not tha’ ject lay upon the floor. 1 stooped and picked itup. It wasa note from Zoe and conwined these words : “Dearest, Fam on my knees as I write these lines in my loved Justin, selfish woman Iam, of lious apirit Defore 1 could bring myself to part oe ig liberty to promise to become vou fe. It was # terrible struggle, freedom so. I revel in that spirit which knows ‘Bd master and turn with disdain from the hand that would control, Nature made me so and ved on nature’s work. Now that to son, Lonedoer: re my hi! i i Hy etd fil : ) i f i HE that a dal and bia Fn /IMPOSING CEREMONY. When I looked upon gaye The Obeequies of a Famous South in asingle night, it eeemed to me that she was dead and that in reality it was nanght but her spirit which glided noiselessly American Bishop. WEALTHY AND CHARITABLE. a from room to room, with armile on its white face of such angelic sweetnoss that no one Hime Scuer D, D, Juan de Dios Bosque— Mow Me Lived and the Power He dared to speak the name of Zoe, = e fami ician was hastily called in, but he sh Mis heed yarntnlly, : “It is notin my hne,” he murmured in an absent-minded way, “but possibly I mar be able to ae he out, I'll go home and think it over, . Women are strange folk, very strange folk.” A day or so after the good doctor came again, He was bright and chery and certainly had something important to communicate. HMad—funcral services Characteris- A family consultation was called, “Justin must fall ill.” he began, tically South American. “Fall ill?” I repeated wonderingly. “Yes, and very ill, too, apparently. I'll reg- ate on eee ulate your dizt for you so as to make yor give you some harmless medic: bleach you out, You must have chest pains, and when once you bogin to have them you mustn't forget-to keep them up and you mustn't get frightened after a while when you ee near death's door you really appear to I promised absolute obedience, and ina few days the first effects of the doctor's treatment began to be visible, Zoe spent a t deal of her time at a con- vent neur the Hall, where she was preparing to enter upon hor novitiate, but I could sco very Plainly that my changed appearance was at- tracting her attention and occupying ber thoughts, She intercepted the doctor one day, and, taking him aside, questioned him in a subdued tone. ~In heaven's name, doctor, what's the matter with Justin?’ vA complication of ailments, Zoe, I regret to say.” “And you will make him woll, dear doctor, will you not?" “If I pull him throngh the winter it will be the very most I can do.” Zoo caught her breath, About a woek after this ag I was reclining in an casy chair before an open window I felt a hand pass softly over my hair and, gliding down my cheek, rest upon my shoulder. It_was Zoo's, “Poor, dear boy,” she murmured, “would it be any comfort to you to have the Zoe you leave behind you bear your name?” My heart gave a bound at these words, and it was only with the greatest difticulty that I could keep myself from bursting out with a joyful “Yes, yes, Zoe, my darling, my life aud my love,” and from throwing my arms around hor in a paroxysm of delight. But I restrained mysolf and said with a sigh: : 53 dear Zoe, it would be a great com- ‘or: In a few days it was arranged to have the marriage ceremony performed, and the lovely Zoe, on her way to the convent, halted long enough in the drawing room to speak the fatal words which made her my wife. “Ican do nothing more for him,” said the doctor one duy to Zoe, “but you, by tender nursing, may possibly add another month to his life.” Zoe determined that that extra month should be mine and began to' lavish attentions upon me, and I commenced to mend so rapidly that I could see that Zoe was almost startled by the success of her efforts, ‘ake care, Zoe, my life, my love, you may add more than that month the doctor promised you.” and her only answer was to bury her From Tae Stat’s Trayoling Commiasoner. La PageBortvia, August 10. HUSH has fallen upon the city, for the bishop is dead, This is a more startling announcement than the stranger at first appreciates, for Bishop ‘Juan de Dios Bosque was the foremost man in Bolivia, a functionary of more import- ance than the president of the republic and With far greater powcr, Neither revolutions nor changing governments could affect his state and position; he directed rulers and shaped public events and his word was a law from which there was mo appeal. His influence was more potent because not observ- able on the surface, but it penetrated to every home in all the walks of life, swaying the strongest through their superstitions and main- taining its firmest hold through the women and the children, “He was only sixty-one years old when he succumbed to what surgeons name visical calculus, a terrible disease for whose treatment ho went to Europe eight years ago and returned apparently cured. He was appointed to the diocese by the pope in 1 and from that time to the present has enjored an income much greater than that of the presi- dent, ranging betwoen $60,000 and €100,000 per annum, He was extromely charitable and not only founded but supported the great orphan asylum of La Paz out of his private meaus, besdes dispensing large sums of money iu daily charities, DARE STORIES. Of course dark tales are told concerning his private life and alleged methods of adding to his income, circulated, now that he is dead, by those who a few days ago dared not speak his name except inthe most respectful manner. Mander, Hibs Béath, lovee shining mark, and doubtless most of these falechoods are attribu- table to tho petty jealousy that always follows those who are elevated in purpose or position above the common herd. The best that ean be said of him, or any human being in the final summing up of the earthly record, is that he was not wanting in charity, the greatest of the Christian virtues, Some time ago Bishop Bosque got himself so deeply “‘under a cloud” at Rome that the pope suspended him fora year or two. The trouble began with the dis- covery that he had bestowed two or three liv- ings apiece on certain poor curates. Of course the gossipers insist that the latter divided the spoils with their, patron, but as the cures beautiful headin my breast. Then I knew that the time had come for me to get well. = SS ER ay AN EXPERE ON INSANITY. Discomfited by the Man He Was Trying to Prove Out of His Mind. From the New York Tribune. At Chicago over a thousand people fought for entrance to the little cours room Wednesday in which Frank H. Collier, a lawyer, is being tried on the question of his sanity, Collier has long been a prominent citizen of Chicago, and is the man whom the British-Americans of the west selected to convey their testimonial to Queen Victoria at the time of her jubilee. Lately Collier's peculiarities have been such as to cause great dispute as to his sanity, and interest is added to the present trial by the fact that Collier is defending his own case against some of the best legal talent of the city. . The principal witness against Collier was Dr. Kiernan, the well-known expert, who was an important witness in the Guiteau case. Noth- ing appeared of a sensationa: character until Collier asked Dr. Kiernan if he believed in a hereafter. ‘Your honor,” exclaimed Kiernan, jumping to his feet and entirely losing Ins temper, “I wi:l not answer such an insolont MORO. sc meen — A tong discussion followed, which resulted in =e court ordering Dr. Kiernan to answer, “I never) hope in the hereafter,” he said. “That or) “Did you not testify in the Guiteau trial that you had no belief?” “I did.” “What {s the object of this, Mr. Collier?" asked the court, “I want to show that through no fear of the hereafter would this man hesitate to swear me into an asylum. I also want to show that he _ ideas that are extraordinary on this ques- jon, ‘Then Collier asked Dr. Kiernan if one out of every twenty-five persons who daily walk the streets were not insane. The answer was in the negative. “Did yon never swear that the proportion I have mentioned was true?” “T did not.” Collier produced the record of the Guiteau case and read the testimony of Dr. Kiernan, wherein he said that five persons out of every twenty-five were insane. This produced a great sensation. Collier said, when asked by the court, that he had two objects in asking these questi Ine was to show that Dr. Kiernan was a “orank” on the subject of insanity and that his expert testimony was different at different times, The C. W. Beck case was then taken up. Beck was pronounced hopelessly insane and confined in the insane asylum at Jefferson for ten days or more, his object being to investigate the munagement of the asyium, which he did. Dis- covering great abuses, Beck wrote them up in such @ way as to secure a compicte reform in the management of the Cook County Asylum, “You pronounced Beck insane, did you, doc- tor?” auked Collier, receive the merest pittance from the government, the salary of each being about $100 per annum, there could not have been very much to divide. The suspension of the too sympathetic bishow was precipitated by his marrying a cabinet minister to a widow, three of whose children by former husband having been godfathered by the mi: said. No remotest tie of blood ex: them, but the church expressly forbids such marrifges, on the ground that a tionship, sacred though unexplai . exists between compadres, as parents and godparents are called. During the period of suspension his salary from the government, $6.000 a year, was stopped, but the grateful minister pre- sented him with 21,500 and his parishioners made up a purse of $30,000 more, so that he managed to worry along. SIGNS OF MOURNING. Now that he is dead the aspect of the whole city is suddenly changed. Martial music no longer filis the air; flags are at half mast and tied with crape; black banners are drooping from the windows of all the houses immedi- ately surrounding the episcopal palace, while the latter, the huge prison-like stcucture occu- pied during Melgarejo’s time as a barrack, is literally covered with symbols of woe. In the second-story apartment which that illustrious eneral used for a dining room the bishop Brenthod his last and from thas very window through which the former marched his men to afall of fifteen feét and broken bones, merely to es, off their obedience to a friend, a sable pall is banging. According to a church custom in Bolivia the bishop must lie in staté four days and mean- while people of every class are in deepest mourning. All day long, from 10 a.m. till mid- night, a throng of people is seen wending its way in one direction to pay the last token of respect to the holy father. There are monks, gray-cowled, barcheaded and barefooted; priests in black robes and shovel hats; friars allin white from, head to foot; processious of boys who are being educated for the priest- hood; sisters of charity and nuns of all orde: various socictics going in a body; delegatio of citizens; troops of employes from every branch of the government; Indians, Cholos and ladies of high degree. By the way, the women of South America can mourn more, in outward appearance, than any other class of people on earth. ‘All wear straight, scant go’ of black wool. entirely untrimmed and slightly trailing, and mantas or shawls of the same material, draped in straight lines over the shoulders and body, and covering the face so that only the eyes are visi- ble. A company of these funereal figures glid- ing slowly through the streets with bowed heads calls to mind some of Dore’s illustra- tions in Dante's Inferno. LYING IN BTATE. Bince everybody is not on! pected to cal! tpon the illustrious dead let us join the multitude and proceed to the house of mourning. The Indians and half-brecds go in their every-day bright-hued toggery, having no other, but custon decrees that other people must dress entirely in black—the gentlemen in tall hate with a band of crepe around them and the ladies with no hats at all. but the w versal manta worn over the head. The “pal- ace,” though very extensive, looke shabby enough ontside—-the lower floor on the front side occupied by several poor shops and its once white walls now yellow gray with dirt and time. Passing down a side street we finda pair of double doors like those of a barn stand- ing wide open and enter a big bare patio, paved with small round stones, the same in which Melgarejo drilled his troops. Doors are thickly set on all sides of the in- closure, but there is no mistaking the right one. Through a hall-like salon we go, where soldiers stand on guard and rows of black-gowned priests are perched all around the edges like so many over-grown birds of prey, and come at last to the inner room, in which the prelate is holding his last reception. Itis a 1 square sala, the walls covered with wreaths of white and purple flowers, each chaplet tied with long black ribbons, to which the card of the donor is attached. Monks, riests and friars stand all around, each hold- ing @ lighted candi hile, hour after’ hour, @ constant processiou of mourning people pours in at one door and out at another. HOW HE LOOKED, 1 “Do you know that he is now the city editor of - Caicago paper?” “and yet you hold that he is insane?” “Well, I think Mr. Leck is in that condition hovering between the criminal and the lunatic,” said the doctor bitterly, r. Kiernan,” said Collier quietly. “you are exhibiting the very symptoms you are charging against me.” The doctor said that a failing memory was a symptom of Collier's malady; that a forgetful- ness of recent occurrences Wgs a certain sign of the trouble. Collier then related the most minute details of his life during the last two years. Altogether, his victory over the well- Bown expert was such that the court found it almost impossible to suppress the frequent bursts of applause that greeted Collier's bril- liant sallies, 2 Eh Sas Some Street Talk. From the Detroit Free Press. “Why, is that you?” cries the first woman as they met on the street, The bishop never looked better in life, de- spite the sufferings of his last days. The proud, dark tace, Moorish in typo, wears a calm, though by no means « happy. smile—a sphinx- like pete na ty that pe iy Hing haunt ‘te be- holder. He lies at an angle of forty-five de- to be asolid bed of nd is that you?” “Just got home?” ‘ive “S0'd. (‘Bo'd 3 Baby sick?” “Ro ra mine Have any mosquitoes?” {BodL Make lots of friends?” , “So'd I. I just cried when Did your tranke got eusened?™ ot eet re Isn't it dreadful? Well, that it requires nearly two hours yo the short journey. There are priest. monks and friars, in white, gray and lack robes with scarlet hoods. all chanting and upholding candles or crucifixes. There children from the public schools, boys frem the Jesuit Coleze and red-skirt.4 singing with poping voices; nuas of every order; Daughters of Mary, sisters of charity, female seminaries, female congregations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Rosario, San Merced and many others, and the murmur of their united prayers sounds like the distant voice of the sen. is the president and his cabinet, the diplomatic corps, municipal council, national institute, lawyers and judges, bomberos (firemen); the Hayden Choir, Catholic Choir, Philharmonte and other mnsical organizations; the “Workmen of the Cross,” Brothers of San Jose, Mutual Benef- cent Brotherhood and no end of other societies, Even the gambling clubs are rep- resented in separate bodies and thousands of citizens have joined in the parade, inte: to walk from the palace to the cathedral nl afterward to the cemetery, a distance of about three miles, 3 ture of this part of tho pageant is the cavairy, a thousand men in scarlet and gold from top to toe, on splendid white horses, riding five abreast, A score of brass bands, marching as equal distances, are playing, all at once, and numbericss banners and emblematic devices are flying along the line. In the midst, envel- oped in clouds of incense, the body of the bishop is borne on an uncovered catafalque, whose black pall is strewn with fresh roses. It is carried by priests, but the black ribbons ea- tending from itare held by the president of the republic. the vice president, mineters of justice aud the foreign ministers, The ime pressivencas of the scene is somewhat martod by the spectacle of the empty hearse (dressed ail over m purple and white gauze, put on in billowy paffs to represent clouds, spangled with silver starsand haug with wreaths of roses,) careering gaily to and fro, to show at- self of Arrived at the chure! the catafalque is de- posited on a dais, raised at such an angle that the corpse, still dressed in its splendid robes and je with miter and golden staff, as ang. The great funcral dais, bung rtain spangled with tara, a beau- y illuminated cross at the bead and weep- ing figures standing at the sides, occupies # conside portion of the center of the» cathedral. The eutire edifice is draped with biack crope and mbbons, lighted by thousands of candles and perfumed with flowers and a- conse—but above all these ther odor may be plainly distinguished, which, together with the swollen hauds Lave almost burst their and the face that still wears its ephinx- ile, but has grown many shades darker, proves that the ombalmers did mot do their work well enough for so jong an exhibition, THE GREAT BANCTCARY is packed to its utmost capacity, the most dis- tinguished guests having been supplied with seats and every inch of standing room occu- ned. ‘The service is exactly three hours long, Jeun Malina’s requiem mass being magnifi- cently rendered by a full-stringed orchestra and « hundred voices, Then follows the ora- tion, delivered by a brother canon, after which another reverend father discourses at great length in the name of the regular and secular clergy. Meantime the faces of those siting nearest the catafalque are seen to grow pale and paler, and the standing multitude, even the soldiers, who are used to it, shift about wearily from one leg to the other, while the crowds outside, heating nothing within, and impatient for the show to continue, are talku aud laughing in groups. At lengtu (about o'clock, according to program), the procession is reformed, to escort the hero of the day to the Pantheon, The same chanting of priests and burning of incense and singiug of choirs are resumed, interrupted several times on the way, when the catafalque is set down in the roadand the processiun halts while another oration is delivered. The devotion of many falters as the miles and hours lengthen, and by the time the city limits are reached most of the private citizens have deserted, THE CEMETERY OF LA PAZ is one of the finest in South America, most of the dead being deposited in niches just large enough to slip in «coffin (or oftener # corpse without a coffin), placed tier above tier in the high walls that surround the inclosure. o- morrow the newly sealed door of one of these will be labeled im letters of gold, “limo Senor Doctor Dou Juan de Dios Bosque, Ovispo de La Paz.” ‘The bigh-sounding tule if translated into English, which doubtiess Would have mightily shocked his highness, would be plain John Wood; or, if literally rendered, *‘liius- trious Sir, Mr, Dr. John-of-God Wood.” Hastening to our hotel yeeny pe crowd we watched the stragglers from procegsion coming back in small bodies, and the clock im the congressional tower strikes the hour of six before ali have returned, The soldiers come lastand are marched turee times around the plaza, no longer to funeral music, but gay waltzes and national airs, then up the hills to their barracks. Troops of gray-cowled Fran- Ciscans glide away to their cloisters; groups of white-roved friars hurry to the San Merced; priests, canons and clergy basten homeward, many in carriages, all inclined to be jolly after the labors of the day—-some even convivial. It hus been a magnificent funeral, but among the multitudes that witnessed the display prob- ably there was mot one poor Indian who, though often cold and hungry, would not rather be himself, alive, on the top of God's green earth, than the dead prelate in all bis pomp and glory. Musing in the twilight, we wonder whethe, could the lately departed soul return to iis old baunts tonight, it might nos be disappointed to tind the world going onas contentedly as ever and even its closest friends forgetiul, Sotrue itis that in this world of graves one more death is like the dropping of a stone into the sea—a momentary vacancy, then the waters close over and leave no sign, Meanwhile, though darkness has descended below and wrapped the city in deepest shadow, the heaven-piercing suows of the Illimani are gloriously illuminated by departed sun—a hint of things unseen by mortal eyes. Faysre B. Wasp. —s ome Again. ‘The weather daily cooler grows, The season's drawing to a close, ‘The pretty damsel in pique, Appears not on the beach today, Enjoying there a noonday stroll Beneath a crimson parasol, With sprightly step and charming ott, Fresh irom the bath to dry her bair, For she is back again to town, And, having doffed her seaside gown, Is hard at work in the saloon, Where you may hear her voice at noom, As she in stivery accent calls: “Koas'beeffriedliver'nfish balls.” —Cape Cod Tom seta A Question for Mannish Maids. From Lite. He—“Thore is one thing I'd like to know.’ ay ly when cole le— it do you ~ your lar button slips down the of your neck?” A Curious Little Raflroad. “You fellows down here can talk about your railroads, but I have strack the biggest thing in the way of « railroad in the west that I ever New York 7% “It's a little track. narrow Rey ee —