UNKNOWN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8000, 11 December 1905, Page 4

UNKNOWN

Adapt* irom the Fo^b. [ComouxD.] "Whilkerr" •' Wherever gpi eye* will lead at." " Magnificent 1 To the end of the world I Cornel" They walked about, speaking seldom, both content wfch each other's company, lor some time, till the tower clock hastily brought them back from that land of bliss; and also told them how late it was. They patted—to meet again on the morrow. H. Cecilia mhed into the room like a pink, Aughing, winged bunt of happiness, and fell upon the neck of an elderly woman who was feeding a canary. "You must forgive me, auntie I I have stayed away so long I You must have been uneasy on my account. lam terribly hungry I 1 did not know at all what time it was until the tower clock began to strike." "But you always carry a watch with yon." "I did not look at the time. I forgot everything. And only now I feel that lam hungry. Bogdan Olsky showed me such interesting things in the city; such beautiful, ancient, historical things " "Olsky? The same who " "Yes; the famous author. I met him unexpectedly. Yon can't reach the second cage? Let me do it; I'll jump up on the chair. I love to feed the birds. I have pigeons at home. Do yon like pigeons. I tike them very much." " I'd like to know what yon don't love, my darling." " That's true—l love everything." She jumped down from the chair. " But I am sorry for one thing." •■ What ii it?" " Yanina Skerakaya, the painter——" "I know her; I know her I" "She has left the city! And I was so anxious to meet her." "She left the dry? Who told you so? I met her 1b the park this morning. I know her well." " This morning? Is that possible ? " " Yes, yea. There's no doubt about it; •he's in town; bat t think you really should have your dinner. Among other things, I ■appose, you like to eat dinner when you are hungry?" She said nothing in reply, but stood as if petrified in the middle of the room. She eoold not understand why he should have lied to her. Perhaps he merely repeated a (alee rumor. Of course, it cannot be otherwise. The city is full of gossip. Ah, how ihe will laugh at him to-morrow t She will sail him "gossip." A man, and a famous writer at that—and yet a "gossip I" How they will both laugh at bim 1 And perhaps he said it purposely. He did not want the presence of a third person. And indeed, she too felt better when they were alone. Now that she had learned that her friend was in town, she decided to go to see her at nice. To-morrow she will go to the jasmine ■ark with the " gossip'' alone. Why should ihe cause disagreeableness to him and to lerself? But this evening she must spend tith Yanina.

An hoar before sunset she jumped oat ol \ »b, nn op the suitcase of a large house, rang the bell at the entrance, and when the loor iras opened, entered the waiting room if the punter. Here she paused, fearing est she might distnrb Yanina. But her iteps had not been inaudible. A deep, fernnine voice came from the adjoining room: " Is that you, Olsky ? " His name? Nonsense! Snch a name, hough Tare, might belong to someone else, fet, something chained her feet to the rronnd.

Soon the painter asked again, in a caressng roice: "Is that jot, Olsky ? Come in 1" Cecilia advanced toward the open door. | " Ah, jou. Cecilia I" | Amid paintings and sketches stood a tall, dim, woman, with dark curly hair and a dightly withered face. She ran up to Cenlia, embraced her silently,- and kissed her in the forehead and the lips. VWhen did you arrive?" she asked a ittle later. "If yon had written to me I Tould have come out to meet you. Your arival here wafts over me all the quiet and ragrance of your lovely places. Ah, how I -ested there! I produced my very best work ight aflet my rest in your village. I have 10 many questions to ask yon, and also something to tell you. Sit down here, and I'll sit down beside you. Do you want some candy? Ton like candy, don't you? Yes, but then jou like everything." With genuine love in her eyes she looked jpon her fair friend, who was almost a child in comparison with her, for she, Yanina, had leveloped on the thorny roads of toil, and on he height* of various things. Suddenly Cecilia risked: " When I entered you asked twice, ' Is ihat you, Olsky ?' Wnich Olsky is it, Yanina?" " Bogdan Olsky." "The writer?" " Ye 3; you don't know him, do you ? " Cecilia did not reply for some time. Her eyes were radiant with joy. Then the asked: " Do yon know him intimately, Yanina ? " The painter smiled. "Do I know him intimately? He is my lance. We were engaged a few months ago. We met last winter for the first time. Oar natures are impressionable; besides we were drawn together by intellectual and artistic ties. We'll get married in autumn, and, then we will go abroad to study. We oust both grow, to rise higher and higher •n the wings of knowledge and labor." Suddenly she paused. " What a qnear light the green curtain ia throwing on yon. It make you look at though yon were about to faint. But it Isn't the curtain; yon have really turned •ale." " I am slightly ID. I have come to the lity to consult the physicians, Don't mind that. It will pass in a minute." She stretched oat her hand to the box o! candy which stood near her on a small table.

" So you ire very happy? " She felt that her hand was firmly pressed ry the nervous hand of the painter. "For the first time in my life I bare learned the meaning of happiness. It is something wonderful, Cecilia. It seems to me that only now, since I met him, I understand the nine ol life. Before it was merely a matter of doty, now it is a joy. Only now I divine the term, ' The joy of living.' My childhood passed in misfortune and in poverty. I grew op among strangers, and then, when I felt behind my shoulder the rustle of the wings of my angel—the angel of beauty that was to carry me away into dream land—what sufferings I endured, what grief, what straggles I I straggled Against cold and hunger of body and soul, against hardened hearts, against the cruelty of hnman judgment, against lack of confidence in my own powers, against the weakness of my spirit, before I aacoeeded in blazing op the flame that was hidden within me." " I know it"

Her whisper was barely audible. Then, taking another candy, the added in a loader lone:

"No one In *« world dtterTt* happlneti ■Mm than too do,"

•The Una eyes wMob '• had nevet teen tht' ■molUw world" glanced at the painter. I Have you very much confidence in him, Xenina?" . " More than in my own conscience, than In my own reason, than in mysell. I have never had Buch boundless faith in man or in tore." Cecilia's lips quivered with a smile. "But one little cloud has overcast my happiness somewhat," went on the artist alter a brief pause. " I will tell you frankly. In the beginning of spring Bogdan travelled about the country and stayed somewhere in your neighborhood. He was looking there lot something, he wanted to see something; you know how it is with authors. On his return he brought with him some hidden grief. Because he hides it from me, it pains me all the more. 0( course, it must be some business trouble, or some professional misunderstanding, but something is wrong, and that tortures me. There are moments when he grows restless, silent, and even angry. There is something, bnt I don't know just what it is." But Cecilia knew. What was she to do? Burst into tears and tell her everything, and thuß kill her soul, her talent 1 Quietly, without the slightest quiver in her voice, she asked: " Has Olsky told yon anything about our village?" "No. How could he? He wasn't there." Yes. It must have been painful for him to speak to her about the "earthly paradise among the oaks." Cecilia rose. " I most go," she said. "How? So soon? You haven't told me anything about yourself. Bogdan will be here soon. I'll introduce him to you; we'll spend the evening together." As she stood, shaking the painter's hand, there was a smile on her lips, and she seemed taller, straighter, than before. " I cannot. I am not feeling well. Besides, a third person, even though the very best, may be the very worst. I must go. To-morrow, if I don't leave the city—bat, no —I will leave the city to-morrow. Goodbye!" It was already dark when she went down the stairs. She descended so quietly that she seemed like a shadow. Under her little bonnet with the violets she carried in her head the first enigma which life presented to her. At this time some one's heavy footsteps resounded; and by the slow, heavy footsteps Cecilia judged that a man whose head was burdened with an enigma was ascending the stairs. At the turn of the stairway they met —Bogdan and Cecilia, " You were here ? "

He advanced towards hw. Bat she retreated, and seemingly taller mn/x before, leaning on the balustrade, she held bim back with a commanding motion of the hand.

Then she said emphatically: " I have /lot told her that you were in our house. She knows nothing. To-morrow I am going home." Her face was radiant, liko a white cameo | sho walked down the stairs slowly, and sooa disappeared in the darkness.