1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



215 



ON AN ACTRESS. 



Aye, she played rarely, though it had beez 



played 

 A hundred times, and some of more renown 

 Have played it worse, but she bewitched tht 

 town. ' 



Dowered with ethereal loveliness, she swayed 

 A.11 hera'ts to love, while music lent soft aid. 

 She moved, she spoke, and, when she would, 



drew do". . n 

 Laughter uii'^.iencliahle, the player's crown, 

 Symbol that aii . cr Irolic rule c beyed. 



Aye, sheplaye;! i;'. iT, but Hiyseif, who knew 



What gi ief liuLi .y; ii...< - her in i,s chill en;brace. 



Could hear dumb weeping in her words, and 



through 



Her every pese tlie anguished soul could tract 



And pierce Ihe fiiijpery of art unto 

 Tht; pallor shining in her perfect face. 



—London World. 



THE NAZLirS JEM. 



I had beeii ill with fever. They tell 

 me that it was a severe illness auci 

 that the outcome was for mauy days iu 

 doubt. Twice, they said, my feet press- 

 ed on the verge of the dark valley, and 

 twice was I drawn back. I know litthr 

 of this personally. For two weeks o:t 

 more I was either delirious or uucou- 

 Bcious. Then, one bright May morning, 

 I came back from the land of shadows. 



It seemed to me, as I lay there, that 

 my mind was unnaturally acute. I fan- 

 cied that my enfeebled physical condi- 

 tion accentuated the action of my brain. 

 It seemed as if the rest I had given it — 

 the rest, at least, from lucid action — 

 had reinvigorated it. I remember that 

 I threw a great deal of thought into the 

 construction of the first connected sen- 

 tence I addressed to my man. This is 

 what I said: 



"Any letters, George?" 



He started up hastily. 



"Letters, sir? Yes, sir, letters and a 

 telegram. " 



"Read the telegram,"! said, after 

 another spell of thought. 



He tore open the yellow envelope. 



"Just heard of your illness. Start 

 for home today. Mary." 



Mary is my promised wife. I recalled 

 that she was at Colorado Springs with 

 her invalid mother when I fell ill. I 

 looked at George. He must have read 

 my question. He seemed to make a mo- 

 mentary calculation. 



"If all gees well, sir, she should be 



aere too ay. ■ 



Mary was coming. Tlie thought act 

 ed on me like a tonic. I wanted to 

 throw aside the blankets and leap to ihe 

 floor. Gods! And I couldn't even raistt 

 my arm. 



"Get flowers, George," I murmured. 

 "Let in the sunlight. Hide these bot- 

 tles. " 



He smiled and smoothed the blankets 

 above me. 



"Everything shall be as presentable 

 as possible, sir," he said. 



As preeentable as possible? That note 

 of exception must mean me. Never 

 mind, Mary was coming, Mary loved 

 me too well to take oifense at my 

 cnauged appearance. 



"George," 1 said, "the world is still 

 outside there, 1 suppose. Read the news- 

 paper. ' ' 



He read to me for half an hour oi 

 more, read the news just as it came to 

 hand — telegraph, local, political. For 

 a time his voice has simply a lulling 

 effect. Then I began to take notice of 

 the substance of what he read. When I 

 had heard all I wanted, I bade him 

 stop and let the substance of his read- 

 ing filter through my brain. As I strove 

 to recall it all there was an item that 

 seemed to hold my fancy in a peculiar 

 way. It was a telegram which told that 

 a uizam of far Hindustan had been rob- 

 bed of an almost priceless diamond 

 which it was understood he meant to 

 present to Queen Victoria at the time 

 of the coming jubilee. This story, I say, 

 seemed to fascinate me — the diamond 

 of the nizam, filched from its oriental 

 owner, gleaming mayhap from the 

 dusky corner of some squalid hut when 

 it should be eclipsing the jewels of a 

 queen. And Mary was coming. What a 

 gift for Mary that diamond would be — 

 Mary, my queen! There was a strange 

 humming in my head, but out of it all 

 came one clear thought — I would get 

 that diamond and give it to Mary 

 When I had determined on this, I seem- 

 ed to grow cool and calculating. I real- 

 ized how helpless I was physically, but 

 my will power, thank God, was still 

 left me. I would concentrate my mind 

 on the thief. I would will him to come 

 to me. 



I had read somewhere that the soul 

 in a body purified by the fire of disease 

 rises above the restrictions of common 



