Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1906 — TELEGRAPHY of THE SOUL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TELEGRAPHY of THE SOUL

By EDITH M. DOANE

“Extra! Extra!’’ ' The shrill cry of a newsboy outside broke sharply on the silence of the ■warm, sunlit room. “Horrible disaster! Wreck of the limited! Twenty people killed! Extra! Extra!” The girl before the fire started nervously. She was pale, and her eyes were large and dark with excitement She listened intently till the last faint sound died away; then mechanically she smoothed open and reread the bit of yellow paper in her hand: r- “Limited wrecked; escaped unhurt; will be with you tomorrow. John Bronson,the telegram read. With a little passionate cry of relief and-joy she pressed the crumpled yellow messenger to her lips; All the next day she listened anxiously for his ring, and yet when he finally

came, tall, broad shouldered, crossing the room to her with a quick, easy stride, she could find no words for the wild rush of joy that enveloped her, but stood motionless, holding out her hands to him iu the dim, flrelit room. “Martha, Martha V* he said unsteadily, grasping the slender, outstretched hands tightly in his own. And when she did not speak—- “ Martha, have I made a mistake? Do you want me to stay? Tell me the truth.” “Yes, yes!” she answered tremulously, leaving her hands in his in her tumult of delight. “I—oh, can you not see it?” “Yes,” he said gravely; “I know.” “I never meant that other,” she went on, breaking into low, nervous laughter. “I knew even when I said it that I didn’t. Then—yesterday—oh!”—the clasp of her slender fingers tightened on his—“l don’t know what I should have done if you had”— She stopped abruptly and, with a heavy shudder, burst into tears in the strong, tender clasp of his arms. Some time afterward she slipped away from him and dropped into the deep leather chair drawn up in front of the fireplace. A little sigh escaped her. She motioned him to a neighboring ehalr. but gravely and not with her accustomed gayety. “Too far off. 1 can do the subject justice only at close range," he objected. Standing on the hearth rug, he smiled down at her. She was looking straight before her, wide eyed and motionless, staring into the dancing flames. He regarded her searchingly and as if impelled to the question because of her extreme stillness. “Of what are you thinking?” he asked. She turned to him, drawing her breath quickly. The logs in the fireplace flamed up in sudden brilliance, and for the first time she noticed his pallor and the dark circles under his eyes. His face, too, was graver than its wont in spite of its great content. “I have forgotten how hard it was for you, too,” Martha said, with quick contrition. “Do you know, Robert”— she sat up suddenly, her eyes dark with horror—“l thought I was there with you. I heard the shrieks. I saw the red glare of the flames. I felt the train sway and jar as the cars ahead Crashed into the engine. Oh!” She broke off with a long, shuddering breath. “Robert,” sho said solemnly, “I did see it. I—was—on—that—train!” He looked at her strangely, then seated himself on the arm of the big leather chair and, slipping his arm around her, drew her gently toward him. “It was yesterday." she went on in a choked voice, nervously clasping and unclasping his hand. “I was sitting here, and I kept thinking and thinking of you, ami then suddenly I saw you. You were sitting in a car smoking and laughing and talking, and all the while some dreadful thing was creeping up beside you—closing in around you—and you would not see. With all my might I called to you to Come away, and almost that same instant came a terrific jolt and the horrible grinding sound of crashing cars. I tried to close my eyes to the blinding glare of the spreading

flames, and then—l Was here again—just sitting here before the fire at home.” A ' A sob shook her, and he drew her doser. Then she went on again, nervously, In a half smothered voice, a little pause between each sentence. “The dream haunted me. Then your telegram came,. Bobert”—she changed her position somewhat and regarded him earnestly—“l did not dream it. I saw it. Tell me that you believe I did not dream it." He nodded, regarding her gravely. “But how could I see It when I was here In. this room all the time?” she went on, with a little laugh. Then her nerves, already strained to the breaking point, gave way, and her slender body quivered with heavy sobs. The clasp of his arms reassured her. He drew her head to his shoulder, and they sat in silence in the fast darkening room, lighted only by the flames leaping In and out between the heavy logs. His voice, Intense and bushed, was the first to break the silence. “I was In the front part of the train in the smoking car," he said gravely. “I had finished one cigar and was about to take another. Indeed, the cigar case was in my hand, and I was just about to offer it to my companion when I looked up and saw—you. There you were, standing just inside the door at the end of the car. I remember you standing there, so I must have seen your whole figure, but all that I noticed were your eyes—intense, compelling. electric with some messagefastened on mine with a look of passionate, agonizing appeal. “I do not remember that I was surprised. My only thought was that you wanted me. As I went down the aisle toward you, you opened the door and passed swiftly into the car beyond, your eyes, with their compelling appeal, still fastened on mine. So in this fashion, in a sort of trance, I followed you from car to car till we stood in the observation car at the end of the train. “Then I came to my senses.' I started to call you. to cry out, and just at that moment,” he went on, his voice tense with emotion, “the train struck an open switch, and the engine left the rails Ad plowed Into the ground, tearing up the track for yards.” Martha pressed closer to bis side, and he bent and touched his lips to her forehead. The logs in the fireplace burned low, and the room grew dim and vague and mysterious in the uncertain light, r"" “The two cars followed the engine—the smoking car and one other—jammed Into it and were crushed, the fire from the engine setting them ablaze. Most of the occupants were either killed or severely injured. There were some slight injuries to the passengers in all of the other cars except the last.” His voice was heavy with emotion. “Every one in the observation car,” he said unsteadily, “escaped unhurt”

“SOME DREADFUL THING WAS CREEPING UP BESIDE YOU.”