Five Nights

r dinner, I left the s

take her for th

ng. The air had that special quality of Alaska which I have never met anywhere else, an extreme humidit

h ruffled the stillness nor st

delicate outlines clothed with fir and larch, soft as half-forgotten dreams, against the transparent blue

w. The yellow silk of the little square jacket contrasted well with her midnight hair, and t

t me. And I bent down and pressed my lips to th

certainly the hot light falling through the rice-paper had a wonderfully beautiful effect on her creamy skin and soft yellow silk clothing. She walked easily, only with rather short steps. As she was of the lower class,

ow winding road that leads along the coast, Sitka being on a p

e time completely covered the whole of Sitka, sometimes quite on the edge of the water. Here there were rocks and b

e upon the earth, and of later days, when the sombre black forests came to the water's edge and none knew them but the great black bear, and when the seals played joyously, undisturbed, in the fog-banks off the islands. I was in the mood to appreciate deeply the beauty of the scene, and all the objects round seemed to speak to me of their inner meaning, but my companion was

," she exclaimed petti

t from her face to the sea. She hated the least reference apparently to the landscape. As l

y; "let us go on to the wood, lea

trail leading from the road, the golden day outside was soon closed from us by the thick veils of hanging creeper and parasitical plant

t strands and fringes of it fell on every side, filling the interstices of the gig

n, clogged with hanging wreaths of moss. A river ran through the wood and at times

oss, trailed, broken and bruised by the fierce rush of the current. The trees themselves seemed centuries old, bent and gnarled and twisted into grotesque and ghostly forms. In the dim twilight reigning here one could fancy one stood in some hide

hing by long before we could see it, so thi

Styx through this melancholy wood where all seem

ty, the dim mystery of the wood, as she had been to the vivid glory of the sea. She slippe

down among the trees. Then you must take me in your arms and I

t brilliance of her face. It seemed to bloom out of the ashy shadows like an

me very muc

are so beautiful. Never have I seen any one so beautiful, and

her hand from mine and clasped both of hers u

become warm and rosy round us. I bent over her and took her up wholly

and up the slope at the side. It i

city from her joyous little soul rushed through me till my

ier ground. And there, on a bed of leaves under some tangled branches, I fell on my knees

to look and look at your face. I wish I could tell

how her bosom heaved beneath the yellow jacket, how all the delicate curves of her breast seemed bro

t my hand round her soft column of throat, feeling all i

hink we have drunk a little opium, just a little, and we are going to slee

from her throat and

sorbed. All had vanished now from me, excep

ead, sealing the senses to outside thi

cross a small cleared space in front of us to where the impenetrable thicket of u

g break in the quiet round us. We both watched the undergrowth across the open space intently. For a second nothing moved, then the boughs parted

shriek of dismay, an

and!" sh

cket, and a bent and aged form followed slowly. I drew out my revolver, but the figure of the

er my wife," he said,

had an idea that he might attack Suzee, but vo

and on her knees, c

to her, pointing to the other side of the gl

ly clung and shivere

her, loose

ered; "no harm can come

me to sit down. I did so, mechanically wondering whether his calmness was a ruse under cover of which he would suddenly st

trong, you are well; you are rich too, I think." He looked critically over me. "You have everythi

the blood in my body seemed to rush t

him aside out of my way; but his a

rved and saved. When others played I toiled, when they spent I hoarded up. What was I saving for? That I might buy myself

home, she does no hard work. She has a child, she has fine clothes. I work still all day and every day that I may give money to her. She is my one joy, my treasure;

n his face now, his clasped

nd I was saving. When I am old I will buy, I said. It needs money, when I am old I

grief. Some people would have thought him doubtless an immoral old scoundrel, and that he had no business in his old age to try to be happy as younger men are, to wish, to expect it. But I cannot see th

ed impatiently. "Take your wife back with you now,

, but not her spirit," an

felt sorry for Suzee that she was his; now, as I hea

ked out of the aged face, such as

e you will not see her again, not speak to her; that you

lent for

answered; "I am not likely to see yo

She will come to you. Promise me you will not take her away with

d impa

to take her aw

I have your promise

a patch of beautiful colour against the

in any case. I had not meant that. A virtuous American ship lik

ter if it but reflected the

he said, coming close to me and

t threaten me. As I remained silent he suddenly threw himself on the gr

you will not take her, then I am satis

t the prostrate figure. The gold bracelets on her arm below the yellow silk sleeve shewed in

feet and ra

said I shall not take your wife. As far as I am

ed away, not without a certain dignity in his old form

had been sitting and watched the tw

nkindly, and some talk ensued. Then I saw him bend

ly, and so at last they passed from my sight, through the grey trees and the weeping moss, the thi

lence of the night had fallen on it. Beast and bird and insect had sought

fe," I thought, repeat

ld. I put my head into my hands and shut out the dim grey wood from vision and recalled that moment. It came back to me, the touch of her soft form, the smiling curve of the lips put up to me, the fire in the liqui

and health in a loved object are sufficient to capture the physical senses, but they do not fill the brain with that exaltation, that delirium

tired and overstrained, exceedingly regretful, full of longing after t

sparkled softly on my left hand, the pellucid blue of the sky stretched overhead, and all the air was full of the sweet sunshine we associate with day. Yet it was midnight.

g of it from the street as the compound shut it off from view, and acr

y, went down to my cabin without encountering any one, threw off my clothe

he incessant golden glare, day and night a

red husbands floated away from

f suffocation. Some soft, heavy thing lay across my breast. I started up

ow I you will take me away, and we will sta

low light as when I closed my eyes. Looki

erth leaning over me,

n my face, kissing me on the eyes and mout

uzee!" I answered, putting up my

nt the old Chinaman was forgotten. It

ever let me go. I love you so, like this," she added, putting her two hands round my throat, "when I can feel

essed her to me and returned those kisses. She had laid aside her little saffron

d soft and lovely she looked, and my w

e was precious to me in that madness

with all my force in a clasp that must have been

eak that. What was the good of torturing myself when I h

hanically wondering if any strange f

e no trouble. I gave him opium, so m

ed him?" I said, i

f extraordinary fire, she seemed i

le hands and ran th

it shines, how soft it is! I hate grey hair. It is horrid. No, I have not ki

ast veil of clinging sleep. I k

u with me. I promised your h

ing when one loves. And you love me, Treevor; you must lo

ew our ship was due to leave in the morning; I did not know quite when. If it left the q

back and try to forget you have ever seen me. Y

nquilly; "and I shall be

ood wide open. In the position the ship was it was easy to come i

. Overhead I heard movements and clanking chains and shuffling

w now, instantly, or

cry; "you won't be so unkind. I only

t with both hands. She was pale with an ivory pallor, her b

a great heave

r. I moved to her, clinging to one blind object. I bent over her and

a wild animal in my arms. She bit and tore at my wr

oving now and

the window and put he

g to my neck so I thought she must over

y from me. Her hands broke from my neck and scr

p into the sea if you do." For a blue crack open

d struggled and clung to me li

dropped her on the woodwork. She fell there with a

lue water gleamed in an ever-widenin

weeping and stretching out little ivory tinted hands to the departing ship. My own eyes were full, and only th

pen water. There, on my berth, facing me as I s

hile the ship made out beyond the fairy islands. And t

RT

IOLET