Life — March 26, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

194 The strangest thing was, that although his every sense told him that this was the beautiful cousin, some deeper percep- tion in his heart assured him that it was, nevertheless, Verinda. It was also evident that Verinda herself was unconscious of the change that had come over her. And the servant, who at that moment came in to say that soup was on the table, was obviously unaware of any alteration in her mistress’s ap- pearance. The transformation, then, was perceptible to Rafael alone. With a sudden impulse, he drew her to the tall mirror between the windows, that she might behold her reflection there. Their eyes met on the polished surface ; but lo! another marvel! The reflection of the beautiful cousin was not the beautiful cousin, but Verinda! Rafael was the victim of an enchantment, which the mirror dispelled. Yet, when he turned from the reflection to the woman her- self, it was the cousin again ! “T understand it now !" he muttered, with a shudder, “it is Professor Middlemist’s Pills! What will become of me?” The necessity of concealing the miracle from his wife—if she were his wife—was imperative; and by a violent effort he contrived to assume an outward composure. They went into the dining-room, she leaning lovingly on his arm. Why did he recoil from her touch ? was he not in love with her— with the beautiful cousin—and should he not regard this transformation, of which only he was cognizant asa piece of unexampled good fortune? to have one’s wife present the exact image of the woman one is in love with—what could be more convenient and agreeable ? and if to-morrow, he were to meet and become enamored of some other lovely creature, AT LAST. “Bress pe Lawo. It's come; 11's Come!” “Wat's come, Mammy?” “Why, DE JEDGEMENT Day, YO’ BRACK IGNYRAMUS, DipN'T YO" HEAH DAT GABRIEL'S TRUMPET? AN’ DERE GOES YO' GOOD OLE FADDER UP AT DE FIRST SOUND,” undoubt:dly he would find her in his wife's shoes when he returned home; and so on forever! If this wouldn't satisfy a susceptible married man, what would ? “It is the most horrible fate that ever overtook aman?" said Rafael to himself, “to have another woman masquerad- ing as my innocent and precious wife—or the other way about—it's a hideous profanation and sacrilege! I hate the beautiful cousin from the bottom of my soul, and I wish I had never seen her, and never may again!" “ Will you have cheese in your soup, darling?’ asked the lady at the other end of the table. Rafael looked up. He uttered acry of joy. The beautiful cousin was no longer there. Verinda—his own Verinda—sat before him. The change in his heart had made a change in her ; no third per- son stood between them any longer ; and Rafael felt a con- viction, and registered a vow, that no such catastrophe should ever occur again. . . . Back already,” growled the professor, the next morning. Take back your six accursed pills!" said Rafael. “One of them was enough for me, and too much !” “Better keep the rest—in case!" said the Professor. “ My eyes are opened,” returned the young man, “and I see that there is but one woman in the world, and that Verinda is she. And having once seen clearly, I can never more be blind.” “Very well, said the Professor, “you know your own busi- ness, I suppose. By the way, did you tell Mrs. Amato the secret of your complaint?” “Heaven forbid,” said Rafael, turning pale. “She shall never know it. I am sane and seeing now; may she never discover that I was once mad and blind!” “ For your sake, I say amen!" said the Professor. the pills are always here, if you should have a relapse.” Julian Hawthorne, “But THE UNATTAINABLE. OM’S album was filled with the pictures of belles Who had captured his manly heart, From the fairy who danced for the front-row swells To the maiden who tooled her cart ; But one face as fair as a cloudless dawn Caught my eye, and I said ‘* Who's this?” “Oh, that,” he replied, with a skillful yawn, “Is the girl I couldn't kiss.” Her face was the best in the book, no doubt, But I hastily turned the leaf, For my friend had let his cigar go out, And I knew I had bared his grief ; For caresses we win and smiles we gain Yield only a transient bliss, And we're all of us prone to sigh in vain For ‘the girl we couldn't kiss.” Harry Romaine. comicbooks.com