King Midas

lone I str

me how

ed upon how difficult she used to think them, she realized that now that it was over she was glad for the German regime. Helen had accounted herself an accomplished pianist when she went away, but she had met with new standards and learned to think humbly of herself

resent, however; she found herself thinking again about

hand; "what in the world am I going to do? Men are certainly most inconvenien

stayed in her mind. "I do wonder if that can be why he did not wait for me," she thought, shuddering,-"if he was too w

ned to leave, when she heard a step outside and saw the door open quickly. Even before she saw him she knew who it was, for only Arthur would have entered with

icely!" she exclaimed, showing

ive me," said

en said; "I looked for you eve

gh command," the other

I told you to

ed Arthur. "You spent all the morni

ed "Oh," for a sudden light was dawning upon the girl;

ting me a poem!" s

said

ou ought to have told me, for I had to walk home all alone, and

ng," laughed Arthur, "and one

arms and talking to yourself, and doing all sorts of crazy things, I know!" Then as she saw Arthur flush, she went on: "I was sure of

the woods, and Arthur was once more the friend of her girlhood, whom she might take by the hand when she chose, and with whom she might be as free and happy

did you put in all the

said Arthur. "That is

. "That's all I care about; the man who wants to w

to you?" asked Ar

And read it as if you meant it;

at him as he rested his elbow upon the top of the piano and read his lines. There could not have been a situation in which the young poet would have read them with more complete happiness,

-time's go

ivering su

he Wind o

laughing m

ion-song wa

adness of

ered: Thou h

weary;

drink a f

isoned spi

aste the anc

ul has soug

ll thee o

s thy long

the Fore

take her

y her ros

with her k

ng steps sha

he mountai

undreamed

cchanal o

mystic

ght-eyed cre

en things of

oiced, ne

lowers of

eauty's cr

inged winds

sting, touch

amlets, silv

eaping steps

see them, e

ut a rock

aunt old fo

r wide bra

read the whi

in its fren

have a mi

pirit's a

hile thy hea

eyes have st

yon blackenin

rm-King's

mps upon th

ps the val

s his forest

nds his th

t ye up, y

ng, each li

n the mig

ymphony

g so that he could hardly hold the paper. One glance told him that she was pleased, for the girl's face was

it!" he

been!" And trembling with girlish delight, she took the paper

c for it!" she exclaimed; "for t

her head, carried away by the image they brought before h

ame as a storm, you know, Arthur; do you remember how we used to go up on our hillside when the great wind was coming, and when everything was growing still and black; and how we used to watch the big clouds and the sheets of rain, and run for home when we heard the thunder? Once when you were away, Arthur, I didn't run, for I wanted to see what it was like; and I stayed up there and saw it all, singing the 'Ride of the Valky

gazed at him; her cheeks were flushed

e had lost himself in the girl's enthusiasm,

! Arthur, you've no idea what thunder is like till you're near it! There fell one fearful bolt quite near me, a great white, living thing, as thick as a man's body, and the crash of it

er, and she lost herself in the vision of the Storm-King sweeping through the sky. She poured out a great stream of his wild music, singing away to herself excitedly in the meantime. And as the rush continued and the fierce music swelled louder, the phantasy took hold of the girl and carried her beyond herself. She seemed to become the very demon of the storm, unbound and reckless; she smote the keys with right royal strength, and the piano seemed a thing of life bene

welled and soared and burst in a deafening thunder crash; and while the air was still throbbing

amps upon t

ps the val

s his forest

nds his th

g. And the march broadened, and the thunder died out of it slowly, and all the wild confusion, and then it rose, glorious and triumphant, and turned to a mighty pean, a mightier one than ever Helen could have made. The thought of it had come to her

oy! From Heav

r from

ur hearts

cred shri

antments b

custom's

rothers,

gentle win

see the great master himself, the bowed and broken figure that all musicians worship, standing up to conduct it; and see him leading it through all its wild surging passion, almost too frantic to be endured; and then, when the last towering climax has passed and the music has ceased and the multitude at his back has burst forth into its thundering shout, see the one pathetic figure standing t

s; she was the multitude lifted up in its ecstasy, throbbing, burning and triumphant, and she sang the great choruses, one after another, and the piano beneath her fingers thundered and rang with the instrument

every crea

ature's bre

vil, all a

sy path sh

he sprang to her feet and flung up her hands with a cry. She stood thus for a moment, glowing with exultation, and then she sank down agai

t she felt herself sinking back, as a bird sinks after its flight; then suddenly she turned. Arthur was a

Arthur!"

of his being by the emotion which she had flung loose before him, and he seemed beside himself at that moment, his hair disordered and his forehe

cried. "What

hus, Helen trembling with alarm; then his head sank, and he flung himself down upon the sofa, wh

she exclai

ed, came softly nearer, till she stood by the sofa; but still he did not heed her, and she did not dare even to

when he was silent for a moment

longing upon his face that Helen was frightened still more. He ha

he matter?

Can you not see what is the matter, He

e, and lowered her eyes

d cherishing the memory of it, and waiting for you to return. I have labored for no other reason, I have had no other hope in the world; I have kept your image before me, and lived in it, and worshiped before it, and the thought of you has been all that I had. When I was tired and worn and ill I could only think of you and remember your promise, and count the days before your return.

len stood gazing at him, breathing very fast

you are beautiful? Have you no heart? You fling your soul bare before

t think of you so; I thought of you as my

ring at her, "tell me once for

h a frank gaze that w

me? You take back the pr

ild, Arthur; it has been a long

en, if you only knew what cruel words tho

so that the girl lowered hers again. "T

? Oh, Arthur, I thought you would come here to live all summer, and how I should like it! Why can you not? Can you not let me pla

g heart, her words were hard to hear; he stared at her, shuddering

"there is but one

echoed

erently. "Oh, I shall go mad! For I do love you, and you talk to me as if I were

father you would stay, and you will make

e rushed across the room and opened the door; then, however, he paused, as if that had cost him all his resoluti

to go, Helen?

atching him in alarm. "Of course not;

me! Oh, Helen, how can you say it again?

" cried

oh, some time you must!" And he came toward her again, stretching out his arms to her. As she sprang back, f

thought of calling him; but she checked herself, and closed the door quietly instead, after which she walked slowly across the room. In the center of it she stopped stil

d it and stood in front of it, gazing earnestly at herself. "Is it true, then, th

elt so nervous in my life, and I don't know what to do; everything I did to please him seemed only to make him more miserable. I wanted him to be happy with me; I wanted him to stay with me." And she walked away frowning, and seated herself at the piano and bega

er came in, exclaiming in a cheery voice, "Well, children!" Then he sto

in," said Helen, in

med the other.

es

was going to sta

t he changed his mind and d

vis. "I thought we should have a little fami

told me, anyway." She did not want her father to have any i

lse on his mind. "By the way, Helen," he said, "I must ask y

Helen, puzzle

t you were making a most dreadful racket upon the piano, and shouting,

found the two windows of the room wide open; and that was too much for her grav

she gasped.

waited patiently, taking off his gloves in t

up and turned her laughing eyes upon him. "And now I und

as it,

that I was playing and singing for Art

Mr. Davis. "I have no objection to merriment, but it must be within bou

ists who lived across the way. Methodists are people who take life ser

he didn't say it; he thought that was just what to expect fro

could no longer bear to be serious and unhappy. As he went on to ask her to be a little less reckless, Helen put her arms around him and said, with the solem

; such frantic,

ou know; no one would have been in the least sur

gasped M

t is a wonderful hymn. Every Ge

an anthem sung every Sunday by a volunteer choir. Helen's musical education, as all her other education, had been superintended by Aunt Polly, a

at is not the kind of hymn yo

g, practical lives that we dull Yankees lead." Then a sudden idea occurred to the girl, and she ran to the piano with a gleeful laugh: "Just se

a few discords of her own she started recklessly into the incomprehensible "presto," thundering away at

d the clergyman, gazing helplessly at the open win

e dinner bell out in the hall, she ended with half a dozen frantic runs, and jumping

se it's because the moon is supposed to set people crazy." So they passed in to dinner, where Helen was

f them again; she noticed that it was growing dark outside, and she

, and there is no house where he can go." From the window where she stood she had a view across the hills in back of the town, and co

ing to Helen a faint echo of her morning music. She went in and sat down at the piano, her fingers roaming over the keys hesitatingly. "I wish I c

the march came back to her, and even when she played a few chords of the great chorus she had sung, it sounded tame and commonplace

"I never was so carried away by music in my life, and the memory of it wou

think of him being out in it." She saw a bolt of lightning strike in the distance, and she waited breathlessly for the thunder. It was a fearful crash, and it mad

for a moment thinking, but then she added, "Yet I declare, I don't know what to do for him; it surely isn't my fault if I am not in love with him in that mad fashio

a faithful

t devotes

e ask no o

that ca

uld I see

et see

weeping o

t bear

nched by the cold rain, and shivering and almost fainting from exhaustion-for he had eaten nothing since early dawn;