llness of
their stern reality. The bewildered mortal turns to gaze at the
companions of his danger, casts a lingering look on those he has left
behind; the groaning paddles, with reluctant plunges, begin their weary
labor; the faces of the cheering crowd, one by one, drop out of the
picture, until distance swallows the whole, and those nearer and dearer
than all earth beside become a memory.

Far aft, under the waving tricolor, stood the woman of our story. Her
fingers twined carelessly through the glittering necklace thrust into
her hand as Percy Reed clambered into his boat, and her eyes rested
sadly on an ungainly transport, already freighting with its cargo of
mortality for the sacrifice at Humaita. The golden glow of the harbor
was lost in the chilly mist; the bare mountain-tops loomed bleakly
through the piles of cloudy haze. White waves curled dismally at the
base of the Pao de Assucar, and the weird shrieks of the sea-gulls on
the rocks that jutted around it made the dreariness more desolate. Far
out in the trackless waste the sky lowered gloomily over the weary
waters. Fit emblem of her path through life--dark was the picture,
threatening the surroundings.

Pray for the woman doomed to a calling she cannot but despise! Pray for
the being overflowing with good thoughts toward all mankind, sentenced
to "tread the wine-press alone!" God have mercy upon us miserable
sinners!

THE END.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trifles for the Christmas Holidays, by
H. S. Armstrong

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIFLES FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS ***

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