Menzi did not care about his soul, but, being so strange a man, for some
reason that he never explained, for Tabitha, his "Little Flower," he
cared very much indeed. That was why he became a Christian at the last,
since in his darkened, spell-bound heart he believed that if he did not,
when she too "went down" he would never find her again.
ONLY A DREAM
Footprints--footprints--the footprints of one dead. How ghastly they
look as they fall before me! Up and down the long hall they go, and I
follow them. _Pit, pat_ they fall, those unearthly steps, and beneath
them starts up that awful impress. I can see it grow upon the marble, a
damp and dreadful thing.
Tread them down; tread them out; follow after them with muddy shoes,
and cover them up. In vain. See how they rise through the mire! Who can
tread out the footprints of the dead?
And so on, up and down the dim vista of the past, following the sound of
the dead feet that wander so restlessly, stamping upon the impress that
will not be stamped out. Rave on, wild wind, eternal voice of human
misery; fall, dead footsteps, eternal echo of human memory; stamp, miry
feet; stamp into forgetfulness that which will not be forgotten.
And so on, on to the end.
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