Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

Page 14 text:

8 The Augusta Seminary Annual. Her voice. You do not love her, but are in honor bound ? tlie lad ' is saying. So — repUes her companion, If she were not ? The woman leans slighth ' out of the shadow to get a clearer view of her companion. Is it the distorting effect of the pale light from a window that gives her blue eyes a curious glitter, her small mouth a hard curve You. He reads something in her face and shudders slightly as she lays her hand upon his. Come, as hostess I shall be missed. A few moments and the Lady Gruoch enters the room where the young girl has been playing ; goes up to her and leads her away to a seat. Later, Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, crosses the room and at his entrance the sweet face of the pretty songstress flushes. Her color deepens beneath the intent gaze of her hostess, the Lady Gruoch. The hours fly by. So fair and gracious is my Lady Gruoch, so sweet her smile, that one by one the guests have departed reluct- antly, all but two, the Thane of Glamis and his bride betrothed, the Lady Anne, whom the Lady Gruoch detains for a last word. Lady Anne speaks gently of the lateness of the hour, when her hostess, passing into the banquet-room, re-enters in a few moments with a glass of red, sparkling wine. Drink this, I pray you, my lady, ere your long ride. The smiling face of the brave ]VIacl)etli grows pale beneath his dark skin. He looks intently at the lady with the glass in her white fingers. Lady Gruoch, with a smile upon her lips, holds the sparkling drink towards the Lady Anne, who, taking it, lets the red wine slip down her white throat. The castle looks grim and ghostly in the cold moonlight. The gray walls stand threateningly out against the pale stars. Within the castle, as well as without, deep silence reigns. In the hall, with its roof and floor of stone, the light streams through the narrow unglazed windows. A door opens. A woman crosses the hall. Her eyes are open, but have no sight in them — her lips move.

Page 13 text:

The Au(pif f i Serni7iary Ainnml. 7 The (MH ' iiiiii; Id-cvzc lil() her li»iiu , tjiji- Imii- acros.- licr dolipatc fcatiiro, and except I ' m the lixed iiiteiitiie s it ' lier aze, wliicl) sets eiirioiisly on so yonn ;; !i I ' aee, one could mark no mental ex- citt ' nient. The seene, tlie time and tlie secluded nature of the place Would tend to ci-cate feelings of terror e cn in a hri ' ast not naturally timid. On the edii ' e of a clilT, in the lull and Kriiliant liijht of the set- tiiii!; sun, its a curious, da . .liui;- ci ' eatui-e -the meniiaid— famous in the old Scotch le :;ends. Comhin - out her lon , fair liair she sings a song, the weird tones of which reach the cars of the pair across the bay. The little Lady Gruoch, after the first intent gaze, turns to her coinpaiiiou, IS ' ow, Kenneth, (juick before she sees us — I will come with you. AVhat, man, you are not afraid ! She looks at him with that steady light in her blue eyes, and, inspired by her look, he advances quickly towards the mermaid, wdiose white shoulders gleam in the fading light. The Lady Gruoch follows. Kenneth reaches the mysterious creature unob- served, and ] auses irresolute. The child whispers — Coward. The mermaid has time only to scream before two brawny arms are around her, and she lies passive against the cliff. What want you, man ? says she, in an unnatural but sweet voice. Wishes two for the lady yonder. The prophesy runs that she shall have a rival in love. The Thane ' s daughter must come out the victor. The Scottish throne is near to my lady. A queen she must be. Quit and have, replies the mysterious being, and pressing her fish-like body against the cliff, she springs into the sea. Her white shoulders gleam for an instant, and then vanish beneath the green depths of the water. 11. Within the castle all is youth and happiness. From the win- dows brilliant lights are streaming — gay voices and merry jests ring happily out upon the sweet quiet. The laughter ceases and all becomes still. The strains of the harp, accompanying a wild Gaelic air reach the ears of a man and woman standing in a se- cluded and shadowed part of tlie grounds surrounding the castle.

Page 15 text:

The Auf usta Seminary Anntial. 9 TIr ' wiiu ' - tlic rctl wine with death in it. It glides l(t vu hor whitt! throat I ' ' She recrosses the hall. (i| cii the door, and is one. Duncan, Kiiii; of Scotland, lies sleeping in his chamber at the castle of facbc ' th. Two grooms near him, whose charge is to watch during the slumber of their king, He stretched upon tlie floor in deep and heavy sleep. Except for loud mutterings now and then, they lie as if dead. The door opens quietly and some one enters. The moonlight from an open window falls upon the face of Lady Macbeth, and gleams coldly upon two weapons in her hand. She a])proaches the grooms, places the daggers near tliem, an l with firm step crosses to where the sleeping king is lying. Bending over him she gazes at his quiet features. Some- thing in his face startles her — she di-aws back, crosses the room and passes out. A moment later, (juick, unsteady steps are heard along the hall, and Lord Macbeth enters the chamber. His gaze falls upon the glittering weapons ; he looks neither to the right nor the left, lifts the dagger and plunges it into the heart of the sleeping king. The stupid grooms laugh and mutter in their sleep. The mur- derer stands for a moment transfixed, then draws the bloody knife from the body of the king and — is gone. All is still. Yet once again the door opens and a woman crosses the threshold. ' Tis Lady jNIacbeth, and in her hand she bears a bloody dagger. Approaching the bedside of the murdered man she quietly but firmly dips her hands in the blood flowing from his wound. The moonlight glitters on her white face and red, bloody hands. She smears the blood on the faces of the sleeping grooms, and she lays the dagger at the side of one. The owl screams, the crickets cry, and Lady Macbeth, Queen of Scotland, recrosses the threshold of death. Kate St. Clair IsIa y.