Martha Foote Crow

“ Angelica—Yet when I look at it I shrink back—if that great eye that shoots out terrors toward me and gives me more pain than joy be really the light I have longed for! Ah, Mother! She said the light of The World Above would blind my eyes. Dear Mother! I want her!
Jean—But if we should try to go back, we could not find our way to her now. We must go on. We will wait till our eyes are a little stronger and can bear the light; for it is the light! It must be, since we have traced it by every trap we have passed. ”

“ They pass out beneath the stone archway into the full, bright day. As they move from beneath the sharply-cut outline of the shadow and emerge into the glow of the level sunset rays, a halo of light seems to enwreathe the heads of youth and maiden, and their faces shine as if transfigured. The joyous welcoming voices come nearer—one can almost understand what they say! Jean and Angelica float together, buoyed safely by the current, out into the river. ”

“ From the door of the hut a young girl emerges and passes across the gallery. She hums a strain of the hymn Varina, and as she comes along, she touches the wall lightly with her white finger tips and walks with a hesitating step as if the floor were slippery, or as if she were accustomed to find her way more by the sense of touch than by that of sight. She is a slender and delicate looking girl, and the pupils of her eyes are large and dark as if they were trying to gather all the light they could. ”

“ Jean—Do not worry your mind with these visions and wonderings, dearest Angelica. You will become so excited you will be ill, dear.
18Angelica—Oh no, I shall not be ill, I shall be well! It makes me almost believe that there is such a world above when I think of how well I could be if I were in it. For, why did I have eyes that long for light, light, more light, if I was never to have more light?
Jean—Dear Angelica! (soothingly.)
Angelica—No, no, do not speak against it! I know there is a world above. I know it. I feel it. O, let us go there! Let us go up through this flue and find it! ”

“ Jean—But what for?
Angelica—Oh, because I love people and I love lights. I could never have too many lights. Oh, how I love them! When I wake up from a long sleep and see that mother has set the lamp a-burning I could shout for joy. Then if I had lights enough, I know I would not have to bring my opal out to the bridge to make it throw forth all its dartings. If I could make a world, I would have things very different from this. ”

“ It has been built and burrowed from time immemorial far down underneath some great, beautiful, sunny, human metropolis, called The World Above, but of this light-crowned city those who inhabit the subterranean retreats of The Darker Realm know but little, of its happy days and doings they can but dream. ”

“ Beyond all are banks of green, church spires, and a strip of sky that is ripening in color toward sunset. Beneath the arch at the right, steps of stone masonry lead down into the waters and disappear in the transparent depths; a stone foot-path leads from the left along the side of the gallery, and the walls are trellised here and there with little trailing fingers of moss. Jean and Angelica enter from the dark gallery and follow along the embanked stone foot-path. Angelica moves as though her physical strength were exhausted while Jean supports her form and seems to urge her forward. ”

“ I think there must have been a river above there and a bridge.
Angelica—A bridge? (in astonishment) a bridge above there? A bridge like this one I am standing on? Are there bridges above us? Is there a world above with bridges and galleries and air-conduits and lizards and lizard-wars and—and breaks?
Jean— (Laughing) O no! I am certain that if there were a world above, there wouldn’t be any wars and breaks in it!
Angelica—I am sure I don’t see how you know that. You can’t imagine anything else for the people to do but roll tool-cars, clean pipes, and repair breaks, can you? ”

“ Jean clings to the stone buttress and supports Angelica.)
Angelica—The water is deeper. (She shrinks back terrified.) I feel a something drawing my feet, drawing me away from you. O, where are you, Jean? (She reaches out her arms and moves them blindly. Jean, in the utmost tenderness, brings them to his neck.)
37Jean—Here I am, dear! If you cannot see as they see in the light of The World Above, you can still know that it is I, even by the self-same way you knew me in The Darker Realm. Put your hand on my face, if the light blinds your eyes, and then you will know. ”

“ This is almost the only center of light in the place, though it is possible to see that there is some kind of a lamp beyond the half-open door of a windowless hut which is dimly perceived at the back of the gallery. Also, above the foot-bridge, there is a flue in the ceiling, and through this flows downward a faint, pale light, almost imperceptible, like the dimmest twilight. At the back of the gallery, arched openings on either side lead to passages of impenetrable blackness. ”

“ Jean—You are you, and I am I, and we are together, together, together! (She throws her arms around his neck and lets her head rest against his. He draws her close to his side. Then they rest for a long time in quiet and finally she turns and looks again toward the light at the opening of the gallery.)
Angelica— (Whispering.) The light! I cannot look upon it, but I know it is the light!
Jean— (Softly) . Yes, dear, it is the light from The World Above, shining in on us as we sit here together.
Angelica— (Whispering.) Together! Shall we be always together? ”

“ It has times and seasons. Sometimes it twines in with the roar in the air-conduit and sometimes not. I can now almost tell when it will begin and when it will end. But, Jean, the strange thing about it is this: when I go away from the sound of the water in the Great River, this roar grows more clear; in fact, the farther I go, the more plainly I hear this strange spirit-like, tumultuous, sound. Therefore, it cannot be the rushing of the water or of the air that causes it. It is something quite distinct and unaccounted for by anything in our Realm. ”

“ Jean—Well, out of our lizard-play came the war, which went on——
Angelica—Until the Break!
Jean—Yes, the Great Break when the wall fell in and poor Didon was crushed under the toppled mason-work.
Angelica—That made all our wars seem useless and small, didn’t it? But do you think that the great pressure of the crowd of boys and men from the Branch of Blind Alleys that took up your side and fought with Didon’s crew, made the gallery wall cave in? Or did it just cave in of itself?
Jean—How can I tell? It may have been either, or both. The walls are always falling in the Old Freestone galleries. ”

“ The galleries of The Darker Realm are like an interminable network—one could so easily be lost there! Some parts are new and are built up smoothly with polished stone; other parts are old—so old and irregular that it seems as if they must have been set there many, many centuries ago. ”

“ Graceful vines entwine the arch and move quietly in the wind, while beyond the opening spreads the blue and glittering surface of a river. Many gay-colored river-crafts ply up and down in the distance, and the varied sounds of city life send a pleasant murmur to the ear. ”

“ Angelica—Yes, I, too, have ears and I know all the tones and voices of all the conduits that pass through this part of The Darker Realm. But this roar that I mean is different from them all. It is as different as your voice is from mine. It is more dim and fine than any common roar ”

“ But— (she stops, listening, and holds her hand to her heart) surely, surely that is Jean’s step! It comes nearer! It turns down the Branch of Blind Alleys. It is, it is! Jean! Jean! (Then with an effort to gain composure of tone—) Why, Jean, is that 11you? (A boyish-looking fellow comes forward; he is dressed in workman’s clothes and has all the marks of sordid labor upon his frame. His body is muscular but his complexion shows the pallor that suggests the cellar-grown plant. His eyes glow, however, with happy expectancy as he moves swiftly toward Angelica and takes her hands in his.) ”