Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-13
CHAPTER TX.
TVTE pTwP Avail.

q
baffled l have said 1 was light sleeper.
What was it, then, that rendered me IN
conscious and powerless. when I should
have been standing at my post Ike faith
ful watchdog to guard my lamb from tbs
wolves?
" a cloak is thrown over US. look VI
with eyes but half-open, and I see one oi
the gentlemen moving away. My impress
sion is that he has been standing by oul
side for some little while, gazing at US.
His action is kind and considerate, and
think of him with gentleness. In pleas
ant way. Clarice becomes associated with
him, and number of happy fancies pre-
sent themselves. While they are slipping
from me and returning IN fantastic shape,
hear these words
g told you, to the last drop OF your
blood But it seems to me, if you sold
yourself ten times over, that you could
not pay what you have already lost.
Doubt you? Be reasonable, fellow. We
trust only our equals.
A hot retort a contemptuous allusion
to the social position Of nay master; and
then vision of three men-two with
drawn swords, one standing by, amused at
the unequal contest For the furious
thrusts of our master are parted with
consummate grace and skill by his antag-
onist A -another-and the brute
lies on the ground, at the mercy of the
gentleman.
80 Mercy? I am not quite sure whether
it would not be charity to get nd Of
you
.''Leavo him to me-
My friend is on your side. I make
you over to him. After all, I doubt
whether you are worth the killing.
"CIarico and 1 are back in the old time,
and are walking with our father through
green lanes. It is a well-remembered
walk, beguiled with loving conversation.
We stop for our midday meal outside a
picturesque little inn, the porch of which
is a bower of roses and honeysuckle. The
mistress comes out and gives us a jug of
clear water drawn from spring. My
father thanks her courteously. and she
wishes to change the water for wine, but
he VIII not have it so. We have just be-
gan to eat, when two poor girls, in COM
parison to whom we are princesses, pass
US, with wistful eyes upon our food. My
father calls them back Immediately, and
we share cur meal with them. We ques
ton them concerning their history, and
they tell US the story Of their lives.
as Sisters, MOI
Who spoke? Not my father, for he is
gone; the inn, the lowered porch, the
children, have vanished.
sc 1t will be a better kind of slavery
than that to which . You dog believe
you stole her. You set a high price upon
your wares but the texture is delicate
and its beauty not to be disputed. How
you came to be the owner is one of the
mysteries. Well, have at you. I'll not
dispute your price. Cut the cards
g Are the words really uttered, or Gre
ated by my Imagination? l cannot say
but spoken or not they convey no warning
to my mind. Blind watchdog Sleeping
at your post when you should have been
awake and stirring But you have been
well punished for your neglect of a sacred
trust.
"My dreams continue. We are all
seated round the card-table-the gentle
men, our master, Clarice and l. We girls
watch the game curiously as though we are
vitality interested in it. Piles of gold are
before US, which the gentlemen, in sport,
push into Clarice's lap. At first she is
pleased, but when the gold rises higher
and higher, until she is completely hidden
from my sight, she cries, Save me, Mar
cuerite. save me = As am brushing the
gold away church bell tolls the hour
one, two, three, four-and then these words
come to me at intervals:
'''Do not let it trouble you. Better
my slave than yours. She shall be a
queen ! -. Her clothes -. Twenty gold
pieces Well 1 don't bargain. Cut again.
"And now 1 am visited by terrible
fancy. Oar master approaches Clarice
and is abont to clasp her in his arms, when
the gentleman with whom he has been
playing advances to him threateningly.
also make an effort to protect Clarice, but
| cannot move. l am bound to earth by
an unseen agency. l struggle against 1t,
but am unable to rise. A vapor floats
across my face and robs me of the power
CT thought. All surrounding objects slip
from me hear nothing, see nothing, feel
nothing. ! am as one dead to the world.
at was late in the morning before
woke, and then l found myself lying on q
couch in better furnished room than the
one we had occupied at the top of the
house. The apartment was in semi-dark
ness, and the woman who had visited u;
on the previous night was looking dow
upon me. My senses were not yet quite
clear; my head ached, and my senses were
in strange state of confusion. gazeC
at the woman in bewilderment she CAV
me wicked smile, and 1 noticed that my
ordinary clothes were hanging on he
arm.
Equality hours, mistress, she sale
tauntingly, and her voice brought to m,
mind a full remembrance of her treach
erous conduct towards my sister ant
myself.
81 turned to speak TO Clarice, and say
to my dismay that she was not by my side
Al.