The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1885-12-04

v 1
ON hearing the well known baritone
voice. come trOOping out from the
| school room. with their lady teacher.
The teacher is n tall, suberb looking
woman, with brilliant black eyes ana
rosy cheeks. She Is far handsOmer
than Madge Kirby, and rumor says
| she expects to marry Professor Bet
finger.
1t is this which he is singing:
Failing leaf and fading tree,
Lines OF white on a sullen sea,
Shadows rising on YOU and me,
Shadows rising on you and me-
Hark, q voice from the far away,
Listen and learn, y it seems to say,
"All the tO-mOrrows shall be as to-day,
All the to-mOrrOws shall be astO-day.'
The song is sad and Madame Merlyn
! saws with scorn, it is absurd that ne
should treat themtos such adOletul air.
ONLY Miss Kirby understands why he
has chosen it tonight and at her re-
quest. Her eyes say mutely to him:
you are going out of my life forever,
and this is good bye"
When darkness gathers ove Elm
Lodge the little household separation
the night and 60 to their chambers.
Madge only fingers behind the Others,
and Professor Max gravely reminds
her, as she stands outside in the night
air, that she must are for her health
and her roses. 1t is the last night she
will ever stand here thus with him,
she tells her heart, and so, putting
out her hands, she says soft
ly, "Dear friend, | want to say to
YOU how grateful | am for your kind
ness to me, how much | esteem you;
and-and-God bless you, Professor"
She does not hear his reply, but goes
swiftly up the stairs and once in her
room she falls on her knees and bursts
into a passion OF weeping, the bitter
est she has ever known. Tomorrow
she is going away, and in one week she
is going to be married to q yOungman
who has held her trOth for years.
Down under the stars the grave, king
ly, middle-aged nan walks up and
down on the terrace, striving with a
strong mans fierce will to overcome
his sorrow andgain peace and content
for the future.
1t is after midnight. Madge Kirby,
in her white night robes, sits at
the open window OF her sleeping
room, where after a long, sad
vigil she has fallen asleep. A brilliant
red light is playing about her face, and
it shines into her Don and reddens
the wall. There is a fire, a heat com
ing from somewhere. Suddenly a wild
shout rises on the air. 1t Is the cry Of
"fre," from some one who stands on
the lawn. 1t reaches the ears of all
but those two who have slept so little
duringt the night, and who, at last have
closed their eyes in a deep perhaps fa-
tai slumber Madge sleeps on, and
| down in his own room the master OF
the burning house lies dreaming other.
The lady teacher, with che other pu-
pills, flock down the stairs and out in
to the grounds. The roof is on fire,
and no human power can sayethe old
wooden mansion from swift destruc-
ton. Now some one asks for the pro-
lessor. Another says he is at work
trying to check the flames. The men
servants are busily employed thus,
and after little parley there is no fur
ther question for anybody. Suddenly
the master feels a light touch on his
brow. 1t thrills and awakens him. He
looks up to find a sleder figure bend
ing above him.
"Max! Max! awaken, for God sake,
saveyourself, the house is burning over
u.s." Madge Kirby says In a hoarse
strained voice.
In an instant he is upon his feet,
and wrapped as he is in his dressing
gown, he clasps her in his strong arms
and turns to the door. A furious
cracking and roaringgreets their ears.
The roof is failing in, and as they
endeavor to pass into the hall
a black cloud of smoke and fall
ing cinders blinds and suffocates
them. She lies against his breast, she
teels his breath heavily or her cheek,
she cannot see, can scarcely breathe.
"Oh, my Godi" he gasps, "can | not
save you, Madge, my darling? My lit
| tie one must we die in this accursed
hole away from the pure air of heav-
emf" 1t is only the moan ofhis burst
ing heart as he struggles to find some
means of exit. She has ceased to
realize their peril, Insensibility has
wrapped her like the robe of death.
The hallway is a vast sea of flames.
The chamber is filling with debris from
above and he, clasping his burden to
his breast, is striving to reach the
burning window where, perhaps he
may make a flying passage-way from
their perilous position to terra firma.
He is there, the window is all q mass
of flames, and boldly, bravely, he
steps with his bare feet uponthe burn
ing sill, and out into the night.
With o feeling OF great Joy he
finds himself on the vine covered
roof of the porch. He had for
cotton his sleeping roo was directly