Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-08-26

Arthur; he Will help you to ind 1t.
He laughed again-a low. monoto-
nous laugh. to which my hospital work
had but too well accustomed me, and
then he moved near her, still balancing
the dagger in his long, nervous fingers.
If he had only put it down for mo-
ment could have rushed in and secur-
ed 1t before turning to him, but, as mat
ters were, cruel experience taught me
that the instant he caught sight of me
he would rush TO the child to carry his
dreadful purpose into effect, and that
the mother. in all probability, would
fall the victim. On the other hand,
dared not quit my post to summon as
and so leave Beatrice entirely
at his mercy. | glanced round the
dressing-room and the window-cord
caught my eye. cut it up as high as
l could reach and crept back to my
hole at the curtain. Crawford was
growing rapidly angry.
.Give me that boyP' he cried rough
ly. Get out of the way, Beatrice,
and let me have him." and he caught
her by the arm and dragged her from
the cot.
arthur, Arthur! husband. sweet
heart" She clasped both arms around
his neck, and raised imploring eyes to
his; but the sight of the thin white face
only moved him to greater wrath.
1T is all your fault have not made
you strong long ago. he exclaimed
irritably. "You never laugh now, and
you can't sing, and you won't dance"
dance! Oh, yes, can. Look, Ar
thur" She drew back rapidly toward
the cot, speaking in her ordinary quiet
voice. ''You shall do what you like
with BERTHE; was only joking. Only
we must have our dance first, you
know"
With sudden movement she stoop-
ed and lifted the sleeping child from the
bed, talking all the time in an arch mer-
ry voice, that still retained its old pow
err over the poor mailman.
dance, Beatricew and he began
whistling, beating time with the dag
ger.
My life has shown instances of self
devotion in plenty. have seen proofs
of ready wit, and more of indomitable
pluck; but have never seen them so
marvelously combined as on that terri
BILE night Instinct taught me what
she meant to do. She had persuaded
her husband to stand at the end of the
room farthest from the curtain that
hid her one means of escape, and now
she intended to hazard her only chance.
dash through it. lock the door on the
other side. and then go for help. Back
ward and forward, round and round
she circled, weird enough figure in
her white draperies. The little white
feet were bare, and it taxed her utmost
strength to hold the heavy boy in her
arms; but with a sublime heroism. of
which | never should have believed her
capable, she never once paused for
breath.
Mrs. Crawford! Quickr'
There was not a minute to be lost
| tore the curtain aside and she rushed
toward me. but ere I could fasten the
heavy door her husband was upon US.
With yell of baffied rage he was tear
ing after her, and i'm another momen
would have reached her with uplifted
knife. when l tripped him up and he
fell headlong to the floor. He was
stunned by his fall, and while fasten-
ed his hands and feet by means of the
cord, his wife rang loud for assistance.
Ere he came to himself Arthur Craw-
ford was safely secured IN my own
room. Mrs. Crawford was lying on
the bedroom floor with her nervous nm
gers still tightly interlaced, and by her
side sat he little son, warm and iosy
from his broken sleep. He was kissing
the paling lips as | came hastily into
the room, and now held up warning
finger as ] knelt beside them.
'Poor mamma is fast asleep" he
whispered. "And she is so cold"
She was not dead. The long and
frightful mental strain through which
she had passed brought on brain fever,
and for some days we despaired of her
life; but she came through 1t bravely,
and ere the summer waned l had the
satisfaction of installing both mother
and son in a seaside cottage.
Crawford, poor fellow, only lived q
few months, for a dangerous fall in the
asylum grounds put merciful termina-
ton to his confinement. During those
few months visited him occasionally,
and he always spoke most tenderly oil
his wife, whom he imagined to be dead
When he died / went to break the
news to his young widow, and while
staying solved much that had puzzled
me. Her terror at my first introduce
ton to her had been occasioned by the
fact that she had at once recognized
me as Lennox, the mad doctor. had
been pointed out to her in the park the
season before. She dreaded Arthur
incidental madness being known tt
anyone, for she had q blind terror of /;
lunatic asylum. and hoped that quie
country life might in time restore him
But had he never broken out before
l asked, for it semed to me incompre
hensible that so slight frame shoult
be capable of such courage. Once
she said, only once, and then he hat
been bent on killing himself.
In struggling with him for possession
of the knife he had accidentally cut he
wrist. and SO occasioned the ugly sea
that so disfigured it. AS for Berthe
presence on that fatal night she tol,
me he had always been accustomed I,
sleep in their room. and as had re
fused to second her theory that tn
child wanted change of air, and SO al,
in sending him out of the house, SIN
could devise no other means Of getting
rid of him.
/ have never seen Mrs. Crawfor
from that day to this; but still, in spit
Of certain pair of sweet brown eye
which make the sunshine of my home
I am forced TO admit that there is n
woman on earth for whom have sue
boundless admiration as for that un
fortunate lady of whom l at one tim
thought as my first patient.
He Was q Doodle.