Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-02-09
BY ONE, BY TWO AND BY
THREE.
CHAPTER vi.
TEMPLE BAR.


o'clock by the butler, who held in his
hand yellow telegram envelope
AS soon as | could zhake off my drow-
siness in part. l tore sapcnt hs mis-
sive and unfolding the paper | found
to my surprise that it was from Mac
bane. He knew my address, indeed,
from a letter | had sent him; but
knowing his wayI / never expected
even a note from him, much less a
telegram. When | read the message,
my surprise was not diminished.
"If safe, and wishing to see me
alive" it ran, "come at once. If un-
able, forget me. Nearest station,
Kilburgh."
What could this mean? Could
Macbane known anything of my mys-
teriOus danger of last night? and if
so, was the doom that had missed me
impending over him? Or was it
merely that he was iii and despond-
ing, and thought himself dying :?
Turn and twist the message as l could.
it puzzled me but one thing was
plain-Macbane was, or thought HIM
self to be, in deadly need of me, his
only friend, as far as knew; and if
/ did not go it was possible that he
might lose the last chance of any
friendly human care in his solitary
life. l resolved at once, shaken and
weary as l still felt, to start for Dull
las Tower. ] rose and dressed hur-
riedly, and snatched some breakfast
alone-for my good old host was too
much exhausted by the excitement of
the last night to come down yet.
While eating | was studying rail-
way guide, and discovered that by
driving to the nearest station at once
l could catch train that would en-
able me by devious junction lines to
make my way to Kilburgh Ga little
place in a wild part of a Lowland
county, by the evening. While the
horse was being put into the dog cart
| scribbled a note to my host, explain
ing the reason for my speedy depar-
ture and promising to return as soon
as possible, and then l stepped into
the cart and was driven off, arriving
just in time to catch the train.
My journey was of the exasperat-
ingly tedious character known to all
who have ever tried to 90 any dis
tance by means of crosslines and local
lines and functions. Twice l got
some food during my long intervals
of waiting at stations; and all the
time, whether travelling or resting, |
was 20 s,ssed with a haunting perplex-
ity, shadowy fear. Through my
brain necessarily beat, keeping time
to the pulsating roar of the wheels, a
text, or something like one-I know
not how or why it suggested itself
"One woe is past; behold another woe
cometh." The mysterious peril OF
the last night seemed already to have
happened years ago; the dim terror
of the future would be ages incoming;
and between them and in the shadow
of both l was still going on and on,
slowly but endlessly-a dream myself
and in a dream.
1t was about S in the evening,
think, when I reached Kilburgh
station but my watch had stopped
and could not be sure. AS I STEP
ped out on the platform was con-
scious OF an intense sultry heat in the
dense night air, and a sudden little
gust Of wind sraote on my check like
breath from furnace. The train
went on again, plunged with doleful
wailing shrek into tunnel, and was
lost to sight; and when its rumble
died away the utter stiffness was
strange after the noise and rattle in
which I had passed the day. I cast
a hasty glance round me, aud could
Just make out the lights Of a few
houses in the valley below the station
and the dark outlines of hills around,
some OF them serrated with black
pines, and the sky dense with cloud
and with a denser mass of gloom
laboring slowly up from the west
There was the weight of a comins
storm in the air.
! | asked the station master wher;
Dallas Tower was, and how I was {,
reach it.
'Dullas Tower >" he said medita
lively; and then. with O sudden fiasI
Of cOmprehsnsiOn--"oh. it's the De il
Tower yell be meaning, sir-MaC