Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-13

/ never iasteDed IL flnce INC uhf VI t1o
murder, on the morning of which she
had accidentally loft 1t unlocked. Since
then she had always left Il unfastened,
20 hat the room might be refuge ia
case some miserable hunted fugitive
from Justice might fly there. There bad
been DO pity in her action. Pity WIS
turned into hate and lay cold at her
heart rs the murdered love which had
once been between her and that iugi-
tive. IL was a mere sense Of moral obi
cation. Sho was bound to this fugitive
bv hated letters but she was bound, and
she was compelled TO help him.
alt is !" she bTeaihed rather than
spoke.
The door was opened, and she faced q
tall. powerlully-buil man, whose face
and figure were so terribly worn Ivy hun
ger. need. desperation. exhaustion, that
for second she scarcely recognized him,
and stood gazing at him. lie pnlled her
into the room with fierce, hunted look
in his eyes, and closed and locked the
door again.
"Why have you come here? " she
gasped in low, hoarse voice
/ - W LtD---
He laughed harsh, sinister laugh.
$50 YOU found out that / had been
there Well, be was a traitor
ooh, the wickedness OF 1t He was
an honest, happy, hard-working man
his only crime that he had once been one
Look here !" with a savage, cruel
I threatening in his ewes. "DOn't talk Of
what YOU don't understand Get me
food and let mo rest. ] havo been
+ hunted down like wild beast since that
dav. The police, curse them, have been
/ on nv track ever since. / could not get
out Of the country. have gone without
food, shelter warmth. But ! have
given them the slip. They will hardly
/ think have doubled back here. How
did you know that | was here that
day."
when / came home / found that l
/ had left my door unfastened, and when
/ | came in ( saw the red marks of fingers
on the box where my money was kept.
/ The money was gone. Only yOu knew
the secret Of the lock besides, knew
YOU had personal grudge against ---'
Course you He was traitor GIVE
me something to eat. j have starved Tor
/ two days"
She prepared a meal for him, ana he
sat down and ate it wofishly. She could
not even pity him for the awful hunger
/ he must have felt TO eat like that. She
began to DO afraid Of the hate in her
/ heart She felt sick with it. To see
/ him sitting there IN her room, which
/ she had kept unpolluted from his pres
ence for three years filed her with n
desperate, wild lOathlnR and rage Que
could not look at him, speak to MN.
BY and by, when the food. and
warmth, and rest had strengthened HIM
little, and he could think of other
/ things beside his own desperate hunted
self. be looked at her, and something
Iaaiclousy amused, and yet cruel and
angry, lesped into bis eyes.
{" You aren't pleased to see nc" he
said. with a laugh. 1T isn't dutiful, "
and he flung ont his arm as she passed
| him and caught her to him.
chow dare you She had wrencbcd
herself free and caught up a knife from
the table at the same moment. "if You
touch me-speaA to me- viii ttab you
/ to the heart.
lie was cowed by the splendor Of her
passion, her anger, and he fell back sui
| len. enraged but, remembering that he
was for the moment in her power, he
cursed her under his breath, and then
| flung himself down on the bed To sleep.
She could scarcely breathe IN the same
| atmosphere ms he did. and yet she dld
not dare leave the room. Suppose Mark
| Grey came and found him there.
/ The quick, ight footsteps she know so
well came running mp the staircase out
side her room. Before her tortured
/ brain could think what she must 90 they
stopped Mt her door. There wasa quick,
/ eager tapping on IT, She sprang to her
feet and ran to it, opened 1t, and passed
out on to the landing, closing 1t swiftly
behind her.
Mark Grey stood there waiting for
| her. Some powerful feeling stirring
him touched her, and she knew before
he had spoken that this WAS not the
| Mark Grey she had hitherto known.
/ But she had no time to wonder what the
change was. lie caught her hands in
his. She felt them burning her.
at seems so long since ! have seen
YOU, Janet. May l call you Janet? "
flush " she whispered in a sharp
voice that pierced her own ears, You
must not speak so loudly. My husband
is in there asleep"
"Your husband !" His burning
hands went suddenly cold as death, and
I 4l..,,. al, III .t,,r,L 4, HOY heart - Nprr
husband. Janet ?"
Eyes. Her husband !" The door Of
the room was flung open, and Joseph
Malone stood in the light falling from
the room to the dark landing, his eyes
abiaze with jealousy and fury.
$50 this is why you would not kiss
me ! You ----"
"Hush Joseph! Oh, hush !" She
pressed her hand against his lips to
check the foul ysrds upon them. 600
back. unless you wish to kill me.
But he stood for a second like man
turned suddenly to stone The light
from the room fell full on the white, set
face of the other man, and as the mist
of fury cleared from Malones eyes be
saw that face plainly for the first time.
He drew back instinctively into the room
and she followed, swiftly shutting tue
door between them and Mark Grey.
"Why did you risk so much by show
ing" she began, and then stopped,
terrified by the look on his face.
You Vile traitor" he Kissed, "to
sell me to the police. Don't pretend
you don't understand, or | will choke
the lie in your throat. That is Jermyn,
the detective, who has been hunting
me down like bloodhound. But l
will"
be pulled out a revolver from his
breast But, with a cry, she sprang be-
tween him and the door.
"Ho shall not touch you! You are
nv husbandl And"
She was out Of the room before she
had finished her sentence. She heard
steps a little heavy and uncertain de-
scending the staircase, and she ran down
to oyertake thom.