Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-01-26

As he spoke be got ont some tuna-
bleTs from the cupboard and wiped
them clean. The Glasgow manufac.
turer seemed . little moIli6ea. No.
body could help liking S.andish or his
whisky, and ali might yet have been
well il the devil had not seemed to
enter suddenly into Angus Macbans.
Standish had poured out generous
measure Of the fragrant spirit, and was
turning TO take the kettle of the hob,
when Macbans sprsng up like a cat,
in white heat of rage, took the turn-
bier from the table and flung il right
into the CRATE. The glass rang and
crushed, and the flame leaped out
blue like a tongue Of hell FIRE, and
Angus stood at the table quiverins al
over, with his right hand opening and
shutting as If feeling for a weapon.
Standish caught him by the arm and
pulled him back into his chair.
"Are you mad, Mac?" he exclaimed.
Maebane did not seem to hear, but sat
glowering at his uncle. As for Dan
can Macdons ID be turned purple with
anger. Thsa complicated atrocity Of
the insult-an outrage at once on
kinship. hospitality, thrift and good
whisky-had smitten him dumb for
a moment with surprise and rage
He clinched his fist and struck blinily
at his nephew, who was fortunately
out Of reach; then he spoke in husky
but distinct. voice, slowly, as if regis
tering a VOW.
"De'il throttle me" he said, "if ever
you see bawbee of mine again" And
he took up his hat and umbrella and
turned to the door.
"Done with you, in the devils
nanel" cried Macbane.
Without another word the uncle
flung the door open, and shut it after
him with a crash that shook the house.
Then we heard him stamping down
the stairs and along the passage, till
another great bang proclaimed that
he had left the house. This last
noise seemed to rouse Macbane from a
sort of trance. He sprang up again
and rushed to the door and threw il
open, as if to pursue his uncle. We
were going to stop him, for he looked
murderous enough; but instead Of
dashing downstairs he stopped, flung
out his hand with strange gesture,
as if he were pointing at something,
and muttered a few words that !
could not catch. Then he shut the
| door and came back slowly TO his old
seat, as pale as a dead man.
In the excitement of the scene we
had none of us noticed the time; but
now the cheap little clock on the
mantelpiece struck y, and recalled
the fact that two of us were far away
from our lodgings. Standish and !
looked at each other; we neither of us
liked to leave Macbane alone yet.
The mans expression as he flung the
glass into the fre-still more his
look as he pointed down the stairs
was black enough for anything, and
if we went now he seemed quite cap,
able of going out and numbering his
uncle, or staying and numbering him
self. Standish winked at me and
went out quietly. In ten minutes he
came back and addressed Macbane,
who was sunk in one of his reveres
again.
"All right, old fellow" he said
cheerily; your landlady tells me her
first floor is vacant, and she will put
us two up for the night. So cheer
up, Mac. It is bad business, but
we will see you through it, never fear
Now let's brew some punch and be
jolly tonight at any rate, as we
needn't CO."
Macbane woke up again at this with
sudden feverish gayety. He eager
ly took the steaming tumbler Frank
prepared for him and drained it at
dranght-he whose strongest stimu-
liant was coffee. The whisky did not
seem to affect his head, however.
More than this, he hunted out soiled
pack of cards from an obscure drawer,
and proposed he who hated all
games-that We shonld play to pass
the time. Dummy whist he thought
too slow, and I proposed three handed
euchre, generally called "cutthroat."
The name seemed to amuse our friend
vastly. He insisted on learning the
game, and We started at once. His
spirits were almost uProarious; we had
never seen him like this before. Yet
his gayety was very unequal. Some
times be would cut the widest jokes,
till, in spite of our uneasiness about
him, we shrieked with laughter; aud
again he would sink back in his chair,
forgetting to play his hand, and seem
ing as if he listened for some sound.
After some time he went to the door
and flung it open, declaring that he
was sitting in this hole of room"
Then he sat down again to rlav, but
tdgeted about in his chair impatient
ly. He was studying his cards, wher
he held up his left hand. hapnensd
to look at the other arm hanging
down by his chair.
For goodness sakel" I exclaimed,
what have you done to your hand,
Macbane p
He held up his right hand as I
spoke, and looked at it. Palm and
fingers were dabbled and smeared
with watery blood, fresh and wet.
For a v,1r,av% 80 .Sn-l a - ~