The Irish standard., 1888-02-18

80, I
HEIyNG HER OUT THERE"
%s,e dumb anguish Of grief to the most, for
few families had escaped entire, while the
s'1ieks from the burning building had all
been hushcd when the great walls fel in.
was still searching among the crowd for
a trace Of Miss Arrnund, whom call from
Mr. Dudley summoned me to him. found
him bending over the still form OK the poor
old woman, whose white face looked st1E
and set AS if in death. Her clothing was
badly burned, but her injuries must have
ti,ar mainly due TO her fall on the brick
,,lvernent. I raised her head and famed
her face. meanwhile rubbing the cold hands;
hut no sis5l. of life returning, begged MIR.
Dudley to get q. carriage, il possible, and
have her taken to IL house. lie did SO, but
it was when attempting to help the driver
lift her in that J. observed his right arm Ws,s
helpless. ri:l TO help in his stead, lllqulr"
ins il he was hurt.
lit IS MY arl:, he said, steadily, though
ho WAS deadly pale ~ fear it is broken
Icoul1 have knolt down at his feet i'll Tho
cold str.,et and begged his forgiveness for
all lie. un<in1 things had ever said OF him;
hut he lnotiune.i t;le to enter the carriage,
ar,ss after giving the driver orders TO drive
10 Mr. Iceberg s; did SO. We entered tho
great house that nad left d short hour oe-
fore in such gaiety aud splcndor, III sorrow
and mourning. Mr.. Iceberg had ESCAPED
nDhurt but llis wife had leen severely in-
cured ty tho crush, we t,,i,.lG She Was
lying on q couch, pale and still, g;splng
iaintly, when we bore Miss. Armund into the
rooIl.
3o,}r ,rr,,-,
berg had the satisfaction of seeing her soon
nppesc little revived; but Miss Armnnd
. remained unconscious for ten hours, despite
the combined efforts CT Mrs. Kent, the doe
ter aud myself to arouse her But just at
dawn she revived. bent over her, asking
seftly if she was better. She looked up into
INV eyes, Il strange gladnesA in hers, "a sort
Of dumb Joy tii,At made my heart ache, but
abe aid not answer The doctor gave her &.
sleeping 1raught and then babe US all leave
the room except Mrs. Kent, who would
watch with The sick woman. lWcnt to my
room and, after throwing off my rich dress
and donning IL calico wrapper, went down
again TO inquire aLl:I,t Nj. Dudley: who
found was being a.: ended by the physicians,
who pronounced his arm broken III two
places, aud ho was now lying i'll tho west
parlor, locking Strangely pale anu i'll; yet
he smiled family and endeavored TO make
light Of his i'll julies When, / inquired AID e.>.
pressed my regret at his misfortune.
For the next few days little else was at
tended to except the wants OF the three i'll
yalids at the Iceberg mansion. devoted
myself almost entirely to Miss Armnnd,
who seemed i'll at ease whenever left her
sight Her injuries We're of q very serious
character, and the doctor gave little hope OF
her recovery, even from the first and at the
end OF three days he expressed his very
crave doubts as to her surviving twenty
four hours longer, and limited that if she
had any business affairs to settle she had
better attend to them at once. The doctor
was then closeted with her for some time,
ct tho end Of which he came cut looking ex-
iremely grave and concerned. He nlotioned
me to his side 'Miss Arrnund,' be said,
sis much worse, but she seems in more an
guish Of mind than body She desires me
to telegraph at once for Mrs. Clayton, who,
che says, is a friend of hers; and she also
desires to see Oliver Dudley at once. I
will,;' he continued, Ego at once to the tele-
graph Office and send the dispatch Will
you, Miss Lynn, be SO kind as 10 deliver her
message to Mr.. Dudley"
ST will at once," J. answered, and the doc.
tor hurried away Then all at once it flashed
upon me that now most likely was to
be revealed the mystery that surrounded
NE, for that Mrs Clayton and Miss Armund
possessed secret that was Of more or less
value to me I never doubted. But would
the dying woman reveal it2 or would she
llie and the precious secret be buried with
her? I felt my brain whirl at tue thought.
surely fate would never be SO cruel. Miss
Arnlund had seemed 10 find my presence
agreeable in the last few days, though her
injuries had prevented her from conversng.
Iclung to the hope that she was my friend,
after ali, and this helped to calm, somewhat,
my excited feelings. delivered her mes
sage TO Mr. Dudley with tolerable COM
pos11re, and then rushed off to my own
ROOM to wait in strange, shivering suspense
the arrival of Lena Clayton An hour
passed, two, three and then there was q
summons from Miss Armund's room. was
sent for. Invent in and was stru OK at once
by the change in her q few hours had
wrought; her face was gray and drawn, her
eyes sunl1en, yet glittering with a deadly
brightness. Evidently this world and it's
troubles were nearly over with her.
II Iwent in softly. Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Lei
berg and Oliver Dudley ere in the room,
/ but they withdrew st once, leaving us alone
together. a strange, solemn hush brooded
soyer all at first; tho bright fire cracked
4 4 s,nsd blazed on the hearth, sending warm
glow over the richly furnished room: the
5ia