Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-23
good. I may never have the opportunity

n.
He must be mad; nothing else but mania
could account for such words and such actions.
and yet II mad why was he allowed to enter nv
presence? The man who brought me here, the
woman who received me at the door, had not
been mad.
And must stay here" began.
Til am quite satisfied. am afraid that
VIII take till morning"
l gave cry of despair and then in my utter
desperation spoke up to HIM as I would to q
man Of feeling:
"iou don't know what you are doing; you
don't know what shall suffer by any such
cruel detention. This night is not like other
nights to me. This is q special night in my
IS will
The woman l love"-it seemed horrible to
speak OF her in this place, but was wild at my
heipiessness and madly hoped 1 might awake
some answering chord in breast which could
not be void Of all feeling or he would not have
tnat benevolent look in his eye-"The woman
love, repeated, sails for Europe tomorrow.
we nave quarreled, but she still cares for me,
and If can sail on the same steamer we will
yet make up and be happy"
AT what time does this steamer start?''
AT in the morning"
well you shall leave this house at 8. II
you go directly to the steamer you will be in
time"
"But--but." painted, 81 have made no ar
rangements. / shall have to 20 to nv lodgings,
Write letters get money! ought to be there at
tnis moment. Have you no mercy on a man
VINO never did you wrong and only asks to quit
made HIM lose?"
Il am SORRY" he said: at is certainly quite
unfortunate. but the door will not be opened
before g. There is really no one in the house
.'And do you mean to say" cried, aghast,
that you could not open that door II you
would, that you are locked here as we'll as and
tnat must remain here till morning, no mat
ter how feel or you feel?'
will you not take a cigar?" he asked
Then, then, began to see how useless il was
to struggle, and visions of Dora leaning on the
steamer rail. with that serpent whispering soft
entreatles In her ear, came rushing before me
TIL could have wept in my jealous chsgrin.
1t Is cruel, base, devilish, began. IF you
mad the excuse Of wanting money and took this
method OF wringing my all from me l could
nave patience; but to entrap and keep me here
Tor nothing, nothing, when my whole future
happiness is trembling in the balance, is the
work Of fend and" / made q sudden
pause, for strange idea had struck me.
CHAPTER III.
What il this man, these men and this woman
were in league with him whose rivalry 1
feared and whom had intended to supplant
on the morrow. 1t was q wild surmise, but
was it any wilder than to believe 1 was held
here for mere within, freak, joke, as this
bowling. smiling man before would have me
believe?
Rising in fresh excitement struck my hand
on tne taoie. You want to keep me from
going on the steamer" cried. "fhat other
wretch who loves her has paid you-'
But that other wretch could not know that
was meditating any such unusual scheme az
following him without full days warning. 1
thought OF this even before had finished my
sentence and did not need the blank astonish-
ment In the face of the man before me to con-
vince me that had given utterance to q fool
ish accusation. at would have been some
sort OF motive for your actions" l humbly
added as sank back from my hostile attitude;
now you have none"
thought he bestowed upon me a look of
quiet pity, but II 30 he soon hid it with his up
lifted glass.
Forget the girl" said be- 81 know of a
dozen just as pretty"
was too indignant to answer
women are the bane of life," he now SEN
tentlously exclaimed. 'Tney are ever intrud-
ing themselves between man and his comfort
as, for instance, just now between yourself and
this good wine."
l caught up the bottle in sheer desperation.
Don't talk of them" cried, land will try
and drink. l almost wish there was poison in
the glass. Ny death here might bring punish
ment upon YOU
He shook his head, totally unmoved by my
passion.
I'VE deal punishment, not receive It. It
would not worry me in the least to leave you
lying here upon the floor
did not believe this, but did not stop To
weigh the question then; l was too much struck
by word he had used.
Deal punishment?' I repeated. care YOU
me? Is that why i am here?"
He laughed and held out his glass TO mine.
You enjoy being sarcastic he observed.
Well 1t gives q spice to conversation, own.
Talk is apt to be dull without it,"
FOR reply struck the glass from his hand;
1t fell and shivered and he looked for the mo-
ment really distressed.
II had rather YOU had struck me " ba 70
marked, '.for 1 have an answer for an iniury
like that; but for a broken glass" He
sighed and looked dolefully at the pieces on
the floor.
Mortified and somewhat ashamed, put down
you should not have e1asperated mel
cried and walked away beyond temptation, to
the other side of the room.
His spirits had received dampener, but in a
few minutes he seized upon a cigar and began
smoking. As the wreaths curled over his head
he began to talk and this time it was on
subjects totally foreign to myself and even
to himself. 1t was good talk, that l rec
ognized, though hardly listened to what he
said. l was asking myself what time it had
now got to be and what the meaning of
Ay oNoh, thA my Drdlu became weary
and could scarcely distinguish the topic he
discussed. But he kept on for all my
seeming and indeed real indifference, kept
on hour after hour in a monologue
he endeavored to make interesting and which
probably would have been SO if the time and
occasion had been fit for my enjoying it, As
1t was had no for his choicest phrases
his subtlest criticisms or his most philo-
sophie disquisitions. 1 was wrapped up
in self and my cruel disappointment.
and when In sudden excess Of frenzy
l leaped to my feet and took a look at
the watch still lying on the table and saw it
was o'clock in the morning l gave a bound
of final despair, and throwing myself on the
floor gave myself up to the heavy sleep that
mercifuly came to relieve me.
was reused by feeling a touch on my breast
Clapping my hand to the spot where had felt
the intruding hand discovered that INV watch
had been returned to its pocket. Drawing 1t
out l first looked at it and then cast nv ewes
quickly about the room. There was no one
with me and the doors stood open between me
and the hall. 1t was clock, as my watch had
just told me.
That l rushed from the house and took the
shortest road to the steamer goes without say
ing. L could not cross the ocean with Dora
but might yet see her and tell her how near
came to giving her my company on that long
voyage, which now would only serve to further
the ends of my rival. But, when after torturing
delays on cars and on ferry boats, and incred-
ible efforts 10 pierce'a throng that was equally
determined not to be pierced, | at last
reached the wharf, it was to behold her.
lust "a / had fancied in NV xv;l1ast