Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-10-01
Copyright, 1890. Ey Edgar Fawcett.l
CHAPTER II.-CoNTINUED.


But his brain, at present thoroughly
clear, saw the futility of attempting
either accusation or reUonstrance. The
will-to-live was strong in him. If such
peril menaced speech, he would strive
to preserve silence. By : gesture and
meaning movement OK the features he
showed DIR. Thorndyke that he would
impose no further search. Resolving 20
live on through the preservation of ST.
Hence he suffered for the next three
DAYS untold fortunes. Mentally he was
vitality itself; physically he was almost
complete failure of fiber and nerve.
Georgina would come into his room and
perform the offices of nurse with care
full exactitude. Now and then she
brought the BOYS in to stand at his bed
side and let him clasp their hands Syl-
van would be very gentle and demure;
Gerald would sometimes press his warm,
plump cheek against the chill and thln
paternal hand, and show with trembling
lips and fearful eyes the depths OF ms
pity and regret DIR. Thorndyle would
drop in twice a day, always ordering
continued silence by the elevation of his
forefinrer. and always uttering, as we'll,
words of sympathy mixed with cheer.
Meanwhile Maynard still suffered be-
yond words. and at last. one evening,
he determined to suffer no longer IN
lust this same horrible way. He might
be called upon to endure fresh 1niserles,
but at least they would be of new and
less ghastlv kind. His wife had left
him: the candles We're lit in his small
bedchaInber: he was quite alone: 1t
would be only a step to his laboratory.
He felt much stronger than at any time
since his Weakening to consciousness.
After slowly quitting his bed and
standing erect on the floor. he felt bet
ter still. dressing-gown lay on a
near chair. and he hastily ensheathed
! his form in its folds. The room was
! cold. and he longed for slippers Yet
/ could find none. Soon ceasing the
! quest for them, he glidcd into the outer
! hall, CARRYING with him box Of wax
| tapers which he had snatched exultant-
! ly from the mantel-
| To gain his dark laboratory was but
| the work of q minute. To light its
| gloom took even less time. There he
was. rirt by the old scene OF his toll
and yearning. With gaze that shot
| from corner to corner of the we'll
known room, he sought for his lost
| flask. Nowhere. He scented, like some
| heavy and repulsive smell, the treach'
cry of his wife. Soon he gave up search
| ing. What if at any moment some new
illness gripped him? And there was his
desk; paper, pens, ink were on 1t, just as
| of old To write out the full recipe o.
that incompatible drug would not take
more than twenty minutes at the most
He seated himself before the desk
and began to write. This was a mes
sage-perhaps dying message-to HI
son, his eldest boy, Sylvan. He knew
lust how to frame the whole formula
he had thought it all out while prone
there in his speeches. torture. What
fine steadiness his hand had. How hi
pen darted along the paper! After all
was he so i'll as Ross Thorndyke ha'
thought? Two pages already-four
five, six: why. in a little while ever.
thing would be told. And such venge
ance on his thieving wife, who ha'
dared to call this wondrous rape from
the locked vaults of science an insult t
O!nn{potence, Never mind" he KEEP
saving to himself, If 1 do fail to recove
the drug. Sylvan will get tbs. II
make Ross Thorndyke swear he IL Civ
it him when he's Internationally. An
I'll put a letter inside it, too-lf m,
strength holds out, if l don't die her
before I can fully bequeath to my eldes
boy this peerless prize.
He did put a short letter inside tn
larger document. Then, lighting on a
envelope of more than common size, h
placed both within it and thrust tn
package thus made into pocket of HI
gown. Scarcely had he done this be
fore the sound of step reached hir
, from the outer hall. 1t was his wife s
he recognized it. Rising. he quietl
fronted her as she entered the room
with his face like chalk and his big gra
eyes full of scorn and wrath.