The St. Johns herald., 1891-05-07

orously against the chair, and,
 the men had not been talking ant
 shuffling their feet aboutimpatient
 ly, they would have wondered a
 and tried to discover the meaning 1 of those curious sounds. How
 ever, they moved, and the clattel
 of their steps on the bare, wooden
 staircase grew more and more in-
 distinct and gradually faded away
 in the distance. With each reced-
 ing footfall Marshall grew more des.
 perate. From the certainty of imme'
 diate succor, he fell, with one deep
 swoop, to the horrible conviction
 that he was hopeless prisoner. He
 was in despair. The building which
 was small and cut up entirely into
 business offices, was now as silent
 as the grave. The men who had just gone were evidently the last to
 leave.
 After yielding for some moments
 to feeling of deep despondency, he again resolved to face the matter boldly and consider the situation from every aspect. "I am an un- willing prisoner, there is no doubt about that" he thought; "the man on the floor is dead-that is a dis agreeable enough fact without any ofthe accompanying circumstances. This is my wedding day, and of all unlucky beggars on the face of the earth I am the chief. My poor little bride is anxiously awaiting me, and has no idea where 1 am. My delay must appear extraordi- nary, considered from any and every point of view. This is Saturday evening, and" here Marshall's eyes blazed with passion; he in- wardly cursed himself, his officious college friend-who had had first put the confonnded notion in his head-the dentist and the world at large, vehemently and furiously. The thought which caused this se- were mental perturbation was an appealing one. It was Saturday, therefore business would be virtual ly suspended till Monday morning. The building would be closed for an- other 36 hours. Nobody knew where he was; nobody could hear him, for he could not speak; was ever man more unfortunately situ- ated, and on his wedding day, too? Again he reused himself, and this time he fell into a tearing rage. He shook and fought with his rigid foe, twisted his arms almost out of their sockets. nearly dislocated his ankles in their convulsive contor- tions, threw the upper part of his body with stupendous force back ward, in the vain of hope of knock ing the chair backward and smash | ing it in its fall-he never consid- cred that he would, also, run a risk l of sharing in the general smash up, should there happen to be one but it was firmly screwed into the 1 floor, and never bulged an inch.
 Then he followed with keen ob- the wanderings of Q Bohe- milan blue-bottle that vainly strived to brave the light without scorching | his gauzy wings. The buzzing ac- compartment to it's dizzy dance was a welcome sound in the silent room, and when at last, in the pride of its invincibility, it deliberately waltzed into the centre of the burn- ing flame, and with one explosive buzz fell to ground and gave up the ghost, Marshall felt as if his only friend had forsaken him.
 The window facing him locked over the roof of a low, adjacent house, but, owing to the gaslight in- side, the only object he could see was his own reflection. This duplicate of himself afforded him some small consolation; it was a Eipd of communion in his loneli-