The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-15

three Or four kind letters from Th0rndyke,
telling Of the frightful fire and his own
extraordinary financial escape from dis
aster which had beggared not few Of his
fellow-citizens. Two of the letters inclosed
drafts, which Geraid cashed in New York,
scarcely having q grateful thought, as he
did SO, with regard to the kindly motive
that prompted their conveyance. At an
other time he would have written his pro-
tector pages of thankful response. But
now he wrote only brief il cordial notes,
all sense Of duty being yelled for him in
vap0rs of needless egotism. He inces-
sanity saw the woman he loved, and in
cessantly TOLD himself that she grew dearer
to him after each fresh interview. He had
become jealous Of the possibility that she
would ever regain her memory. He pre-
ferred her just as she was, and had no
realization Of the reckless outlook on his
own future--which he betrayed when de-
claring to Clyde: Even If she had really
been some other mans wife my marriage
with her would now seem to me wholly
sacred. Death took her, and in dying
all the worldly bonds that she had
formed were nullifed. Death gave her
back to me, newborn, second and PER
haps finer self. If she had sinncd some
dark sin during her former life should
never dream of not pardoning 1t. feel
that she will soon consent to marry me.
Almost Immediately, then, We shall b
made one. Her health is frail, and will
take her into the West, where DR.. Thorn
dyke, ever kind to me, will welcome US.
Clyde expostnlatcd, but vainly. Here
was madness, indeed, but of q sort with
which his whole pharmacop0eia Of drugs
had no power to deal. He had seen the
men who had brought "Perdita's" body to
Gerald's rooms, and had tried to wiring
robbery in which the rape of wedding
ring might be included. But the men
were rough fellows, and yet keen-witted
ones. They seemed clearly to understand
that when hiring them as he had done,
Clyde had laid himself open, in his char
acter of a physician connected with
Bellevue, and consequently with its
gravest and most injurious charges.
Good heavens" thought the young
physician one night after q ,stealthy
conference that had teemed for MN with
humiliating rebuff. II feel like some COM
promised person in Bowery melodrama.
And this comes of not keeping the wheels
of ones existence well within the ruts of
traps you can set for the unwary SCIENTIST
Dreading the ridicule of his co-workers, he
RETAINED from breathing q syllable about
the elixir. There were times when he
doubted absolutely that it had revitalized
her whom Gerald now so adored. Again
he would keenly regret the accident which
had caused him to oyerturn that flask of
the fluid, and vow to himself that he would
soon borrow his young friends formula
and turn alchenist with sturdy zeal.
Meanwhile he greatly regretted the abb
sence of Thorndyke, and at last wrote him
another letter, far more copiOus than the
first. in which he described Gerald as bent
upon perilous and reckless union with
woman whose brain and body were both
disordcred and who might bring upon her
self and her sutton calamity almost worse
than death.
"Leave, if you can, he counselled, "the
tangle of your present affairs, and come
eastward with speed. You have already
written Gerald that your real losses are
slight. All the better reason, my good
friend, why you should seek at this hour
the mad boy who hurries to bourne that
may prove his lasting grief and disgrace"
Somewhat strangely, it must be owned,
on the very afternoon when Clyde sat in
his study sealing and directing this letter,
Gerald, with flushed face and brilliant
eyes, pushed himself unannounced across
the threshold.
"Wish me joyl' he said, throwing his
strong, 1.-THE frame into chair.
"She has consented to marry me. She
loves me and has agreed to link her fate
with mine. It must happen in few days,
Clyde,-a very. few days. We shall go
otIdA8nt w JUN OCoI OiA LII NC
after our marriage. ! feel I've neglected
him horribly. But when he sees Perdita
he will pardon me, I'm certain. And we
shall live out there. with him. if he'll let
u.s."
where do You mean?" asked Clyde,
wiping his pen, and giving a sad little sniff
to the autumn tuberose in his coat front.
Chicago? 1t can't be very comfortable
there Just now, considering that most of it
is in ashes"
"Oh, we'll find some other place out in
the West" said Gerald, with an excited
toss of the head. 'There are lots of them.
1t will be new life, and that's just what
] want. You forget that l only need a lit
tie time to work again at the elixir and re-
alize from it monstrous fortune"
Clyde made plaintive sort of tattoo on
the desk before him with the well-kept
finger-nails of one hand. "Ah, yes-yes,
indeed, he muttered, in joyless monotone.
Not long afterward he posted his copious
letter to Thorndyke, and then had a con-
science-stricken feeling that he should
have spent small fortune in sending it all
by telegram.
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