Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-12-28

utdu sA'llN ana hhl4Alils ltINbuNll dp'ui
him. But tear Jack is on the verge
OF dissolution feel SO faint now that
| believe-l believe ii is nearly all over
He staggered slightly as he spoke and
would have fallen if ! had not caught
him by the arul
Brace up. my dear boy" l cried.
Don't make scene here. Come. Get
into this cab and Wen ride down to my
rooms."
He was So limp by this time that /
bundled him almost head over heels into
convenient hackney, and giving the
driver directions ~ To where TO go fol-
lowed and sat down beside him. He lay
back against the cushions, his eyes
closed. his lips Quivering like childs
under punishment. To an ordinary OBJ
server it would have seemed as if Mars
den had taken too much strong drink
| 10 me. who knew that he did not drink,
| his condition was unaccountable. Moved
we both were by the imminent death OF
| dear friend, but the emotion OF Mars
den was out Of all proportion to the stu
alton.
Suddenly he grasped me by the arm
and sat mp stiflly and groaned.
AIR he sighed in moment. IL
thought it was all over then. BY heavens,
Hsrtly" he shouted as he turned his
eyes 10 me-eyes big, bulging and seem-
| ingly full OF some terrible dread. "How
can you sit there so unmoved? How can
you-how can you-how can your
His tone by this time had risen TO a
shrek, and ! became convinced that
Marsden and could not go on to Balti-
more that night unless l was willing TO
constitute myself the guardian Of a ma
MAC.
IL am quit as upset. Tom" re
piled. "Quite as deeply grieved over
| The possibility Of Jacks death
Don't speak of it-don't speak OF it,
he shuddered. covering back into the
corner of the cab and hiding his face
with his hands.
"Hartly. don't believe you -nder-
stand" he added, gravely, after a minute
or two of silence. DO you understand
that it means oblivion? Do you COM
prehend that it means absolute annihila-
ton, destruction. blotting out forever?
| DO you--do YOU realize that"
He fairly shook me with his grip on
my arm as he gasped this out
mo, do not" answered shortly. 81
believe, as you used to believe, III God
I'm heaven. and have not changed, and
! know that Masterson has no reason 10
fear death. His soul is the purest'--
81 am not thinking Of Masterson," he
cried. and then. his voice sinking into a
whisper, he muttered. II refer 10 our
selves. We shall vanish; we shall be
| blotted out Masterson's soul is all
right, but ours-we have no souls. With
his death we are plunged into formless-
ness-we become zeros"--
MY dear Marsden," l said, trying
hard TO conceal my perturbation, for
was now convinced that he was mad,
my dear Tom, don't talk that way.
Keep quiet All will go well. All
at cannot" he retorted, IF Jack Mas
terson dies. If Jack Masterson dies We
Hartly, do you realize what you are,
what am? |, with all my hopes, all my
ambitions, my loves, my hates. every
thing, am but figment in the brain of
Jack Masterson. You are the same,
know. have studded have seen.
| When that mind ceases to work and
that imagination to fancy, you and l,
John Hartly. cease TO be-"
AS Marsden spoke the cab stopped at
my door and we entered the house.
was simply appalled, at the horror of
| Marsden's hallucination and at the new
responsibility for his welfare that had
temporarily devolved upon me. He was
mad: but how mad? Was it durable or
not? feared. felt that but one thing
was needed to upset his mind altogether
and that was Masterson's death. No:
| had any hope that that was a blow TO
| he averted. What to do was the ques-
| ton, and my own feelings were that un-
| less that question We're speedily solved
| should myself stand In mental peril.
We went to my apartments, and
| lhoved under the door l fouIh tele-
ram awaiting me. To open it was the
work of moment, and then Marsden,
feeling that it must be from Baltimore,
bnatched it from me and tried to read it,
but fortunately he could not, his eyes
were so filled with the tears Of fear.
Read it," he cried, trembling with
excitement Read IL"
took il, and casting my eyes over the
line saw the announcement of the fatal
termination of Jacks illness. Jack
iied at . o'clock this afternoon" it said
but did not dare read it aloud.
What does it sayY" gasped Marsden.
The danger is over, and there is no
reed Of our going TO Baltimore"
Thank Godr' cried Marsden, falling
bn his knees and then with "A groan sink
'ng in faint to the floor.
Marsden is still connected with the
ssylum in Massachusetts,, he thinks as a
consulting physician, but as the world
knows, as a patient, and IL bear the
bud en of my deceit in that horrible
night by conducting the correspondence
Of two corners Of our triangle Of love
iny own corner and that Of MastersOn,
Uf whose death Marsden has never heard,
for the experts say that were he ever TO
hear Of his friends decease, so strongly
does he believe himself a part Of the dead
mans day dreams, the small remainder
Ut his once strong mind would he utterly
blotted out.-H. W. Hardness in Frank
Leslie's.