The record-union., 1892-05-28

SlIOuIu-
No! Not quite. As the last card of the
round tell face upward on the table a
thrill went through the nerves of the
spectators. The two girls at the window
shrank back suddenly as if they had
been shot. There was the fatal card
at last! The lot had fallen to Vane him
self!
THAT decides it." he said. "I go first.
You will meet me at the archway in half
an hour from this time. 1t will then be
dusk, and we will give ourselves what
chance we can. / shall go out alone; the
rest of you will wait under cover of the
archway, and will rush out the moment
they fire at me. If l fall two of you must
bring me in-Sanderson and King can do
it. The other four must try to get a
| bucketful of water each. There will be
time for that, / think, though it will be
sharp work. Remember, at the archway,
with all ready, IN half an hour"
III.
The men saluted and filed out. Vane
was left alone. He turned, and was about
TO seat himself at the table when, to his
surprise, he saw a figure standing in the
window of the room, and he was about
to ask her what she wished, when Leo
nora came hurriedly forward and stood
beside him.
''St. George" she said, "you must not
go-you shall not 60"
AS she spoke he thought for the first
time of the veranda. She knew what he
was going to do. He would much rather
that she had not known; but he answered
SIMPLY, 1t is my duty, LenoTa."
"Dutyo' she repeated with Impotence.
'Oh, yes-but do not go! Send some one
else. surely there are plenty OF men. DO
not go, St. George"
Great is the power of beauty, though it
be the beauty OF Delilah. 1t could not
make man like Nane forgetIul of his
duty, or shake for more than moment
his natural resolution. But as he looked
down at the lovely lips which tempted
him, he did not turn at once away. And
yet her words Jared on him. He felt no
surprise; he knew Lenora we'll, but he
would have chosen that the girl to whom
he gave his love, though she might part
from him in agony OF mind, would not
/ have had him Shirk his duty in lace of
danger. Love hight be dearer to her
than life, but honor should be dearer than
/ either.
He was on the point Of speaking when
! there appeared at the window of the room
another figure. They both looked up and
saw it. 1t was Mary Sulland. Her face
! was very pale, and aS she came forward a
/ close observer might have seen that she
was remblng. But her eyes shone with
strange light, and when she spoke her
voice, though low, was thrilling in its
! NllSllICIItSS IlGI IISI WOiuS SllO Su blldG
! she had not overheard, or had not under
! stood, what had already passed between
| Lenora and st. George.
I'VE know where you are going" she
| said, with shining eyes. 'Lenora shall
not be alone in bidding you God-speed
! before you go. have come to do so too;"
and, as she spoke, she looked as a Spartan
maiden may have looked when she sent
! her lover forth to death or glory.
! At the first sound of her voice Vane
| started. Their eyes met, and one might
! have thought that some reflection of the
| light in hers had flashed into his own.
! Without word he took her hand and
! pressed it to his lips.
Lenora with a half hysterical laugh,
| turned to the window and went out
Mary Sulland was left alone. Suddenly
! she sank upon chair and burst into
such passion of tears as shook her very
! frame.
Her hero? Yes-he was her hero. She
made no secret of it now in her own
heart. She loved him well. Gladly would
she have given her own life for his. But,
alas! what could she do?
! All at once a wild thought struck her
! Her cheek famed; the old light kindled
in her eyes. She started to her feet, pale,
| eager-eyed and trembling trembling
now with new excitement. She seemed
like one possessed by a spirit stronger
! than her own-by an impulse oVermas-
! tering and resistleSs. For q moment or
two she stood motlonless, her eyes gleam-
ing. Then turning, not to the window,
| but to the door, she hurried from the
room.
She went straight to her own chamber.
In Il few minutes she came out again.
She was now draped in long, close gray
/ dreSsing-gOwn, which completely COW
! nTnl hn1 Io1. tnll oil e..
ure thus garmented looked like nothing
so much as a gray ghost, and, like a
| ghost in the falling light of evening, she
glided out of her chamber and passed
along the passage and down flight of
| stairs.
All at once she stopped. Some noise
alarmed her. And now she was afraid
afraid, not of what she was about to do,
! but Of being seen and thwarted in the
execution of her plan. Presently, all be-
! ing still she again stole forward. The
men were, for the most part, busy at
their posts. Fortune favored her. No
eye observed her as she stole upon her
way.
At last, to her infinite relief, she
| reached her destination. She stood in
the archway which led out into the square.
1t was still empty. Nane's volunteers
had gone in search Of the articles re-
| quired for the adventure, and had not vet
arrived. The open court was before
her, and there, in the middle of it, was
the well.
She knew the archway well. 1t was a
kind of tunnel or covered passage of
brickwork some half dozen yards in
length. Near the outer end of the arch
! way there was a buttress, and beyond it a
recess or deep niche in the masonry. The
niche was close beside the buttress on the
! side toward the square.
| The UTaV tipIIre reached the h11ftraSS
! glided into the recess and disappeared.
Five minutes passed-ten minutes.
! Then the sound Of steps was heard, and
men entered the archway in BODY,
| Nane was not among them, but immedi-
ately afterward he appeared, together
with another officer-the surgeon
| BY this time the sun had sunk, and but
! for the rising moon 1t would have been
/ quite dark. The woodwork which had
/ supported the MINDLESS of the well had
! been shattered by the shot and now stood
| in ruins, but the chain remained intact,
! its end twisted around a broken stump,
and the bucket hung in safety inside the
opening Of the well.
No time was lost. Nane spoke a word
or two by way OF last directions to the
men; then taking bucket in his hand so
| that, if by any chance he escaped the
| shot, he might do his share in bringing
/ in the water, he turned toward the square.
That his chance was very slight he knew.
/ And as he turned to go forth into the
/ range of the cannon. his face, though res
olute, was grave.
lie had already taken a step or two in
advance, when he suddenly stopped
short. What was that? y soft. gray,
ghostly figure started out of the wall in
front of him and fitted forth into the
open air. Before he had recovered from
md oil =, I
the well. For the space of an instant it
J stood there motionless: then. as if desir-