The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1893-06-24
face on my shoulder cried like a child.

as we think"
"Not if he lives" he replied, shaking his
head sadly and looking ~nervously about
him. But l fear Jack is on the verge
of dissolution. / feel so faint now that
l believe-I believe it is nearly all over"
He staggered slightly as he spoke and
him by the arm.
"Brace up, my dear boy! l cried.
Don't make a scene here. Come. Get
into this cab and we'll ride down to my
rooms"
He was SO limp by this time that ]
bundled him almost head over heels into
a convenient hackney, and giving the
driver directions as to where to go fol-
lowed and sat down beside him. He lay
back against the cushions, his eyes
closed, his lips quivering like a child's
under punishment. To an ordinary OBJ
server it would have seemed as If Mars.
den had taken too much strong drink
to me, who knew that he did not drink,
his condition was unaccountable. Moved
we both were by the imminent death of
a 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 up stifly and groaned.
"Ah" he sighed in a moment. 81
thought it was all over then. By heavens,
Hartlyv" he shouted as he turned his
eyes to me-eyes big, bullying and seem
ingly full of some terrible dread. How
can you sit there so unmoved? How can
you-how a you-how can you!"
His tone by this time had risen to a
shrek, and l became convinced that
Marsden and l could not go on to Balti-
more that night unless l was willing to
constitute myself the guardian of a ma
MAC.
IL am quite 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.
clarity, l don't believe you Under
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, a b~lotting out forever:
Do you-do you realize that:"
He fairly shook me with his grip on
my arm as he gasped this out.
mo, l do not" l answered shortly. 81
believe, as you used to believe, in u God
in heaven, and l have not changed, and
l know that Masterson has no reason to
fear death. His soul is the purest"-
81 am not thinking of Masterson," he
cried, and then, his voice sinking into
whisper, he muttered. II refer to our
selves. We shall vanish: we shall be
blotted out. Masterson's soul is al
right, but ours-we have nc souls. Will
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. ALI
sit cannotw he retorted, eff Jack Mas
terson dies. If Jack Masterson dies We
Hartly, do you realize what you are
what l am? l, with all my hopes. all IN,
ambitions, my loves, my hates, every
= thing, am but a Pigment in the brain o
: Jack Masterson. You are the same,
p know. / have studded have seen
When that mind ceases to work ant
that imagination to fancy. You and
r John Hartly, cease to BET
As Marsden spoke the cab stopped a
I my door and we entered the house.
was simply appalled, at the horror q
Marsden's hallucination and at the ne,
responsibility for his welfare that ha
temporarily devolved upon me. He wa
q mad; but how mad? Was it durable @
not? l feared. l felt that but one thin
was needed to upset his mind altogether
and that was Masterson's death. No
o had l any hope that that vas a blow t
a be averted. What to do was the que.
ton, and my own feelings were that III
4 less that question We're speedily solve
= I should myself stand in mental peril.
d We went to my apartments, an
n showed under the door l found a tell
gram awaiting me. To open it was I'll
# work of a moment, and then Marsdel
feeling that it must be from Baltimor
snatched it from ME and tried to read i
d but fortunately he could not, his ey'
were so filled with the tears of fear.
% "Read itw he cried, trembling wit
m excitement. 'Read itv'
,t took it, and casting my eyes over tt
N line saw the announcement Of the fat
termination of Jacks illness. "Jae
j died at 8 o'clock this afternoon" it sal,
but I did not dare read it aloud.
O.. "Wha does it sayT' gasped Marsde
40 "The danger Is over, and there is I
al need of our going to Baltimore"
49, "Thank God!" cried Marsden, falliI
a. on his knees and then with a groan sin
III ing in a faint to the floor.
49,. n n 4
W. Marsden is still connected with Il
IL asylum in Massachusetts, he thinks as
>, consulting physician, but as the wor
40 knows, as a patient, and II bear t
~ burden of my deceit in that hOrril
W. night by conducting the correspondent
~ of two corners of our triangle of love
OF my own corner and that of Masterso
ed of whose death Marsden has never hear
M for the experts say that were he ever
it hear of his friends decease, so strong
AS does he believe himself a part of the de-
al. mans day dreams, the small remand
of his once strong mind would be utter
blotted out.-H. w. Hardness in Fra
ge Leslie's.
TURF TOPICS.
it Colonel North, the nitrate king, W
I'VE send a string of English race horses