Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-05-21

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"You may take charge Of the Office,
Harry" said Brander, quietly. Hurry
the men up on this stuff; have them
boil down every item. Send the men
down 70 the railway as fast as they turn
of the work on hand. Run every line
they bring that isn't repetition. Peo-
pie will want to read nothing else to-
morrow. You will have TO fight Bangs"
Bangs was the business manager. Hes
been laying himself out on ads, but II
he wants to get them all in he'll have
to get out al extra sheet. he can ar
range that for himself"
ale has a cool head, +" con- mented the
assistant, looking after the retreating
figure with hearty admiration. "He's
going TO be In the thick Of 1t, and keep
the boys up to their work. Well sell a
hundred thousand copies tomorrow.
The other papers will be nowhere"
David Brander was In the thick OF It,
but his direction Of the local staff ter
minated with his parting instructions
at the office. Those who viewed the
scene OF the awful catastrophe noticed
q man, silent and watchiul, gliding
about, threading his way through the
debris and looking into dead faces that
smiled 10 him a CHASTITY greeting. lie
reached out his hand and touched rich
locks, the color OF her hair. And he
gathered a shred Of some light cloak,
embroidered with pearly beads, and
looked at IL long and closely
in the glaring s~esrch-light
OF an electric light ~improVised
for the occasion. When he saw in
sensible forms that might never again
know pain, be turned away sick az
heart. Once, with a glow Of Joy that
overmastered his own black grief, he
took from . dead mothers stifiening
arms a little child that was still warm
and breathing, and handed it to one
who stood TO receive it, while the crowd
sobbed and cheered. Of again through
the debris. Who-Who is this in front
OF him?
It is Carew, still wearing his overcoat
bending over the dead, searching with
ghoullsh expectation and a wan face
that TO his rsscuer seemed to bear the
brand OF sin. The pure eXultation OF
the moment was swept away by a sud
den tide OF passion that might have
made him q murderer, had not opportu-
atty been denied him.
There was no longer any hope Of find
ing other living souls.
''Were there any people-that we
knew" asked Brander Of the youthful
reporter whom be came UP with.
''There Is NJ, the lawyer, Mrs. L.,
the rich widow, and quite a number OF
reputable business men. And there is
one girl 1 used TO go TO school With
Brander respected the boy more for
the tear that stood in his eye. He
pressed his hand, and, giving him some
final directions, said:
''There is no message to deliver for
me at the Office, thank you. L shall
not be down again tonight"
He was at last on his way to the
empty place be called home, and grief
and shame walked beside him, He put
his key In the latch, and turned it
softly, as he had been In the habit OF
doing when he came in late, lest he
might disturb her slumbers, and he
stepped lightly on the stairs, and
opened and shut the door Of their little
sitting-rOOm with a stealthy touch,
like one who as . thief in the
night, looking upon that TO which he
has no title.
How pretty the rooms were with their
w%arm-hued draperies, their modest but
comfortable furnishings, the books and
magazines scattered about, the glowing
embsrs in the CRATE. They had made
the best Of 1t, although neither Of them
had ever approved OF life In q fiat. The
dream Of their early married life had
been the possession Of q house In the
country. For upward OF two years he
had been striving to make the dream a
reality, keeping up a special corre-
~spondence with a provincial daily, turn
ing of an occasional paper for a maya
zine. The deeds TO a fine house at Wat
ford were at that moment in his breast
pocket, and they were to have been her
birthday gift.
Now all was changed. Tonight he
wrestled alone with the loss that before
another day had passed would be her
aided throughout London; but the
humiliation aud grief that underlay it
would be forever locked in his own
heart. He was not the same man that
be was yesterday. The whole current
of his life was changed, and his FOOLS
dream OF happiness was over. Yet so
familiar and undisturbed were all the
objects about him that he could almost
fancy the events of the day to be some
hateful vision, aud that he could hear
the sound of her breathing, low and
regular, In the darkened room beyond,
whose door stood ajar.
For his thoughts kept returning to
her. Strive as he might TO think OF his
future plans, or the effect this would
have on his position among men, or
what story he had best give the boys
tomorrow, he found himself perpetual
" dwelling upon her, and recalling lit
tie UNDECIDED circumstances in their
married life. What did it matter how
the public took IT, or what comments it
would make? What did he care for
CareW's silly vanity, or the base pur-
poses he might have harbored. The
one thing that absorbed him was the
thought OF his wife, and the relation be-
tween her and himself. And in agony
of spirit he asked over and over again
the question that had haunted him since
shutdown: Bow far had it gone. How
far had it gone?
Her w~ork-basket stood on the man
tel, The cover was slightly lifted, and
he saw half thrust into it the fimsy
pink web and the glittering needles
whose persistent click had so annoyed
him. He reached out his hand and
drew the little worsted toward him
with a fierce movement, dropping the
ball on the hearth. He smoothed the
work out on the mantel shelf, and
Strengthened it into shape with his
great hands, Scared and gashed with
the work they had done that uight.