Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-05-03


always with her had disappeared. Her
manner was as grave as his own. He
could almost see the crimson flush
upon her cheek, for her head was
raised now, and she was speaking in
low, rapid tones. Then she ceased,
and Harvey Langford's face grew
white with the pallor almost of death,
and from his eyes shone fierce flame,
as he watched the man before him
bend and kiss the lips turned to him,
then turn and hasten in the opposite
direction.
A few quick imperious strides
brought him to her side. Her head
was turned from him, her face buried
in her hands; then she felt his grasp
upon her arm, and, looking up, saw
in the stern, pale face before her that
he had seen all. The blue eyes were
wet, the long lashes clinging to the
fair, delicate cheek, the little mouth
half apart and quivering; but the pic
ture brought no softness to the eyes
which drank in all it's beauty.
Parting from your lover, were you?
For how long-twenty-four hours? A
pity any one should have witnessed
the tender scene! Child! Woman! Dew
il! What are you and what have you
done this day?'
Nothing that have cause to blush
for" and the face raised to his was
pale as his own; the eyes famed with
an answering flash. 'If you had come
tn +
could have told you all you want to
know, but you came instead to spy
upon my actions and you have re-
ceived spy's reward. From this mo-
ment you have lost the right to ques-
ton or l to answer. l have made a
narrow escape from the jealous mesh
es in which you would have bound me
but the tolls are broken. l am free,
and so are you"
81 am not the first man who hugs a
serpent only to feel its sting. God
pity the man who takes your fair face
and your false heart to sit beside his
hearthstone. Heaven help me!
thought the inner life as pure and
spotless as the outward show. Listen,
girl! For you L toiled; the thought
of you made labor sweet; the hope
that your beauty would brighten my
home, your smile welcome my coming,
had made of me better man. All,
all is now but ashes in my grasp. l
| plucked the opening blossoms, only
to find that 1 had gathered Dead sea
fruit. Were you to come to me to-
morrow a suppliant for the place I
once SO proudly offered, would spurn
you as now" and shaking off his
grasp from her arm with one look of
bitterest contempt, he left her where
he had found her.
Harvey! Harvey" she cried out at
last; but his figure was far away, his
ears deaf to her appeal, and like a
wounded bird she sank upon the
ground.
The dull November days were draw
| ing to close, the trees were stripped
of their beautiful foliage which so
lately had adorned them, the earth lay
| cold and bare, waiting for it's snowy
mantle, when, on gray, chill morn
ing, low rumbling sound in the vicin-
| ity of the mines caused men to look at
one another in anxious dread, which
at last found vent in the awful cry:
THE mines on fire.
1t was not long ere all the popula-
| ton had gathered to the spot-the wo-
men with pallid faces, but lips that
issued forth no moan, the children
clinging to their skirts, sobbing, but
for what they knew not.
''The wall will soon fall I'M" Some
one must go to the rescue" said a
voice.
Then Harvey Langford stepped for
ward.
Il am ready" he said, and in his
eyes shone a calm determination, a
| quiet fearlessness, which showed,
though he fully appreciated the dan
ger, he would not falter.
Harvey" whispered a voice in his
ear; and falling back step he turned
to see the fair beauty of the girl he had
once so madly loved.
well, what do you want?' he ques-
toned roughly. $40 look once more
upon your work ere go to my DOOM"
mo, Harvey" the sweet, young
voice faltered; ''to beg you, for my
sake, not to go. 1 have suffered SO,
Harvey. Letme tell you how. 1t was
not as you supposed. VIII Strong had
asked me to marry him, and II had
told him l could not, because-be-
cause of my love for you; and when L
said that, he told me you were a good,
brave fellow, and since 1 could not
care for him. he only hoped I might
be happy; and then, Harvey, he begged
me just to give him one kiss to take
with him into his new life, and so /"
"Gave it-yes, l saw it all. A we'll
told story, Ina Barlow-a story you
may whisper in my dead ears when
they bring, an hour hence, perhaps,
my lifeless body from the mine" And,
with a harsh laugh, he pushed away
the little hand laid so pleadingly on
his arm. ''Stand back, men; l am
ready" And in another moment the
descending shaft hid him from their
sight.
Minutes passed, which to those
waiting seemed endless hours. The