Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-01-18
THE RED FLAG

There was one instant'S silence. and
then a wild shrek, Il shrek that might
be terror, grief, or joy. One could not
tell what it meant, outside the door
Rose was in an agony She would
have dashed into the room. but Philip
held her back
Let them be for few moments -
he said. ''Mortemar is alive The myS-
terry can be only that-aliye, and shut
up in this house, under watch and
ward Of that woman"
Two minutes after, the door was
opened by Suzon, and the Durands
went in. The room was comfortable
enough within, desolate as the house
looked outside. The furniture was
humble, but neat and decent. There
was fire burning in the crate. lamp
on the table
In an easy-chair in front of the
fire sat man with leg in splints
from the hip downwards. He was
pale to ghaStlineSS, and had the look
of one who had but begun the slow
progress of recovery from a sickness
nigh unto death. His hair and beard
were long, his hands thin to trans
parency.
Yes, it was CASTOR Mortemar. :
Il give you back your dead" said
Suzon solemnly. He was left for dead
when l picked him up and brought
him in here, shot through the shoulder
and hip and leg with half a dozen
bullets. The surgeon l brought to him
said it was a hopeless case; but for
the sake of surgery, as an amateur,
he would try to cure him. For two
months he lay in instant danger For
seven weeks he was mad with brain
fever-feyer that came from the pain
of his wounds. 1 have nursed him
through all. The surgeon will tell you
If | have been a faithful nurse And
now [ give him back to you, not heal
cd, but on the fair road to discovery;
although he will be lame all his life.
poor soul; but that does not count in
a writer, does it? He will be all the
greater with his pen if he has less
temptation to roam"
BLESS you! May God bless and re-
ward you for your devotionr' cried
Kathleen
Bah! There is no question of bless
ing or reward. l have been a wicked
woman. l kept him like a bird in
cage, and | let you think him dead,
and L told him you had persisted on
the last day of the barbados, and L
let him mourn for you. He was help
less, in my power, and | lied to him
and cheated him. But l snatched him
from the jaws of death; the surgeon
who has attended him will tell you
that. I dragged him into this empty
house, dragged him away just as the
last batch of Serizier's blood-hOundS
were turning the corner of the street,
whooping for more blood; and l kept
him here, closely guarded, hidden from
all the world, except the surgeon, who
believed that he was my brother. He
could tell no tales, poor fellow, for it
it only within the last three weeks
that he has been in his right wits"
Gastons head was leaning forward
against Kathleen's, the husbands bag
gard brow against the wife's wasted
cheek. Both faces were the image Of
death, and yet radiant with a new
born life-the sublime light of happy
love
''She told me you were dead, Kath-
leen," he murmured.
Forgive her, dear She saved you,
and / have avenged you. o my love!
my love! God is good. He has given
you back to me, out of the grave"
How did you manage to occupy
this house and to keep your existence
here a secret? asked Durand.
''There was no difficulty. 1 was not
without means. 1 went to the landlord
and offered him half the rent of the
house for the use Of two or three
inlet a year and a half-the street is
Il failure-so he was glad to accept
my offer, and the board was left up over
the door to avert suspicion. The peO-
pie who saw me go in and out took
me for caretaker; nobody asked any
questions. / had a van-load Of fur
niture brought here after dark from
my rooms at the cremerie, and l made
things as comfortable as | could for
my patient. If he had any knowledge
of those dark days he would know
that I nursed him faithfully. For six
weeks L scarcely knew what it was to
sleep for an hour at a stretch. / had
a mattress at the foot of the bed, and
I lay down now and then like dog,
and slept dogs sleep, with my ear
on the alert for the first groan of pain"
"God bless you" cried Kathleen,
taking her hand and kissing it,
'You are a strange woman" said
Durand; "but let no one say that you
are wholly bad
81 was a devil in those days of the
barbados. I was mad like the rest of
them maddened with the thought of
all the wrongs that we canaille have
suffered from the beginning Of the
world Yes, from the days when Herod
put John the Baptist in prison, and
cut off his head, to keep faith with
a princess who danced. I was drunk
with blood like the rest Of them. But
in six weeks Of watchfulness and
watching one has time to think; and,
in the silence of the night, sometimes,
I used to wonder whether it was GOOD
for a woman to be an esprit fort,
whether it was not better to be cheat
ed, even, and to believe in some one
up yonder, who can set the riddle
Il TT 1I1