The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-05-16
CHAPTER 'vH.-Coutinued
=. THE HAND OF DEATH.

6eme Oy tne DendFIoI VI VIC SiAi1 WV
seemed at the same time to attract ana
repel him. She had not said no, ne
thought even II she would not say yes.
But Jack was determined now to have a
definite answer. Upon what ne had
called his cowardice had followed an al
most reckless perth acfty.
!: Poor Hattie was in o truly pltlaoie
; plight She felt that she was incurrlne
the just reproach Of coquettishness oy
her behavior, yet nothing was 1urtner
from her heart than that contemPtiDle
display of egousm. She really hkeo
Jack very much-reearded MIN as one
OF her very best friends, but marrying
him was entirely out OF the question.
But how could she tell him 80? What
would she answer him If he asked q
reason for her refusal? Could she tell
him that her heart belonged to another
man who was married and never had
thought Of her?
st last, ado let US speak OF something
elsel I cannot say yes, but please do
not ask me any more questions"
Jack had to desist. But he vowed In
wardly that he would return to the
attack and that he would yet win this
pretty little obstinate girl, cost whatever
It might.
during which Hattie and Jack had been
imprisoned in the grotto, the rain hnally
ceased, and it became possible to venture
forth on their homeward journey. Ihe
clouds, which still covered the sky,
caused a premature darkness, although
the sun could not yet be below the hori-
zon, and before they had completed half
their journey it was night. Hattie was
yery anxious to get home The company
of Jack Spofford could not now be but
embarrassing to her, and she FASTENED
onward as fast as she could Converse
tion Jagged still more than 1t had done
on the upward trip, but for different
reasons. Hattie gave but brief though
never unkindly answers to the young
mans remarks, and Jack himself was
too much veXed, too much vaclllating
between hope and dependency, to be
very entertaining talker.
So they reached home. Jack took
leave from her at the gate Of the War
ringham cottage, and she did not invite
him. to have supper with them, as she
had always done before on similar oc-
-casions, nor did she shake hands with
him.
When she entered the house she was
met in the hallway by Jeanette, the
French maid, who told her, with o ter
l.rifed expression Of countenance, that
madame was very i'll e
Hurriedly she entered Mrs. Warning.
hams bed.chamber. Her aunt was in
violent paroxysm OF fever! A physician
Was present.
II hope it IS nothing serious, Miss
Beckford," he said "But I cannot con-
ceal from you that it may be very bad
After the long ailment Of Mrs. Warning.
ham, it is doubtful whether her consti-
, tuition is strong enough to resist such an
attack. Yet there is no necessity Tor
despair, as long as there IS life.
Terrible words! Hattie knew that
they meant even more than they pre-
cisely stated
The words of the Doctor were spoken
In an undertone, but even If he had
raised his voice to higher key the
patient would not have comprehended
them.
Her mind was wandering in the mad
ness of feverish dreams.
Ever and anon she would utter the
name Of her eldest son, sometimes with
q low wall, sometimes reproachable, then
again in pleading voice, as If she asked
him to come back to her. Long SEN
fences she would mutter in scarcely
audible voice, but at intervals break
forth into q loud and violent malediction
of her who had lured him away from his
mother. At such moments she would
rise from her couch into sitting pos
ture, look around with glaring eyes, but
apparently not seeing anything but the
Wild fantasms Of her overheated brain,
and madly gesticulating, as she poured
forth the terrible execrations. The ply
sician would calm her for few moments
by gently laying a moist cloth upon her
head, but soon the vagaries of her imag-
ination would be renewed
It was q terrible spectacle for the
young girl.
When the patient seemed little
uuieter the Doctor took his leave. Be.
fore he went away he gave Hattie some
instructions in regard to the treatment
of her aunt, and directed that he should
be sent for as soon as she should seem
to grow worse.
Hattie remained in the sick-room.
Jeanette covered on chair in the re-
motest corner of the room. She was
completely overcome by terror and fear,
and Hattie soon saw that the servant
could be of very little assistance to her
In the nursing Of her sick aunt.
When the rainstorm had come up, so
Jeannette told her young mistress, Mrs
Warringham had become nervous about
the safety of the two promcnaders She
, had repeatedly gone on the piazza to
look up the valley, whether she could
not see them come back. Thus she must
have caught an acute cold, Jeanette
thought, for suddenly she had felt very
Ill ana almost tainted. The footman
was at once dispatched for the Doctor,
but before the latter arrived Mrs. War
ringham was already in the condition in
which she was now.
Hattie told the maid to 60 to bed, and
Jeannette obeyed with never-seeQ alac-
rity.
The young girl remained alone by the
bedside of her sick aunt. How slowly
the fingers crept forward on the dial Of
the clock that stood on the mantel shelf!
Nothing was heard but the slow, meas
ured ticking of that clock, and the ter
rifying rawlings Of the patient, or, in her
uuieter moments, the fitful, labored
breathing of the latter.
Following the instructions OF the Doc
tor, Hattie frequently renewed the aP-
plication of cold, moist cloth on the
patient's forehead. She also, from time
to time, with the thermometer, observed
her temperature, for the Doctor had told
her that if the mercury reached a GER
x.k. ,no+ ho ro,,of bo instantly sent for.