Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1895-03-02
Ten Minutes to TW6IV6.
By N. G. MCLELLAND.

Cling through the shutters with the gray
pallor peculiar to winter dawn. The
great hotel and the streets around it
were as still as the heart of IA desert.
Royal dressed himself aud went to the
window. All along the street, i'll places,
\ shadows lay, as sharply defined as sill
\ houettes by the electric glare, which
4 deals littlei in the soft shading and witch
cry of the moonlight which it Stimulates
1t was too early even for the rafting OF
milk carts or the matutinal billingsgate
of sparrows; but away in the distance.
beyond the voiceless thoroughfares and
expressionless houses, the sky was family
coloring for joy in coming good
Royal drew a chair to the window,
and grappled anew with the situation,
taking it externally, and as apart from
himself, after the manner of man of
action whose intuitive position relative
to circumstances is that of an extra
neous, coerciyC force, rather than one
which is inherent and, insensibly, regu-
lative.
1t did not take him many moments to
decide that disclosure of the true state
of the case was inevitable, and must he
made as speedily as possible. In spite
of the intimate connection with the at
fairs of the dead man which had been
thrust upon him, he knew next to moth
ing of his family relations or circum-
stances. He might have brothers anc
sisters, even parents, living with whom
it would be necessary to communicate
NV LOFT fpI InpEE
would be funeral arrangements to make
and explanations Of some sort to give to
the curious. A man dying amid hote
full of people cannot be carried to I
cemetery, and incOntinently burleC
without further cognizance being taker
of the matter than such as would be
involved in the settlement of hotel anO
undertaker's charges. None knew bet
ter than Royal the impossibility OF
avoidance or escape from the omnlpres
4 ence Of human curiosity.
The question in point was, to whom
should the story first be told? Under
ordinary circumstances 1t would have
seemed to him most fitting that the per
son most nearly concerned in an affair
should be the one earliest made intimate
with it's ramitications; but the presen
circumstances were anything but Ordl
nary, and the communication he WA
called upon to make might easily b'
reckoned unprecedented. Royals In
stincts revOlted from the straightfor
ward method it seemed to him rough
and brutal He still hoped, in some ~
yet misty and mysterious manner, to b'
nt
to soften things for her. knowledge o
her affection had aroused his interest II
a way totally apart from, and ye
strangely commingled with, the interes
awakened by the popularity of his OWL
position toward her.
To this last, indeed, he gave little
p thought, for in his mind she was still too
closely associated with John Royal tt
admit of identification in any way witt
himself. He was simply conscious as {
man of an infinite pity for her and az
physician of the fact that here was /
case which would require delicate han
ding.
His thought lowered around Mrs. Har
with an ever increasing sense OF relief anC
satisfaction. Here was a beacon annie
the rough waters for them. He had beer
brought too frequently into juxtaposi
ton with the creature feminine under
various and trying circumstances not tt
recognize a sensible and helpful woman
whenever he beheld one. If there should
be worse breakers ahead she would in
dictate their presence and also show hin
how to shape his course so as to avoiC
4 no
OF his own unaided efforts in this matter
he had come to feel profound distrust.
The event proved that he had no
reckOned without his host, for when the
natural CONSERVATION and bewilderment
incident to an upheaval of accepted con,
ditions had passed away Mrs. Hart rallied
to his assistance with all the gallantry
of large natured woman. Her ac
quaintance with John Royal had beer
so slight that her regret for his death
was without the poignancy of persona
bereavement, while her admiration, sym
pathy and comprehension of his motive,
= and character rendered the process by
which she set him aport and exalted
him into chevalier sans peur ct san;
reproche a simple evolution of senti
ment.
q Her most active and dominant thought
in the matter was for Phyllis
After some moments given to media
ton, during which Royal watched her
conscious Of naught so much as the re
lief of divided responsibility, she turned
troubled face toward him.
Its positively awful, this happening
just now," she declared. Il mean its