Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-12-07
DARK DAYS
By HUGH CONWAY.
CHAPTER III.-(Continued)
1.-THE WAGES OF SIN"

Ferrand? BY all my calculations, taxing
into account the time wasted at starting,
I should now have met him. Perhaps ne
had not come, after all. Perhaps the
look of the weather had frightened nm,
and he had decided to stay at Rodlng
for the night. i ragged at the thought.
If only i knew that Philippa was safe
~ housed, nothing, in my present frame
of mind would have suited me better
than to have met him on this lonely road,
in the midst of this wild Storm 1t
Philippa were only safe!
Still no sign of her. | began to Wayer
in my mind. What if my first suppo-
sition, that / had passed her on the road,
was correct? She might be now at my
cottage wondering what had become OF
me. Should l go farther or turn back
But what would be my feelings if did
the latter, and found when | arrived
home that she had not made her appear
ance?
I halted, irresolute in the center Of
the road. Instinctively l beat my hands
together to promote circulation. had
left home hurriedly, and had made no
ordeal as this terrible, unprecedent-
ed snowstorm inflicted. In spite
of the speed at which
had Travelled, my hands and feet were
growing numbed, my face smarted with
the cold. Heaven help me to decide
Alright, whether to go on or turn back!
The decision was not left to me. Sud
denly, close at hand, I heard a wild peal,
a scream of laughter which made my
blood run cold. Swift from the whirl-
ing, tossing, drifting snow emerged a
tall, gray hgure. 1t swept past me like
the wind; but as it passed me | knew
that ny quest was ended-that Philippa
was found!
She vanished in a second, before the
terror which rooted me to the spot had
passed away. Then / turned, and, fast
as [ could run, followed her, crying as
I went, "Philippa! Philippay'
soon overlook her; but so dark was
the night that was almost touching her
before [ saw her shadowy, ghost-ike
form. | threw my arms round her and
held her. She struggled. violently in my
grasp.
'Philippa dearest! it is l, BASIL" I
said, bending close to her ear.
he sound of my voice seemed to calm
her, or | should rather say she ceased to
struggle.
'Thank Heaven, I have found you!'' I
said. let us get back as soon as pos
sible'
Back! No! Go on, go onr' she ex-
claimed. son, on, on, up the road yet
awhile-on through the storm, through
the snow-on till you see what | have
left behind me! On, till you see the
wages Oh Slu-Iu0 wages OIL Sill.
Her words came like bullets from a
mitrailleuse. Through the night I could
see her face cleaning whittier than the
snow on her hood. / could see her
great, fixed, dark eyes full of nameless
horror.
Dearest be calm,'' said, and strove
to take her hands in mine
AS [ tried to gain possession of heT
right hand, something fell from it, and
a though the road was covered with
snow, a metallic sound rang out rs il
touched the ground. Mechanically |
stopped and picked up the fallen object.
AS | did so, Philippa with a wild cry
wrested herself from the one hand
whose numbed grasp still sought TO re
ton of the words, ''The wages of SIM
fled from me, and was lost in the night.
Even as / rushed in pursuit [ shud-
dered as the sense of feeling told me
what thing it was had picked up from
the snowy ground. 1t was small lis
must have been, it seemed to burn me
like coal of fire. Impulsive-
~, thoughtlessly, as l ran
hurled the weapon from me, far, far
away. Why should it have been in
Philippa's hand this night?
/ ran madly on, but not for long. My
foot caught in stone, and I fell, half
stunned and quite breathless, to the
ground. 1t was some minutes before
I recovered myself sufficiently to once
more stand erect. Philippa must have
obtained a start which, coupled with
her frenzied speed, almost precluded the
possibility of overtaking her.
Moreover, a strange, uncomfortable
impulse sWayed me. The touch of that
deadly weapon still burned my hand.
Philippa's words still rang in my ears.
ON. on, on, up the road yet awhile!'''
she had cried. What did she mean
What had been done tonight?
I must retrace my steps. l must see!
/ must know! Philippa is flying through
the cold, dark, deadly night but her
frame is but the frame of a woman.
She must soon grow exhausted. perhaps
sink senseless on the road. Neverthe-
less, the dreadful fears which are grow
ing in my mind must be set at rest;
then / can resume the pursuit. At all
cost, must know what has happened!
Once more l turned and faced the
storm. Heavens! anything might hap
pen on such a night as this! | went
on and on, flashing my lantern as l went
on the center and each side of the road.
| went some distance past that spot
where | judged that Philippa had swept
by me. Then, suddenly, with a cry of
horror. I stopped short. At my very
feet, in the, middle of the highway, illu-
mined by the disk of light cast by my
lantern, lay a whitened mass, and as
my eye fell upon it I knew only too
well the meaning of Philippians wild ex-
clamation, ''The wages of sin! The
wages Of SIM
CHAPTER ~.
AT ALL COST. SLEEP!
Dead! Before I kneeled beside him,
and. after unbuttoning his coat, laid my
hand on his breast. / knew the man
was dead. Before | turned the lantern
on his white face / knew who the man
was. Sir Mervyn Ferrand had paid for
his sin with his life! 1t needed little
professional skill to determine the cause
of his death. A bullet fred, it seemed
to me. at close quarters, had passed alb
solutely through the heart. He must
have fallen without a moan. Killed, |
knew, by the hand of the woman he had
wronged.
A sneering smile vet fingered on his set
features. l could even imagine the
words which had accompanied it, when,
swift and sudden, without one moment s
grace for repentance or confession, death
had been meted out to him. At one
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