Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-09-09

out 1t could not be go very late, for the
pavement was thronged with people
all going the same way, oddly enough,
as it occurred to her after a moment.
There were 80 many Of them that pres
emily the carriage was blocked and
obliged to go slowly. She beat her little
hands on the seat in her impatience
and looked out again.
A policeman appeared, shouting in.
audible directions, and pressing forward
through the crowd, which gave way
reluctantly on either side. In her un
governable impatience she let down the
window and beckoned him to come
nearer.
"Can't we get on?' she cried. II am
in a hurry. What il the meaning Of
this crowd?"
"They have come to see the fire.
ma am" the policeman answered civil
ly. "I'm afraid you will have to go
round"
"But we are almost there-the Ran.
gun clubl" she cried.
cts the club that is on fire, ma'am,'
the policeman answered. Then, as she
turned white, he added kindly, "Don't
be frightened, ma'am; they've got the
fire we'll in hand by this time and every
one is out"
GAN safer" Mrs. Trelawney gasped.
swell, a few broken bones and such
like" said the policeman cheerfully
Nothing to speak Of, ma'am-only
one gentleman killed. A sad business
that"
"Who?'
"The gentleman who did such great
things out in Burma a few years age
Major Trelawney."
"My husband"
1t seemed to her that she had known
it all the time. She saw, as if in a
dream, the sudden pity and respect in
the policeman g face, and then she Gov
cred her own and sank back in the car
riage.
The long agony Of the drive seemed
interminable, and yet when at last the
carriage stopped she sat quite still for a
moment, unable to nerve herself for the
uext move. Then the door was opened,
and, as if in a dream, she passed up the
steps, walking firmly, her face white
and her eyes set and hard. Her appar.
ent heartlessnesg was silently noted at
the time and afterward freely com.
mented OH in the servants hall.
Had they brought him-it-homes
she wondered with a long shudder. She
was in the hall now and some one was
hu1rying to meet her-the doctor. She
was not surprised to see him there. In
her dreamlike state nothing seemed
strange any more.
II have bad news for you, Mrs. Ire,
lawney."
II know knowr" she answered
p%etulantly. In her unreasoning misery
she was annoyed by his hushed tone.
Her own voice was unnaturally shriil
and strained, and the doctor raised his
hand in protest.
what heartless creatures these pref
ty women arel' he was thinking-an
unconscious echo of the servants opin.
ion.
II must beg Of you to control your.
self, he said sternly. Everything de-
ponds on quiet. Ills life is hanging on
a thread"
His life? Oh, Godl Then he is not
She had brushed past the doctor, deaf
to his circumstances With noiseless,
flying feet, she was up the staircase and
a moment later kneeling by her hus-
bands bedside.
The doctor, following rapidly, stood
arrested at the door, looking in at the
darkened room, the kneeling white fig.
ure. with clasped hands and large, fixed
eyes, the swatbed wreck Of a man lying
very still OF the bed.
One hand lay outside the coverlet.
Her own stole out slowly, hungrily, to-
ward it, as if her W caring scared
her. She bowed her head over the band |
aged hand at last and knelt on motion
less. The doctor, Watching and quite
forgetting his soathing condemnation Of
4 moment before, thought with a swift
contempt Of certain reports concerning
The Trelawneys' domestic happiness
had reached his ears.
Something came before his shrewd, |
Keen eyes which blurred the picture be-
Tore him. He turned aside for a mo-
nent and then was recalled by a swift,
low cry: "Horacel Oh, Horace"
The doctor sprang forward and then
drew back. The injured mans eyes
had opened and were fixed on the SHIN
white figure with an expression
mingled awe, unbelief, bliss.
"Clarai" said the ~faintest whisper in
he world.
The doctor could scarcely hear it. He
lid not know that the old pet name had
,ever been used for years. London
Forget-Me -Not J