Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-03-20

light enough presently-probably more
than you want. If you knew how des-
pcrately 1 hate you, even now, when
I've won, you'd be quite surprised, l
assure you. Any message to the young
lady?"
mo message that you can take!" re-
piled Gilbert. fiercely. "If you think
that you can ever win her love or draw
her to you, you are greatly mistaken.
Tell her, if you dare, what you are-tell
her that, with my last breath, I called
you coward and murderer, and that If
begged for life at all at your hands,
it would be in the hope of saving her
from fate worse than death itself.
Go-tell her that"
Mr.. Leathwood laughed, shrugged his
shoulders, and went out of the room,
carefully closing the door behind him.
Gilbert heard his steps descending;
below; then heard the final thud of the
After that a great and awful silence.
He thought of a thousand different
ways of csc ape-thought above all of
shouting, in the faint hope that some
one outside might hear and come to
1SoSuS. ouI 1iS hllS", WAeu ITO
came to think about it with what calm
ness was possible. .lat IN the first place
the house lay too far back from the
streets for any sound to carry; and in
the second. that the heavily shattered
windows would efiectually deaden the
cries. And then. as happens to a NAH
when his end is close upon him. he
thought of all the past-of all his I'M
I,1 oH,s
house and in that very hoom. The hor-
ror of the thought that he must perish
there drove him to a species of frenzy.
He struggled fiercely and beat himself
against the heavy old bedstead to
which he was fastened until exhaus-
ton came upon him and he swooned
away.
When he came to himself it seemed
as though he had awakened in another
world. Some strange feeling of resig-
nation had come upon him: he could
hear the faint, sharp crackle of the
burning room below him, but any fear
the sound might have Weakened in him
was gone. He had a feeling almost
that this was fitting ending to all his
struggles and failures: if he thought
about any panys which might come
with death it was,only with a dim Won
de: as to how swift it might be and
how soon before he lost consciousness.
Like a dream, too. for, certainly. it
was nothing earthly, came the sound of
a voice softly calling his name. That
the voice should be that of the girl he
loved and lost seemed quite appropri-
ate too, at that moment. 1t came upon
him as a sort of dream-fancy to an
swer the voice. He was very near
death, he told himself, and this nigh,
be voice from the other world
But he woke from whatever dream
clouded his mind with start when the
door was flung open and Olive Mallory
stood on the threshold. For he knew
that this painting, eager girl, with her
beautiful face turned towards him,
came out of no land of dreams, but out
of the actual, vivid, waking world, to
which he thought he had hidden fare
we'll. Yet not quite out of the waking
world, either, as he had yet to learn.
She came forward slowly into the
room, with her hands stretched out be-
fore her and her eyes smiling at him,
and in her eyes was that strange light
he had never seen there before. Des-
perate though the need was, he knew
that he dare not startle her-dared not
do anything which should wake her
suddenly to the world of danger in
which they both were, and drive her
from him. For though his brain was
Keeling, and his bound arms ached, and
he trembled in every limb, he con-
strained himself to speak calmly and to
smile at her in return. The crackle of
the fire beneath went on. and he could
feel a perceptible increa re in the heat
of the room. God grant that he might
bring her to see her danger-might
persuade her to set him free!
he turned quickly and closed the door.
colbert" she whispered, II have found
you at last I sometimes think that I
frighten myself needlessly-that I fear
they are taking you from me, when you
are, really, close at hand. Why-how
still you are! Why do you look at me
like that? Why don't you come to me
and take me in your arms as you have
done so often?"
The heat was growing greater; in
one corner of the room a little, faint
vapor of smoke had begun to curl up,
through a worn place in the carpet,
and to float towards him. With a
deadly sweat beginning to stand out on
his fOrehead, he yet contriyed to speak
calmly to the girl-managed even to
smile at her.
II stand still, Olive, because I want
you to come to me; want to feel your
arms around my neck; I want to hear
you say that you love me, and will do
asI bid you. Come!'
She went swiftly to him and put her
arms about his neck, looked up into his
face with those poor, pathetic, mad
eyes Of hers. "See, come t. you; bat
I will not go away, as you have asked
me to do before. We are in our World
of Dreams again-never to leave it. All
the world in which we once were has
passed away from us; we do not need
to trouble ABOUT it any more. We are
together, dear Gilbert, and alone; we
will not leave this place again."
The little wreath Of smoke changed
to tongue of flame; the heat
of the floor beneath his feat was be-
somfng Inbearable. He knew that he
must make all effort to induce her to
release him, SO that he might after
wards, even by force, carry her out of
the burning house. He could not I'M