Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-05-30

ness that a parlor window was up, he
had lain as long as he had dared, hop
ing that the storm would slacl1en and
relieve him of the necessity Of rising.
Even had not this duty of shutting
windows devolved upon him by right,
he was quite certain that tonight he
must be the one to attend to the mat
ter or it would not be attended to at
all. Assuredly his wife would not be-
stir herself after the words of the pre-
ceding evening. Hardly!
While lying awake he had gone over
and over the things that had been said
the assertions, the rejoinders. the
reckless threats. He smiled grimly.
Yes, misunderstanding had accumu-
lated and now had eliminated. Which
ever was the more to blanchard of the
two it was not he-it was better that
they cease association; separate for
time at least. He was sensitive and she
was sensitive; he was proud and she
was proud; he was stubborn and she
was stubborn; discord was caused by
mere trifes, yet trifes which appeared
1surmountable.
So finally had come the parting of the
ways. He would go on by one path
and she would go by another. He
would not utter a word Of protest or
appeal. He could live without her. he
reflected angrily; he had lived thus for
many years before he met her, and he
simply would drop into his old bache-
lor role.
Now he found his slippers. His soles
invested. he stood, and, lifting his bath
robe from the foot of the bed, where he
had thrown it upon retiring, he wrap
ped it around him. He began to adj
vance cautiously, for the blackness was
murky, and he could not see an inch.
However, his route was comparatively
straight and unobstructed, and he had
in his mind clear picture Of the posi-
ton of the articles of furniture in his
room and in the parlor.
He did not catch a sound from his
wife's chamber, the other side of the
portieres. She might be awake and lis
tening for him to move but of course
she would not indicate it. Or possibly
she was not awake. With little tug
ging of his heartstrings, he recalled
that she must have sobbed herself into
exhaustion and sleep.
Hands outstretched to warn him of
immediate obstacles, he proceeded un-
til he encountered the wall and. skirt
ing it, in an instant more had reached
the door to the hall. He fumbled
blindly for the knob His fingers
clasped it, and he twisted it carefully.
His Irresistible desire to avoid noise did
not spring on account of his wife eX-
actly, but somehow he was seized with
an ineXplainable dread of noises amid
that inky quiet, quiet only intensi-
fed by the rain and the low rumble of
artillery as the tempest legiOns
marched adown the horizon. Covering
their withdrawal, upon the field Of bat
tie behind them the floods were de-
scending in torrents.
Suddenly burst forth a vivid fash Of
lightning. 1t sketched to Page the fig
ure of a man, upright, few yards on
his left. Darkness, dense, impenetra-
bic, ruled again.
It was as if in front of his eye an
instantaneous camera shutter had
opened and closed, leaving an image
indelibly fixed on the retina.
Stunned into an icy horror, not shift
ing a muscle, his hand upon the door
knob, Page stood and strained his ears
Nothing met them save the irregular
gusty beat of the rain.
Everything that he had lately read
in the news of thugs and housebreak-
ers rushed upon him. The slightest
morsel of gossip repeated to him by his
timid wife REQUIRED to him in a gasp.
Recent nights had been extraordinarily
prolific Of deeds by highwaymen and
burglars. Not paper but chronlcled
in each edition shocking list of crimes.
The city was in the throes Of its yearly
attack Of hold ups and assaults aud
robberies. Nobody was exempt. Even
in that very block dwelling had been
entered, husband and wife drugged
and bound in their beds and the prem
Uses thoroughly ransacked.
Good God Had this man already
been in Helen's room, and was he now
pursuing his work further? Yes, he
must have been in Helen's room and
had just made exit through the por
there's between the two chambers.
And that was why Helen had not
spoken, moved. She was not designed
" and bitterly still. She was uncon-
scious. dead. or perhaps she was at the
will of a ruffian. the confederate of the
fellow revealed by the lightning. What
untold fortunes she might have en-
dured, might be enduring! Surprising
she were NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. to
speak again. How could he bear it!
All those many things that he had
said or done and that had hurt her as
sailed him as life record passes be-
fore drowning person. His impa-
thence, his fault findings, his selfish
ness, the countless acts that he had I'M
graciously performed for her and the
4. 4 Il Atin