The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-07-24
!. A FLASH Of
LIGHTNING
By
Eds0in L. >/obin

increasing. Annoyed by the conscious
ness that parlor window was up, he
had lain as long as he had dared, hop
ing that the storm would slacken 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 blame-and of the
two it was not he-it was better that
they cease association; separate for a
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 trdes, yet trifles which appeared
insurmountablc.
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 lher, lhe
reflected angrily; he had lived thussfor
many years before he met her, and he
simply would drop into his old bache-
lor role.
Now he found his slippers. His seles
invested, he stood, and. lifting his bath
robe from the foot Of the bed, where he
had thrown it upon retiring, he wrap
ped 1t around him. He began to ad-
vance cautiously, for the blackness was
murlSy, and he could not see an inch.
However his route was comparatively
straight and unobstructed, and he had
in his mind a 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 was not awake With a 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
tho door tn tho ha11 a fI1I, hln6
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 1nlly 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 foods were de-
scending in torrents.
Suddenly burst forth vivid flash of
lightning. 1t sketched to Page the fig
ure of a man, upright, few yards on
his left Darkness, dense, impenetra-
bic, ruled again.
1t was as if in front of his eye an
instantaneous camera shutter had
opened and closed, leaving an image
indelibly fixed on the retipa,
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 chronicled
in each edition a shocking list of crimes,
The city was in the throes of its yearly
attack of hold ups and assaults and
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
ises thoroughly ransacked.
Good God! Had this man already
DSeH Ill I1eleu ) rOOIl, ana 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
ly 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 tortures she might have en-
dured, might be enduring! Supposing
she We're med-or-or-never 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 a life record passes be-
fore a drowning person. His impa-
tience, his fault findings, his selfish
ness, the countless acts that he had un-
graciously performed for her and the
countless acts that he had apathetic-
ally suffered her to perform for him
these We're the scenes now being brand
ed on his brain with cruel persistency.
What could he do without her smile