Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-10-30
The Footstep of Fear.
BY L. III. HAMMOND.


err; Christine is SO careful. How fast
asleep she isl" and with another kiss
she went through into her. own room,
leaving the connecting door open.
When she put u her light 1t slipped
back, but the door was open, and 1t
did not dare to come very close to
the bed. The tiger had gone to sleep
and the ape and the man knew her
mother was there; they were afraid
Ohio! The little body relaxed, the
breath came freely, and out on the full
tide Of sleep she drifted beyond It's
reach.
This happened many nights, through
many years. AT first 1t never dared to
come in tho daytime; but at dusk she
knew the stealthy football was coming
steadily to meet her, and that in the
dark It would stand by her bed, with
its horrible unseen leer. She had, as
she grew older, tried the effect of leav-
ing the gas burning; but in the lone
illness and silence of the night 1t was
all-powerful, and could shroud itself
in darkness and light alike. Every
night her mother came to give her a
last goodnight kiss, but the child new
er told her that she was awake; she
was afraid to speak of 1t at night, and
in the daytime she was ashamed.
She no longer believed in the tiger or
the ape, though she looked for them
under the bed and in the closet every
nfnhf RI nIa r.,r orl H40@I- zee 1o4
slippers in the middle of the room to
leap into the bed from a distance, feel
ing cold, sharp claws on her ankles as
she did SO, and tucking the covers
about her with feverish haste. The
man was no longer in the closet, and
had lost his mask and his sword. He
carried a knife now, and came with
1t. The two crept up the stairs to-
gether night after night. Sometimes
they paused at her mothers door, or
her brothers, instead OF at her own,
and she would spring out of bed to call
them before it should be too late. But
she was ashamed to give a false alarm,
SO she always lit the gas in the hall
first, shaking with cold, her teeth chat
tering; and always, as she turned with
wide eyes to face them, they were
gone. She would rush Il the head of
the stairs after them, but they could
not be seen, though the stairs creaked,
by one, under their invisible tread.
She could never understand why the
sound did not rouse the world. Some
times in a frenzy of terror to which
anything was better than. uncertainty,
she fed after them, b~arefooted and
silent. II mattered little at such times
that the man might turn in the dark
nnss and nlnnge his knife into her
her heart, If only she could seize 1t by
the throat and turn it to the light and
look once full in its face. Toado that
meant death or freedom, she knew;
and there were times when she cared
little which it might be. At every
point she strove to face the thing she
feared; and at every point it eluded
her, and stood, unseen, but felt, a lit
tie further down her path.
Years afterward, when she married.
the footstep which had logged her life
began to track the mar she loved:
then 1t followed the child. The day.
time ceased to protect her. Through
the long summers in every lightning
flash It's lean finger threatened them
both; and when the wild western
winds shook the house it leered at her
through the storm. Day and night It's
power grew with her love, and tho
she still struggled it was without hope.
But one night IS she lay in her bed
thinking a mothers thoughts about
the child asleep in the crib beside her,
the little n awoke, crying out in sud-
den fear. AS she turned to soothe her
it thrust itself with quick, noiseless
step between her bed and the crib.
She felt through her soul the horror of
the unspoken threat, but she leaned
toward the child and quieted it. Then
something new and strong rose up
within her, and through the darkness
she looked full where she felt it's face.
you shall never touch the child"
she said. Il will fill her life so full of
love and courage that there will be no
room in it for you to come. You may
darken my life as you will, but the
child shall never know that you exist"
1t drew closer, and as she faced It's
nearing presence she knew that It's
face was distorted by a thousand pas
sions; but the child's hand lay in hers,
and tho she .trembled, she smiled in
the dark.
Often the man she loved was called
from home, and through the long
nights and stormy days of that wind
cur~sedscountry she fought with 1t for
the child. When the boy came she had
a double strength, and with the baby
she knew herself invincible. They
grew up happy. and unafraid; for if
terror threatened their childish hearts
it vanished before loves magic touch.
Love filed their days and nights, and
ruled their world, and gave them wis
dom for an ~impregnable- defense. Abb
sorbed in this struggle the woman
fought her own fears no longer, and
thought of them only when She must.
Her consciousness of it became focused
in a discrimination to keep a like con
sciousness out of her children's lives.
The years passed by. Never once
had her old desire been granted to her
to see the vague terror take the tan
gible shape of danger before her eyes,
that she might face her fear and find
in its actual presence either the free
dom for which she longed or the death
to which she had once been indifferent.
But one morning when the mar she
loved was away from home and the
children were at school she glanced up
from her sewing and saw two men
come in at the gate. Either Of them
might have been It made visible to
the eyes of day SO evil were their
faces. The old house was a detached
one, set in a large yard, and there
was no one on the place at the moment
except herself and the housemaid. Ac-