The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-15
BOOK III.
The House Of Doom.
.xxv-contInued.

. 4
CHAPTER. xxV-contlnued.
s'Who VIII Tell the Man Inside There7"
why didn't tell Cora; why didn't I
tell you? Pride held my tongue; besides,
I had had time to think before / saw either
of you, and to reason a bit and TO feel
sure that if Wallace had been spent
enough to fall dead on reaching the camp,
William could never have survived on the
open road For Wallace was the stronger
of the two and the most hardy every way.
Free l certainly was. Some later paper
would assure me of this. I would hunt
them up and see-but 1 never did. do not
think 1 dared. I was afraid
should see some account of his
his rescue. was afraid of being made
certain Of what was now but possibility
and so I did nothing. But for three n1ghts
! did not sleep.
THE caprice which had led me to choose
the old Moore house to be married in ledf
me to plan dressing there on my wedding
morning. 1t was early when we started,
Cora and l. for Waverley avenue, but not
too early for the approaches to that dread
full house to be crowded with people, eager
to see the daring bride. Why I should
have shrunk so from that crowd cannot
saw I tremoled at sight Of their faces and
at the sound Of their voices, and II by
chance a head was thrust forward 1afther
than the rest I covered back lnstlnct1Vely
and nearly screamed. Did I dread to
recognize too familiar face? The paper
I had seen bore date six months back.
A man could arrive here from Alaska in
that time. Or was my conscience aroused
at last and clamoring to be heard when 1t
was too late? Or the corner of N street
the carriage suddenly stopped A man
had crossed in front of it. I caught one
glimpse of this man and instantly the ter
rors of a lifetime were concentrated into
one instant of agonizing fear. 1t was Will
liam Pfeiffer 1 knew the look l knew
the gait He was gone in a moment and
the carriage rolled on But knew my
doom as we'll that minute as did an hour
later My husband was alive and he was
here. He had escaped the perils of the
Klondilke and wandered east to reclaim
his recreant wife. There had been time
for him to reach home, time for him TO
reach the east. He had heard Of my we'd
ding; it was in all the papers, and should
find him at the house when 1 got there,
and you would know and Cora would know
and the wedding would stop and my name
be made a by-word the world over IN
stead of the Joy awaiting me a moment
since, I should have to go away with him
into some wilderness or distant place OF
exile where my maiden name would never
be heard, and all the memories or TINS year
of stolen delights be effacd. on, 1t was
horrible! And all in a minute! AND Cora
sat there, pale, calm and beautiful as an
eyes whose expression I have never IN
derstood! He'll in my heart-and she, IN
happy ignorance Of this, brood1ng over
my Joy and smiling to herself While the
soft tears rose.
you were waiting at the curb when
arrived, and I remember how my heart
stood still when you laid your hand on the
carriage door and confronted me with
that light on your face I had never seer
disturbed since we first pledged ourselves
to marry. Would he see it, too, anC
come forward from the secret place where
he held himself hidden? Was l destined
+. to behold struggle in the streets, al
j unseemly contest Of words in sight of tlis
door had expected to enter so joyously'
In terror of such an event, I seized thu
hand which seemed my one refuge In Thu
hour Of mortal trouble, and fastened int
the house which, for all its doleful his
tory, had never received within it's door
heart more burdened or rebellious. A
this thought rushed over me, camesnea
crying out The house of doom TIL
house Of doom!' I had thought to brav
its terrors and its crimes, and it ha
avenged itself. But instead Of that,
pressed your hand with mine and smiled
o God! If you could have seen what la
beneath that smile! For, with my en-
trance beneath those fatal doors though
had come. I remembered my heritage
remembered how I had been told by m
father when I was very little girl pre-
sumo when he first felt the hand of deaf
upon him-that If ever I was in gres
trouble-very great trouble, he had SAX
where no deliverance seemed possible
was to open little golden ball which h
showed me and take out what I Shout
find inside and hold it close up before
picture which had hung from time 1nrnt
mortal in the southwest corner of this O
house. He could not tell me what
should encounter there-this I rememb
his saying-but something that would a.
sist me, something which had passed Wi
good effect from father down to child f.
blessed in my undertakings 7 must n
open the golden ball nor endeavor to fiji
out it's mystery unless my trouble threa
ened death or some great disaster. SUI
trouble had indeed come to me, and
startling coincidence was at this m
ment in the very house where this pictu
hung, and-more startling fact yet
golden ball needed to interpret it's mea
ing was round my neck-for with SUI
jealousy was this family trinket alwa
guarded by it's owner. Why, then, n
test their combined effect? certain
needed help from some quarter. New
would William allow me to be MARI
to another while he lived. He would J
appear and I should need this great
sistance (great enough to be transmit
from father to sony as none of
Moores had needed it yet; tho what it v
did not know and did not even try
guess
yet when got to the room I did
drag out the filigree ball at once nor e,
take more than ore fearful side -long Il
at the picture. In drawing off my gil
I had seen his ring-the ring you l
once asked about. 1t was such a cheap