The San Francisco call., 1904-12-18

NrCc ciz. Following Double Harness"
VIII a3Dcar Il. Rider Ha2gard's -sTllc
Bretilrca.' a tale Of the crasades.
There Is nO writer OF romance or ad-
venture living who has ever held quite
the same high rank as the author OF
she" Allan Quartcrnnain'' and
dozen other stories cf mystery and ai-
venture. The Brethren though
written IBorc IN thc spirit of the lat
Ter day historical novels, possesses all
tho strong charm that was always
found IA the work CT Mr.. HagGard. IL
viii appear in four instaIlments-
,co5yrish:. isci. by Mcclure. Phillips & COD
HE sat down 10 his vigil The
IL house became very still. once
or twice steps passed TO and fro
u in the room above; then there
WIS silence. In a quarter of an
hour. perhaps. there were steps
again. then another interval OF quiet.
This alienation Of movement and rest
Delt en- FOR a long time. If Harriet
CORTLAND slept. her sleep was broken.
hut presently Crantley ceased To mark
The sound-ceased even 10 think Of the
Courtlands or OF the house where he
was. Led by the experiences Of the
day and by the feelings they had
evoked. his thoughts took their way to
Milloean. 10 his own home, to his wife
and son. How nearly tragedy had come
there tool Nay. was it yet gone? Was
not its shadow still over the house?
and WHY he looked back again at the
C0uItiands-at Harriet's unhallowed
rage, al Tom S weakness and desertion,
Il The rate Of the children-not thought
Of and forgotten by the one, i'll used
and Put in terror by the other. He
Iecollected how once they used 10 joke
aDOut the Courtlands, being at any
IaIe useful as g warning. That joke
had taken on too keen an edge to sound
niirrhIul now. But the serious truth i'll
IL came home 10 him, making plain
what he had been cropping after ever
slEce that night at the Sailors Rest at
tarkaven, ever since Sibylla had
OpLned her mouth against him and
spoken the bitterness OF her heart Yes,
lie thought he saw where the truth lay
LOw. Calamity held UP a torch to light
las wandering feet.
No borrowed light had made plain
The steps of the woman upstairs. The
slare OF her own ruin had been needed
40 illuminate the way she trod, so
Uense was the turbid darkness of
Ger spirit. She saw now where she
sIOOc-and there seemed no going
DaciS. She had fallen into fits of remorse
beIOre-she had called herself cursed
over her betrayal Of Christine That
WAS nothing to this; yet she remem-
bered II now, and Il went TO swell the
wave Of despair which overwhelmed
her. Well might her eyes look like
The eyes Of one in hell, for she was
1ut cff from all love and sympathy.
.sne herself had severed all those
Donds whereby a human being be-
comes = rowing. solitary brute. There
was no reDinding them Nobody would
come near her; nobody could endure
her presence; she was a thing of
hatred and Of fear. Even Suzette
BLgh shrank while she served. and
loathed while she ministered. Her
husband could not trust himself in
the house with her. and she could not
be trusted in the room with her chill
cren. BY the narrowest luck she was
not q murderess; in the hearts of all,
and in her own heart. she seemed
leper-a leper among people who were
whole-an unclean thing-because Of
her bestial rage.
These thoughts had been in her
mind all the night before and all the
day They did not cOnsort with sleep
nor make terms with peaceful rest.
Sometimes they drove her 70 wild and
passionate outbursts of weeping and
imprecation: often they chained her
mouonless 10 her chair. so still that
only her angry eyes showed life and
consciousness. They left the little
room for fear Of any external punish
ment or for shame at any public ex-
posure. They went deeper than that,
condemning not the body, but the
soul, pronouncing not the verdict Of
the world. but of herself and OF ma
ture's inexorable law. They displayed
.-f~
growing 10 vice. vice turning to crime,
crime throttling all the good-till she
had become a thing horrible 10 those
about her. horrible and incredible even
10 herself. And there was no going
back, no going back at all. Her will
was broken, and she mad not hope in
herself The weights were on her feet
and dragged her down the abyss, which
now lay open and revealed before her
eyes
Suzette had persuaded her to un-
dress and go TO bed. She must sleep
yes, or she would go mad with the
thoughts. But where was sleep with
the agony Of their sting? She had
her chloral-an old ally-and had re-
course 70 It Then she would fling
herself on the bed and try to think
she could sleep. Evaporation drove
her UP again and she paced the room
in wrathful despair, cursing herself
r OEboLcC GlAC tOu4u llOl clCtDs 6ACldllQ-
ing against their tortures, refusing the
inquisition to which they subjected
her. Then-back to bed again for an
other futile effort, another cry Of de-
spair, 10 be followed by another out
burst OF wild imDatience, another
fierce unavailing struggle against her
tormentors, new visions of what she
was and OF what her life must be.
This was not thing that she would
endure: nobody could endure il and
keep sanity. IT should be ended Her
fierce. defiant fury rose yet once more;
Ine temper which had wrought all the
calamity was not tanned BIZ il in the
end. She turned 10 her drug again.
She knew there was no danger in
that but she put the notion behind
her scornfully. Why, the stuff would
not even make her sleep Could it
hurt her when II could not even give
her sleep? That was nonsense, stupid
nonsense. She would have sleep. Ma
ture fell victim to her rage now; she
would beat nature down by her fury,
as she had been wont to beat down all
opposing wills She had listened to
nothing in her temDests. Now she
rose again TO the whirlvind Of passion,
denying what she knew, refusing to
Ink ~ 81 Kf1I herzo1f1 No< etag