The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-09
SEEN 1T NIGHT.
BY Joanna Single,

her imminent danger, sprang forward
to help him.
Let him go she screamed, rush
ing up to them in the rain. 'let him
go-vOure killing himl" AS he paid
no heed TO her she looked about for
weapon, and finding none unclasped
her belt. She held it by the end and
swung the heavy buckle through the
air Let him go" she repeated and
brought it down with all her strength
upon the face of the fair man. He
snarled like an animal, painting and an
There! he's done for! Now. who
are you2'' He sprang UP and snatched
at her. realizing that he was a muir.
derer. and that he must finish his
work by putting this witness out of
I.eona darted from him through the
trees. He ran after her but again and
again she managed to elude him With
a curious caImness of strata gem she
kept behind trees and ran nearly In
circle, so as not to get too far from
and the flashes of lightning were less
frequent. She prayed for John to come
with every breath
Finally in the dark, exhausted, des-
perate she sank to the ground and
crawled under some bushes. She lay
as if dead. The man, still seeking her,
passed so close that he almost trod on
her; she heard him crash away
through the bushes farther and far
Their away Then she must have
tainted.
When she came to herself the wind
had stopped, but it was still drilling.
She was soaked to the skin; her head
ached strangely.
John" she called, "Johnl" Then
she remembered what had happened
and lay listening in an agony of fear.
NO sound but the rain he must have
gone. Then she rem em'bered what lay
not far from her. Perhaps he was not
dead; she crawled about till she found
him. Deathly afraid and sick as she
was, she listened at his heart-it was
quite stilI-he was cold-he was dead!
Then q new fear clutched her, made
her brain reel. Suppose she We're found
there? Would they believe her? Could
she prove that she had not killed him,
had only defended him? She searched
in vain for her belt Who would be-
lieve the story of her attempted elope-
ment2 She was in an agony about
John. Had he been murdered. too
She knew that nothing less would have
kept him from her her brain was
numb. But she knew she must some
how, give the alarm, tell her father
in the morning.
She dragged her soaked, chilled
body home-she never knew lust how
climbed in through the library win
dow, and reached her room undetect-
ed. She locked the door lit the gas
and removed mechanically her drip
ping garments. Some vague instinct
of self-protection led her to hide them
in an unused carved chest in her closet.
Somehow she washed, put on the soft
wrapper, unlocked the door and turned
out the gas. She was dizzy. On her
way to the bed she fell heavily, her
head striking a big chair
When sire came to herself she
learned by degrees that she had brain
fever. They had found her in the
morning. unconscious. with her head
bruised from fall against a chair. She
asked the nurse for her father+he
had had to go to the city-there had
been mysterious murder. Then little
by little the memory of that awful
night, nearly six weeks before, came
back to her. She questioned the nurse
cautiously.
Was I delirious? What did I say?''
you kept calling Mr.. Burton, Miss
until your father had to send for him
in spite" The nurse hesitated cur
iOusly. then stopped. Hes here now
In the library, waiting to see you, but
only for moment, and you must be