The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-04-14

the sooner escaped from 1t the better.
eyes, come" she said. "But silence!
Walk softly" and holding up the old
horn lantern to give me light, she led
me out into the low stone corridor again,
conducting me through number OF in
tricate passages, oil bare and gloomy,
the stones worn hollow by the feet of
ages. On we crept noiselessly past a
number of low arched doors studded
with big nails in the style of generations
ago, then turning suddenly at right
angles, saw that we were in kind of
cul de sac, before the. door of which at
the end she stopped and placed her fin
ger upon her lips. Then, motioning me
to remain there, she entered, closing the
door after her, and leaving me in the
pitch darkness.
I strained my ears, but could hear no
sound save that of someone moving with
in. No word was uttered, or If so, it
was whispered so low that it did not
reach me. For nearly five minutes ]
waited in impatience outside that closed
door, until again the handle turned and
my conductoress beckOned me in silence
within.
l stepped into small, square cham
Der, the floor of which was carpeted, and
where, suspended high above, was lamp
that shed but faint light over the
barely-furnished place. It seemed to
me to be kind of sitting-room, with
plain deal table and couple of chairs,
but there was no stove, and the place
looked chill and comfortless. Beyond
was another smaller room into which the
old nun disappeared for moment;
then she came forth leading a strange
wan little figure in gray gown, a figure
whose face was the most perfect and
most lovely I had ever seen. Her wealth
of chestnut hair fell disheveled about her
shoulders, and as her hands were clasped
before her she looked straight at me in
surprise as she was led toward me.
She walked but feebly, and her coun-
tenance was deathly pale. Her dress,
as she came beneath the lamp, was,
saw, coarse, yet clean, and her beautiful,
regular features, which in her photo
graph had held me in such fascination,
were even more sweet and more match.
less than l had believed them to be.
stood before her dumbfounded in admir-.
alton.
In silence she bowed gracefully, and
then looked at me with astonishment
apparently wondering what l, a perfect
stranger, required of her.
"Miss Elma Heath, presume ~ ex-
claimed at last. "May l introduce my
self to your My name is Gordon Gregg,
English by birth, cosmopolitan by in.
stinct. / have come here to ask you a
question: question that concerns YOUR
self. Lydia Moreton has sent me to
YOU"
I noticed that her great brown eyes
watched my lips and not my face.
Her own lips moved, but she looked at
me with an inexpressible sadness. No
sound escaped her.
! stood rigid before her as one turned
to stone, for in that instant, in a flash
indeed, I realized the awful truth.
She was both deaf and dumb!
She raised her clasped hands to me in
silence, yet with tears yelling in her
splendid eyes.
saw that upon her wrists were q
pair Of bright steel gives.
"What is this placer l demanded of
the woman in the religious habit, when
| recovered from the shock of the poor
girls terrible affliction. "Where am II"
"This is the Castle of Kaiana-the
criminal lunatic asylum Of Finland"
was her answer. "The prisoner, as you
see. has lost both speech and hearing"
deaf and dumb~ cried, looking at
the beautiful original of that DESTROYED
photograph on board the Lola. "But
she has surely not always been sol" I
exclaimed.
NO / think not always replied the
sister quietly. But you said YOU in.
tended to question her, and did I not
tell you that to learn the truth was i'm.
possiblei" "''' AN
But she can write responses to my
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