The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-29

coverer was now forever silent His .tes-}
umony, his reluctant but convinced opin-#
ion, was upon record. Nothing could alter
that. Hands might perhaps have had
doubts in the future He might have ex-@
amlned more keenly into the way IN n
which he came to examine the ground
where the new tomb was hldden. Yes.s
this was better. That danger, remote
as it had been, was over. 4t
AS his eyes wandered over the rest
OF the news columns they became more
alert, speculative and anxious. The
world was in q turnult. which sa grew
louder and louder every hour. Thrones
were rocking, dynastles trembling.
He sank down In his chair with a Sigh
passing his hand YEARLY over his fnee.S
Who could have foreseen this? It was
and ruin In terrified surprise, as a child
might who had lit little fire OF straw,
which had grown and deyoured a great
city. \
1t was in this very room-just over
there in the centre-that he had bought
the brain and soul OF the archaeologlst.
The big man had stood exactly on that
spot, blanched and trembling. His mis-
cradle notes OF hand and promises Tto5
pay had famed up in this fire.
And now? India was slipping swiftly
away; a bloody civil war was brewing
In America; Central Europe was a smoul- y
derins torch; the whips OF Africa were
cracking In the ears Of Englishmen; = the
fortunes of thousands were melting away
like leo In the sun. In London gentlemen
We're going from their clubs to their
houses at night carrying pistols and
sword-sticks. North Of Holborn. south
of the Thames, no woman was safe after
dark had fallen.
He saw his face In an oval silver glass
1t fascinated him as 1t had never done
before. He grlpped the leather back of
a. chair and stared fercely hungrily, at
the image. 1t was this, this man he vas
looking at, some stranger It seemed, who.
had done all this. He laughed-a dread-a
full, mlrthless hollow laugh. VIZ
This mass Of phosphates, carbon, and
water, this moving, talking thing In a N
scarlet gown, was the pivot on which
tho world was turning!
His brain became darkened for time,
lost In an awful wonder. He could not
realise or understand.
And no one knew save his partner and
instrument. No one knew! K
Tho secret seemed to be bursting and
stralnlng within him like some live. ter-
rihle creature that longed to rush into
light. For weeks the hunting thought
had grown and harrasscd him. It rang
like bells In his memory. II only he could
share his own dark knowledge. Flo
wanted to take some calm. pale woman,
to hold her tight and tell her all that no "a
had done, to whisper It into her ears and
watch the mask OF flesh change and
shrink, to SEQ his words carve deep fur-
rows In 1t, scar tho eyes, burn the color
from the lips. lie saw his own faca was
working with the mad violence OF his {
imaglnlngs.
He wrenched his brain back into nor-8
NAL grooves. MS an engineer pulls over a
lever He was half Unconscious OF the smile
as he did SO.
Turning away from the mirror, no shud-
dered AZ a man who has escaped from a y
sudden danger.
That above all things was fatal. Ills
luXurlant Eastern Imagination had been
checked and kept In subsection all his lifet
the force OF his intellect had tanned and 4
starved 1t. He knew. none better, this
end, the extinction OF tho brain that has
got beyond control. No, come what may,
he must watch himself cunningly that no
did not succumb, a tiny speck In the
hrain and then goodbye to thought and 8
lie for ever FIe was a visitor Of ths Il
Lancashire Asylum-had been so once al
least-and he had seen the souless humps
of flesh the doctors called "patients,A9b
II am the master OF my fate. E
am the captain Of my soul" he repeatea
to himself. and even as he did so, his
other self sneered at the weakness which
must comfort Itself with poets rhym&s 81
and sling to an apothesm for read;pst'
ment. IN
lie tried to shut out the worlds ALARM
from his mental eyes and ears. !.
IIe went back to tho scenes OF his first
triumph, They had been sweet indeed, "a
Yes worth all the price he had paid
and might be called upon to pay,
All over England his LIES thought, his
constant programme had been sloriousiy
INDICATED, They had hailed him an the
prophet OF Truth at fIrst7---a prophet
who had cried In the iASderness for years. q
and who had at last come into his oHn.