The Yale expositor., 1907-05-31
THE DEBT
By CHARLES EDMOND WALK
Copyright by Daily Story Pub. Coz


ceasingly to whatever power of dark
ness she had come to look for aid in
her revenge.
One day on little table beside her
lay an open letter, at which she
glanced from time to time, as if turn
ing its contents over and over in her
mind. 1t was proposal of marriage
from Neil Black. It's reception had
occasioned her no shock; the instant
she had comprehended its import her
mind had clutched at it as a possible
Lleans to her desire, but as yet she
had found no light She patiently
sought to adapt it to every embryonic
scheme that tried TO shape itself in
her thoughts; and one day she rose up
and went forth to seek the man of her
hatred.
There could be no doubt-he still
loved her, if such a passion could be
termed love. Her hatred was such
that she could accept his wooing with
out tremor of repugnance, sitting
calmly by and reading him coldly
considering carefully his every word
and every movement.
Sitting and brooding in the shabby
parlor one afternoon, Sibyl fell into
slumber; but even then she was con,
scious of praying, praying, praying
that the way to vengeance be shown
her. And as she slept, suddenly there
came to her vision.
First, the long, waving locks of her
hair became unbound and fell about
her. a matchless mantle of gold, to
the floor; then, one by one, her gar
ments dissolved away, and her body.
like hawless image of marble,
cleaned in the dim light. She knew
that her eyes were shut and that she
was incapable of any sound or motion.
yet ii was as if she were awake and
another individual watching all these
strange things happen to herself.
After awhile vague, black figure be-
gan TO take shape before her. It's
head-if it possessed one-was shroud
ed in sable robe, that hid every out
line; but she was conscious of a pow
erful personality, calmly, quietly re-
garding her, and, too, it seemed
weighed down with an infinite sad
ness. Presently a hand stretched forth
and touched her above the heart and
she shrank back with a shrek. The
touch burned her flesh like hot iron.
Then she awoke, to find herself
clothed, although her beautiful hair
was really unbound, and the spot
above her heart still burned As she
essayed TO rise, she fell fanting to the
floor.
When consciousness came again &c
Sibyl Clayton she knew that she was
a sick woman. 1t was an effort for
/ her to make her way to the old fam.
/ lily PHYSICIAN specialist of renown-
] but she was driven on by desperation.
/ Was revenge to be taken from her be-
fore she had even planned a single
! blow?
She showed him the spot above her
heart-where the finger had touched
her-and in solemn tones the great
physician pronounced her doom. She
never knew how she found her way
back to the little parlor
In week Sibyl Clayton and Neil
Black were married. The months sped
and people remarked that they were
happy, but that Sibyl was wonderfully
| changed. Except for the unnatural
thread of scarlet marking her lips her
face was as pallid as a lily, and her
sapphire eyes still glowed like two
stars. Every morning, while her hus.
band slept. she barred his breast and
searched ii with the fierce hunger OF
a wolf
| One morning she found what she
sought, and silently she fell forward
and buried her teeth in his throat
With a curse he threw her from him
and. half awake. sprang from the bed.
She laughed and wiped the blood from
her lips.
God, woman!" he cried. catching
the light in her eyes. "are you mad?"
She studied him a moment as he
stood clawing at his throat, and then
pointed TO a chair.
sit there" she said. quietly, land
see If you can find any comfort in
the thought of my being mad-after
you have heard what have to say"
She lay her heart bare before him,
while he sat helpless and fascinated;
the deadly hatred for him that burned
there. and told of the vision.
See Neil Black-here is the spot
upon my breast; look at your own.
Think Of the good things of this life
and what they mean to you, and then
look into the future and behold how
hideous a specter stares you in the
face. Neil Black. you cursed leperi-
my husband, my lover. is avenged"
With a sudden movement she put a
hand to her mouth, and he heard the
crunching of glass between her teeth.
The man was helpless to move. He
could only sit mortified, staring at
her with CLASSY eyes, and in a moment
little cry escaped her and she sank
motionless to the floor.
But the man. from that instant. lost
the nerve to follow the example set by