The Cairo bulletin., 1907-12-23

4
the beautiful things which would be
! hers II she accepted Mr.. LeVerson'
! proposal She felt as II she stoof
at the gate of Paradise, and some
one asked her TO come In. She hat
wished this beauty to be hers. i
was to be had for the taking. A
word and The hateful factory life was
! ended forever. She could rest, rest
And Lois! The poor crippled limbs
| might even be made straight. Who
| knew? Then she thought of Dick and
| her heart gave little thrill, that was
! like a reaching out Of hands to him.
| And yet he was so poor--so miser-
! ably poor! He had only his hands,
she thought, swiftly. Then some
! thing seer'cd to cry out to her, re-
| proachfully, that he had more-infi-
nitely more, than she could make her,
self believe this man had--a great
honest heart, brlmful Of love for her
Il can't think nowli she cried, put.
ting her hand to her throbbng tenn
| pies. Let me go-some other time,
maybe" and then she actually laugh
ed But was only conscious of a
great longing to get away from the
man who had offered her his hand.
Presently she found herself in the
street alone. Was she dreaming?
Had Ralph Leverson really asked her
to be his wife, or had the fever smit-
ten her with its mighty, mercless
hand, and was this the delirium it
generally brought?
She went back to her loom next day.
with the wheels Of thought still turn
ing. Should she choose this one or
that one? On the one hand, rest and
the beautiful things which wealth
could buy. On the other a humble
home and the wealth of loving
heart. Dear, patient, willing Dick
How mean and selfish she seemed to
herself for hesitating in making her
decision between the man she loved,
and who loved her, and the man who
loved her, but whom she did not love
I'm going home, she said, at last
sick, dizzy, faint. Il shall go crazy
If ! stay here. I'm not sure but ]
shall, anyway"
She put on her bonnet and went
out into the warm June day
But which to choose? Which to
choose? The words made themselves
into a little verse, and set themselves
to the monotonous hum Of turning
spindles.
Suddenly the clangor of the bell
smote on her ears. She turned and
looked down the road, wondering
vaguely what the matter could be.
A wild, shriil cry OF fire came TO
her on the wind, and at that instant
a great, black cloud Of smoke broke
from the upper windows of the fac
tory. 1t was strange. but the first
thought that came to Sybil was one of
eXultation. II the factory burned
down, she need never go back to her
hateful work again. She would be
free
Then she turned suddenly and ran
back to the burning building. Per
haps there was something her tired
hands could do.
She knew, before she reached it,
that it could not be saved. The win
dows We're loop-holes of fire. The |
caves were wfeathed with fantastic |
cornice of writhng ames.
Suddenly great cry rang out from |
the terrorstricken crowd. AT the win
dow of his private office upstairs she
saw Levecson's frightened face He |
must have been asleep, and had prob
ably just awakened to the reality of |
his awful danger. She thought it |
was death. She could see no way of
escape for him.
III try to save him." some one said.
1t was Dick There was something
grand in the sound of his voice, it
seemed to her Then she saw him
fighting his way through the flames,
and the last glimpse of his face show
ed her how brave and determined it
was in the wild tempest of fire
She dropped on her knees and hid
her face in her hands, saying over
and over again. in a prayerful way
Dear Dick. oh, God save him" She
knew then that the lover who was
risking his life for another, was more
to her than the lover he was risking it
for could ever be- She had made her
choice.
Another cry. like a gasp from the
crowd. She looked up and saw Dick
At the window of Leverson's room. He
had Leverson in his arms, and the
man seemed to have tainted.
Throw up a rope!" cried Dick.
Some strong hands threw
1ne to him. He fastened it around
he unconscious man and lowered him
% the ground just as the flames burst
,ut of the windows below him. wrap.
Ding the whole factory in mass OF
ieething fire.
He saw the wire OF one Of the light
ling rods, not foot away from the
window. He grasoed he rod and DROP.
,ed down, down ina, the lurid abyss.
rhe rod blistered his hands, but he.
lung to it. The flames billowed about
him. but he held his breath, and slip
Jed down. down, down A thought
anne to him, that he was going down
brewer, and then-a blank.
The first thing he remembered. after
hat, was a womaE's face beaming over
lin. and a woman 5 tears dropping on
IFS face, and a womans kiss was on
II