The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-31

rwhere are you going?'1 I asked. hurrying after her.
 Back to the island
 Are you madY
 you will not let me repay some of this obligation. refuse to be your
 T will do what you. wish" I said :: and then we returned and entered the house with her.
 She led me to small room and asked me to walt there until she re- turned I sat down in the dark. full ef wondering surprise at her conduct. touched me to the quick Only few hours had passed since her every thought of me had been inspired by l loathing. every glance eloquent Of | dfstrust, and every word contcnfptu- | ous and disdainful
 And yet now my refusal te' enter l the house and accept her help had passionate declaration to return to the island--to the fate from which she had narrowly escaped
 That she should feel some amount l of gratitude for the help I had been able to render was natural enough. no doubt; but from what she had | told me of my former conduct to her | T reparation than I had made. Beltano had told mo that I had been the means of getting her to the hut on the night of Vicino's death; Nnd she herself had described how had bound her with my own hands to make her pris- | oner
 My help now was therefore but the | undoing of that part of the trouble I had brought upon her:sand so the accounts. were nothing like squared. Yet she was now resolved to secure | my escape. I could only presume that her heart was large enough to forget and. forgive my other offenses against her
 still could not but marvel at the confidence she had shown In me. Be- l lfeving me to be nothing but Beppo Serrano, the Italian ruffian. Beltano' s | 4feutenant and accomplice in his dis reputable schemesl and an assassin prescribed for a deed of blood she had none the less brought me into her house at night. reckless of all considerations save one the desire to aid me in escaping the penalty of my crime. And this in the face of the solemn vow she had taken to ac- cuse me with her own lips! | Is it any wonder If strange. vague, wtlful hopes sprang up in my mind l that there might be some other feel ing than mere gratitude at the root Of this Change in her? If she could feel thus for an Italian seoundrei whose hands were dyed with the blood | or fellow creature and place such | confidence in him. low would it have fared with her had I met her in my own character. unpolluted by all | these aboniinable associations with Beltano and unstained by the deed of which she and others believed me | guilty? Was really guilty? As I sat wait ing Tor her in the darkness the hor- TOTS of my position forced themselves upon me with maddening intensity. That one deeG stood between Masita | and me as an insuperable barrier. | The very hopes inspired by her thought for me now made me realize more vividly than ever before the
 cruel injustice of the burden Fate had laid upon me. But for that ] might have encouraged those hopes
 instead of repressing and scouting them as wild and tantalizing impos- l abilities.
 And from that mood spranE a new l resolve. At all hazards I would search out the truth about Vicino's
 deatb. It vas, now all in all to me to know it.. On the island I had been too engrossed by thoughts for Masita's safety to follow up the doubt. which Breva had raised as to my par, in the matter.
 But now that she was safe I would do 1t. My course was clear Let the risk be what it might. would return to the island and ascertain the truth
 As I came to this conclusion heard
 the rustic, of skirts outside the door and Masita entered carrying shad.
 ed lamp tine bright rays of which fell like the halo of fair saint, around
 her shapely head and lovely features . l rt Il CHAPTER xxx.
 slf A Desperate PaSs.
 As stood gazing at Masita. dag.
 zled by her beauty and embarrassed