The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-11-03
Quick Love.

copyright, 1905. by American Press Assoc
ciatonl
There are more love affairs induced
by a sharing of danger than any other
one cause. At o'clock one afternoon
was introduced to a girl had never
seen before. At 8 We were sitting hand
In hand enduring frlghtful strain.
At s we were locked in each others
arms. At 10 we were lovers for life.
On that memorable afternoon l was
sauntering through one Of those cathe-
drals abroad where the natives go to
pray and strangers go to stare when
party of my fellow countrymen APP
preached. and one of them. whom
knew, introduced me TO the rest,
among them Miss Hllda Crane. / join
ed them, and together we gaped at
paintings and statues of sacred char
acters, poking our noses into every
nook and Granny In the most unbecom-
ing manner. Seeing man emerge
from q little door about four feet high.
which he closed with a bang. as pass
ed II took hold of the knob and saw
that the latch had not caught Pulling
the door open and STOPPING, / looked
In. The chamber was dark, so to see
the better l entered. Miss Crane ap-
peared at the door and, bending, also
came In. The rest of the party passed
on. Miss Crane and ! stood investi-
eating the chamber. 1t was very
small. rectangular, and the ceiling was
so high that we could not estimate its
distance-in fact. we couldn't see it.
put my hand up, but could not reach
It.
Suddenly the door, which had been
left slightly ajar. closed with a slam
Then 1t was jerked as IL to try wheth-
er the latch had caught, and we heard
footsteps retreating on the marble
floor. put my hand against the door,
shouting at the same time. 1t was
fast and there was no answer to my
call. The man whom had seen close
1t had doubtless returned, seen 1t open
and shut 1t.
So much for that stupid curiosity |
which possesses sightseers
For moment we scarcely realized |
our position. but soon saw that I'M
less released we were likely to have a
terrible time before us, ending In in
sanity and death by starvation. My |
companion presently became aware of |
the same possible result and convul-
sively grasped, my arm.
Our eyes soon became used to the
and we could dlmly see the
walls Looking up to discover where
any light could come from, / saw a
luminous line in the shape of the rec
tangle forming the outline of the cell |
ing. This puzzled me. 1t was lucky
! had something TO puzzle me, for one
can't contemplate calamity and study |
a problem at the same time. called |
Miss Cranes attention to 1t as diver
sion.
But how make our position known? |
The door was very thick and made of |
some substance on the outside to re-
semble the cathedral's interior. ham /
mered and kicked, but against a non
resounding material. Then shouted. |
listened intently for footsteps. but
failed to detect any sound whatever.
To aIlay so far as possible my com
panion's apprehension | told her that
1t was possible we might have to stay /
where we were all night and we must
make the best of 1t. Her only reply
was a moan that froze my blood.
We heard the cathedral clock strike
B. Then, looking up. was astonlshed
to notice that the ceiling had descend
ed. judged that 1t was now about
twenty feet high, though II might have
been forty. At any rate 1t was much
nearer than when first looked up.
Tired Of standing. we were sitting on
HE floor Miss Crane was suffering
from, hysteria. and to quiet her l
held her hand in firm grip. She,
TOO. had noticed the descending cell
ing.
No pen could describe the horror of
seeing that something falling so slow
v that the eye could not detect its mo-
ion. folded my companion In my
arms and held her cheek against mine.
We were united before an appalling
icath. begged her not to look up,
'or every time she did so her glance
would be followed by a new and more
errible hysteria.
Meanwhile the rectangle Of light
AIDED. and we were in darkness. |
itood up and stretching forth my hand
.ould feel the ceiling. 1t seemed to be