The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-02-07

THANK GOD YOU ARE sAFEr' HE CRIED.
cheer warmed his heart as he APP
preached it in the winter evenings.
And the Porter house was at the very
top Of the hill, where it could be seen
for miles around.
Tonight the brilliant lights brought
no suggestion of warmth and cheer to
Harvey. Indeed he did not notice the
lights save to wonder in which room
Amy might be.
The chances were that she was in the
music room, from which shone the
softer lights of shaded lamps. She
might be sitting there playing softly to
herself the old airs that she loved so
we'll He, too, loved to sit quietly,
listening to the old melodies and en-
joying the CLINT of lamplight on the
brown hair and the soft warmth of
flesh tones.
But that was all over now. Never
again would he sit there in the music
room. The old songs that she loved to
Groom would no longer bring him pleas.
ure. They could only serve now to re.
call the happy days of the past. for he
and Amy had quarreled and parted
with the VOW that the other must be
the first to ask pardon.
He was certain that he would never
acknowledge a fault of which he was
not conscious. and he knew equally
well that it would be idle to expect her
to speak first.
He looked out across the fields and
vaguely planned to go on a trip. He
did not know where he wanted to go,
but it should be where he would never
even hear of Brookfield again. He
could never live on there, passing Amy
every day and never speaking.
In a sudden frame of anger he de.
clared he was glad it was all over. He
was glad that he was free to go width.
er he might. But his eyes turned long.
ingly toward the house ON the hill
even as he mentally recited his decla-
ration of independence.
And as he looked there came flash
Of binding light, followed by rosy
glare, and presently cloud of smoke
drifted above the house, cleaning
white as 1t scared into the moonlight
above the shadow of the roof A fire
had been started, probably by the ex-
plosion of a lamp.
With no thought of the quarrel, Har-
vey caught up his hat and coat and
dashed out of the house. There was a
short cut across the fields, and he
made for the gap in the hedge through
which he was accustomed to slip. II
cut half a mile off the trip to the
house, and he could cover the distance
in five minutes. though it was a steep
climb in places.
AS he ran he thought of thousand
possible accidents, but always Amy
was the central figure in the tableau
Of horror. He could see her wrapped
in flaming oil soaked garments. He
through the explosion of the boiler
that fed the heating system, with
Amy covering at the top of the blaz
ing stairway.
His active brain devised hundred
horrors as he rushed blindly on. A
clump of frs cut off his view Of the
house. and he could see nothing above
the dark shadows Of the grove.
The crust was hard and slippery
More than once he went crashing to his
knees, only to pick himself up and hur-
ry onward lie had almost gained the
thiclSet of frs and was climbing
through the last tangle Of brush against
the fence when a dainty form emerged
from the shadows and came toward
him
For an instant his blood chilled as he
thought that this perhaps might be
Amy's ghost The quarrel had made
deep impression upon his sensitive
Imagination. and the idea did not seem
absurd to his overweight mind, but
as the figure advanced he could see
that this was no creation of the spirit.
but substantial flesh and blood.
"Thank GOD you are safer he cried.
"Are you going for help?'
II am going skating, and don't
need any help, thank you,' was the