Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1908-12-10
CHAPTER W.-(Continued.)

shaken and unnerved; clamoring
thoughts were shouting in his brain;
but above them all-IOuder, more in
sistent-this one thought: that if by
any means Or at any cost it were pos
Sible, he must save his lOve-muSt
save her from the consequences that
would inevitably follow once it was
known in what manner he had found
her, here alone with the dead man,
whose evil life had found SO evil an
end
The wild words that had broken
from her lips yesterday seemed again
| to be ringing in his ears; A
man who ought to be sent to his ac-
count with all his sins red as blood
upon his SOUL"
And here they were, the living and
the dead; and Stephen Ruthen knew
| that had her sin been even tenfold
deeper, he would yet have had but
this one thought, how to save his be-
loved. In all the fear and horror that
assailed him, that stood out plain, the
one supreme thing that mattered.
control Stephen regained his grip on
his nerves. There was not moment
to be lost. So far no one could have
seen Olive; he had been the one spec
tator in this theater of unprompted
drama No one else must see her, and
his only hope lay in getting her away
at once. Every second was precious.
"Olive, comet"
There was note Of agOnized insist
ence in his voice. He laid his hand
on her wrist, drew her to her feet
drew her away. Olive Obeyed me-
chanically. like one in a dream. He
realized that the liner consciousness
of her was oblivious even of his pres
ence She allowed him to take the
small revolver from her hand. He put
it into his pocket.
AS he drew her away slowly her
face was turned, looking back, still
riveted, as if by magnetic attraction,
on the man lying there behind her
with darkness in his eyes.
A dozen PAGES traversed, the slow
ness of her faltering steps torturing
Stephens frenzy of desperate impa-
tience-and then a sound that stabbed
him with a new, quivering terror.
Down the road, coming in their di-
rection, he heard the muffled tap, tap,
tap of an iron ferrule on the frozen
ground under the snoW--a sound that
Stephen recognized at once.
The blind organist.
Straining his eyes desperately
through the mist Of falling flakes,
Stephen saw the dim figure approach
ing with the measured slOwness of
blind mans steps-and, thank heaven!
the blind man was alone.
Stand here; make no sound or
movement" the man who loved her
whispered to Olive, drawing her to the
side Of the road.
She obeyed in the same daZed, apa-
thetic manner, much as q sleep walker
will obey unconsciously whispered
command. Olives mind was sleeping
and oblivious now.
Tap-tap-tap! There was some
thing that had to be done before the
blind man had covered another TWEEN
ty yards.
The body Of Philip Hume was lying
in the middle of the Cross Ways. AL
most inevitably, if it were LETT there,
the blind man would stumble upon 1t,
and discovery Of the tragedy be pre-
cipitated, before he could win safety
and silence for his beloved. No time
to lose!
Nerying himself to fight off the feel
inc of shuddering repulsion, Stephen
Ruthen bent over the dead; then, as
he grasped the lapels Of the coat, he
saw for the first time that something
was held in the dead mans stiffened
clutch, that struck him with a sense
of bizarre, incOngruous intrusion upon
this hour of tragedy.
It was a playing card. \ blot of red
against the white pastebOard and the
whittier snow. The ace Of hearts.
Tan-tap-tap! The measured sound
was drawing nearer Not a second to
lose!
Stephen dragged the lifeless figure
across the road to the foot of the
gaunt. weather-beaten stone. About
it's base the ground fell away in sau-
.cer-like hollow already filled by snow.
Where the drifted snow lay deepest
he left his terrible burden, half Gov
cred in the white grave; the storm OF
whirling flakes seemed TO beat down
faster, as if to hide the dead man com
pletely away.
Stephen Ruthen stole back quickly
to where Olive waited like woman
bereft of speech or movement by the
side of the roadway. The tapping OF
the iron ferrule was close upon them
now. Almost instinctively he whis-
Dered. "Hush!" though olives strange
stupor made the warning unneces-
sary.
The intruder was abreast of them
now. AS before in the Vcstry, so now
the blind man suddenly paused with
start, turning his sightless eyes to the
place where, rigid and motionless, the
man and woman stood; and Stephen
saw puzzled-was it half-scared?-
look flash into hi STAGE.
Then, urged by who shall say what
impulse or subtle instinct in his mind,
the bin oman made two steps towards
where they were standing, feeling out
with his hand, almost touching Olive.
IF his hand touched Olive!
An almost superstitious feeling
swept over Stephen Ruthen that, once
the blind mans hand was laid on
Olive, it might mean the truth drag
ged to light, and letters of steel, of
shame. for the white, slender wrists