The Irish standard., 1908-02-08

%NS91Cs
pocket or hand, maze ner shiver with
dread. They looked SO wild and weird
and fierce in the dimly lighted hall.
She clutched Mary's arm nervously,
but no thought of returning entered
her mind. Probably the Judge was
already on the courthouse grounds.
He would want to save some valuable
books he had been reading in his Of
fetal quarters. So they went out into
the bleak and windy night. They
were Immediately enveloped in a wild
gust that nearly swept them off their
feet as it came tearing down the
street. They clung together for
moment.
It'll burn like hell in this wind!"
some one cried, as bunch of men
hurried past them. The words were
literally whipped out of his mouth.
Wont save thing"
Flames were bursting out of the
front windows upstairs. The sky was
all alight. Sparks were tossed madly
southwark by the wind. There was
grave danger for buildings other than
the one already doomed. The roar of
the wind and the flames was we'll
nigh deafening. The back windows
and stairs seemed clear.
Hurry, Mary, hurry" cried Louise.
above the roar, and pressed forward,
stumbling and gasping for the breath
that Tile wild wind coveted. 1t was
not far they had to 60. There was a
jam of men in the yard. More were
coming up. But there was nothing
to do. Men shook their heads and
shrugged their shoulders and watched
the progress of the inevitable with the
placidity engendered of the potent:
1T can't be helped" But some things
might have been saved that were not
saved had the first on the grounds not
rested so securely on that quieting
inevitability. AS the girls came with
in the crowded circle of light, they
overheard something of a gallant at
tempt on the part Of somebody to
save the county records-they did not
hear whether or no the attempt had
been successful. They made their
way to the rear It was still dark.
Louise! What are you going to
do?" cried Mary, in CONSERVATION.
There were few people on this side.
Louise put her hand deliberately to
the door-knob. It gave to her pres
sure-the door swung open. Some
one stumbled out blindly and leaned
against the wall for moment, his
hands over his eyes.
81 can't do it," he said, aloud, Il
can't reach the vaults.
Louise slipped past him and was
within the doorway, closely followed
by the frantic Mary.
The man cried out sharply, and
stretched out OBTAINING hand. Are
you crazy? Come back!"
"Mr. Gordon!" cried Louise, with a
little sob of relief, ''is it really you?
Let me go-quick-my note books!"
A thick cloud of smoke at that mo-
ment came rolling down the back
stairs. 1t enveloped them. It went
down their throats and made them
cough. The man, throwing an arm
over the shoulders of the slender girl
who had started up after the first
shock of the smoke had passed away.
pushed her gently but firmly outside.
Don't let her come, Mary" he
called back, clearly. "I'll get the
note books-if can." Then he was
gone-up the smoke-wreathed stair
way.
Outside, the girls waited. 1t
seemed hours. The wind, bowling
around the corners, whipped their
skirts. There was colder edge to it.
Fire at last broke out of the back
windows simultaneously with the
sound of breaking glass, and huge
pillows of released black smoke
surged out from the new outlet.
Louise started forward. She never
knew afterward just what she meant
to do, but she sprang away from
Mary's encircling arm and ran up the
little flight of steps leading to the
door from which she had been so I'M
tremendously thrust. Afterward,
when they told her, she realized what
her impulsive action meant, but now
she did not think. She was only con-
scious of some wild, vague impulse to
fly to the help of the man who would
even now be safe in blessed outdoors
had 1t not been for her and her fool
ish woman's whim She had sent him
to his death. What were those
wretched note books-what was any
thing at all in comparison to his life!
So she stumbled blindly up the steps.
The wind had slammed the door shut.
1t was a cruel obstacle to keep her
back. She wrenched it open. The
clouds of smoke that met her. rolling
out Of their imprisonment like pent
up steam, choked her, blinded her
beat her back. She strove impotently
against it. She tried to fight it ofl
with her hands-those little intensely
feminine hands whose fortune Gordon
longed to take upon himself forever
and forever. They were so small and