The San Francisco call., 1909-08-08

taken a clean leap from one subject to
another. She had in no way connected
them. But all at once they were con-
nected. She couldn't separate them.
She didn't know whether she had been
stupid not to have seen them before. or
whether she was stupid to see them
so now. For the thought that
had sprung up in her mind
was monstrous. It startled her
so broad awake that she sat up in
bed to meet 1t the more alertly. She
sat up trembling. She felt like one
who has walked a long way in a wood,
hearing crafty footsteps following in
the bushes. And now the beast had
sprung out. and she was painting, ter
rifed, not knowing which way to run.
The room was dark except for now
and again the yellow square of light,
from some passing cable car, travelling
along the ceiling. The four walls
around her. their dark bulks of furni-
ture and light ripple of moving cur
ster of her mind. The longer she
looked at it the less she felt sure 1T
was real. and yet it was before her. 1t
was there with none of the loveliness
of her first fancies about the ring. 1t
was there with grisly reality. 1t had
not been conjured up. 1t had sprung
upon her from the solid actualities of
the night and, yes. of the day before
and the night before that Oh, she had
known well enough that there had been
something wrong at the goldsmith's
shop. She had felt 1t even before she
had seen the sapphire and afterward
how 1T had held them. both herself and
Harry! To have moved Harry it must
be something indeedl Had he sus-
pected it then. or had he only won
dered?
II he ba5 s,,s,,a,4.s -. ,s,. =,
spoken of it? Well, her appalling
fancy prompted. hadn't he spoken of
it?-though not to her. There flashed
back TO her the memory of him there in
the back of the shop with the blue eyed
Chinaman. How furiously he had as
sailed the little man! How uneasily,
with what a dissatisfied air he had
looked at the ring even after it was on
her finger. as if. after all, he had not
compassed what he wanted. She could
be almost sure that the monstrous idea
which had overtaken her had, however
neeungly, flashed before Harry's mind
in the goldsmiths shop. But surely he
couldn't have entertained 1t for a mo-
ment. That was impossible, or he
would never have let her take the sap
phire-Harry, who had seen the ring,
the very Crew idol itself, within the "a
hours.
"A little heather god curled round
himself with a big blue stone on the
top of his head" Harry hadn't said
what sort of stone IT was; but Kerr
had said il was sapphire. There was
a sapphire on her hand now. She
touched ii with her finger tips eau
tiously as If TO touch something hot
So near to her! In the same room with
her! On her own hand! 1t was too
much to be alone with in the dark.
She reached out softly, as if she
feared to disturb some threatening
presence lurking around her, and lit
the small night lamp on the low table
by her bed. The shade was yellow.
and that contended with the blue of
the sapphire. but couldn't break it's
light With the first flash of its spIen-
dor in her face she felt certainty
threatening her. She shook the ring
quickly off her finger and it fell with
a light clatter on the tables marble
top-fell with the sapphire face down
and all its light hidden. She took it
up again a little fearfully as if it
might have got some harm; and again
while she looked at it it seemed to her
that nothing that happened about this
jewel could be too extraordinary. If
only it had been less wonderful, less
beautiful. she would not have felt so
terribly afraid, She put it back on
the table and for a moment held her
hand over il, as if she imprisoned a
living thing.
Then, without looking again, she got
out of bed and went to the window 1t
overlooked the dark steep of the gar
den, the moving trees and the lighter
plane of the water. She leaned out,
far out. Black housetops marched
against the bay. and between them.
light by light, her eyes followed the
street lamps down to the shore If
one could recover from such a night
mare as she had it would be by lean
ing out into and facing this wide, soft
dark. These shapeless roofs Just be-
low her the night made mysterious;
and yet they covered people that she
knew-her friends-kind, safe peoplei
There had been nights when the city,
through this very window, had seemed
to her savage place; but now the
wicked fear that stood behind her
the fear that had got inside her house,
that had slipped unseen through the
circle of friends, that stood behind her
now, filling her own room with its
shadowy menace-had transformed the
city into a very haven of security.
Oh, to escape out of this window
into the innocent, sleeping city, away
from the horror at her back! To look
in from the outside and be even sure
there was horror. And if there was,
to run away into the wide, soft dark!
But how did she know, her fantastic
idea persisted, that the sapphire
wouldn't follow her-the sapphire it.
self-the embodiment of her fear7
Then she dared not be driven out.
But there was another way to be rid
of it, The real idea occurred to her.
How easy it would be to take it-that
beautiful thing-and throw it; throw 1T
as hard as she could and let the night
take care of it. The window was open.
as if it stood ready, and there was the
ring on the table. She went to it
looked at it moment without touching
1t, holding her hands away.
Then with a little shiver she backed
away from it and sat down on the foot
Of the bed. She looked pale and little,
as If the eye of the ring. blazing under
the feeble lamp, like the evil eye, had
sapped her fire and youth. The only
thing about her of any size and color
was the heavy braid of hair fallen over
her shoulder. She hugged her arms
around her updrawn knees, and resting
her chin upon them eyed the sapphire
bravely.
What shall I do with your she SOM
berly inquired of 1T. You are a dread
ful thing. / don't know where you