Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-01-14

would be with him. she threw Dack
her hood. drew one OF the chairs to
the side Of the bunk and sat down, her
eyes fixed on his face. The weakness
and helplessness of his posture struck
through and through her. Two sides
of her were struggling in a chaotic
combat for mastery.
al hate you, I hate your she said
under her breath, clinching her cold
hand. II must hate you! You stole
my love and put it under your feet!
You have disgraced my present aud
ruined my future. What if you have
forgotten the past-your crimel Does
that make you the less guilty or me
the less wretchedY'
But withal Il silent voice within her
gave the lie TO her yehemence. Some
element of her character that had been
rigid and intact was crumbliEg down.
An old sweet something that dread
full mill had ground and crushed and
arnihilated was rising whole and un-
defiled, superior to any petty distinc-
ton, regardless of all that lifted COM
bative in her Inheritance, not to be
Gainsaid or denied.
She leaned closer. listening to the in
coherent words and broken phrases
/ borne on the turbid channels of fever.
f, But she could not link them together
into meaning. Only one name he spoke
clearly over and over again the name
| Hugh Stires-repeated with the dreary
! monotony of child coming n lesson.
! She noted the mark across his brow.
F., Before her marriage, in her blindness,
she had used to wonder what it was
!, like. 1t was not In the least disfigur-
! ing. 1t gave touch of the eXtraor-
/; binary 1t was so small she did not
| wonder that in that ecstatic moment of
| her brides kiss she had not seen it.
Slowly. half fearfuhy, she stretched
cut her hand and laid 1t on his. AS if
at the touch the mutterings ceased.
| The eyes opened, and confused, trou.
| bled look crept to them. Then they
closed again. and the look faded out
| into peace that remained.
| A thrill ran through her, the sense
Of moral power of the weak over the
strong. of the feminine over the mas.
culine
! A rising flush stained her cheeks
With sudden impulse and with a
guilty backward glance she bent and
touched her lips to his forehead
She drew back quickly, her face
flooded with color, caught her breath,
then, drawing her hood over her head
went swiftly to the door and was lost
In the darkness.
When toward midnight the fever
ebbed, Sanderson had fallen into q
] deep sleep of exhaustion, from which
he opened his eyes next morning upon
the figure of Prendergast sitting, pipe
in mouth. in the sunny doorway.
He lifted himself on his elbow. Thai
crafty face had been inexplicably WOW
en- with the delirious fantasies of his
fever. Where and when had he known
it? Then In great tide welled over
him the memory of his last conscious
hours-the scene in the saloon, the
fight, the music, the sudden appalling
discovery of his name and repute. He
remembered the sickening wave of sell
| disgust, the fierce agony of resentment
that had beat in his every vein as ht
walked up the darlening street liz
remembered the thrown quartz. NJ
doubt another missile had struck home
!. or he had been set upon, kicked anl
pommeled into insensibility. This ole
mana miner probably, for there were
picks and shoyels In the corner-hai
|
was lassitude in every limb, and shad
; owy recollections tantalized him. H,
retained a dim consciousness of a wo
mans face-the face he had seen OF
the MISUNDERSTANDING near him, bring
/ ing into painful disorder sense o
, ! grateful GOODNESS. of fragrance and o
rest.
/ AS he stared again at the seated fig
7 ure, the grim fact reared like a grisl.
specter, deriding. thrusting it's haggar,