The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-11-03
CHAPTER Nv.
Continued.

near CQaC. Sno Sdlu 20 dcQue
line. Does it not seem as If all the
lost souls in the Pit were roaming
Deadman's Island? You are young
and vigorous, Miss Hatton; but tell
me, how long could you, even with
your health and strength, endure a
place like this?"
JacQueline answered frankly:
mot for many weeks, I fear"
mo, nor many days." answered
Mrs. Trevor, with a strange spark in
her gray eyes, you would soon
loathe the very air you were forced to
breathe!-you would call upon the
sea to rise and devour your prison,
and yourself in it,"
Philip Trevor lifted his eyebrows.
my love!" he said, in a surprised,
reproachful tone. Mrs. Trevor SUBJ
sided at once, and began to absently
crumble the bread on her Sevres
plate.
."Monotony is always wearing"
said %Jacqueline, trying to fill the awk-
ward pause that ensued. ""The
daughter of Maria Theresa welcomed
an abscess in the face, as a change
from the deadly dullness of her every
day life"
II fear my wife is conveying a
wrong impression, Miss Hatton." He
shook his finger playfully at the wom-
an, whose sharply cut face shone like
parian against the back of her ma
hogany chair. my dear, you must
not allow Miss Hatton to think our
island ever bores you. We are mar
ried lovers, and this is really In ideal
home for a pair to make their own
world, and find their happiness and
u entirely in each other.
May not two beings be isolated OF a
rock and yet know all the bliss that
life can give?"
ooh, certainly-quite undeniable!"
answered Mrs. Trevor, in an express
sionless voice.
The trio rose from the table,, and
Peter of the crooked eyes threw open
a door communicating with the glass
enclosed piazza. Mr.. Trevor beck
oned his companions through.
Palms in Moorish jars, and a va
riety of sickly looking plants filled
the place. The floor was partially
covered with costly rugs. A colored
lamp hung from the roof. But be-
yond the blurred glass gloomed the
terrible sea and the savage rocks, in
hooking contrast to that little nook
of soft color and forced bloom.
Flowers do not flourish at Dead
MANS" complained Mr.. Trevor; "the
salt air blights them ven behind
glass walls"
Jacqueline heard a heavy sigh.
She glanced at Mrs. Trevor. The
white woman was staring straight out
into the storm. The palms hedged
her about with their sharp spikes;
at her side a sickly day lily, in a gorg-
eous pot, was striving to open one
wan blossom. With sudden vehe-
mence Mrs. Trevor snapped the flower
and flung it upon the floor.
TITS better to end its misery at
once!" she said, as she met Jacque-
tines look. There are things i'm
measurably worse than DEATH"
Trevor was whistling merriiy to a
gold-fnch in a cage over his head.
He paused and glanced at his pale
wife.
my Lowell" he said, in the same
tenderly %reproachful tone that he had
used at the table. Mrs. Trevor
walked away to the other side of the
piazza, and did not speak another
word to Jacqueline.
Our heroine escaped to her own
chamber, and sat down there to write
out the events of the morning for
Doris edifcation.
rs Philip Trevor a heartless hypo-
critic, OF does he really love his wife,
as he p~retends?" she said. II con
TESS that I cannot determined"
Presently the room grew, close and
sii1ing-Jacqueline went to the win
dow and flung it open. From this
coig2 of vantage she commanded q
view of n end of the enclosed piaz-
"a. Philip Trevor and his wife were
still moving about there among the
palms. She could discern the cage
of the goldfinch; and as J%acqueline
looked, a sudden scream of pain and
terror rang out on the air. Through
the blurred glass she saw-could she
believe her W eyes?-Philip Trevor
grasp his wife by her delicate throat
saw the woman's arms thrown up
ward in agonized entreaty-saw her
writhe helplessly in that brutal
clutch. This, after all the fond
words she had heard that day! For
a moment J~acqueline stood thunder
struck, then, moved by a great, gen.
erous impulse, she ran to the door.
He should not strangle that frail,
white creature!-she would intercede
to defend her-to cry shame upon
him! She rushed out upon the land
ing just as the man Peter appeared
at the foot of the stair, bearing in his
arms the limp and senseless body Of
Mrs. Trevor. He assembled the fight
with his burden, pretending not to
see Jacqueline, who watched him in
horror and establishment. The smooth
face and crooked eyes of the fellow
filled her with sudden panic.
"Is she dead?" she gasped.
Miss" answered Peter, with cold
authority, that's neither here nor
there! Go back to your room, and
be careful to mind your own business
while you stay in this house,"
And Jacqueline, in spite of the