Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-04-16

zle of his presence there. She forgok
that it was the dead of night; thai
she was in her nightgown. 1t flashed
across her mind that some near and
desperate trouble had befallen him
All the protective and maternal in her
love welled up. She went quickly to-
ward him.
He did not move or stir, and them
she realized that, though his eyes
seemed to look at her. it was with O
passive, tranced fxity. They saw moth
ing. He was asleep.
She halted, a deep compassion and a
painful wonderment holding her, feel
ing with a thrill the power she pos
sessed over him. Then, like a cold
wave, surged over her a numbing sense
of his position. How had he entered
Had he broken locks like a burglari'
The situation was anomalous. What
should she do? Walked abruptly, the
result might be disastrous. Discov-
cred, his presence there when all SUM
bered, suspected as he had been, would
be ruinous. She must get him away
out of the house, and quickly.
a 0lCdAA VI (OOA oAA RAR ~
putting out the lamp-an outer door
was open. At the same instant she
heard steps beyond the curve of the
hall, DR.. Brent's voice ~peremptory and
inquiring. Her nerves chilled. He
blocked the sole avenue of retreat.
No, there was M other, and only one
"a single way to shield him. Quiet
and resourceful now, though her
cheeks were hot, she took the hand OF
the unconscious man, drew him silent
and unresisting into the friendly shad-
ow of her room, closed the door noise
lessly and bolted it.
For a moment she stood motionIess,
her heart beating violently. Had he
been seen? Or had the open door Gre
ated an alarm? Releasing his hand
gently, she found her way softly to a
stand, lighted a tiny night taper and
threw a shawl about her. A sudden
confusion tingled through her veins, a
sense of maidenly shame, opposing the
sweet reminder of their real relation
ship-was he not in fact her husbands
that lay ever beneath her thought to-
justify and explain.
Suddenly, in the tense silence Of the
room, the mantel clock struck 3 In deep
chime. like the vibration of a faroft~
church bell. The tone was not loud
indeed, the low roll of the thunder had
been we'll nigh as loud-but there was
in the intrusive metallic cadence a
peculiar suggestion to the dormant
mind. 1t penetrated the crust of
rIoo- II Ao.,aho1 4Ia lnnar a of tho
conscious intelligence. Harry started,
a shudder ran through his frame, he
swayed dizzily, his hand went to his.
forehead.
In the instant of shocked awakening.
Jessica was at his side in an agony of,
apprehension, her arm thrown about
him, her hand pressed across his lips,
her lips at his ear in an agonized
warning:
"Hush! Do not speak! 1t is l, Jes-
sica! Make no noise!'
She felt her wrist caught in a grasp
that made her vince. His whole body
was trembling violently. "Jessical"
he said in a painfully ~articulated whis-
per. You? Where am II"
This is my ROOM" she breathed--
"You have been walking in your sleep.
Make no sound. We shall be heard"
A low exclamation broke from his
lips. He looked bewilderedly about
him, his eyes returning to her face
with a Mortified realization. "I-came
hereto your room?' The voice was
| scarcely audible.
fIt nac who hrnI0hf Won harp.
You were in the hall. You would have
been found. The house is reused"
He turned abruptly to the door; but
she caught his arm. "What are You
going to do? You will be seenP
$50 much the better. 1t will be at
my proper measure-as a prowler, a
housebreaker, a disturber of honest
sleep!"
mo, nor she protested in a panic
"You shall not. l will not have YOU
taken for what you are not. 1 know,
But they would not know. No one
must see you leave this room. Do you
not think of me?"
He caught his breath hard. "Think
of your he repeated huskily. rs
there even an hour when l do not
think of you? Is there a day when I
would not die to serve you? Yet in
my very Sleep
He paused, gazing at her where she
stood in the half light, a misty, uncer-
tain figure. She was curiously happy
The delicious and pangless n OF
guilt, however-the guilt of the hidden
not the blameworthy thing-that was
tingling through her was for him "a
shrinking and acute self reproach.
She was silent. "Forgive me-" he
said, "if you can. II can never for-
give myself. How can / best goT"
For answer she moved to the VIM
dow, slender and wraithlike. He fol-
lowed silently. AS she parted the cur
tnin q socond of hrioht lightning re-