Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-08-30

A sharp sense of his own delinquency
in having left her to her own resources
for SO long. when she had so few re-
sources to draw upon, increased to a
sudden alarm for her safety, when he
made out the black mouth of the tun-
mel and saw that there was no light
at the farther end of 1t. She couldn't
have been waiting all this time. out in
the cold; and yet his eyes, as he how
cred. seeking the exact spot to alight,
certainly made out a dark object lying
there upon the snow. His heart felt
like lead as he dropped close beside
It, and scrambled clear Of his wings.
1t was Jeanne: and for a moment
he thought she was dead. She seemed
as white and cold as the snow itself
And yet she was not dead; not even
frozen.
The hands he chafed so frantically
were inert, but not rigid; and, as he
drew her UP in his arms and pressed
his head down against her breast, he
could hear. very family and slowly, the
beating of her heart.
He picked her up in his arms and car
ried her into the pilot-house. The air
here was still warmer than that out
of doors, but it was no longer ex-
hausted and poisonous.
He laid her down for long enough to
light the lamp. to throw off his stiff
leather jacket and to get a little brandy
out of the keg. This he mixed with a
little water and. with the aid Of a
small ivory spoon. he succeeded in
getting a little of it between her lips.
He took off Ter heavy seal coat, and
the wooden jacket she wore under it.,
and, as well as he could, loosened the
other clothing about her waist. Last
of all. he gathered her up in his arms
again, wrapped the great sheep-skin
bag about them both and. with the
brandy and water arms reach, settled
down to attempt to get some of the
warmth and vitality of his own body
into hers.
She was. not fully unconscious now.
for the next time he offered her brandy
she swallowed It. Her eyelids were fiut-
tering a little, too, and presently she
sighed.
He was thrilling all over with a tre-
mendous sense of power. He felt he
could have brought her back from the
very dead. His arteries seemed to be
running with electricity, not blood.
Her lips were moving now, and he
bent close to catch the whisper that
barely succeeded in passing them.
"Don't-bring me back-Philip. It's
80 much-easier to go-this way.
His only reply to that was to hold
her a little closer.
She did not resist when he held the
drink to her lips again; but, after she
y,oH rob frxrr, or civ nf a
said:
81 shan't need any more. I'm getting
quite beautifully warm again.
He knew it was true She no longer
felt lifeless in his arms, though she
stin lay there quite relaxed. He knew
he could let her go now, safely enough.
And yet he held her fast.
Il thought you were dead when 1
saw you lying there on the snow" he
said at last. not very steadily. IF you
had been, it would have been my own
doing"
She contradicted him with sharp
negative gesture:
GYou left me well enough wrapped up
to have resisted the cold for any length
of time Besides. If I'd wanted to
could have come back in here. But
but, Philip Oh, it seems a dread
full thing to confess. now you are here
with mel didn't want to. I just lay
down on the snow. thinking l could go
to sleep and-and that would be the
end-such an easy endi"
She felt him shudder all over as she
said it. and she clasped his shoulders
and held them tight, in a desire to re-
assure and comfort him.
did you mean to do that2
Was that why you asked me to fly
away for a while?"
MOI mol 1t was something saw
while you were gone; something that
terrified me. Philip. do you remember
how many of the people Of the Phoenix
died Of what father called the Ice mad
ness2"
He nodded gravely.
We'll. what saw made me think
that was going that way, too Philip