Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-09-15

so broad awake that she sat up in bed !
to meet it the more alertly.
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 fur
niture and light ripple of moving cur
tains, shut her up with this monster
of her mind. 1t had sprung upon her
from the solid actualities of the night.
And, yes, of the day beforehand the
night before that. oh, she had known
well enough that there had been some
thing wrong at the goldsmith's shop.
She had felt 1t even before she had
e the sapphire; and afterward how
it had held them, both herself and
Harry! To have moved Harry 1t must
be something indeed! Had he sus-
pected 1t then, or had he only won
dered?
If he had suspected why hadn't he
spoken of It? Well, her appalling
fancy prompted, hadn't he spoken OF
i~t?-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 assailed the little man! She
could be almost sure that the mon
strous idea which had just overtaken
her had, however ieetingly, flashed
before Harry's mind in the g~oldsmith's
shop. But surely he couldn't have en-
~tertained it for a~moment. That was
impossible, or he would never have let
her take the supplementary, 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 1t was; but Kerr
had said it was a sapphire. here
, was a sapphire on her, and now. She
, touched it 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 II
she feared to disturb some threaten
ing presence lurking around her, and
lit the small night lamp on the low
! table by her bed. The shade was vel
low, and that commended with the
a blue of the sapphire, but couldn't
: break its light. With the first flasf
a of it's splendor In her face she lei
certainty threatening her. She SHOOT
. the ring quickly off her finger and /
i 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
= seemed to her that nothing that haI
pened about this jewel could be to
extraordinary. If only it had bee.
- less wonderful, less beautiful, sh
- would not have felt so terribly afraid
~ She put it back on the table and 10
;. a moment held her hand over 1t, a
~ If she imprisoned a living thing.
Then, without looking again, sh
got out Of bed and went to the vii
~ dow. 1t overlooked the dark steep
- the garden, the moving trees and Il
lighter plane Of the water. 81
~ leaned out, far out. Black housetoI
marched against the bay, and b
tween them, light by light, her eye
followed the street lamps down to II
shore.
oh, to escape out of this windo
into the innocent, sleeping city, ava
90 from the horror at her back! To loo
DC in from the outside and be even su.
there was a horror! And if there wa
M to run away into the wide soft darl
az But there was another way to
M rid of it. The real idea occurred
-ea her. How easy it, would be to take
that beautiful thing-and throw
om throw it as hard as she could, a.
ar let the night take care of ii. The W.
III dow was open, as If 1t stood reat
snt and there was the ring on the tab
She went to it, looked at it a nome
vas without touching it, holding her han
'he away.
ex- Then with a little shiver she back
a away from it and sat down on t
foot OF the bed. She looked pale a
'ry, little. as If the eye of the ring, b
10 zing under the feeble lamps like t
for evil eye had Slapped her fire a
snt, youth. She Rugged her arms arou
MS her updrawn knees, and resting |
u chin upon them eyed the sapph
ICE bravely.
ten Il suppose you know l can't thr
.sly you away" she murmured, "and We
ept can't keep you!" She pondered, cl
in hand. To take it to Harry! II
re- seemed the natural thing to do
was simplest way to be rid Of it. She b
itated.
,raI eff I only knew! If only W
ons sure!" She locked her fingers clos
ooA staring hard. If it had been the VIII
my Crew Idol, the undismembered
2 himself, then there would have b.
'uiu less terror, and one plain thing to
She looked hard at the sapphire
~ ting, as if she hoped to discover VI
W its brilliance some tell-tale trace
old soft gold; but there was only
sins great, CLASSY, polished eye, and out
" what head it had come, whether fl
y the forehead Of the Crew Idol, or fl
III that of some ~unheralded deity, '
~ ~ was there who could tell her?
e. she tried to summon a coher
thought, but again it was only a fl
ia out of the darkness.
,iaat Kerr! Why, he knows more t
CON She iooseu - ~. aaa !
they moIleAt as /,