Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-11-15


dark! She reached out softly, as If
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 yell
low, and that contended with the
blue of the sapphire. but couldn't
break its light With the first flash
of its splendor in her face she felt
certainty threatening her. She shook
the ring quickly OF her finger and 1t
fell with light clatter on the tables
marble top-fell with the sapphire
face down. and all its light hidden.
She took 1t up again little fearfuily,
as If it might have got some harm;
and again while she looked at it it
seemed to her that nothing that hap
pened about this jewel could be too
extraordinary. If only it had been
less wonderful, less beautiful, she
would not have felt so terribly afraid
She put 1t back on the table and for
moment held her hand over it, as
If she imprisoned living thing.
Then, without looking again, she
got out of bed and went to the win
dow. 1t overlooked the dark steep of
the garden. the moving trees and the
lighter plane of the water. She
leaned out, far out. Black housetops
marched against the bay. and be
tween them, light by light, her eyes
followed the street lamps down to the
shore.
Oh, to escape out of this window
into the innocent, sleeping city, away
from the horror at her back: To look
in from the outside and be even sure
there was horror! And if there was,
to run away into the wide soft dark!
But there was another way to be
rid of it. The real idea occurred to
her. How easy it would be to take it
that beautiful thing-and throw it:
throw 1t as hard as she could, and
let the night take care of it. The win
dow was open, as If it stood ready,
and there was me ring on the table.
She went to it, looked at it moment
without touching it, holding her hands
away.
Then with little shiver she backed
away from it and sat down on the
foot of the bed She looked pale and
little, as II the eye of the ring, bla-
zing under the feeble lamp, like the
evil eye, had Slapped her fire and
youth. She Rugged her arms around
her updrawn knees, and resting her
chin upon them eyed the sapphire
bravely.
Il suppose you know l can't throw
you away" she murmured, land yet ]
can't keep youi" She pondered, chin
in hand. To take it to Harry! That
seemed the natural thing to do--the
simplest way to be rid of it. She hes
itated.
IF l only knew! II I only were
sure!" She locked her fingers closer,
staring hard. If it had been the whole
Crew Idol, the undismembered god
less terror, and one plain thing to do.
She looked hard at the sapphire set
ting, as if she hoped to discover upon
its brilliance some tell-tale trace of
old soft gold; but there was only one
great, CLASSY. polished eye. and out of
what head it had come, whether from
the forehead of the Crew Idol, or from
that of some unheralded deity, who
was there who could tell her?
She tried to summon a coherent
thought, but again it was only flash
out of the darkness.
"Kerr! Why, he knows more than
l." She looked at this stupidity for
moment as If it were too large to take
in at once. OF course he must have
known! Why hadn't she thought of
that before?
What series of circumstances might
have led up to Kerr's knowledge she
could not dream. He was one of whom
nothing was incredible. From the
first moment his face had shot into
the light, from the moment she had
heard his voice, like color in the level
voices around him, she had been be-
wildered by his variety.
And where, she asked herself in a
summing up, might such a man not
be found? But there were few places,
indeed. in even the broadcast plain of
possibility, which could hold knowl-
edge of so particular and piercing a
quality as his look had implied. There
had been SO much more than curiosity
or surprise in it. She could hardly
face the memory of 1t, so cruelty 1t
had struck her. There was no doubt
In her mind that Kerr had seen the
ring. Somewhere in the pageant of
his experience he had met it, known
it-but what he wanted Of it
She broke off that thought, and
looked long at the little fame of the
lamp. 1t was strange, but there was
no doubt in her mind but that he
wanted it. That had been the strong
est thing in his look She felt herself
picking her way along a very narrow
path, one step over either edge of
which would plunge her chasms deep.
Now she snatched at frail sapling to
save herself. The fact that Kerr
knew her stone didn't prove it belong
ed to the Crew Idol And If it didn't
If it wasn't the crown of the heath
en- god, then her whole dreadful sup
position fell to pieces. But she hadn't
proved it and the simplest way was
just to ask Kerr. Her chance for that
was the chance he had fought so hard
for, the chance of their meeting the
next day.
1t seemed 1t should be simple, it
should be easy to face Kerr with her
question: but she was possessed by
the apprehension that it would be
neither. Would the question she had
to ask be safe thing to give him?
And If she dared undertake it and
should be overpowered after all-then
everything would be lost.
CHAPTER x.
aIu