Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-08-24
lapsed into the arms of her assailants
With a scream so shrill, so terrible that
1T startled me awake.
P X.
THE LIGHT

CHAPTER X.
THE MYSTERIOUS LIGHT.
1t was some moments before l could
think clearly, so real and vivid had
that vision been. I threw out INV arms
TO assure myself that l was still in
bed; could scarcely believe tha /
was not really shivering behind the
hedge. staring across at that lighted
wlndow n the dreadful drama it re-
Vealed. l was bathed in p~erspiration
ana yet felt chilled to the very mar
row..
indeed, my teeth We're chattering as
l CROPPED my way to the light, turned it
on, and looked at my watch. 1t was
nearly l o'clock. The night was clear
ana pleasant. with a faint breeze
stars We're shining SO brightly that one
looked for it instinctively.
\ knew it was not use to return to
PEG untl! my nerves were quieter: and,
indeed, that vision had banished all
desire for sleep; so l filled my pipe,
agh.ed 1t. drew up a chair and sat
down by the ope window. The street
below was deserted; and for an in
slant I found my self wondering that
IL was not thronged with people, reused
by the scream which had awakened
me. Then I remembered that there
iQN pCCII Nv scream. Clat Il mad Stn1nIN
dreamed it.
But I had only to close my ewes to
see again that lighted window and the
shadows on the blind. 1t seemed even
clearer to me han it had been in he
dream. l could see every detail of he
fuggi and l opened my eyes
abruptly so that I might escape the
end. There was something supernatural
about it; l a never dreamed a dream
hike that before-a dream which, walk
lEg. L could rehearse at pleasure. Per-
maps 1t was not wholly a vision; per-
haps 1T had some foundation in real
lty. some telephathic origin. | had read
Of such things, sceptically; but some
OF the phenomena of thought trans
terence had l knew, been accepted, re-
luctantly enough, even by the scien-
tific world.
Was it not possible that Marcia
Lawrence had been lured to the King
don cottage or taken there against her
Will? Who could say how tina old
injury done the Endicotts would
flower and fruit? Who could say what
hated. what desire for vengeance.
ranked i'm the hearts OF the Kingdoms?
[ remembered how the face of the
face OF the maid had darkened with
malice. how her eyes had blazed with
internal joy, as she stood there in the
door of the library. thinking herself
unseen. Her sister l knew nothing of,
but IT they resembled each other as
sisters usually do, 1 could we'll believe
not possible that Marcia Lawrence
was in their hands? Was it not pos
sible that my dream possessed a basis
of reality? I had been thinking of her
al! the evening; l had gone to sleep
with the problem OF her disappearance
still on my mind: l had been studying
her Photographic was, in a word. in
spiritual touch with her. responsive to
any suggestion emanating from her
We We're tuned to the same pitch. Such,
L fancled. was the explanation of the
phenomena which a telepathist would
give. She had sent that cry into the
night. and I. being en- rapport with
her. had heard it-had witnessed the
tragedy which called it forth. Perhaps
the struggle was not yet ended; per-
haps. ever at this moment
I sprang to my feet, hurried into INV
clothes. caught up my hat, opened
my door and ran noiselessly down the
stair. | would solve this problem to-
night. if it could he solved. 1 bad
been wrong in turning away from the
ngd cottage the evening before; /
should. at least. nave made an effort
to discover if Marcia Lawrence were
really there. But it had not occurred
to me then that she could be in any
danger. l had thought too much Of
what Curtiss you'd wish me to do;
too little of what the necessities of
the case required. Well. l would not
make that mistake a second time.
AS l look back upon my frame of
mind at that moment and consider the
impulse which sent me forth from
my room at that hour of the night.
I realizc how o~verwrought l was. At
a distance. in cold blood, it seems an
absurd thing to have done; yet, I'M
del the same conditions. I should no
doubt behave again in much the same
way. And ever admitting it's absurd
ity, am not prepared to say. in view
of the event, that there was not back
OF 1T some instinct worth following.
There are forces in nature not yet ex-
planned or recognized. and I am still
inclined to think that it was one of
these which drew me forth upon that
midnight errand.
In a very fever of Impotence. I hur-
ried along the street, under the trees.
meeting no n except a patrolman. /
heard him stop, as I passed him, and
knew that he was looking back after
me. but I kept on without pausing,
n heard him finally start on again.
In a minute more I reached the Law
renee place, and stopped in the
shadow of a tree for a look around.
The house doomed through the dark
showing anywhere. l leaped the fence,
assured that I was Unseen. and pushed
my way forward through the grove
toward the path which led to the
cottage.
Beneath the trees. the darkness was
slowly yet, starting from the library
steps. I found the path without diff
ficulty, , and felt my way cautiously
along II. until I came to the hedge
which marked the limits of the King
don place. l examined the house with
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