The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-03-19

mosphere pure and sweet. We are one
hundred feet under ground, my be-
loved, and we two are the only living
creatures who know the existence OF
this place. Even If it were known,
many feet of solid masonry, inter
spersed with layers of iron, protect
us on every side, above and be.ow,
and through the only passage that
leads here are twenty impossible
barriers. Now, my beloved, shall we
fear the twenty-fifth.'
She did not answer, but she shud
dered as the silvery stroke Of bell
fell npon' their ears. 1t was from a
clock, its face curiousiy divided into
twenty-four hours, that was placed
upon the wall over the entrance
through which they had come-and
now it had struck one, for the hour
of midnight. 1t had ushered in the
first moment of March twenty-fifth.
Sophia Karenoov only moaned, nor
even when Alexander had set forth
a bottle of wine and some light re-
freshment would she be aroused. The
tsar, who had scarcely tasted food
that day, ate heartily, nor strove at
present to awaken his consort, deem
ing that her hysteria would best be
worn away in silence. He was cheer
ful, even almost gay in this unas-
salable safety, but after his repast,
as the time were on and she held
still in that moaning stupor, he be-
came alarmed, and sitting beside her
essayed with all gentle tact to soothe
her She shrank from his touch, cow
ering and shuddering as if he had
struck her, and finding that his at
tempted caresses only distressed her
the more he turned himself to one
of the books that he had stored in the
place, and combating the WEAKNESS
that would have weighed down his
eyelids, he sat quietly by the table,
with no sound save the turning of
the leaves, the ticking of the clock,
and the occasional whispered means
to break the death-like stiffness of
this deep hidden retreat.
So, in tender patience, Alexander
wore away the hours that far above
marked. the dawn, the early morn
and the rising sun, and until more
than half the twenty-four crucial
hours had been passed. Each time
that he had unobtrusive.y tried to
force sip of wine upon her, Sophia
had turned her head mutely away
from it; but now, far past the noon
hour, he offered her a glass of
water, and this, after she had looked
upon it with unseeing eyes for a
time, she grasped and drank eagerly,
and when, encouraged by this sign, he
had set the glass away and had come
back to her, she suddenly caught at
his hand, and, kissing 1t, wept.
Sitting by her side, he drew her
to him, and, with her arm clasped
about his neck and her head upon his
shoulder, she broke into a paroxy ISM
of sobbing, until at last, exhausted
by the torrent of her own emotions,
she slept In pity Alexander lay her
n,,1 ra1
himself some food. In spite of the
fatigue which oppressed him, in spite
had brought with him into this exile,
in spite of the long, tense watching
that should have worn heavily upon
him, his soul was still buoyant as
he marked the passing of the hours.
The twenty-fifth was wearing itself
away as other days had done, leav-
ing him not in more danger but in
more safety and security than he had
enjoyed in any day for many months.
He thought to gain some rest by
Sophia's side, but even in her fit
full slumber she moaned with that
great weight of horror that was up
on her, and fearing lest her strength
of mind and body might give way
utterly, he began a new vigil by her
side The afternoon now had slipped
away, each added hour filling him
with qualification that he had sue
cessfully defied the mobiles, the peas
ants, the Red Brotherhood and Fate
itself.
But five short hours of the twen-
ty-four remained to him when Sophia
had finally settled into deeper slum-
ber, the regular Dreaming of which
reassured him. and then, overcome