Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-02-12


from her feet The action took Dount
wholly by surprise. The sound tore his
heart like ruthless talon, and drew
hoarse word from his lips.
Barbara" II was little more than q
whisper. but she sprang erect with a gasp,
yer breath labored and terror-strickcn.
III beg pardon" he said. with "a dry
catch in his throat Don't be frightened.
] will go at once. I should not have stayed.
But you came so suddenly. and / did not
dream-I-"
How strange that you should have been
herel' She thought he must hear the loud
drumming OF her pulse.
He laughed-a hard, colorless little laugh.
Yes" he answered, 1T seems so"
A mist blinded her eyes for his tone car
ried her. even more sharply than had the
look she had seen from the balcony, a
sense Of the pain he had undergone. In
what words could she tell him?
You have been suffering" she said in
low voice. 81 see that. And It was my
fault"
He gathered himself together with an eff
fort Of VIII to still the tlngle that flashed
along his nerves 1T was quite sane and
right, no doubt" he said. When l have
learned to be honest enough with myself I
shall see it So My mistake was in ever
dreaming that I was worth one Of your
thoughts or a single seconds memory"
She turned her head abruptly. DO you
hear someone talking? ! thought I heard il
as l came up the path-like someone NUT
terng to himself"
He listened but there was no sound.
81 must have imagined it," she said
There was moments pause and presently
she went on:
You have been thinking hard things Of
me 1t is natural that you should, And
yet I-whatever YOU think-whatever you
do-that day in the cave, l was not-was
not"
You were nothing you should not have
been" he replied rapidly. Her voice had
sent tremor over him--he felt It with a
new wave OF the mornings contempt II
understand. There is nothing for you to
justify, nothing TO regret
She shook her head. I'VE have left I'M
done those things which we ought to have
DONE" she quoted in a low voice, "and
have done those things which we ought
not to have done. and there is no health in
US. We all reclte that Every Sunday. I
have something now to confess TO you.
Won't you stand there in the light? II
want to see your face"
He stepped slowly into bar of moon
light
why" she said you have hurt your
hand" She made quick step toward
him, her eyes on the stained bandage.
1T is nothing" he said hastily. II struck
1t little while ago. What
lie turned. suddenly alert. sharp
whistle had sounded below them, and bright
points here and there pricSed the gloom.
They have turned on the treelights," he
said There was a sound OF voices on the
path. Someone ran across the foot bridge.
Something has happened she said.
what can It be?"
lie made no reply. There had flashed
TO him a quick realization OF the position
in which, unwittinEly, they had placed
themselves She must not be seen at such
an hour, in that lonely spot with him!
He knew the canons of the world he lived
in! with a hushed word he drew her back
into the shadow.
The voices were speaking in Japanese,
and now he heard them clearly. Some
down the hillside, they think" A hur-
one is injured" he told her. He fell
ried step crossed the bridge, and voice,
sharp and premptory, asked question
in nervous English. Daunt chilled at the
answer, turning to her, every unselfish
instinct alive to spare her.
But she had heard a name. 1T is Mr..
Ware who is hurt!'
He grasped her wrist. Watt" he said
hurriedly. II beg you to go by the upper
path to the side door" But she caught
away her arm and ran quickly down the
path
Daunt sprang up the hill, skirted the
building, gained its upepr corridor, now
simmering with excitement, and crossed
the bridge Near its farther end a small
group stood about a figure PROSTATE
beside the photograph whose cylinder
cleaned in the lantern light, BY it Bar
bara was kneeling.
But something came between her gaze
and the pallid Accommodating which
she saw with the dlstinctness of a black
paper silhouette on a white ground; a
glimmering object, unnoted by the rest,
which had lain half concealed by a bush
something that one day, a thousand
years ago, had glittered against Daunt' $
brown hair as he saluted her from his
horse 1t was a riding crop, whose
Damascene handle bore the device of a
foXs head
Two hours later the corridors were silent
and the bishop and Daunt sat together
in the darkened office, saying few words,
both thinking of a man lying straight
and alone-and OF a girl in an upper room
whose promise he had taken with him out
OF the world Daunt was TO leave for Tokyo
on the early morning train. Half the night
through he sat there listening to the moan
OF the rising weather
But a little while before the sky whit
ened to a rainy dawn, a gray wrath
gHded along the upper piazza of the hotel.
1t crossed the foot bridge to the hillside
barbara CROPPED and found the crop.
Across the night she seemed to see an end
less procession Of stolld, sulphur CO ored
figures, linked with thin, rafting chains.
filing into the humid, black mouth Of a
mine Shuddering, she swung the stick
with all her strength and threw it from
her down the steep into the water that
roared and tumbled far below
CHAPTER xii.
The Laying of the Mine.