Evening star., 1912-11-09
CHAPTER XvIu.-Continued.

They found the little gothic house
quite dark and the door locked. Their
knocking brought no response. The only
sign OF life was Martin Luther, whose
plaintive cries. louder every second, indi-
Gated that he was running to meet them.
TRY the back door," said Harriet. 1--WE
must get lantern
Lionel plunged through the blackness
of the rhododendrons. not stopping to find
the path. Harriet, leaning against the
door, kept UP a ceaseless pounding on
the iron knocker. Martin Luther con-
tinued to NEW.
Never before had the curate's wife
heard cat NEW in that way short,
sharp cries. changing to long, mournful
walls as he pushed against her in the
dark or clawed at her dress. Then his
voice died away as with an incredible
rushing noise he dashed down the steps
and across the gravel. only to return the
next moment with the same sound OF
scrambling feet and flying pebbles.
At last her ear caught the swish OF
parted bushes and the tread of human
feet, and Lioners voice came from close
Its locked
TRY the windows
They're all fastened What's that?''
he cried.
Its the cat," gasped Harriet-"he's go
ing mad-we can't wait Her words
seemed to force their way between hui
man heart beats.
Lionel guided her down the scarcely
visible steps, and together they started
up the drive. Martin Luther trotted be-
tween, rubbing against one and the other
in turn. His plaintive cry had given
place to an excited, cooling tremulo. Sud-
denly from somewhere at the right came
again the sharp. wailing cries they had
heard at first.
They stood stock still and as they
hardened the same strange impulse came
to them both. Without a word they
turned sharply from the gravel, AMI.
mounting the soft turf Of the bank,
scrambled through the laurel bushes and
ran in the direction of the sound.
1t was a forlorn hope. but they fol-
lowed it, followed 1t desperately. Now
the mewing sounded near. now faint and
far off, At one time they lost it alto
gether. then. all at once. 1t seemed to
come from somewhere below their feet.
II say! Look out!' cried Lionel. catch
ing Harriet's arm. You nearly went
Overt"
They were standing close to the edge
OF dark declivity, in reality not very
steep, yet of sufficient depth to be dan
gerous to any one coming upon it un-
awares This last remnant of the an
cient moat, for such it was. lay only a.
few yards from the oldest wing of the
house, yet so artfully was it screened on
two sides by dense shrubbery and on the
third by crumbling, ivy-covered wall,
once part OF the old tower that its pres
ence was known to only two people at
Ipping HOuse-the curate and little An
Petronia.
Harriet, straining her ears. became sud-
denly conscious that Martin Luther had
stopped mewing! And as she listened
fearfully there came a faint, pulsating
sound, vibrant, velvety, the most COM
Portable of natures voices, whose very
~ ovY1o 10 a for oY1rlod r.
ment; Martin Luther was purring!
Whereupon there crept into Harriet's
heart the dawn Of hope she had thought
gone forever. And presently there came.
earth, a familiar voice, faint but Hfelike:
Poor pussy! Poor old puss! Good
Martin Luther!"
''Horatio!" she screamed at the top of
her voice.
Once more came the voice Of Horatio,
this time little louder: Is that you,
my dear?"
'Of course it's me! How can you ask?
Where are you. Horatio? What are you
doing? Are you hurt? Why don't you
I'm all right, my dear" was the faint
yet cheerful response. ''but l can't get
out-the doors locked
The door? What did he mean? A door
out there in the open park?
Harriet was seized by new terror.
always been eccentric not q bit like other
people-and now-now 1t had come!
In her sudden access OF woe Harriet
Merle did the nearest thing to fainting
she knew. She sat down. That is to say,
Harriet started to sit down. The invis-
ible precipice at her feet and the law of
gravitation did the rest.
AS the curate's wife half slid, half
rolled down the steep. grassy incline her
ear. keyed to the highest pitch Of dread
full expectancy, caught the sound Of
scratching match. Lionel was striking a
light.
wait, Lionel!" she screamed with all
the breath she had to spare. and even
as she did so her indecorous revolutions
ceased gently on the level turf at the
bottom of the incline.
In an instant she was on her feet and
had shaken her disordered plumage into
the henlike seemliness befitting curate's
wife.
'.Now strike q match. Lionel!' she
called. ~
Then it was that Lionel performed q
deed of heroism that only an Englishman
can appreciate. Unopened in his pocket,
just as it had come on that mornings