Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-02
CHAPTER x.
On the Two Sides Of the Door.

The cabin contained a large and a
small room. In the wall between
them there was a doorway closed by
an ordinary batten door with a wood
en- latch and no lock Closed it served /
to hide the occupant of one room |
from the view of the other, otherwise /
1t was but feeble protection. Even |
had it possessed a lock, vigorous |
man could have burst it through in !
These thoughts did not come very
clearly to Enid Maitland. Few
thoughts of any kind came to her
Where she lay she could see plainly
the dancing light of the glorious fire.
She was warm, the deity wrapped
bandage, the healing lotion upon her
foot, had greatly relieved the pain in
that wounded member. The bed was
hard but comfortable, much more so
than the sleeping bags to which of
late she had been accustomed.
Few women had gone through such
experiences, mental and physical, as
had befallen her within the last few
hours and lived to tell the story. Had
1t not been for the exhaustive strains
of body and spirit to which she had
been subjected, her mental faculties
would have been on the alert and the
strangeness Of her unique position
would have made her so nervous that
she could not have slept.
For the time being, however, the
physical demands upon her entity
were paramount; she was dry, she
was warm, she was fed, she was free
from anxiety and she was absolutely
unutterably weary. Her thoughts
were vague, inchoate, unconcentrated.
The fire wavered before her eyes, she
closed them in few moments and
did not open them.
Without q thought, without a care,
she fell asleep. Her repose was COM
plete, not dream even disturbed the
profound slumber into which she
sank. Pretty picture she made; her
head thrown backward, her golden
hair roughly dried and quickly plait-
ed in long braids, one Of which fell
along the pillow while the other
curled lovingly around her neck. Her
face in the natural light would have
looked pallid from what she had gone
through, but the fire cast red CLOVIS
upon it: the fitful light fickered
across her countenance and some
times deep shadows unrelieved &C
centuated the paleness born of her
sufferings.
There is no light that plays so
many tricks with the Imagination, or
that so stimulates the fancy as the
| light of an open fire. In its sudden
outbursts it sometimes seems to add
life touches to the sleeping and the
dead. Had there been any eye to see
this girl, she would have made a de
lightful picture in the warm glow
from the stone hearth. There were
no eyes to look, however, save those
which belonged to the man on the
other side of the door.
On the hither side Of that door II
the room where the fire burned on the
hearth, there was rest in the heart o
the occupant; on the farther side
where the fire only burned in the
heart, there was tumult. Not outward
and visible, but inward and spiritual
and yet there was no lack Of apparen
manifestation of the turmoil in tn,
mans soul.
Albeit the room was smaller thai
the other, it was still of a good size
He walked nervously up and dow
from one end to the other as cease
lessly as a wild animal impatient O
captivity stalks the narrow limits O
. his contracted cage. The even teno
of his life had.suddenly been diverted
The ordinary sequence Of his day
had been abruptly changed. The pr
vacy Of five years which he had hope
and dreamed might exist as long a
i he. had been rudely broken in upo1
: Humanity, which he had avoided
from which he had fed, which he ha
cast away forever, had found hin
: Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit, And, Il
his departures were all in vain, TIL
/ world with all its grandeur and its il
/ significance, with all its powers an
its weaknesses, with all its opport,
mites and its obligations. with all il
r joys and its sorrows, had knocked 6
his door; and that the knocking han
8 was that Of woman, but added I
3 his perplexity and to his dismay
He had cherished dream that b
! could live to himself alone with but
/. memory to bear him company, an
I from that dream he had been thu
derously awakened. Everything we
changed. What had once been cas-
Z had now become impossible Il
/ might send her away, but though /
= swore her to secrecy she would hay
s to tell her story and something of his
d the world would learn some of it al
seek him out with Unsuitable curic
l. ity TO know the rest.
4 Eyes as keen as his would preser
p ly search and scrutinize the mou
{ tains where he had roamed alor
:. They would see what he had see
r find what he had found. Mankin
gold-lusting, would swarm and hi
e, upon the hills and fight and love al
10 breed and die. Great Cod
y He could of course move on,
IL where? And went he whithersoev
10 he might, he would now Of necessi
lie carry with him another memo
a which would not dwell within
Ie mind in harmony with the memo
"a which until that dav had haeu mai