The Washington times., 1913-03-16
THE DESTROYING ANGEL
By Joseph He9=@A Louis Joseph x@s2-

I 1T wouldn't be like you to, ms dear.
| IL wouldn't be you, my Hugh. But even
| Their ! loved the memory of you. You
don't know what you have meant IN
| my life, Hugh.
| always, always you have stood Tor
| all that was fine. and strong, ana Sood'
| and generous-my gentlest man. my
knight san peu ct sans reproche. No
| other man | ever knew-nO let me go
| on,-ever measured Up to the standard
you had set for me to worship But,
| Hugh-ycull understand. won't your
| about the other meH--"
Please" he begged please don't
| harrow Yourself so. MARI.
| NO. must tell you. The Worlo
! seemed so empty and so lonely, Husa'
my Sir Galahad was gone. never 10 re-
| turn to me- / tried to lose myseif IN
my work hut il wasn't enough. And
| those others came. beseeching me, ana
and 7 liked them: there was none IKE
YOU but they were all good men OF
! their kind, and l liked them. ana they
made love to mel was starving IoF
| affection, Hugh.
II was made to love and to be loved.
Each time l thought to myself: 'Sureiy
| this time II is true: now at last am l
| come into my kingdom. 1t can't fulfll
my dreams. because L have known the
| bravest man, but
Her voice broke and fell. Her eyes
| clouded and grew vacant; her VISION
passed through and beyond MIN. as il
| he had not been there: the bitter DESC
| lation Of all the widowed generations
darkened her golden face. Her lips
| barely moved. almost inaudibly enun-
Z ciating the words that were shaken
| from her as IL by some occult force.
ruthless and inexorable.
| Each time. Hugh. it was tine same.
One by one they were taken from me,
strangely, terribly. Poor Tom Custer
ha q Aaar hny hui II dfdn' Z
| love him and couldn't marry him. ! had
to tell him So He killed himself. Then
Billy Hamilton: / became engaged to
him: but he was taken inysteriously
from crowded ship in mid-ocean.
"A man named Mitchell Thurston
loved me. 1 liked him; perhaps I might
have consented to marry him. He was
ssa ssina ted-shot down like a mad dog
in broad daylight-no one ever knew by
whom or why. He hadn't an enemy In
the world We knew Of. And then Drum
mond-the crowning tragedy
Mary. Nary he pleaded. Don't
don't-these things were all accidents"
She paid him no heed. She didn't
seem TO hear. He tried to take her
hand. with a mans dull. witless notion
woman: but she snatched it from his
touch.
And now"-her voice pealed out over
the magnificent solitude Of the forsaken
island like great bell tolling-"and
now / have II to live through once
beauty of love, the agony and passion
of having you torn from me- Hugh
don't believe I can endure il again.
/ can't bear this exquisite torture: I'm
afraid ] shall go mad d!-unless-unless"
her voice shuddered-'I have the
strength. the strength to"
Mary he cried in desperation. You
must not go on like this. Mary! Listen
to me-
This time he succeeded in imprisoning
hsra closer ao her he sisd sad to sens
understand what I say. ] love you: I
am your husband; nothing can possibly
ccme between us. All these other things
can be explained. Don't let yourself
think for another Instant
Her eyes. fixed upon the two hands
in which he clasped her own. had grown
wide and staring with dread. Momen-
tarily she seemed stunned. Then she
wrenched II from him, at the same time
jumping up and away.
No she cried, Tending him from her
with shaking arms. NO. Don't touch
me! Don't come near me. Hugh! It's
It's desth My touch Is death. I know
1t now-I had begun to suspect now r
know; am accursed-doomed to go
through life like pestiIence. leaving sor-
row and death in my wake. Hugh
she cortESlled herself a trfne-"Hugh. Il
love you more than life: I love you
more than love itself. But you must
rot come near me. Love me il you
must: but, oh, my dear one. keep away
from me. avoid me, forget me " you
can. but at all cost shun me as for
would the plague. / will not give my
self to you to be your death"
Before he could utter a syllable in re-
ply she turned and fed from him. wild
ly. blindly stumbling, like a hunted
thing. back to the farmhouse. He fol-
lowed. vainly calling on her to stop and
listen to him
But she outdistanced him. and by the
time he had entered the house was in
her room upstairs, behind a locked door
CHAPTER XIX.
Capitulation.
RINiI Y NNhitakar Sat hiraSnlt