The Prescott daily news., 1913-08-21
MANS GREATEST LOVE
By ARTHUR w. BEER.


 him was the utter hopelessness of the situation into which he had been so abruptly plunged.
 He had not meant to kill him. An. no! such a thought had never found lodgment in his brain for an instant. Why should he harm the father of the woman he loved7
 He had gone more to plead his cause with the old man. Words had passed between them. and the old man. in senile rage, had attacked him. Even then he had not meant to show re- sistance. His sole thought was to quiet the old man. But as he had struggled with him with that end in view tLey had slipped on the polished surface of the oaken floor of the H. brary, and In falling the old mans head had struck against the iron bound corner of massive ancient chest, and he had lain still
 Presently. In the deep gloom of his inner being a spark of hope glowered. What If the old man were not really dead! True. he had thought to make sure. but he should not have given up so soon. At any rate, he should have faced the situation manfully; should have aroused old Sarah, the sole do- nestle of the old widower's big house; and Clarice-no! he never could have told Clarice.
 He began to retrace his steps fe- verishly What a distance he had travelled in his insane flight! Suppose that he found the household aroused upon his return?
 AS at length he neared the house, he perceived that the lowered win dows were lighted up.
 But surely that f1tful, f1aring light was no ordinary illumination? He suddenly recalled that In his struggle with the old man the burning logs of the great open fire In the library had been scattered He had afterward thrown them back, but some stray coals must have remained behind and now on fire!
 He rushed forward; but he might as we'll have hurled himself against a door; and as for the lower windows, they were heavily crossed with iron bars.
 And Clarice? Clarice was no doubt sleeping calmly enough upstairs. He knew her window. He dashed madly in the direction of the barn, where he remembered to have seen ladder only the other day. Presently he returned, dragging it's weight after him, and raised it to the upper window.
 He broke the glass with his bare hands, unmindiul of the wounds it caused him, and, raising the sash, en. te:ed the apartment.
 "Clarice!" he called. "The house Is afire; come quickly"
 He ran to the head of the stairs. The lower portion of the house was all aflame.
 Ho gathered her yielding body In his arms and hurried to the window.
 But where Is father? Oh. you must save him!" she gasped.
 q will. darling" he said. shudder- ing involuntarily.
 He gazed below Neighbors, at- tracted by the glare, had commenced to assemble. One man was already halfway up the ladder.
 He passed her fainting form to the man on the ladder and rushed back to arouse old Sarah and direct her to the means of escape.
 Then he began to make his way to the hell of fire below.
 It was then that the great tempta- tion came to himr Why should he risk his life for a dead man? Already he had done all that could reasonably be required of him, and the fire would soon obliterate the traces of that dread mishap.
 But, no! he could not live with that stain upon his soul He could not bear the plaudits of the crowd. nor her proud words of praise for his he- roism, with the knowledge of the true state of affairs gnawing at his heart.
 He fought his way to the library and dragged out the singed body Of his late adversary. Through the hall. and to the doorway he struggled with his burden, but the smoke and flames overcame him. and he sank down just within the portal.
 Meanwhile, from the outside they were battering down the door with axes. and presently they rushed in, regardless of the flames that belched forth, and carried out the blackened bodies.