The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-04-29
Y EMERsO sONrHOUGH

I've been looking for yo0-Come?
Come Quickly!" His face showed
plainly his agitation.
''Is there anything wrong?' demand
ed Halsey sharply. What's the
trouble ?"
eft is my duty to tell you the truth, I"
began the doctor. your wife Is a
very sick woman, indeed"
81 know that, yes.'
'eBut not the worst until this morn
ing, until just now. Something"
give been here in the house wait
ing-why did you not call me?" be-
gan Halsey clumsily.
| "You must not wait!" the doctor
interrupted him, taking him by the
arm and fastening toward the stair
way.
They followed him up the stair,
down the upper hall, to the rooms
which had been set apart of late days
fcl Glac1 ...-. ner child, quarters al
TOO unfamiliar to Halsey himself.
The found Grace Halsey, faint and
gasping, half sitting in her bed, clasp
ing the child in rms, herself too
weak nov longer To old it up. Hal
sey, stricken with sudden horror, ran
to take the child in his own arms.
The truth was obvious. Even as he
lifted the poor crippled form in his
arms, the head fell back, helpless. The
eyes glazed turned back uncovered.
Ealsey cried out aloud. He turned
about, dazed; horror and helplessness
were on his face. 1t was to Virginia
Rawn he turned, as to the other part
of himself.
It was Virginia Rawn who took from
him the feeble, misshapen body, gath
ering it into his own arms. She gazed
intently, frowning, grieving a woman's
grief over suffering, bending over its
face; her own face held back over it
when she saw the truth. Then she
passed him and placed the body Of the
child upon it's cot nearby, covering it
gently.
Grace, Grace!" sobbed Halsey. He
fell upon his knees at his wife's bed
side. She did not see him, did not rec
ognizez him, although she turned
questioning face toward. him. ME,
tool" he cried. "I want to go! I
want to die and end It! Everytbing's
wrong
Come" said the doctor presently;
'it's too late now. I'll call for you
after a time" He took Halsey by the
arm and led him from the room. Re-
turning, he signed for Virginia Rawn
also to leave the sick chamber. Left
alone, the medical man turned to the
professional nurse in attendance.
Keep it quiet" he said. "It would
hurt my practice-do you hear?"
He kicked beneath the bed small
broken vial, and wiped away the stain
from the lips of the dying woman.
The doctor, of course, had his guess
the public it's guess, the daily papers
theirs. The truth was, Grace Halsey,
by butler route, had learned of the
tete-a-tete of her husband and her step
mother half hour before this time.
=
Grace Halsey, dead, her crippled
child dead beside her, never knew the
contents of the letter which had been
received for her that morning. 1t
still lay on the hall table unnoticed.
There was almost none to pay atten-
ton to the many duties Of the house
hold. The last servants had begun
to pass, scenting disaster even as had
others. The magic which had builded
this mansion house now lacked
strength to hold it's tenantry. There
remained now only one man-the but
Ter, lingering for his pay. Only two
persons might still be said to be ac-
tuated by any sense of loyalty or duty
to Graystone Hill and its owner-Hal-
sey and Virginia Rawn.
Of duty-to what and to whom?
They dared not ask, dared not think
They waited, they knew LOT for what.
The master Of this mansion house was
forth upon his business. Somewhere,
he was fastening toward his home.
When he might be expected they did
not know. Nor did the master know
what news awaited him upon his COM
! ing.
The evening dailies came out upon
the streets, reelfng and reeking with
the last accumulating sensations of
the Rawn disasters. The business
world continued to rub it's eyes, the
social world continued to exult. Many
and many a woman smiled that eve
ming as she contemplated proofs of
the downfall of one whom once she
had envied. The Rawns, it now
seemed, had all along been known, by
everybody who was anybody, to have
been nobody at all. They who had
sown the wind, had the whirlwind for
their reaping. This was the general
day of harvest for Graystone Hall.
j But the day passed on. Shadows
heightened beyond the tall towers and
softened as they fell toward the east.
J %-.-