Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-01-08

80 SooAa Sbhl0 W ouC wiz hdu
two such knights at her service. II
makes q woman feel almost safe. even
at an hour like this" She addressed
Clay: by the way. have you met
Professor Desmondi" He told her that
he had not.
Then you must do SO at once
that is II Mr.. March will pardon us
for q few moments while l am intro
ducing you. Father has captured him
and has him over yonder. Besides. !
want you to tell me something about
your trip" So of they went with fare.
well mods to Alan. walking confident.
tally side by side, Doris slender but
round. seeming to scarcely touch the
grass with her white clad feet, Toll
liver Of good height and though of
slender build showing more than one
trace Of strength and suppleness in
his erect form. Left alone, Jealous
and disgruntled March thrust his
hands to the bottoms Of his pockets
and Joined the first stray group he
| CHANGED across.
Immediately he was struck by the
subtle change which had come over
them In the last quarter of an hour Of
his companionship alone with Doris.
Their voices had grown subdued, anX-
ious, strained. with now and then IN
unnatural laugh that arose unexpect-
eddy as some feminine nerve gave
away beneath the suspense. Also he
noticed that almost constantly their
eyes furtively swept the darkness
above. To March 1t seemed as though
the atmosphere of the night was
charged with a mysterious oppressive
ness The stiffness was that Of a ave.
Clouds had flung themselves across
the sky in a thick curtain and the
darkness above was SO dense as to
seem a solid. Anglo-Saxon of blood,
temperament and training. he could
walk without a culver a six-inch steel
girder that spanned a canyon hun
dreds Of feet deep and where a loss
of nerve or a giddiness meant a plunge
to certain death, but now for the first
time In his life he was conscious of q
strange nervousness and suppressed
excitement. The palms Of his hands
tingled, and once he even caught him.
self laughing idiotically at q comment
which he had not even caught the
meaning of. Strange sensations ran
up and down his back-an irritating
pricking as from a light electric cur
rent applied to his spine, and when he
CHANGED to turn and see Doris family
outlined beneath the trees and in close
converse with Tolliver his whole being
became set on edge at once and his
hands frightened spasmodically. He
drew himself together.
Fool" he muttered in self anger.
He always had been rather proud Of
his self possession during times when
that fine quality was at a premium.
Are you. too. going to lose your nerve.
and even before the first symptoms of
danger at that? You are becoming as
hysterical as Mrs. Emmonds yonder."
A sound from the one whose name he
had Just mentioned sent him quickly
towards her-a middle aged lady who
was crossing the lawn with peals Of
s~enseless laughter, her highly strung
system breaking beneath the
suspense Of an impending cataclysm
SO vast that the very mountains them
selves would be but mole hills beneath
it. He took her firmly by the arm.
Mrs. Emmonds!" he exclaimed
lightly. Tell me about 1t also. 1t
seems to be too good a joke to keep to
ones self" She turned a rather vacu-
Gus face up at him and laughed again
more shrilly than before.
81 am laughing to think how silly /
was to be frightened an hour ago over
such a ridiculous bogy thing as every
body has been chattering about all the
evening. As IL this earth for which
the sun and moon and stars were made
could be destroyed by n Of those lit.
tie winking things. Look at them!"
She threw her hand upward and Alan
followed the movement with his eyes.
A ragged rift had been torn in the
clouds and through the gap he could
see the myriads Of the Milky Way, In
fnitesimal in size, faint In their light
as 1ar distant grow WoTu1b. Ouce more
her s~enseless laugh arose.
"And as II the Lord who created this
great world out Of darkness and then
built the rest of creation that we
might be able to see by night as well
as by day would set two worlds bat
tering at each other like senseless
sheep! And besides does not the
Bible say that the earth shall be de-
stroyed next time by fret How silly
I was to be afraid Of such nonsense.
I am as bad as a child who fears that
there is a goblin beneath his bed"
Her convulsive peals Of merriment
had turned all eyes In her direction
and a dozen men were now upon their
way towards her. Alan was still tug.
ging at her arm.
"Of course, Mrs. Emmonds, quite
Internationally &C. I fully agree
with you that there can be no dam
GER" He stopped speaking abruptly,
the cold goose flesh breaking out all
over him, for beneath his feet he
seemed to feel the earth shudder like
an overdriven engine. Or was 1t his
own nerves after all? He turned his
face towards his companions beyond.
One glance told him that they had