Evening journal., 1914-08-24

sYNoRssThs of Hearts is the death sign" ussa BY
daughter judith woman OF violent
Alan Law. whose father nov dead Trne held respons
be bic Tor The accident which made him helpless cripple
.smpsisn can against Alan leaves her home TO .d him whom
sas life ana 50 wins her love- but failure to shake his
I-FoREwARNED.
The thing was managed with an ingenuity that
Alan termed devilish it was indisputably Machia,
vellian.
The lovers had come down from the North in
hot haste and the shadow OF death. Two days Of
steady travelling by canoe, by woods trail by lake
steamer-fortyeight hours Of fatigue and strain
eased by not instants relaxation from the high
tension of vigilance upon which their very lives
depended-wore to elimination through this
tedious afternoon on the train from Moosehead:
trip of physical torment only made possible by
Alans luck in securing, through sheer accident
two parlorcar reservations turned back at the last
moment before leaving Kineo station.
No matter the longest afternoon must have its
evening" the pokiest Of trains comes the more
surely to its destination; in another hour OF two
they would be in Portand-free at last to draw
breath of in a land Of law order and sane
living.
As if in answer to this thought. the train slowed
down with whistling brakes to the last hillstaton;
and as the trucks groaned and moved anew, lout
Of a boy gallopng down the aisle, brandishing
two yellow envelopes and blatting like stray calf:
"Mista Lawrl Mista Lawr Telgrams for Mista
Lawrl"
Alan had been expecting at every station pre-
paid reply TO his wire for reservations on the night
express from Portland to New York
But why two envelopes superscribed "Mr A.
Law Kneo train sOuthbound, Oakland Sta?
He tore open unfoded the enclosure, and
gruDted disgust with its curt advice opened the
other and caught his breath sharply as he with
irew-part way Only-a playing card, Trey of
Hearts
Tbrusting it back quickly he clapped both en-
velopes together tore them into a hundred frag
ments and scattered them from the window. But
the hendish wind whisIed small scrap back
and only one!-into the lap Of the woman he
loved
Vainy he prayed that she might be asleep. The
silken Iashes trembled on her cheeks and lifted
slightly disclosing the dark glimmer of question
ing eyes And she clipped the scrap Of card
board between thumb and forehnger, he bent for
ward and silently took it from her-one corner Of
the Trey Of Hearts. but inevitably corner bearing
the figure above a heart.
The Pullman agent at Portland wires. no reser
vations available any New York train in the
next thirty-six hours he said with lowered voice
Couldn't we possibly catch the New York boat
tonight?"
He shook a glum head "No-I looked that up
first. Il leaves before we get in"
She said. TOO bad" abstractedy, reclosed her
eyes, and apparently lapsed anew into semi-som-
nolence-but without deceiying him who could we'll
guess what poignant anxiety gnawed at her heart
He could have ground his teeth in evaporation.
the impish insolence of that warning. timed so
precisely to set their nerves on edge at the very
moment when they congratulating them
selves upon the approach Of respite!
The sheer insanity of the whole damnable bust
ness!
The grim, wild absurdity of IT,
To think that this was America, this the twen-
tieth century. the apex Of the highest form Of
civilization the world had known-and still
a man could be hunted from pillar TO post haunted
with threats harried with attempts at assassina-
tion in a hundred forms-and that by a slip Of a
girl with the cunning of a madwoman, the heart
of thug the face of a charming child-the face
OF the woman that sat beside him, duplicating fits
every perfect feature so nearly that even he who
loved the one could scarcely distinguish her from
the other but by instinct, intuition, blind guess
work.
He nodded heavy-hearted confirmation of sur.
mise slowly settling into conviction in his mind
that such cunning, such purpose and pertinacity
could not possibly spring from mind welEbai
anced, that the woman Judith Trine, sister to the
Rose he loved well mad as that mono
maniac her father, who sat helpless in his cell OF
silence and shadows in New York, day after day
eating his heart out with impatience for the word
hat his vengeance had been consummated by the
laughter whom he had inspired to execute it.
An hour late in dusk Of evening, the train lum
)ered into Portland station and heart In mouth
Alan helped Rose from the steps, shoudered g
way for her through the crowd, and almost lifted
her into taxicab.
BEST hotel in town." he demanded. And be
quick about t-for double tip"
He communicated his desperate scheme tC
he girl en- route receiving her endorsement OF it
So, having registered for her and her safely
% the door Of the best available room in the house
within ready call of the public lobby and Office, h'
washed up, gulped hasty meal-which Rose hat
ieclined 10 share. pleading fatigue-and hurried
lway into the night with only the negro driver O.
public hack picked up haphazard at some dis
lance from the hotel. for his guide.