The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1915-06-24
CHAPTER XIX.
The Voice Of the Wind.

Hours afterward Brood sat alone In |
the room where the tragedy occurred
Much had transpired In the interim to
make those hours seem like separate
and distinct years to him. each hour
an epoch In which vital and memoir
able incident had been added to his
already overfuli measure of expert
ence. Underneath all was an ever
present sense of insecurity. as II the
whole order OF life had been suddenly
deprived of foundation or support. No
matter where he looked. there was not
the slightest ray of light In the dark
ness that enveloped his understand
ing Something tremendous had hap
pened. aside from the visible, phys
ical incident that had stunned him
temporarily at the outset Of the tragic
era, something that was beyond com
prehension and intangible and which
continually loomed up before him as a
specter that had neither shape nor
substance ant yet was as completely
positive as anything else that had
transpired He could account for the
shooting, the emotions preceding that
unhappy occurrence. the Intervention
Of fate that saved Yvonne from death
and laid low the substitute. the sense
OF horror that ensued, the sudden rev.
elation that came to him as he looked
into Frederic's face with its closed
eyes, and the agony of suspense that
now consumed him. but cloud still
hung over him that his intelligence
could not penetrate nor his physical
being dispel. no matter how hard he
struggled to clear way to the open.
He had seen vision. Its effect on
him had been overpowering. The for
titude OF lifetime had been shattered
in single instant of contact with the
influence that had at last made itself
felt in physical manifestation after all
these years of spiritual attendance. He
had never been completely free from
the vague notion that Matilde was
near him in spirit, that there was an
actual identity to the presence that
filed his dreams and denied him the
boon of forgetfulness for single in
stant of the hours when he was awake
He had never tried to Danish her from
his memory He wanted to forget her
: to put her out OF his thoughts alto
gether. for obvious reasons. but ths
fact that she remained the dominan
! figure in his present despite the pas
was proof. even to him. that she wal
and always would be the controlling
! force In his mind II not In his heart.
Now he was ordering himself to fac'
new complexities. He was confronted
by the most improbable OF hallucina
, tions. II was not an intangible shadoy
, that he now had to contend with bu
) something definite. something tina
; took shape and mocked him. In hi
, bitter indictment against circum
r stances, he argued that his brain wa
3 momentarily unbalanced following tn
, shock caused by the shooting, and tha
4 in its disordered state he had picture
d things that did not exist 1t was onl
s reasonable to assume that he had su
!. fered from the effect OF startling
8 vivid hallucinatlon, and yet there wa
o strange. insistent voice somewher
e in his clearing mind that persuade
!. him against his will that he had actua
,. ly seen the face OF Matilde.
1 Admitting that he had been deceive
by a trick of the imagination, ther
/" still remained certain indisputabl
r facts to confound him. First of al
n the absolute conviction that Yvonn
had the power to preserve the life thi
l. hung so precariously In the balanc
He could not overcome the amazin
4 belief that she. and not the skille
ID surgeon. would check the sure progrei
0. of death. Something told him that 81
O. represented a force even mighti'
h than death and that she would preva
70 no matter what betide.
He had refused TO see the newsp
ID per men who came. Doctor Hodd'
or wisely had protested against secrec
ir Murder will out" he had said FIRE
n fully, little realizing how closely Il
Id trite old saying applied TO the situ
d, ton. He had accepted the statemen
a OF Yvonne and Ranjab as to the ac'
dental discharge OF the weapon. b
"a for aoms reason had refraipea- ttn