The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-07-02
CHAPTER XIX.
The Voice of the Wind,

iS WV W s'S '''''S' !
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 memor.
able incident had been added to his
already overfull 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 doomed up before him as q
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
Y of horror that ensued, the sudden rev
] citation that came to him as he looked
into Frederic's face with its closed
3 eyes, and the agony of suspense that
!, now consumed him, but cloud still
hung over him that his intelligence
Q could not penetrate nor his physical
D being dispel, no matter how hard he
q struggled to clear way to the open.
J. He had seen vision. Its effect on
him had been overpowering. The for
;, titude of lifetime had been shattered
$ in a single instant OF contact with the
influence that had at last made itself
p felt in physical manifestation after all
d these years OF spiritual attendance He
had never been completely free from
e the vague notion that Matilde was
d near him in spirit, that there was an
actual identity to the presence that
8 filled his dreams and denied him the
It boon Of forgetfulness for single In
>. slant of the hours when he was awake
= He had never tried to Danish her from
n his memory. He wanted to forget her
# to put her out of his thoughts alto
s gether, for obvious reasons. but the
q, fact that she remained the dominant
u figure in his present despite the past
n was proof, even to him, that she was
A. and always would be the controlling
u force in his mind if not in his heart.
IT Now he was ordering himself to face
new complexities. He was confronted
d by the most improbable Of hallucina
e lions. It was not an intangible shadow
Ie that he now had to contend with bu
IS something definite, something tina
g took shape and Knocked him. In MI
10 bitter indictment against circum
,r stances, he argued that his brain wa
le momentarily unbalanced following tn
t. shock caused by the shooting. and tina
ID in its disordered state he had pictured
ID things that did not exist. 1t was onl!
is reasonable to assume that he had sui
e. fered from the effect of startling
Is vivid hallucination, and yet there wa
TO a strange. insistent voice somewher
Be- in his clearing mind that persuade
n. him against his will that he had actua
e. ly seen the face of Matilde.
Il Admitting that he had been deceive
by a trick of the imagination. ther
=" still remained certain indisputabl
.ir facts to confound him First OF al
an the absolute conviction that Yvonn
had the power to preserve the life tina
IN. hung so precariously in the balance
He could not overcome the amazin
~ belief that she, and not the skille
on surgeon, would check the sure progress
In of death. Something told him that sh
10 represented a force even mightit
tn than death and that she would prevail
he no matter what betide.
He had refused to see the newsp
lid per men who came. Doctor Hodd'
,er wisely had protested against secrec
cir Murder will out" he had said fire
oh fully, little realizing how closely II
lid trite old saying applied to the stu
ed ton. He had accepted the statemen
a Of Yyonne and Ranjab as to the ac'
dental discharge Of the weapon, b
,as for some reason had refrained fro