Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-28
By THOMAS w. MANSHEW

after him-and new like . hare hard
pressed toward the outer door. ana tnsn
countsd-thsre was scrambling aound.
4 chorus Of oathe. a clipping. sliding. u
bang on one sice and bump on an
other. and. Is he dartsd BY and sprang
out Into the street the hall was nllsd
with . wrtthing. scuhlinE, SWEARING
mAss Of glus.covered mon struggling IN
o whirling waste Of loose brown paper.
.'This way! Come quickly. for your
piunging out Into the street. They've i
got thsm-got the little boy. got Miss
Lorne-ln spite Of me. Come onI Come l
on! Come ONT" He new like an afrow
street. with bollops, like \ shadow. NJ !
sudden swsrve to the right brought
oushfars. Italian rsstsurants. German
dozen other nationalitiss lined the pave
msnt on both sides Of the street and In !.
motor stood. protected By the watnhful
eye Of an accommodating policeman. 1
while the chauffeur sampled chianti inc
. wine shop close BY. With z rush and
other rush and leap the constable
was upon him, only to be greeted with 4
the swift dicking open OF coat and
the CLEAN Of q badge that every man
In the force knew.
Yes! In the name Of the yard. In u.
name Of the king, get out Of the way!
In nna, Nth ,. yS.u. D0il0e'' Wen get tho !
Then hs ben. over. threw in the clutch
and disoarding all speed laws sent the \
car nh hummins and tearing . .Sy -.
teeth. Whatever comes, we've got to
get TO Burnt Acre Mil inside Of an hour.
Il you know any prayers. Dollops. say,
''Ths Lord fetch Us home in time fe-l
support" sulpsd the boy obedisatly.
'!ghslp me. GUNNER, the winds gole'
through my teeth like was mouth
S Srs:ns and I'm hollow enough tor
90 10 strange how In moments Of st1esa
and thai. evan IN times OF tragedy, the
truds themselves and the mind separate
itself from the immediate events. Az
Mefods put the GOLD mussle OF the re-
volvsr to Ailsa's temple ana abe ought
deaf and blind to iii thinSs but the hof-
rof Of her position. one OF these strange
mental lapsss occurred, and her mind,
traysiinE back *. over Tie years Q, her
mont task set her by her preceptrsoe-l
the task OF copying 500 times the
phrase, "Discretion Is the better part Of
valor."
As the foColleCtl0n OF Lnot Slm0 EO0e
before her mental vision. the value OF .
the phrase itself forced its worth upon
her, ana. budding back In the oornar 1
Of the limousine. she clutched tho
frightened child to her and gave i'm
plicits obedience to Merods's command
to make NO effort to attract attention
either By word or deed. And he. FANCY
ing that he had thoroughly cowed has,
withdrew the touch Of the weapon from
her temple. but held 1t ready for pos
sible use In the grip OF his thin. strong
hand.
For . time the Limousine kept
straight on In its headlone course. then
Of q sudden It sweryed to the left. The
CLEAN Of river-all silver with moon
light-struck up through a line Of trees
on one side Of the car. the blank. un-
broken drsariness Of q stretch OF waste
land spread out upon the other. and
presently. By the slowing down Of thu
motor. Aiisa guessed that they wers
It q few moments later. and a peep from
the window a. the vehicle stopped
showed her the outlines Of ruined I
watermill ghostly. crumbling. OWL
haunted. looming black against the sn-
A crumb1ed wheel hung. rotten and
moss grown. over . dry water course.
whore struggling willows stretched out
from the bank and trailsd their long
feathery ends q yard or 30 above the
level Of the weeds and grasses that car
peted the sandy bed Of It. and along its
edge-oncs built As q protection for the
heedless or unwary. but now ruin
and = wrsck-a moss-grown Wall with
irregular shadow on the moon drenched
earth. She saw that archway and thAA
dry water course. and new. strong
hope arose within her. Discretion had
played its part: now IL was time Tor
vAlor to take the stage.
Come, get out-this 10 the end" said
Nefode. 40 he unlatchsd the door OF the
Limousine and alighted. you may ZEN
ases 1a 4 seo. for nth. the
us light; the path to the door 10 un,
certain. ana the door OF the mill 10 un-'
safe. This way. II you please. Miss
LSrns; Let mo have the boy. I'll look
mo. no!-not yet. Please. not ystr'
said Ailsa. with little catch in her
voice as she plucked him to her ana
smothered his frightened cries against
nsr Iss hosa him to sh s' a,s Ms.
sieur Msrode. His mother, truets me.
She viii want to know that IL stood
by him until I could stand no longer.
Please!-we are 30 helpless am -
little boy. Listen! You want me to
write to Mr. Cleek: you want me to
ask something OF him. won't do It
for myself. not II you kill me for re-
xuolnR. Ala never 90 IL xof my0ol1s 0Vk
but I will do It II you won't separate
us until he has had time to say his
prAyers"
'Oh, all right, then" he agreed TT
IT'S any consolation doing FOOLS trick
like this, why do It! Now come along,
ana lets get inside the mill without
any more nonsense. 1anisterre, bring
that lantern here so that mademoise1le
can see the path to the door. This
way. II you please. Miss Lorne."
Thank you" she said, rs she aliGhted
and moved slowly in the direction OF
tina door. soothing the child as they
crept along almost within touch Of the
crumbling wall. ''csddie. darling, don't
cry. You are . brave little hero, I
know, and heroes are never afraid to
die" From tho tall Of her eye she
from these words to the child that she
was reconciled to the Inevitable, and
with an air Of satisfaction he put the
pistol back into his pocket and walked
beside her. She kept straight on with
her soothing words and in the hair
shadow neither Merode nor Lanisterre
could sec that one hand was lost in the
folds OF her skirt.
''Ceddie. darling. let Miss Lorne be
able to tell mummie that her little man
was . hero; that he died, as heroes
always die, without fear or a weaken
ing to the very last. I'll stand by you.
precious. I'll hold your hand. ana
when the time comes"
It came then. The gateless archway
was reached at last. and the thing she
had been planning all along now be-
came possible. With one sudden push