Evening star., 1918-08-25

ness. She looked at her friends pet
chair. standing just in the one spot
whore she had seen 1t eight years be-
fore. and her heart swelled and tear
straits in which shs, found. herself
placed by the. death of this dependa..
BILE friend returned upon her. In fuii
force. the past. retired Into. Its old
dening problems. seized upon her
nerve and auslied her once ,indomita-
The fate which had pursued her,
ever since she had left her sh1ppyt
home in France had not spared her
consequence to her. had reused tho
drivers sympathy. This had not only
fixed her image in his mind, but given
away her destination. All hope of
hiding herself among the mountains
to move on. but where?-. If she were
but able to leave now she, might be-
fore morning find some covert from
which help might be given her for
further escape. But the condition OF
the roads. as we'll as her own weak
she needed sleep. /. OF food she would
. find plenty, she was sure: but sleep!
How could she sleep. with the promise
of the morrow before her? Yet she
must; everything depended upon her
rest which alone would secure It.
Pausing in the midst of the hall
whittier her restless thought had
driven her, she stared in fruitless
inquiry at the wall confronting her.
standstill. She could neither think
nor act In fact. she was at the point
Of a nervous collapse, when slowly
from out the void there rose to her
view and pierced it's way Into her
mind the outline Of the door upon
but without seeing IL till now. Why.
did she start as 1t thus took on shape
before her?a There was nothing
strange or mysterious about It. 1t led
nowhere; 1t hid nothing, unless 1t.
was the yard upon which It directly
opened. ''i ..ft
But that yard! She remembered 1t
well. 1t was unlike any other she
had ever seen In this country or her
own. 1t was small and semi -circular;
1t was shut in by high board fence.
except at the extreme end, where, 1t
pns %as met srSnsns Hns SFass srse sSe
led through a sparsely wooded forest
to road running In q quite different
direction from the one BY, which the
house was Approached. As she strovs
to recall her Inemories Of 1t, she be-
S"ahO suVAo Auu ihOEc hSbuiCu tHht ncE
one and only opportunity for sue
cessful flight lay that way. Moved
to Joy at the Thought, she bowed her
~ head for one wild moment In heart
felt thankfulness and then quickly
drew the bolts OF the door which
offered her this happy deliverance.
She did not mean to seek escape
tonight, but an irresistible Impulse,
which quite robbed her Of her judg-
ment. drove her to take look into
the yard and make sure for herself
that the bridge, was still there and
everything as she had last seen It.
But when with the help of the
wind she pulled open the heavy door
and stood. throbbing under the force
Of the gale, on the shallow step out
side. she found herself confronted by
darkness so hollow and so absolute
that she felt as though she had STUN
bled into a pit But, instead of re-
treating. IL only to procure a lantern,
she took the one step down to the
narrow walk which led through grass
and flowers to the edge of the plateau
from which the bridge extended.
Would she be satisfied now7 No. she
must see the bridge, or IL she could