The Mount Holly news., 1919-05-06

A-'' ACiCNlAS ihtO II plONuNCN
no sound, but queer sensation passed
over me; it was as though I were a
piece of slate and someone had rub
bed me all over with crumpled paper.
4 haven't the knack of it," | said.
dropping it to the ground like red
hot coal
The reed gave forth a musical sigh
as it struck the stones; Adrian caught
it on the rebound and turned sudden
.ly to Isabelle.
would you care to hear my one
little accomplishment. after five years
of the cruelest concentrations"
Isabelle nodded eagerly, but in a
frightened manner; her hands were
clenched tightly against the tendrils
of the honeysuckles, as though she
were bracing herself for an ordeal.
I began to laugh nervously. Where
upon Adrian wheeled sharply on his
heel and faced Isabelle Again he
blew into the pipe; low note, the
purr of distant tuning-fOrk, trem-
bled from the frail reed; it grew in
NOiulhC Ill II iOSCltiDleu IL DTOh6u I1pl-
ody
AT my cry he stepped lightly from
the terrace, descended into the garden,
and disappeared among the dark shrub
berries.
Faint and dizzy l pressed the tips
of my fingers against my eyelds to
clear my mental and physical vision.
When | raised my head, the terrace
and porch were> both deserted.
was alone. Only black shadows in
the garden, the sharp outline of the
cliff, and an immeasurable coldness
of sky and ocean.
The surety that some unforeseen
crisis was upon me, like the sting Of
a whip forced me, back to thought
and action. l called loudly for Isa-
belle; descended from the terrace !;
plunged into the garden. Nothing
there but solid darkness, checkered
shade, and narrow strips of moonlight.
OF course, Isabelle, unable to en-
dure such an unnatural strain, had
slipped unobserved into the house and
was IA iCollhS III lACi ONn lOOlIl.
In leisurely sAunter l retraced my
steps to the house, entered it by a side
door, and halfway up the stairs gave
a peculiar whistle, which had always
been a private signal between Isabelle
and myself.
There was no reply. The house
seemed very still.
l repeated the whistle in a higher
key and followed it up with thump
on the bedroom door,
Then from the west side of the
house l heard once more the sound Of
the hateful reed and that wonderful
medley of which Adrian Hope alone
was the master.
l rushed down the stairs and back
to the terrace again.
l ran down the drive into the road
way and made for the spot. AS I ap-
preached the sounds. they drew imper-
ceptibly away from me. When L
reached the outside wall, the music
was ascending the cliffs toward the
broad Pacific
I started to climb the bluff; at every
step the reed grew fainter and the
ocean more insistent.
The reed could no longer hear;
but there. on the point of the tallest
cliff, one foot advanced to the edge
of the abyss. her hands stretched forth
in an agony of supplication, saw Isa-
belle; saw the shine in her hair, the
folds of her frock, even the rings upon
her fingers, so clear, so sharp, so def
mite was the moonlight on that memo
rable occasion.
"Oh, Adrian, take me! teach me-
teach me, toOp'
The despair of lifetime was con
centrated in her voice Her form still
shaking with emotion.
l saw her step forward, saw the
white flash of her dress, the downward
sweep of her arms, and then-beyond
the cliff nothing but sky and sea.
A few seconds-they seemed year
and l was standing on the same spot
and gazing fearfully from the tall
cliff onto the jagged rocks and broken
waters hundred feet below me.
The waves pounded the sands with
cold, mechanical precision far off in
choppy sea a fishing boat flashed an
intermittent sail; wisps of fog were
blurring the horizon.
And over all spread the steely, clear
cut brilliance of the desolate moon.