The Connecticut labor press., 1920-03-27

| under the impulse of some overpow- | ering mental shock. And, armed by the years, she grew calm as he grew violent, and her mind passed under the domination of the old habit.
 He let her go and stood beside her, pulling at his gray beard and smiling. Marie had never seen her father smile at such time before. And there came into her mind an idea which had never seemed possible, that some day she might yield up her secret The mental inhibition of a lifetime was breaking under the stress.
 Dupont strode toward the door, stopped there, and looked back.
 II go now to the schooner" he said. q shall be aboard till we sail this eve ming. If thou come 70 me before I sail and tell me the name, give thee his life, one life for another"
 What life? What other?" cried the l girl wildly.
 He glared into her eyes, and the look in his own was that of a man deyil-haunted.
 ''Dost thou think I do not know" he cried, "of Monsieur Askew and thee,
 
 betrotha1 with him because of thee?'' He turned toward her with a menacing l gesture. ''The name! '" he thundered.
 She covered under his words. and the name now trembled upon her lips. But before she spoke it Dupont was gone. 4.-. He was gone, and she was alone in l the gray of the morning, watching the gray sea heave under a brightening sky. as she had watched it all her life. | And her fathers appearance in her room seemed unreal as a dream. All day she watched him from the cottage, busy about his ship. piling the | logs on deck. All day she waited stunned, and incapable of action. re- beating over and over in her mind her l fathers words, whose meaning was unintelligible to her. Yet St. Boniface remained unchanged in that ruin that had come upon her. Men laughed | noisily as they strolled from their work at noon, children shouted at play; the hum of the mill was soft | undertone accompanying the horror in her heart. It seemed incredible that 1 St. Boniface could know nothing, when 1 the whole universe was crying out against her.
 It was late in the afternoon when she saw two figures slouch toward the | vessel. She recognized Pierre and Le- blanc. And in a moment she under stood the meaning of their appearance. 1 Murder was being planned. against l Hilary, who had saved her. She a,.1 | with fear.
 Then the power of action, return ing, shattered the paralysis of will that held her. She ran bareheaded l from the cottage, through the streets of St. Boniface, toward the Chateau. She must get help there; her thoughts turned instinctively thither, as St Boniface had always turned for aid toward it's Seigneur. Madeleine, seated in her room, with her memories of her dead, heard the door bell jangle. She went down, to see Marie in the hall. At the sight of the girl feeling of repulsion. wild and unreasonable, stiffened her. but spoke gently.
 WnaC IS lCs Sn0 8SKeO.
 "Mademoiselle" stammered the girl. ''they are planning to kill him.
 "Whom?'
 Monsieur Askew, who saved me from Pierre that day. Mademoiselle, have only now learned what they say of him and me. It is not true. And they are going to murder him. I came to you to save him."
 Where is he?"
 "He is going on board tonight. Per- haps he is there now. Pierre and Le- blanc are waiting for him there"
 Wait here!" cried Madeleine.
 She ran back into the Chateau, put on her coat and hat, and took a re- volver which had lain for many years unused in drawer of cabinet. She hurried to the stable, harnessed the horse, and brought the sleigh to the door. She motioned to Marie to enter, leaped in. and took the reins. and the two girls started along the road through the forest.
 It was a difficult Journey through the deep snow. Often the horse f1oun- dered knee-deep in the drifts, and the way seemed endless; but near the vil- lage the snow was tramped hard, and the sleigh went like the wind. Neither of the girls spoke, but before the eyes of each was the same dreadful picture.
 At last they emerged from the for est and crossed the bridge. The hum of the mill had ceased, and had been succeeded by another sound, we'll known to dwellers along the St. Law renee shores when winter arrives The stirring of the ice foes as the impend- ing storm drives them together to their long winter anchorage.
 The sleigh went madly along the wharf. which groaned and creaked as the ice battered it on either side. Made leine sprang from the sleigh and ran on board the schooner, which was al- ready moving.
 As Marie descended to follow her she saw that it was too late. There was an increasing space between the wharf and the deck. She hesitated, and then it was impossible to follow. For a moment she thought she saw Madeleine threading the narrow pas sage between the piles of lumber then the darkness closed about her.
 The pulleys creaked. The mainsail and foresail swung upward and bellied in the wind The two gafftopsails gIeamed like white birds against the night