The Ely miner., 1921-02-04
w. THE ROOFS-continued.

That's no dick" she declared i'm
pulsively.
How d'yOu knOw?"
Il don't know, but somehow I do
Seems like 1 must've seen him some
where's before
well, if he amt no pussyfooter.
what fOr's he followin' us?'
Il don't know" Leonora repeated
vaguely. Maybe Pm wrong -
She was not, as the Self knew that
journeyed with her, though she did
not suspect its company
An iron ladder rose to a trap door
through which they crawled out upon
the roof
Here the blackness was oppressive,
relieved only by dull reflection of
the city's glow on the Iow-hung canopy
of cloud; and the tempest had unhin-
dered sweep. Time and again vicious
blasts all but carried the two women
off their feet. Rain driving in vast
sheets half blinded them and rendered
their passage of the roofs doubly
periIous. They slipped, stumbled.
blundered, bruised their bodies against
unseen obstacles, their shins upon. low
copings dividing house from house
(for the roofs were fortunately all on
a leveD and more than once by the
narrowest of margins escaped pitch
ing headlong to death at the bottom Of
some dark airshaft.
LeonOra soon lost all sense of reck-
Oning and was beginning to wonder
how Inez could hold on so confidently
when the latter stopped, knelt, and be-
gan to tug at the heavy hatch of an
other trap door. LeOnora assisting,
between them they threw it back. de-
scended a second iron ladder into a
hallway indistinguishably, unlike that
which they had just left. But Inez
seemed to recognize It instantly.
"Its all right" she whispered harsh
ly, pausing half way down the ladder
when LeOnora stood on the landing
below. "The door on the left, at the
back. You know the high sign. III
be shutting this trap. Look sharp
before somebody lamps usl'
She climbed back a couple of rungs
to wrestIe with the hatch, while Leo
nora, turning to the door designated,
saluted its panels with the peculiar
rap which alone would be acknowl-
edged by Red.
For some time she waited, hearing
no sounds from the far side of the
door, hearing indeed nothing other
than the buster of the storm and Inez
petulantly anathematizing the clumsy
and obstinate hatch. Presently the
thing fell into place with a crash. and
the girl turned. looking to see Inez
drop TO the landing and surprised that
she did not. but with surprise no
sooner conceived than smothered in a
greater. For the door swung open
suddenly, and voice she knew, for
whose accents she had hungered
ceaselessly for days on end-neither
Reds voice nor Leo's-cried in amaze
ment:
'Leonora ~
And looking up into the face Of the
man Mario, the girl uttered a broken
cry of wonder and gladness. She did
not understand how this thing had
come about, that she should find here
the man she loved where she had
thought to find that other whom she
feared with fear so profound that it
was twin with hatred. But it didn't
matter; in the stunning JOY of that
surprise, nothing seemed TO matter ex-
cept that chance had led her at last
to Mario, in spite of all her struggles
to keep away from him. to deny love
and self lest she entangie him as well
In the tolls Of her misfortunes.
She went as naturally to his arms
as child in trouble to the arms of
its father: Inez, Red, Leo, the police
every rything-forgotten in the happi-
ness OF thar meeting.
Gently drawing her across the
threshold, Mario shut the door be-
tween them and the world.
v. THE HAVEN.
$50 you have come to me OF