The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-11-03

and l should be saved? l was blind
not to see 1t. I have been blind from
the very beginning"
Silence. The room was filling with
shadows. On the mantel was a deep
watching her cut-was It yesterday or
centuries ago?
4 was wrong" he said. But ]
think you would be sorry to have me
face-what | am facing now. You
were always so forgiving, Alix; you
would be the first to be sorry"
He put his hand over the tigerish
pain that was beginning to reach his
heart. His throat felt thick and
choked, and still he did not cry.
"An hour ago." he said, "if it had
peer that the least thought of what
this meant to you might have reached
me an hour ago, 1t would not have
been too late. Alix, one look into your
eyes an hour ago might have saved
us all Fred Peter said aloud. with
a bitter groan, clinching tight the
hands Of the old friend who had crept
in to stand beside him, Fired, she was
here, In all her health and JOY and
strength only today. And now-'
81 know-old man" the other man
muttered. He looked anxiously at Pc
ter's terrible face. In the silence the
dog whimpered family. But when Pc
ter, after an endless five minutes,
%,.,o o-,a IL 80 ,nAor 10 hIo
friend In an almost normal voice.
81 must go down and see Cherry,
Fred. She took her husband to the
old house they were living there"
Helen will stay here" the old man
assured him quickly. "I1l drive you
down and come back here. We thought
perhaps a few of US could come here
tomorrow afternoon, Peter" he added
timidly, with his redeemed eyes filling
again, land talk of her a little, and
pray for her a little, and then take
her toto rest beside the old doc
tor"
81 hadn't thought about that" Peter
answered, still with the air of finding
it hard to link words to thought. But
that is the way she would like it.
Thank you-and thank Helen for
me-"
"Oh, Peter, to do anything" the
woman faltered. "She came to us, you
know, when the baby was sc ill-day
after day-my own sister couldn't have
been more to usl"
did she?" Peter asked, staring at
the speaker steadily. "That was like
her."
He went out of the house and got
into a waiting car, and they drove
down the mountain. Alix had driven
him over this road day before yester-
day-yesterday-no, it was today, he
remembered.
THANK God l don't feel it yet as
1 shall feel 1t, Thompson p he said
quietly. The man who was driving
gave him an anxious glance.
"You must take each day as 1T
comes," he answered simply.
Peter nodded, folded his arms across
his chest, and stared into the early
dark. There was no other way to go
han past the very spot where the hor-
ror had occurred, but Thompson told
his wife later that poor Joyce had not
seemed to know it when they passed
it. Nor did he give any evidence Of
emotion when they reached the old
Strickland house and entered the old
hallway where Cherry had come nying
in. a few short years ago, with Mar
ff,,fo Rrcf hiss ,nnn har Inns
Two doctors. summoned from San
Francisco, were here, and two nurses.
Martin had been laid upon a hastily
moved bed in the old study, to be I
spared the narrow stairs. The room
was metamorphosed, the whole house
moved about it as about a pivot, and
there was no thought but for the man
who lay, sometimes moaning and some
times ominously still, waiting for
death.
HE cannot live !" whispered Cherry,
CHASTITY of face, and with the utter
chaos of her soul and brain expressed
by her tumbled frock and the careless
ly pushed back and knotted masses of
her hair. His arm is broken, Peter,
and his leg crushed-they don't dare
touch him And the surgeon says the
spine, too-and you see his headl oh,
God 1t Is so terrible" she said in
agony, through shut teeth, knotting
her hands together; at is too terrible
that he is breathing now, that life is
there now, and that they cannot hold
1t I"
She led Peter into the sitting room.
where the doctors were waiting.
SIS there any hope?" he asked, when
Cherry had gone away on one Of the
restless, unnecessary journeys with
which she was filling the endless
hours. One man shook his head. and in
the silence they heard Martin groan.
"It is possible he may weather it,
of course" the older man said doubt
fully. HE is coming out of that first
and we may be able to tell bet
ter In a short time. The fact that he
Is living at all Indicates a tremendous
vitality"
Cherry came to the door to say
on a burst Of tears. The
dpnartpd at once ta the