Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-05-16

royal iniquity because he was making
her unhappy. Con knew this She
had come to dream in semideath I'M
! der fingers from the yellow bowl. Yet
! he was not so fatuous as to believe
/ that it could be her first communion
with the darker gods In fact, the
/ dais here resembled that in the throne
rOOm-a permanent affair. Con was
sick at heart.
Needless of the sleeping Chinese, he
drew himself up and across the wall.
The eXertiOn seemed to bring back his
strength. The space at the roof Of
the tunnel was small He slid through
and dropped down on the other side,
near the altar. The yellow bowl, too.
was gone. The bowl of jade gave an
Opalescent light, close up, itself
! dream, with the ceaseless dry pouring
of the gas. Con glanced at the prone
figure-a face of smooth putty, no
eyes, white mouth, nerveless. It
was the symbol Of all that allied Tau
Kuan. Lexington grasped the iron
ring in the door, and pulled back.
Softly it swung to him, with a gush
of better air from the black passage
beyond. The darkness was damp and
thick He moved into it, and the door
| closed after him. He stumbled upon
the lowest step of a stairway. The
stones were wet and worn A feeling
of oil was about the place He began
to ascend, carefully, taking no reckon
ing. Nothing mattered but this inner
draw the great master passion. Per-
haps if his brain had been clearer he
would have questioned himself, per-
haps held back from this rashness. But
he was burning inside. He lost count
of the ascending steps. He had no
thought of bravery. Presently another
door at the top, another iron ring.
More important than any material
surroundings was the fact that he was
making her unhappy. AT first he had
felt secret eXultatiOn because of the
confession. 1t measured the POSSIBLE
ity of power for him. 1t meant he
could make a difference. From that
vantage his fate had quickly led him
to the reverse side of it, her side-the
pain, the uncertainty, the new giddy
whirlpool of her eighteenth year. Lev
ington plucked the second iron ring.
and instantly knew where he was. A
corridor before him, window opened
out, and the shade of oak trees with
their brushing leaves.
No one appeared in the corridor out
side the apartment of the princess. He
realized with a shock that the shaft of
the mines was a mile to eastward. He
had CROPPED a long while underground.
Now in the upper passage fingered the
perfume of the procession that had
passed. Con imagined the borne ham,
mocks with the silken sleeping bur-
denS, especially one. He moved into
the hall, keeping close to the inner
wall. He came to the familiar door.
There was no time to knock.
The victrOla was still there With q
little cry of dismay the servant of the
| princess arched his back and ran for
ward quite hideOus in haste and hate.
Lexington stopped him and picked up
the knife that fell from the yellow
!
ness of Wadding the mouth of old Flu
All and securing his enraged members.
! Then the white man, his heart pound
1 ing ran to the raised couch. She was
| there He closed his eyes a moment,
| because Of her loneliness, his own re-
lief and the strange hurt. Her face
/ held the calm of that shadow of sable
wings. Con knew the satiny black be-
meath her eyes. In fact, the yellow
bowl had been left here within her
reach when she wakened. He bent over
and stared into her face.
"Helen," he whispered. Helen
wake up! They are giving you death.
do not mean to make you unhappy.
Do not sleep, it is poison, you must
not! / want you to live. Oh, princess,
there is America"
He did not know what he was say
ing to her. Her arms and shoulders
were limp as he touched her, lifted her
little from the cOlored cushions.
Without opening her eyes, she smiled
family, and it naddened him to think
that she was pleased with some phan-
taSm in a Subtler world, perhaps en-
tireIy unaware of his own presence.
The deep shadows about her eyes
seemed to stab him. He raised her
closer to him. He was pleading. He
smoothed her temples. His hands
shook as he breathed the full story of
his heart. The universe was only this
that she lay faint in his arms, that
her white beauty possessed him, that
he could not reach her, a web always
between, delicate yet unbreakable. She
sighed, as a child who enters new
depth Of rest, and it punished him.
She had not opened her eyes.
The leaves rustled outside the case
ment. From a silver vase on a tabOret
white rose petals drifted down to the
rug. Curtains swayed gently in the
movement of the air. Afternoon sun
| light crossed golden through the oaks.
! i IL 1.