Evening star., 1925-10-04

hour on the stone balcony of a small
villa. his pale face and white shirt
front cleaning against the heavy
darkness, turned abruptly away and
disappeared into the room behind He
adjusted the electric light with I'M
steady fingers. The woman whose
graceful shape lay outlined under.
meath the hedclothes woke with a
Nawn. She looked al the man and the
sieepiness vanished from her eyes.
Joseph" she exclaimed, what IS
wrong? Haven't you been to bed all
night?"
The man spoke. His voice sounded
hard and cracked.
Judith" he confessed, II have
spent horrible hours. A thought like
an adder has stolen into my brain.
Am l mad? Are we both mad?"
Mad she repeated, looking hard
at him.
What have we done? Why are
we hiding? My brain is full of hazy
thoughts. | have had the surgeons
nightmare. l dreamed that l oper-
ated on sound men. that my knife was
always seeking for their brains, for
some phantaSmal reason"
She wrapped her dressing gown
around her.
"Phdntasmal.' she repeated. "Why
do you stay out in the dark and brood
when bed is warm and sleep is good?
You are the greatest surgeon in the
world she went on Soothingly.
You have done only what you had
right to do. Undress, and come and
sleep, Joseph
a right" he repeated, his eyes
fixed and glaring. judith, for a mo-
ment 1t seemed to me as though a
shutter had been lifted from before
my eyes. Why did we leave Dredley?
What became of that young man, a
,eI
me my Lancet, and the boy who was
bicycling across Salisbury Plain
Then there was that Worton man.
too, and the cipher reader who
escaped. Why We're they all SO terri
fled? l have heard their screams COM
ing across the bay as 1 stood out in
the darkness. What was it all about,
Judith?"
1T was nothing" she assured him.
You only asked of Engrateful men
you, who have saved hundreds of
hves-you only asked of one or two
of them a moment upon the table, a
flick of the knife
But Why" he persisted. II can't
remember why"
''To repair the damage to your own
brain" she reminded him, wondering
1y. The little discolored spot. Only
wherever you search there is always
the patch Of red"
THE patch of red he repeated
stop. 1t is true, then. 1 am mad.
The very idea you speak of is the
Idea of nadman. 1 have murdered
innocent people,
POOH she scoffed. "Only one or
two. Most of them escaped You're
making yourself ilf about a trifle"
IF it is a trife," he answered.
hoarsely, 'how is it that we plot and
scheme and hide? How is it that we
go always in terror, always hiding
from these men, from the girl?"
They are our enemies" she ad-
mitted. ''Some day we must get rid
Of them all and have peace"
Peace he muttered. Peace"
She threw off her dressing gown and
curled herself up in bed again.
You make my head ache" she COM
planned. Il have never been able to
think much since the guns stopped.
Come to bed, Joseph, or go to your
own room. 1 am weary
He turned away. Already her eyes
were closed and she was breathing
regularly. sleeping like a child. igno-
rant of evil, full of confidence in the
morrow. And on the morrow he
would have forgotten.
X x x X
WHEN morning came she had con-
w ceived a wonderful idea. They
balcony. She wore rose-colored
wrap, loosely fastened at the waist
with a silken girdle, and the rich
glory Of her hair shone golden in the
warm flood Of light. Nevertheless
she had not altogether forgotten. She
leaned back in her seat and studied
him. He was looking pinched and
white. He was losing flesh and his
eyes had sunken.
You seem tired" she observed,
fencing with a subtle purpose, to see
If he would speak of the night before.
Il slept ill., he confessed. Very
III. The night was full Of shadows
and nightmares"
DO you remember them?" she
asked.
NO" he answered. "only vaguely.
Yet, there's one thing I'm sure OF,
the whole world stinks of ingratitude.
know that l am in danger just be-
cause I seek to repair the brain I
gave to my country"
Listen" she enjoined. II have
been thinking. | am going now to
dress. Be ready to walk with me
when I return. l have an idea"
Presently they climbed the hill at
the back of the villa, d bare, stony
place, with a few palm trees here and
there, and belt Cf cactus. Toward
the top, leaning to the sun. was a
square lIclOSufe, DOruelcu DN Wnlte
wall, and containing Il hundred or
more graves. They leaned over the
wall.
Now listen to me, Joseph" she
said. "These people all make such
stupid trouble over a trife. Why not
the brain Of a dead man? There
could be no trouble, no offense against
the laws"
His eyes were bright as steel, hard
and eager
"A dead man." he repeated.
why not?" she argued. "The
scarlet patch will have faded with
DEATH
True. If it were within "a hours
there would be no danger whatever"
There you are, then" she cried.
"Wonderful,' he muttered, looking
eagerly over the wall. But how to
get them? They bury deep in SPAIN"
She clutched his arm, drew him
round, and pointed down below to a
hovel by the seashore, a plastered
structure. thatch-covered and banked
with weeds. There were fishing nets
spread out in front. On the beach a
few yards away a small fishing boat,
with black sail, rode at anchor.
You know what they call the three
men who live alone there?". she re-
minded him. 1.-THE three devils. They
have all been in prison. They are all
outcasts. Let them do your work on
dark nights, and afterwards-when
you have finished-they can sail out
beyond the bay and drop what re-
mains into the bottom Of the Medi-
terranean."
He looked at her almost with re-
yenge.
Judith" he confessed. IT have