The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1927-03-11

had possessed her. She had writ
ten she would come, she knew he
was waiting for her, but the watch
kept upon her made any move i'm
possible. Whatever her anguish,
she could not risk betraying his
whereabouts If IT had been only
herself she would have dared any
thing. In this position, growing
daily more unbearable, had sud
denly come the means of escape.
Tragedy, swift and terrible as a
bolt from the blue, had been her OPP
portunity, and she had desperately
seized 1t.
From her window, after the In
terview with Stokes, she had seen
Joe, In his Sebastian dress, pass
below. She had known it was he
because of the costume, and was
aston1shed, supposing him already
gone. Stokes came into view fol-
lowing him and the disturbing idea
seized her that he had mistaken
the boy for herself. She had run
to the door to go down and end
the misapprehension, and then
stopped-at close quarters Stokes
would see who It was, and to let
Joe-evil-tongued and hostile-dis-
cover their rendezvous, was the
last thing she wanted. She went
back to the window to watch the
outcome and saw neither of them.
This frightened her-the only place
fhau oo11fd hava dicoppooraH 70 urnc
the summer house. Stokes might
say too much before he discovered
his mistake, and panic-stricken, she
was about to rush out, when Joe
ran from the doorway and the shot
followed.
For a space-she had no idea
how long-she was paralyzed, not
believing her senses. She remem-
bered moving back into the room
and from there she saw Stokes is
sue from the summe house and
flee TO the shelter of the pine wood
that told her what she had seen
was real, a murder had been com
mitted under her eyes, and she
went to the door to go down. Hold
ing 1t open she paused on the
threshold, heard the voices below,
heard Stokes entering words and
had made q forward step to
down and denounce him, when a
sound from outside stopped her,
Flora's cry that Sybil was killed.
1t was that wild screaming
voice that gave her the idea, sent
ii through her brain like q zigzag
lightning. While the people below
made their clamorous rush from
the house, she stood la the door
way motionless in contemplation of
the possibilities that opened before
her. The excitement that had
shaken her a few minutes earlier
died, her mind steadied and
cleared, she felt herself uplifted
by an invincible daring and cour-
age. There was no danger of a
recovery of the body, for she had
heard from Gabriel and Miss Pink
ney that bodies carried out on the
tide were never found.
Alone on the second floor with
little fear of interruption she had
gone about her preparations at
once. She had taken nothing
from her own room but money from
her purse Qeaving a small amount
to avert suspicion), the candles
from the box on the table, a few
crackers she had brought up the
night before from supper, and a
pair of scissors. Then going to
Joe's room she had gathered the
clothes he had discarded, lying
ready to her hand on the bed
everything from shoes to the cap
and stolen out and upward to the
top floor. Here she had put on
the clothes and cut off her hair
she showed Anne the ends of the
yellow curls in her Jacket pocket
hiding her own clothes in a box
In the s~toreroor1.
The next day she had been a
prey to a rising tide of alarm.
From behind a curtain she had
watched the search Of the island,
and realized a hunt through the
top floor must follow. Every sign
of her presence was obliterated and
she studied her surroundings for
a hiding place. The windows,
opened half way to air the rooms.