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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1910-09-02, Page 3ti" liow intensely stuff it was as every rapid step left the little town further behind her! how madly ,her poor heart beat as she hurried on at headlong speed, scarcely conscious of any but the ono .absorbing fear for the man she loved-- his danger, not her owls—the woman's whole being, physical and mental, was strung up to too high a tension for that; she was living a lifetime of fierce agony in that half hour. Were those men ' behind her—or not even astir yet—or—before her? Merciful 'heaven! was she too late? Hat—at last! a paling skirting the road as it took a sharp turn. "You will see the park paling before you reach the lodge gates/' Rahmnee had said, "and from that point it is a shorter cut across if you can get over. The lodge -keeper will be fast asleep, and hard to wake.' "I will cross the palings!" she had an- swered. And now, with breath coming in heavy throbs, almost sobs, she paused for a mo- ment, listening intently. "Silence, silence everywhere, On the earth, and in the air." Then, nerved as only the desperate can be, she put her two hands on the top of the high palings, and drew herself up— how, she never could have told, but that she did it, and got over and dropped on the other side into bushes, struggled through the foliage, and got on to a grassy glade. Where lay the house itself? She hurried forward—on—on through a wooded glen—still on. Ab! what was that gleam? Was it her fancy, or the flash of some light she had caught through the wood—the light, perhaps, from an open window? There it was again, glinting ahead in the dis- tance. Was it the beacon of life, or— was the mob there before her? A11 the lower windows, and those on the. floor above, were fitted with very strong shutters, iron -clamped and iron - barred; not folding shutters, but, in fact, a solid. thick door, made to run bank into to space in the wall, the glass window. being on the inside of the room. These shutters St. Maur now pulled out and barred across. "Stay. there, my darling, for a few. minutes and rest, whilst I bar up every door and window still not done. I closed up all but this and a few others as soon as the people left." "I fear nothing near you," she an. swered. "You are still alive; that is all to me." He went out, leaving the door open, and she heard him in some other rooms, shutting and barring windows and doors, Than he returned with wine and food fram the supper -table in the dining -room, and bid her take that whilst he went to make all safe upstairs. Christine obeyed, for she needed it after her ttrrible journey; but all the time her ear was on the alert for the dreaded sound of the mob. In ten minutes St. Maur ones more came back. "Now I am ready for these villains," he said, with. grim quietness. "\Ve can stand a fair siege, and give them a tai,te of lead for supper. And now, if you can, tell me all. Ah, my darling, my one treasure!" He threw•himself on the scat beside her, took her into his arms, and passionately kissed her lips again and again. "I have so hungered and thirsted for you that I feel half afraid this ecs- tasy of happiness is onyl a mad dream from which I most awake. No, no! whatever strange irony of fate Inas brought you here, through a peril I dare not think of, this precious form in my arms, these dear lips under mine, are real, and in safety with rite; for the horst that can come is death. Tell me all now, resting here." .And then Christine toil the story; how the little pointer pup, whose life he himself bad saved, had destroyed Helen's lace, thus causing her own ex- pedition to Gorst; how she had met Rahmnee after he had posted the letter, and then overheard the woman's story of the body of locked -out men who had planned to attack this house to -night, with the intention of forcing St. Maur —as being really the moving spirit in the refusal of their demands—to sur- render; and if not—well, his life was at the least in deadly peril if they got hold of hien. "If!" said Fale, with n smile; "and if I surrender! Why,. the idiots, don't they know • me better yet? - VII shoot down like- jackals the first that get in! well, dearest?" The rest was soon told. She lune! sent Rahmnee to Lynton, to Frank Addison, and made her way by train, and then the terrible walk across country to warn hint, to be with him in his peril, to die with him if murder were the end. "Christine, Christine, what have lever done for you. and what is there that you have not done for pre, even to this last hour?" CHAPTER XXXVIII. And more than once in those long dreary hours it was almost despair that swept over that solitary pian, so recent- ly the brilliant and well-nigh most reck- less gambler- in gay, excited Monte Car- lo, where the waning passion had made its last most desperate effort for the mastery, said been beaten down forever by the mastery of love, and the sudden transi- tion from wild .Monte Carlo to the dead level of this place, and grim waiting, was surely a severe test of the strength of that love, and the depth of the man's nobler nature in which it had its roots. There was not one, regretful, looking back for itself to the glittering vice left behind, though it left the past a waste, a howling wilderness, and the present and future a chaos, save for the one wor- shipped Ight of his better iifc—av, of .this whole existence. He tried to beguile time and thought by reading, then with music; but. all in vain. The restless; unsatisfied longing world not be assuaged, nor the wound healed, save by his darling's touch. Jle must pour out his whole soul at her fret —his hope, his misery, his penitence. and bitter self-reproach, all his passionate yearning for her presence, to tell her the truth, and hear her dear lips take Lack the words, whose stern bitterness of truth still burned his heart like fire ---1 am a gambler's wife!" He was too restless to keep still, and paced the long drawing -room, passing and repassing the open French windows, trying once more to unravel the tangled web of his position and think out the future, and again in vain. The hard injustice of his uncle's en- mity to the dead Mrs. Berenger's known child stood out more f a ;ibly than ever. It was unbearable, now that the real barrier was gone. It was jus- tice that his own sins shoudl have part- ed him from his wife, but not this blind prejudiee. "It shall not be!" the man •muttered, fiercely. "It is maddening—maddening!' Then he suddenly stopped at the man- tel -piece, as he saw that the ormolu clock pointed 'the quarter Lo eleven. How late Rahmnee was! Had h, lost his way, or been waylaid perhaps by some of those ruffians, far niers. of rub- bers than sturdy beggars, who some- times rove the country. At that srioment, standing facleg the immense chimney -glass, he caught sight of a figure entering by the open window —a woman'•s figure—a woman's face of ghastly beauty, and wild, wide-open eyes of deadly fear. The man swung round, and, with one step forward, threw open his arms. "Great heavens! what does this mean? My wife --my precious wife! Heavens! are you unharmed?" For slie literally flung herself upon his breast, clinging to him in a passion of terror and relief, each breath dragged up in a deep, heavy sob, quivering. from head to foot like some poor, hunted creature, even in that strong, sheltering embrace, wrapped so closely to a ha.• band's heart. - "My darling! .my lifel nothing shell part us again, -come what nlayl" he said, as Christine struggled for the power of speech. "Bar the windows—the house!" Sha gasped. i "The miners. are out against you! I sent Rahmnee for help! Quick! ask nothing yeti"' But bar up! 'Keep them out for a• time!" He put her on to the sofa at once; without a question yet of the mystery. ` took from the mant�l.piece his revoker, which hal. lain firm -e'en all the evening, put it•in leis breast-poebet, and went to the windows here first, With that bitter cry of self-accusation he got up abruptly and paced the room for mi~nntes. struggling against the tem- pest of wild emotions that racked loin; and yet through all, like a golden chord, ran that one deep joy --she was here with him, her priceless love, herself, all his own; the worst barrier between them, of his own building, broken down. IIe caught her wistful troubled gaze fol- lowing him, and turning suddenly, he knelt beside her and clasped his arms about her waist., as he had done that night in his chambers months ago. "Do you remember all you said when we parted last?" he said, hoarsely. "Every burning word so terribly true, so more than deserved, that I went from you desperate, maddened with the agony of the wound. What! did I then really love a base, despicable vice better than you? My heart cried out no—a thou- sand times no! I had fought to keep both passions, love and sin, and you sent the high-handed sinner from you to choose between the two, face to face with the stern truth he had shunned to meet—a gamialer, you a gambler's mis- erable wife—loved less"than the wretch- ed passion for play,' you said. And, oh, wife, it was so bitter!'—he hid his face in her bosom now—"because I knelt, in my inmost soul that you alone were first, only 1 wanted both—I wanted both. I was half mad all that time at Monte Carlo. The last month I wanted gold—gold to pay old debts and claim you hack without breach of honor to Borley. I pla._; ed as I had never yet done, I tell you, and I lost—lost night after night, till everything was gambled away but a hundred or two, and nearly all that went the last night, Suddenly I saw before nue your words; yes, 1 did as plainly 1 u w,' s your hand writinasg iLsee yo: I feltnothatIyouaw, never absent from my thoughts, were there with me, saving me, ",sly heart eried out to you in, answer to those words spoken and written," "I know it all, nig .husband," Chris- tine said, softly, stooping to kiss the bowed head. "1 saw, 1 heard, I was with you—whether in a dream or not, I know not, but I, was (here" "Christine! oh, Christine! it was not my fevered fancy, then!" he cried, pas- sionately. "'You knew.alt through, then, that you were first; you know that miserable vice is dead forever, that you are no more a gambler's wife, and never shall be again." ' "I know it, my love, my husband!" With one accord their lips met as he locked her still closer, and it was mine utes before either moved or spoke. It was a forecast of paradise that .came to each throbbing heart' in those mo- ments—to the maxi's. above all, an in- tense some of restfulness and peace that *as all new and strange to him. "My guardian angel!", he whispered at last, and only changing to his former place beside her. "It is your strength that has won the battle, not mine. And, oh, it was so hard a fight, dear wife! the wrench was so great, the roots so deep! But it was for your sake. I left at once to get to you. I was in dark- ness; everything was chaos till I had you in my arms, heard your voice, look- ed into your eyes once more. And there is the future to be met -ea debt in which honor is involved, and tire means of clearing it cut off. 4t, that part of the future must be faced out later, if we escape the threatened. attack. The other part your own noble courage this night, my darling, has solved to me, come what may. Ha! hark t" At the sount of tramping feet St. 'Maur sprang to his feet, with an utter change of manner and face. "They are coming at last, these miners!" , CHAPTER XXX1X. Husband and wife both stood quite still now, listeniggg intently as the heavy, irregular tramp, tramp of many feet came ,on nearer, and nearer—the man with flashing eyes, and stern, ruth- less face that told its own tale of no quarter given or taken; the woman as cool and resolute as he was himself— as she had been in many a danger before this. Suddenly there was a halt, then a hoarse murmur of angry surprise through the mob. • "Ah, ha!" said Falconer, with a half laugh. "You expected to find the place open, and an easy victory and you can't make out how the, warning has been given." "They are very quiet, falconer." "The lull before .the storm," said he. • "I guess they te e';hiedat present and are.`sendeuti round the house in search of sore: unguarded en- try or ladders." °'Are there any, Paler' "Neither, so far as they aro concern- ed. I've barred up every outer means of entry, end locked every inside door, so that if they do brealr in they must cut every step of their: way after us. There are a few ladders,but they would not reach the floor civet this, which is shuttered up. There is a fire -escape. but," said St. Maur, grimly, touching his breast, "they aye welcome to try its use. I should simply go on to the leads and pick them off liko flies, in detail, after fair warning;. I reckon they won't be game to try that, my dear. They'll go for the hall door, or ono of those lower windows, with hatch- ets." • "I wonder if they have got fire- arms?" said his wife. "There aro sixty or seventy, the woman said." "I think that probably the fellows --- the demagogues who have raised the wind from the first—have got firearms. One of them, loo Smith, is sure to have some for my special behoof, because I told him, when I locked the yard -gate, that it was too late; he's the worst of the whole lot. Do you hear?—that is his hoarse voice now—their leader, as I thought." "Come on, matea 1" cried the voiety outside. "The tyrant is caged, if he has got the tip. We'lI give him a chance fust." "Seery gracious, I'm sure !" satirically commented the "tyrant" within. `If it were not for your peril, my darling, this would be rather a lark. There is the hall bell," It pealed furiously, resounding all through the spacious hall again and again. St. Maur stepped into the hall, Chris- tine following; and when the boll coag. ed, there was a harsh, triumphant chuckle outside from the mcib. "'}1 him out—must, ha' hearn that there noise." • Not a, sollufetend. "They're packed before the door," said Falconer, with' his soft, scornful laugh. "I'll gain time, if I can, to give Frank a chance. Jovo 1 I hope my poor Rahmnee is safe." "I say, mister—hallo!" cried the rough, hoarse voice outatie, heard plainly through a small iron vent -grat- ing in the top of the massive door. 'Be you there, Mr. S. MaurP" Clear and true as a be came the high -bred, musical tones and delicate accent of tb.e ell -burn man : "I am here.wWhat d you . want at this hour?" "Two ar three en ns just wants a word wu. sir." "The ith idiotsyo' Ta think they can tree me like a 'possum," said Tale, Then aloud; "Very lNveIl, Soo Smith! 1 em all at - tendon, Speak on," ^"Open the 'sboor, sir of the chain, if you li¢;.e, but so as we can hoar each lther... r, ' "We can hest" w„ t+'b with this 081 ckle 8 can bo made by dropping the contents of a package of PARKE'S PICKLE MIXTURE In a gallons of vinegar. boll for fifteen minutes and pour over the pickles. This mixture keeps the pickles solid and nice the Year round and Imparts a most deli- cious flavor to the pickles. Sold at 25c, grocers or sent by n:".iil, post paid, on N' elet of Mc. PARKS & PA K HAMILTON Cr" grls`s CANADA "Waiter, this is better salt than we get in the States". "Yes sir, that's whart all the tourists say. We always use Windsor &Salt in this hotel. In fact, practically everybody in Canada uses Windsor Salt for the table." "There, my dear, is a hint for you. Now that we are going to live in Canada, we must start our housekeeping right with Windsor Salt. Put the name in your 'want book'— WINDS T S.LT"® door between us. One to seventy isn't quite even odds, I fancy." Again there came that indescribable wave of sound, the fierce outcries of an enraged crowd, and one voice said `sav- agely loud : "Cuss the aristocrat! Bear to his tongue! The words don't seem good en- ough for him." St. Maur looked at his wife and laughed, thou stopped and kissed her, tenderly. "My dearest, how deathly pale you are, yet how steadfast and fearless." Then he turned as some one struck the door a blow. "What have you got to say, Jai Smith ?" "Open the door, sir, on the chain." "Not if I know it, my very getJie friends. I am not such a fool. Speak up, if you have anything to say, or I shall decline to listen at all." "Look ye here, then, mister; we wants""=to know if yell guy us a promise to end the look -out, and we':; all start work. Wo all knows it's you as' as done that job so sharp to the clock t'other day." "On the authority of your master— yes," returned St. Maur, deliberately. "And you had full, fair notice. Sharp to time, and my word kept --that's my way." "'S*ill you end it, mister?' "On what terms?" "What you offered two days back— 4 per cent. advance." "Your memory seems bad," said St. Maur, coolly. "I offered that up till four o'clock: after that, a lock -out on tlhe old wages. That was plain English, anyhow, and those are our terms—none other." "Is that your answer to us?" "Yes." There was a yell of fury, and above it Joe Smith's stentorian roar, garnish- ed with oaths: "Is it? Then we'll smash in, and make ye sing another song for yer life!" Haughty Falconer's contemptuous laugh rang out clear. "I am ready for you with good pow- der and shot, and the first man that shows, I'll use it !" Another outburst of execration, thou a pause, as if the mob were gathering breath or debating their next move. Then the murmurs swelled to a Babel of voices, evidently not all d'accord for an attack after such a determined recep- tion where a "walk -over" had been ex- pected; but the arch -scoundrel of all —the demagogue, doe Smith—had got a certain sway, and his loud voice was soon heard: "What! afcared o' one an, and a little popping. More, yo say? In course some rat's played sneak and split on us, but we'll smash the pair. No fear but my fine gentleman'll cave in when there's a pistol at 'is 'ead ! Como on for them winders; the shutters'll crash afore this 'ere b,oalc door 1" "'.Che first sensible words the fel- low has uttered," remarked St. Maur, sarcastically. "Now, Frank, Frank, ride fast—ride fast—for my darling's sake! Sweetest music now would be the tramp of Darnley's troop!" As he said that, a shower of blows from, doubtless, pickaxes and Itamxners, rained upon the solid, iron -girded shut- ters of the draw:mg-room with a heavy, thudding sound that sent the blood back in Christine's heart, bold as she was. She trembled for her lover—his fear was for her. "We must r: treat upstairs," he said. "In twenty miautes they'll break in there." "Fele," exclaimed his wife, suddenly, "is there much wine in that dieing- room?" ining-room?" (To be continued.) Minard's Liniment Seiievos neural- gia. 4 e The 011Ve tree FPO dunes alternate trope, a full yield hying generally fol. lowed by a scanty one the next year, Water Tanks of Concrete. Two reinforced eonerete water tanks have been built as part of a concrete block chimney in France. The chimney is 1S0 feet high, the diameter at the summit 7 feet 0 inches and the tank capacity is 27,(100 imperial gallons The tanks form annular rings about the stack.—London Engineer. c r AN --- AN ORGAN FOR 25 CENTS A WEEK We have on hand thirty-five organs, taken in exchange on Heintzman & Co. pianos, which we must sell regardless of loss, to make room in our store. Every instrument has Peen thoroughly over- hauled, and is guaranteed for five years, and full amount will be allowed on ex- change. The prices run from $10 to $35, for such well-known makes as Thoiaas, oKern,ride o ric Dominion, ii , *Uxbridge, , G de h enol Bell. This is your chance to save money. A post card will bring full partienlars.— Heintzman & Co., 71 King Beet east, flam.lton. UNALTERABLE. (Puck.) The eaok met, at the polis, her mis- tress, "Here, at all events, you've got noth- ing on me," exclaimed the former, slang- ily. but with dignity. "Except a hat, a wrap, a silk petti- coat, aril the Lord only knows what else!" retorted the latter, something tartly. "For there ate conditions which no merely political revolution can ever al- ter. O ' D REST AND PEACE. Fall Upon Distracted Households When Cuticura Enters. Sleep for skin -tortured babies and rest for tired, fretted mothers is found in a hot bath with Cuticura Soap and a gentle anointing with Cuticura Oint- ment. This treatment, in the majority of cases, affords immediate relief in the most distressing forms of itching, burning, scaly and crusted humors, ecze- mas, rashes, inflammations, irritations and ehafings, of infancy and childhood, permits rest and sleep to both parent and child, and points to a speedy cure when other remedies fail. Worn-out and worried parents will find this pure, sweet and economical treatment realizes their highest expectations, and may be applied to the youngest infants as welt as children of all ages. The Cuticura Remedies are sold by druggists every- where. Gladstone held that tobacco smoke and women should never be associated' and was a firm believer in the doetrind of that famous beau, the Marquis of Londonderry, who said that no man should talk to a woman within four hours of the time he had finished hie cigar. This is ;said to be one reason why {Gladstone hated the custom of smoking after dinner, although it is thought that his own great dislike for the smell of tobacco may have had some- thing to do with it. —rc Practically every up-to-date druggist, grocer and general deal- er now sells Wilson's Ply Pads. Sweeping. It's a bugaboo. And it's no wonder. Watch some persons sweep. They simply disperse clouds of dust. One woman wipes up ber carpets with a damp cloth. This cloth is wrung front water in which there is a little ammonia. Or torn -up newspapers, wrung from clean water, may be. scattered about. When swept up they carry the dust. One woman dusts her furniture and woodwork by wiping with a aletlr moist- ened with turpentine.