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Show INTERNATIONAL PRtSS ASSOCIATION. CHAPTl'.lt IX. (CoNTlNOisn.) Any fltrong degree ot passion lends, even to tho dullest, tho forces of imagination. imag-ination. And now as ho dwelt on what waa probably awaiting him nt the end of his distressful drive John, who saw things little, remembered them less, and could not have described them at Ml, beheld In his mlnd'B eyo tlio garden gar-den of tho Lodge, detailed as in a map: ho went to and fro In It, feeding ilia terrors; ho saw tho hollies, tho snowy borders, the paths whero ho had sought Alan, tho high, conventual walls, tho shut door -what! was tho door shut? Ay, truly, he had shut it shut In his money, his escape, his future life shut It with these hands, and nono could now open It! Ho heard the snap of tho eprlng-lock llko something bursting In his brain, nnd sat as stunned. And then ho woke again, terror jarring jar-ring through his vitals. This was no tlmotoboldlo;ho must bo up nnd doing, ho must think. Onco nt tho end of this ridiculous cruise; onco nt tho Lodgo door, there nhould bo nothing for It but to turn tho cab nnd trundle back again. Why, then, go so far? why ndd another feature of suspicion to n cnno already so suggestive? Why not turn nt onco? It was easy to say, turn, but whither? lie had nowhere now to go to; ho could never ho saw it In letters of blood-he could never pay that cab; ho was saddled with that cab forovcr. Oh, that cab! his soul yearned nnd burned, and his bowels Bounded to bo rid of It. Ho forgot all other cares, lie must first quit himself ot this ill-smelling vehicle nnd ot the human boast that guided It first do thnt; do that, at least; do that at onco. And Just then the cab suddenly stopped, nnd thcro was his persecutor rapping on tho front glass. John lot it down, and beheld tho port-wlno countcnanco Inflamed with intellectual triumph. "I ken wha yo nro!" cried the husky voice. "I mind yo now. Yo'ro a Nuch-olson. Nuch-olson. I drovo yo to Hermlston to a Christmas party, and ye came back on the box, nnd I let yo drive." It Is a fact. John know tho man; thoy had been even friend. Ills enemy, en-emy, ho now remembered, was a fellow of great good nature endless good nature na-ture with a boy; why not with a man? Why not appeal to his hotter sldo? Ho grasped at the new hope. "Oreat Scott! and bo you did;" he cried, as If in a transport of delight, ills voice sounding false In his own ears. "Well, If that's so, I've something some-thing to say to you, I'll just got out I guess. Whero aro we, anyway?" Tho driver had fluttered his ticket In tho eyes of the branch-toll keeper, and they were now brought to on tho highest high-est and most solitary part of the byroad. by-road. On the left, u row of flcldslde trees beshaded It; on tho right It was bordered by naked fallows, undulating I down hill to tho Queensfcrry road; In front, Corstorphino Hill ralsod its snow-bcdabled, darkling woods ngalnst tho sky. John looked all about him, drinking tho clear air llko wlno; then his eyes returned to tho cabman's face as ho eat, not unglecfully, awaiting John's communication, with tho air of ono looking to bo tipped. Tho features of that face wero hnrd to read, drink had so Bwollcn thorn, drink had so painted them, in tints that varied from brick red to mulberry. Tho small gray eyes blinked, tho lips moved, with greed; greed was tho ruling rul-ing passion; nnd though thcro was somo good nature, some genuine kindliness, kind-liness, a truo human touch, in .tho old toper, his greed was now so set adre by hopo, thnt all other traits ot character lay dormant. Ho sat there a monument monu-ment ot gluttonous desire. John's heart slowly fell. Ho had opened his lips, but ho stood there and uttered nought. Ho sounded tho well of Ills courage, and It was dry. Ho groped in Ills treasury of words, and it was vacant. A devil of dumbness had him by tho throat; tho devil of terror babbled in his cars; nnd suddenly, without a word uttered, with no conscious con-scious purpose formed In his will, John whipped about, tumbled over the road-sldo road-sldo wall, and began running for his life across tho fallows. Ho had not gone fur, he was not past tho midst of tho first field, whon his wholo brain thundered within him, "Fool! You havo your watch!" Tho shock stopped him, and ho faced once moro toward tho cab. Tho driver was leaning over tho wall, brandishing his whip, his faco empurpled, roaring llko a bull. And John saw (or thought) that ho had liwt tho chance. No watch would pacify tho man's resentment now; ho would cry for vengeance also. John would bo had under tho ryo ot the police; his tnlo would bo unfolded, his secret plumbed, his destiny would clase on him nt last, and forever. CHAPTER X. CWTJ ri HEHE ho ran at YVtTr3 ilf fll8t' Jonn "ov01" -tvAn 'm vcr' ccrty know; (r f!nw ,iur ,et now 5onK ft yffif .'"' iiMii time elnpsrd ere he ytffA "" found himself In ffiin V a tl4 l'J'-road near lk'?o Ui 1oi1ko nt Uav'1- ifRxKVrii' flton, propp-d VvV& against thu wall, his lungs heaving like bellows. Ills legs london-hcnvy, his m'nd noascsvMl by ono sole dealio to lie down and bo unseen. Ho rcmemborcd Urn thick coverts round tho qunrry-holo pond, an untrodden corner of tho world whero ho might surely find concealment till tho night should fall. Thither ho passed down tho lane; and when ho camo thero, behold I ho ha1 forgotten tho frost, nnd the pond was nllvo with young people skating, nnd tho pond-nldo pond-nldo coverts woro thick with lookers-on. lookers-on. li looked- on nwhllo himself. Thcro was ono tall, graceful maiden, skating hand In hand with n youth, on whom Bho bostowed her bright eyes perhaps too patently; and It was strange that with anger John behold her. Ho could havo broken forth in curses; ho could have Btood thero, llko a mortified tramp, and shaken his fist nnd vented his gall upon her by tho hour or so ho thought; and tho next moment his heart bled for tho girl. "Poor creature, It's llttlo she knows!" ho sighed. "Let her enjoy herself whllo sho can!" Hut was It possible, when Flora used to smile at him on tho Urnltl ponds, sho could havo looked so fulsome to a sick-hearted bystander? Tho thought of ono quarry, In his frozen wits, suggested nnothcr; and ho plodded .oft toward Crnlg Lelth, A wind had sprung up out of tho northwest; north-west; it was cruel keen, it dried him like flro, nnd racked his finger-Joints. It brousht clouds, too; pale, swift, hurrying hurry-ing clouds, that blotted heaven and shed gloom upon tho earth. Ho scrambled scram-bled up among tho hazeled rubbish heaps that surrounded tho cauldron of tho quarry, and lay flat upon thP3tones. Tho wind searched close along tho earth, tho stones were cutting and Icy, tho bare hazols walled about him; nnd soon tho nlrof thonftornoon began to bo vocal with thoso strange and dismal dis-mal harplngs that herald snow. Pain nnd misery turnrd In John's llmba to n harrowing Impatlenco and blind desire of change; now ho would roll In hla harsh lair, and when tho flfntu abraded him, was nlmost pleasort; now ho would crawl to the edge of the hugo pit and look dizzily down. Ho saw tho spiral of tho descending roadway, the steep crags, tho clinging bushes, tho peppering pepper-ing of snow-wreaths, and far down In tho bottom, tho diminished crane. Here, no doubt, was a way to end It. Hut it somehow did not take his fancy. And suddenly he was awaro that ho was hungry; ay, oven through tho tortures tor-tures of tho cold, even through tho frosts of despair, n gross, desperate longing after food, no matter what, no matter how, began to awako and spur him. Suppose ho pawned his watch? nut no, on Christmas day this was Christmas day tho pawnshop pawn-shop would bo closed. Suppose he went to tho public house close by at Illnckhall, and offered tho watch, which was worth ten pounds, In payment for a meal of bread and checee? Tho Incongruity In-congruity was remarkable; tho good folks would either put him to tho door. or only let him In to send for tho police. po-lice. Ho turned his pocket3 out one nfter another; somo San Francisco tram-car checks, ono cigar, no lights, tho pass-key to his father's house, a pockot-handkcrchlof, with Just a touch of scent; no, mony could he raised on nono of theee. Thoro was nothing for It but to starve; and nfter nil, what mattered It? That also waB a door of exit. Ho crept close among tho bushes, tho wind playing round him llko a laSh; his clothes seemed thin ns paper, his Joints burned, his skin curdled on his bones. Ho had a vision of a high-lying cattle-drlvc In California, nnd the bed of a dried stream with ono muddy pool, by which tho vaquero3 had encamped: en-camped: splendid sun over all, tho big bonflro hlnztng, tho strip3 ot cow browning and smoking on n skewer ot wood; how warm It was, how savory tho steam of scorching meat! And then again ho roniombere d his manifold calamities, and burrowed nnd wnl-lowcd wnl-lowcd In tho sense, ot hie dlsgraco nnd shame. And next ho was entering Frank's restaurant In Montgomery street, San Francisco; ho had ordcrcil a pan-stow and venison chops, of which lio w-as Immoderately fond, and ns ho sat waiting, Munroe, tho good attendant, attend-ant, brought him a whisky punch; ho saw the strawberries float on tho delec table cup, ho heard tho Ico chink about tho 8trawa. And then ho nwoko again to his detested fate, and fotiud himself sitting, humped together, In n windy combo of quarry refuse darkness thick about him, thin flakes of snow flying horo nnd thcro llko rags of paper, pa-per, nnd tho strong shuddering ot his body clashing his teeth like a hUcough. Wo havo seen John In nothing but tho stormiest conditions; wo have seen him reckless, desperato, tried beyond his moderato powers; of his daily self, cheerful, regular, not unthrifty, we havo seen nothing; and It may thus bo a surprise to tho reader, to loam that ho vaa studiously careful of hla health. This favorlto preoccupation now awoke. If ho wero to sit thcro nnd die of cold, thero would be mighty llttlo llt-tlo gained; hotter tho po'.lcn nil an.', tho nhnnces ot n jury trial, than tlv miserable certainty of death at a dike-side dike-side before the next winter's dawn, or death a llttlo later In tho gas-lighted wnrda of in inflrmnry. lie rose on aching leg, nnd utumbl d hore nnd -there among tho rubbish I lnnps, still circumvented by tho ynwn-, ynwn-, lng crntor of tho quurry; or perh'aps ho only thought ko. for thu lUrkKoca was; already tlcniu, the enow wai crowds thicker, nnd ho moved llko a blind ,i wan and wl(h n Wind man's terror. At last ho climbad a fence, thinking to drop Into the road, nnd found himself staggering among tho iron furrowfl of a plowland, endless, it scorned, ae a whole county. And next ho was In tho wood, beating nmong young trees; nnd then ho was aware of a houao with many lighted windows, Christmas carriages car-riages waiting nt tho door, and Christmas Christ-mas drivers (for Christmas has a double dou-ble edge) becoming swiftly hoodod with snow. From this glimpse of human cheerfulness, ho fled llko Cain; wandered wan-dered In tho night, unpllotcd, careless of whither ho went; foil, nnd lay, and then rose again, and wandered further; fur-ther; nnd nt last, like a tranoformatlon scene, behold him In tho lighted Jaws of tho city, staring nt a lamp which had already donned tho tlltod night-cap of tho snow. It camo thickly now, a "Feeding Storm;" nnd whllo ho yot stood blinking at the lamp, his feet were burled. Ho remembered something some-thing like It In the past, a street-lamp crowned nnd caked upon tho windward sldo with snow, the wind uttering Its mournful hoot, himself looking on, even as now; but tho cold had struck too Bharply on hla wits, and memory fall"il him ns to tho date nnd sequel ot the reminiscence. Hla next conscloua moment wna on tho Dean Drldge; but whether ho was John Nicholson of a bank In a California Cali-fornia street, or somo former John, n clerk In hla father's office, ho had now clean forgotten. Another blank, and ho was thrusting his pnss-kcy Into tho door-lock of his father's house. Hours must havo passed. Whether crouched on tho cold stones or wandering wan-dering In tho fleld3 nmong the snow, was moro than ho could tell; but hours had paseed. Tho finger ot tho hall clock was closo on twelve; n narrow peep of gas In tho hall-lamp shod shadows; shad-ows; nnd tho door of tho back room hla father's room was open and omitted n warm light. At so late an hour, all this wna strango; tho lights Bhould have been out, tho doors locked, tho good folk safo In bed. Ho marveled at tho Irregularity, leaning on tho hall-tablo; hall-tablo; nnd mnrvolcd to himself thero; and thawed and grew once moro hungry, hun-gry, In tho warmer nr of tho house. Tho clock uttered Its premonitory catch; In flvo minutes Christmas day would bo nmong tho days of tho past Christmas! what a Christmas! Well, thcro was no uso waiting; ho had como Into that house, he scarco knew how; It they wore to thrust him forth again, it had best bo dono and at once; and ho moved to tho door of tho back room and entered. Oh, well, then ho was lnaano, as ho had long believed. Itu lm (,oMTiNiisn. |
