| Show t A DEADLY by GRANT ALLEN CHAPTER 1 I CA 0 P I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 L I 1 1 A I 1 I 1 I 1 1 0 I 1 I 1 I 1 11 I 1 I 1 al r 1 aff I A I 1 P 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 r f I 1 1 I 1 q 4 I 1 i 41 11 J 1 4 W vz t lie he waved his hrin hand d and turned along alona die the footpath when netti netta ma mayne ne came to think it over afterward in her own room by herself she imagine what bad hal made her eilly silly enough to quarrel that evening with ughtred carnegie she could only say in a penitent mood it was always the way like that with lovero lovers till once quarreled a good round quarrel and afterward solemnly kissed and made i q all up again things never stand on oil a really firm and settled basis between them its a move in the game you must thrust in tierce before you thrust in qu quarte artt the roman playwright spoke the truth after all a lovero lovers quarrel begins a fresh chapter in the history of their lovemaking love making it was a summer evening c calm alin and clear clar and balmy and nat Netti and ughtred had strolled out together not without a suspicion at times of hand locked in hand on the high chalk down that rises steep behind Ho Holm linbury bury how flow or why they I 1 fell out she sha hardly knew but they had been engaged already some months month without a single disagreement which of course gave netta it natural right to quarrel with ughtred by this time if she thought fit and as they returned down the ban hanging path through the combe where the wild orchids grow she used that right at it last out of pure unadulterated feminine perversity the ways of women are wonderful no mere man can fathom them something that ughtred said gave her the chance to make a halt hall petulant answer ughtred very naturally defended himself from the imputation ci of rudeness and netta netla retorted at the end of ten minutes the trifle had grown apace into as pretty a lovers quarrel as any ally lady novelist could wish to describe in five chapters netta had burst into perfectly orthodox tears refused to bo be comforted in the most approved fashion declined to accept escort home and bidden farewell to him excitedly forever and ever it was all about nothing to be sure alid it if the two older or wiser heads had bad only stood by unseen to view the littie comedy they would sagely have remarked to each other with a shake that before twenty four hours were out the pair would be rushing into each others arms with mutual apologies and mutual forgiveness but netta mayne and ughtred carnegie were still at the age when one takes love seriously one does before thirty and so they turned away along different path sat the bottom ol 01 tile combe in the firm belief that loves young dream was shattered and that henceforth they two were nothing more than tho the merest acquaintances to each other goodby mr carnegie netta fal out us its in obedience to her wishes though much against his own will ughtred turned slowly and remorsefully down the tile footpath to the right in the direction of the railway woodby by netta ughtred answered half choking even to that moment of parting forever or a day he find it in his heart to call her miss mayne Nf ayne who had so long brien been netta to him he waved his hand and turned alon along the footpath looking back man many y times time to see netta still sitting inconsolable where he lie had left her tier on the stile that led from the combo combe into the foul acre meadow both paths to right and left led back to Ho Holm linbury bury over the open field but they diverged rapidly and crossed the railway track by separate gates and five hundred yards from each other A turn in the path at which ughtred lingered long hid netta at last from his ME sight right he ile paused and hesitated it was ww growing late though an hour of summet twilight still remained he ile bear to leave netta thus alone in the field she allow him to see her home to be sure and that being ec he was too much of a gentleman to force himself upon her tier but ho lie w wag as too much a man mail too to let her find her way back so late entirely by herself unseen himself lie must still watch over her against her will he must still protect her he ile would go on to the railway and there sit by the side of the line under cover of the hedge till netta crossed by the other path then hed walk quietly along the six foot way to the gate she he had passed through and follow her unperceived perceived nn at a distance along the lane till he be saw her tier back to whether she wished it or not he lie could never leave her he ile looked about for ft a seat one lay most handy by the side of the line the government engineers bad had been at work that day repairing the telegraph syo tern tem they had taken down half a dozen moldering old posts and set up tip new ones in their place tall clean and shiny one of the old posts still lay at full length on the ground by the gate just as the men had left it at the end of their days lays work at the point where the footpath cut ent the line was a level crossing and there ughtred sat down on tho fallen post by the side half concealed from view by a tall clump of willow low herb waiting patiently for coming how lie listened for that lilii footfall his ilia heart was full indeed of gall and bitterness he ile loved her so dearly and she had treated him so who would ever have believed that netta bis his netta would have thrown him over like that for such a ridiculous trifle who indeed and least of all xe neita alta herself sitting alone on the stile with her tier pretty face bowed deep in her tier bands hands heart wondering how uh and lier tier poor tred her ughtred could so easily tie tle sert her tier in such strange ways is the feminine variety of the human heart constructed boid so sure e ha 1 I of w urge J t ji jr I 1 L I 1 rr ri lah inist pe rf ml y 7 igal Cn ue daring claring with all the vows vow propriety permits m i ts to the british maiden that she needed no escort of any sort home and that she would ten thousand times rather RO go alone than have him accompany her but of course also she mein mean it what woman does she counted spona 1 prompt and unconditional surrender ughtred would go to the corner cortier as in duty bound and then come I 1 back to her tier with profuse expressions of penitence for the wrong lie had never done to make it all up again in the orthodox fashion she never intended the real tragedy that was so soon to follo follow ff she was only playing with her victim only trying womanlike her tier power over ughtred I 1 so she sat there still and cried and cried on minute after minute in an ecstacy of misery till the sunset began to glow deeper red in the western sky I 1 and the bell to ring the curfew in holm bury tower then it dawned upon her slowly with a shock of surprise that after all RII impossible 1 ughtred had positively taken her at her word and coming back at all tonight to her at that the usual womanly terror seized upon her soul her heart turned faint this was too terrible great heavens what had bad she done had she tried ughtred too far and had he really gone was be he never going to return to her at nil all had he said goodby in earnest to her tier forever and ever terrified at the tile thought and weak with crying she rose and straggled down the narrow footpath toward the farther crossing it was getting too late now and netta by this time was really frig frightened glit ened slie she wished with all her heart she sent away ughtred if it were only for the tramps a man is such a comfort and then there was that dreadful dog at milton court to pass and ughtred was wits gone and all the world was desolate thinking these things in a tumult of fear to herself she staggered along the path feeling tired at heart and positively ill with remorse and terror the color had faded now out of her pretty red cheeks her eyes were dim and swollen with crying she was almost half glad ughtred see her tier just then she was such it fright with he her r long spell of brooding even her bright print dress and her straw hat with the poppies in it could ret redeem she felt sure her pallor and her wretchedness but ughtred was gone and the world was a wilderness A and he would never come back and the do dog at milton court was so 80 vicious As slie she walked or rather groped her way for bhe she see for crying down the path by the hedge at every step she grew fainter and fainter ughtred was wits gone the world was a blank there were tramps and dogs it was getting dark she loved him bo u much and mamma would be so angry turning over which thoughts avith a whirling brain for she was but ft a girl after all she reached the little swing gate that led to the railway and pushed it aside with vague numbed hands and stood gazing ya vacantly cantly at the tile long curved line in front of her tier suddenly a noise rose sharp in ill the field behind her tier it was only a colt to be sure u disturbed by her approach dashing wildly across his paddock as I 1 is the way with young horseflesh but to netta it came as an indefinite terror magnified ten thousand fold by her excited feelings she made a it frenzied dash for the other side eide of the railway what it was she knew not but it was or might be anything thin everything mad bulls drunken men footpads vagabonds murderers oh oil how could ughtred ever have taken her at her tier word and left her like this alone and in the evening it was cruel it was wicked of him she hated to be disloyal and yet she felt in her tier heart it was almost unmanly As she rushed along wildly at the top of her speed her tier little foot caught on the first rail before she knew what had happened she had fallen with her body right across the line faint and terrified already with a thousand vague alarms the sudden shock stunned and disabled her mad bull or drunken man mail they might do as they liked now she was bruised and aha shaken keil she had no thought left to rise or recover herself hen elf her eyes closed heavily she lost consciousness at once it was a terrible position she had fainted on the line with the force of the situation CHAPTER II 11 I 1 Is i I 1 1 I at i a 4 r Z 7 1 I y i I 1 I 1 11 ti t Z a jo 0 N ro Q le f A I 1 1 1 I r ku I 1 C 1111 I 1 J I 1 14 e 1 I 1 1 I 1 s I 1 4 I I 1 1 i 0 j A N I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 11 I 1 1 1 I I I 1 C 7 stretched it at lost full across both bota nils As for ughtred from his ilia seat on the telegraph post on the side of the tile line five hundred yards farther up lie saw her pause by the gate then dash across the tile road then stumble and trip then fall heavily forward his ilia heart came up u into his month at once at the sight ob oh thank heaven he had think thank heaven lie was nearl slie she had bad fallen across the line and a train tr aln might come along before she could rise up again she seemed hurt too in it frenzy tit of suspense lie darted forward to save her tier it took but a it second for him to realize that r she gle had fallen and was hurt but in the course of that fre cond even as he realized it all another ana and more pressing terror setz seized ti linn him hark I 1 what was that he ile listened anil and thrilled oh no too terrible yes yea yes it most must be the railway the rail railway lie ile knew it he felt it along the up line on w which notta was lying be he heard behind him oil oll unmistakable unthinkable the fierce whirr of the express dashing madly down upon him great heavens what could ho he do the trin train was coming the train wag was almost thi upon them before he lie could have time to rush wildly forward and snatch notta N tta from front where she lay full ill in its path a it helpless weight beio ht it would ba hue e swept past him and borno borne down upon her tier like lightning the express was coming to crush N netta e tta to pieces I 1 in these awful moments men dont think they dont reason they dont 1 A even reccea what their fhe ir action meana they simply net act and act instinctively ughtred felt I 1 in it a second without 1 even consciously feeling it ateo so to speak that any attempt to reach netta now before that d devouring 1 1 ug engine had burst upon bjur her a lit t fall ull speed would be absolutely hopeless his one chance lay in stopping the tile train somehow how or where or with what he cared not his own body would do it it if nothing else came only stop it stop it he ile think of it at all that moment as a set of carriages containing a precious freight of human lives ile thought of it only as a horrible cruel devouring creature rushing headway on oil at full speed to destruction it was a senseless wild beast to be combated at all hazards it etwas was a hideous hide oue ruthless relentless thing to be checked in its mad career in no matter what fashion all he knew indeed was t that hat netta his big netta lay helpless on the track trac kand and that the engine like somo some madman puffing and snorting with wild glee and savage exultation was hastening forward with fierce strides to crush and mangle her at any risk be he must stop it with anything anyhow any liow As he be gazed around him horror struck with blank inquiring stare and with this one fixed idea possessing hh his whole soul eye happened to fall upon the dismantled telegraph post on which but one minute before he had hail been sitting the sight inspired him ha hal hat a glorious chance lie ile could lift it on the line he could lay it across the rails ho he could turn it around into place he could upset the train he could place it in the way of that murderous engine no sooner thought than done with the wild energy of despair the young man lifted the small end of tho the ponderous post bodily up in his arms and twisting it on the big base as on an earth fast pivot managed by main force and with a violent effort to lay it at last fall in front of the advancing coomo tive how he be did it he never rightly knew himself for the weight of the great bulk was simply enormous but horror and love and the awful idea thab that nettae life was at stake seemed to supply him at once with unwonted energy he lifted it in his arms as lie would havo have lifted a child and straining in every limb stretched it at last full across both rails a formidable obstacle before the approaching engine hurrah he had succeeded now it would throw tho the train off the line and netta would be saved for him to think and do all this under the ebur of the circumstances took ughtred something less than twenty seconds in a great crisis men live rapidly it was quick as thought and at the end of it all he lie saw the big log laid right across the line with infinite satisfaction such a splendid obstacle that so round and heavy it must throw tho the train clean cleall off oft the metals it must produce a fine first class catastrophe As he thought it half aloud a sharp curve brought the tile train around the corner close to where he lie stood great aroln of sweat now oozing clammily from every pore with his ex exertion ertin he ile looked at it languidly with some vague dim sense of a duty accomplished and a it great work well done for netta and humanity there would be a real live accident in 14 i moment now a splendid accident b a first rate catastrophe great heavens an accident and then biti at budden burst of inspiration the other side of the transaction flashed in one electric spark upon brain why this casmur wag murder there were people in that train innocent human beings men and women like himself who would next minute bo be wrecked and mangled corpses or writhing forms on oil the track before him himl ho was wits guilty of crime an awful crime he ile was trying to produce a teK terrible ghastly bloody raila railway a y accident till that second the idea had never even so much as occurred to him in the first wild flush of horror at nettae situation he had thought of nothing except liow low best to save her he ile had bad regarded the |
