ed askew from his shoulders. All these
details were indelibly traced in Wilson's mind as he watched this
struggle.

The last ten steps marked a strain difficult to watch. Wilson, at the
top, found his brow growing moist in sheer agony of sympathy, and he
found himself lifting with each forward heave as though his arms were
about the drooping figure. A half dozen times he was upon the point of
springing to his aid, but each time some instinct bade him wait. A man
with such a will as this was a man to watch even when he was as near
dead as he now appeared to be. So, backing into the shadows, Wilson
watched him as he grasped the post and slouched up the last stair,
seeming here to gain new strength for he held his head higher and
grasped the candle more firmly. It was then that Wilson stepped into
the radius of shallow light. But before he had time to speak, he saw
the eyes raised swiftly to his, saw a quick movement of the hand, and
then, as the candle dropped and was smothered out in the carpet, he
was blinded and deafened by the report of a pistol almost in his
face.

He fell back against the wall. He was unhurt, but he was for the
moment stunned into inactivity by the unexpectedness of the assault.
He stood motionless, smothering his breathing, alert to spring at the
first sound. And he knew that the other was waiting for the first
indication of his position to shoot again. So two, three seconds
passed, Wilson feeling with the increasing tension as though an iron
band were being tightened about his head. The house seemed to settle
into deeper and deeper silence as though it were being enfolded in
layer upon layer of felt. The dark about him quivered. Then he heard
her voice,--the startled cry of an awakened child.

He sprang across the hall and through the curtains to her side. She
was standing facing the door, her eyes frightened with the sudden
awakening.

"Oh," she trembled, "what is it?"

He placed his fingers to her lips and drew her to one side, out of
range of the door.

She snuggled closer to him and placed her hand upon his arm.

"You're not hurt?" she asked in a whisper.

He shook his head and strained his ears to the hall without.

He led her to the wall through which the door opened and, pressing her
close against it, took his position in front of her. Then the silence
closed in upon them once again. A bit of coal kindled in the grate,
throwing out blue and yellow flames with tiny crackling. The