, as with intense horror I
realized the cause--the air of the car was escaping into the void of the
universe without! Desperately I struggled to gain my feet, but being
without weight, the effort resulted only in my drifting helplessly about
the car, until, gasping for air, I realized that the end had come.

A moment's consciousness of being drawn gently to the floor of the car
again, while the furniture and other articles that had been drifting
about piled lightly upon me without any perceptible weight; a slight
shock, then, as the suffocating sensation became more intense, a
blackness rushed in upon me, and my senses reeled--

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII.

THE END OF A PERILOUS JOURNEY.

A tall, gaunt figure, swathed in black robes, Stood waiting some
distance from me. I knew that it was Death, for under the hood I beheld
the grinning skull with its sightless eye-holes, and I turned away in
loathsome dread. But even as I did so, the bony arms were stretched out
in welcome, and to them ran a slight girlish form--it was Zarlah! For a
moment I stood paralyzed with horror, then rushing toward the now
retreating figures, I called out wildly, "Zarlah! Zarlah! Flee not with
Death! I am here--your Harold is here!" Suddenly I was seized from
behind; instantly my strength seemed to be sapped from me and I fell
back exhausted, crying in my despair, "Oh, my God! save her! save her!"

A cool, soft hand was laid upon my burning brow, and a sweet voice
gently murmured, "Poor Harold! If you could only know that God in His
mercy has saved us both!"

It was the voice of the living, not the dead, and slowly the words
formed a meaning in my confused brain, dragging me from the depths of
unconsciousness to the life that still existed about me, warmed as it
was by the wondrous power of a woman's love. Opening my eyes I beheld
Zarlah bending over me, her beautiful face full of compassionate love.
It seemed as though in a dream my loved one had come to me, and for a
moment I lay peacefully gazing into her face, feeling neither curiosity
nor alarm. Then, as my mind awoke to a realization of all that had
transpired, a sudden bewilderment came upon me, and, clasping the hand
that sought to ease my head, lest the vision should vanish, I cried:

"Zarlah, my beloved, speak to me! Are we by a miracle saved from the
death that had engulfed us, or is this the strange meeting of our souls
after death?"