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to know me, or to un teivtan 1 why 1 \vn e
near her, or where she wa*. A prey to the
wildest anxiety, 1 Icane l over her ami waited
unt il she spok».
Little by little her bew ilderment seeme I
to leave her. Her eves rested w r it.h enrious
inquiry upon mine. “Basil,” she said faintly,
but in a ton-) of surprise, ycu here/ V\ here
uml '
& t Under my roof—your brother’s roof,’’ J
said.
“All! I remember.” she. said, with a deof
sigh. Then she closed her eyes, and once
more seemed to sleep.
What did she remem!ier? It seemed tc
me too great a m trey to expect that those
hours of oblivion had elfected a cure, but
my hojxs was that she di 1 not mnemlier
what had happened when she met Kir Mer
\yn ferrand on the read. I was almos.
trembling with excitement. I was longing
to really know in what state her iniml was.
Besides, I thought she had slept as long a*
wa-» good for her. 1 took her hands am.
called her by name.
O ice more she <n»ened her eyes. They
expressed no fear of me, no dislike to me.
They conveyed no reproach. They were
calm, kal, weary, but give no evidence of
anv mental disorder.
“Have 1 been ill long, Basil?” she asked.
“Not very long. Yon are going to get
belt *r soon,”
ft i I came to your house, did ! not?”
4 ft Yes; ani here 1 mean to kvMp you. Be
you fuel weak?'
“Very weak. Basil, I have dreamed such
horrible things."
“You have been feverish and delirious.
People like that always fancy strange
things.” child;
She was, indeed, as weak as a but
ter the time, ut lea‘*\ she was perfectly
suite. 1 could have cried for joy as 1 heard
her faint l ut collected words. I ventured
to hope that 1 l.u 1 Ih* fore me one of tho f
very rare cases—such as 1 had seen de
scribed, but hail not as yet ?nef with—where
the patient awakes from a bmg, artificially
produced sleep perfectly free from all
maniacal symptoms, if this were so with
Philippa, if the return of reason were to b r
permanent, 1 knew that a few weeks’ caro
ful nursing and judicious treatment might
quite restore her to health. Even as tl j
comforting thought came to me, I rente M
beivd tlie peril in w hich she stood. Yo
in»»rrow— aye, even to-day—tho thing which
1 diva le 1 might happen, and sweep away
nil the good the narcotic had dona her.
She was now fully awake, and perfectly
quiet. I gave her come refreshment; th* i
seeing she was lying in peaceful silenc I
sr&u*iir zz
that the whirl!..* mow might bring r.co
loctioiw whieh it was my ono wish to keo
from invading her mind.
li-Jifadid Hie loner ' dreary day wore away The
light ladod, a,d amt another anothei nhrht night bee egan. an Poi- i t*
lippa til' still lay calm, silent, and almost iqxi
ll.-. 1 did notluai to rouse her. I wrnf
♦a to hei culft side n< as ctxi.inm seldom as iwaaihlt* poaaib e 1 1 fom-fttl teaied
,hut her seeing me might recall th. even's
of the last night., and that recollections si
nwakened niiirht destroy all the iroixl which
licit sure ha i teen accomplished by the
imc IS hours of oblivion anti To attr imiet Void ll l 1
‘. V ' mv Usk I
evtm shown myself to my patient.
M«st t a *1 •xionslv x u y, as. evenimr K came l aw * aited
the npiXMii auce of my fmth.wl «,11mm aikI
IVmililtlev Would tu\ to „ble nolo to u r.-H<h r.a< m u. in sm-h .
weatherl It was dill snowing tor,-ely. l-o.
more than twenty-four horns the mad white
revel 1 had I .. i continued without will.Mill inteimission.
Indeed, that storm which burst upon the
world as l turned trom 1 la ippa s lotoe or
the preceding night is now historical; it was
the beginning of the heaviest and longest
fa 1 which the record of h.ty years can show. ,
h two nights and a day the snow <a,n (
down m what may almost l» called drifting
masses. During that dismal day 1 saw fro..
the window the heaps against the wall grow
deeper and deeper, and even in my pieoccu
pied state of mind found myself marvelling
at the sustained fury of the storm.
At 11 o’clock at night I sa lly gave up all
hope of the mi.cn needed assistance arriving
After all, it seemed that \\ illiam had found
it impossible to fight against the weather:
so I made my preparations for another night
0 f solitary watchfulness. I was all but worn
out with fatigue; yet I dared not sleep. II
the jyi an j a returned, what might happen
were I not at hand to restrain Philippa’s
actions? My hope that the madness hail
really left my patient, not, if she were prop
er jy treated, to return, was a growing one,
but not yat strong enough to allow me tc
leave her for any length of time.
My delight then may be imagined when,
looking for the hundredth tinie up the road,
j Sf vv dose at hand two flashing lights, and
kr iW that William, the faithful, had done
m/bidding. In a few minutes two respect
able women from one of the best of
London nursing institutions were within my
walls.
The train had, of course, b j en late, very
late. At on.i or two places on the line
it had almost, given up the battle, and set
tied down quietly until dug out; but steam
and iron had conquered, and at last it did
get to Roding. There William,
my dire necessity, offered such a magnificent
bribe that he soon found an enterprising
carriage proprietor who was willing to mak »
t i ie attempt to force two horses ami a car¬
riage over six miles of road between Roding
and my house. The attempt was successful,
although the rate of progrrssion was sloe ;
and William triumphantly ushered 1 is
charges into my presence.
After giving them time for rest ami re
freshment, 1 explained the nature of
ease, set out the treatment I wished to be
adopted, and then led them to Philippa.
left the poor girl in their charge for the
night, then went to take the sleep of which
I stood so much in nerd.
Rut before going to l, d I saw William. I
dreaded to hear him say what gruesome
sight he had seen that morning; yet I was
bound to learn if the (leod hud yet been
made public.
“Did you manage to get to Roding all
right this morningf’I asked with assumed
carelessneA
;; l z?r- Mrisht sir ’’ saW Wil,ia, “’
-
r}
ou tho roa.il”
.. N „ t so deep as 1 fancied’twonld to. All
* lrlttt,d andblmv., ai »d blown unto up to one ono side, side like. like ‘
never seen such a thing. Drift must have
been feet deep this morning. \» hat must it
. I Tboald wonder? Komethina-like the Arctic
ro f?* OI,s » 1 1 suouiu tninK, su .
For the first iim3 for hour3 and hour3
ray c f ho,» av' flashed aero*, me.
at t lonely road this ... mornin^, and uri I
,lot,oe ‘ l nothl, *g except the drifted snow! I
remembered how I placed the dead man in
hollrtw ^ bottom of the hank,
Co V Ul lt l>e thattho kindly, merciful snow,
bieli I . have already described
w as
to form in a winding-shear, % ' hal hidden
bl|rieJ llIuiJ That „ u r6 wUito . sllape
luss llPaI ’' which told no talenconoealel
white , the dark deed from theworl.il Oh
(llat Phili J.' w81 . e wpU eno h to ieaTethi
place to-morrow ... We <mght fly ana „,„i i.,„ v
.
uo trace behind us. She might never
what sh# llol , e in her madnes3 .
fearful secret would he mine alone. A
den it woul«l be, but one which I might
easily find strength en »ngh to bear. Bear
it! 1 could bear it, and he but’ave happy; for some
t|]j £ril „ me that conld j her from
the £ which menace 1 her. Philippa and I
no more in this world until death,
th(j J ueror of sueh love as miue '
,
. .. . ..
stm the snow . flakes whirle d .own. Oh,
brace, kind snow! Fall, fall, fal 1 Pile the
mMMg on the dead wl . etch . H ic.e him deep
jn * Fal i for weeks, for months.
, or vel ., Rave loV9 anJ m „,
J
CHAPTER VI.
THE SECRET KEPT.
It is needless to say that when I awoke the
next morning my first thought was of Puil
ippa; but my first action was to go to my
window and look at the skies. My heart
sank within me as I saw chat the snow had
ceased falling, an i the wintry sun was shin¬
ing. I threw up the sash; the cold air cut
me like a kni.e. I gathered up a handful of
snow from the window-sill. It crumbled iii
my fingers like tooth-;*) wder. I guessed at
once that a hard black frost had succeeded
the snow, I ran down stairs an 1 g’anced at
my thermometer outside my sitting room
window. It registered twelve degrees ot
frost Mv spirits rose; I felt that Philippa
would be saved. The wind was du3 east:
so long as it stayed than the fro?t won’ I
last, and that whit) tomb on the road ode
hide the secret of the dreadful night.
I found, moreover, that Philippa’s condi¬
tion was all that could, und.ii* the circum¬
stances, be hoped for. Finee she had awak
ened from that long sleep into which tht
opiate had plunged her, there had been lit
recurrence of the delusions; no symptom*
which gave me any alarm. She was, ol
oolir se, weak in . body, but quite quiit and
collected.. She spok * bu. little, ani the .ew
words which she did snaa«. had no beaimg
foibidden oi distuibing subjects,
Bay aftei day went by, and still the luav c
klack frost held the world in jts iton giip,
ftud kept *\ ,e secret oi the night. Morning
Atter blowing morning fio.n the I "’oke ens., to the And^ skies the win clear l stdi an.
Rhowin ® ev cry evidence of a long spell of
,mni weather, A pr sentiment that we
1 shou^ be saved was now firmly establ ished
I in my mind. The heavens themsjlvei seomc I
to be shielding, us and working foi us.
I have not given the year in which tlies"
things occurred: but manj T who can reman.
ber that mighty fall of sniw, and the tm t
which the frost kept it on the earth, will o<?
able to fix the date. Since taat year th r*
^ ias been no weather like it.
°'™^ y
ta.tadoaV 7mZ ^the die "“il b‘fora
smmia.y a r r ot ot tiiecase, • but but tKtoie
many days had gone by I knew that, as I
h ^ j had to deal wifch one of those rare
in-timees | nstonces in ,n which wtncti the t ne baiAnce balance of oi^ the tne min mm 1 t
by forced sleep, ani the com.
plete restoration of health is but a mattei
As As soon ^on as as it it l i.ecam ecame a a certaindv cerrainvy tuat that all an
danger to 1 fe or reas m was at an end 1
began to consider wbat course to adopt,
The moment she was well enough to risk
the journey, or even, if a thaw set in, before
tlien> Philippa must fly fr.»m the scene ol
the trage<ly in which she ha 1 played so ter
r :bif. vet morally ‘ZZZZZZZrseZ* irresponsible apart
ani the fatal spot . B ,.t howto persuadi
her that such a flight was ^as““ absolutely teriS ueees
snr V crotner ann sisser as we now eennea
ourse l V es, would she ever consent to a ccom
pany me abroad? Had I the right to put the
woman I loved in stich an equivocal position-