Newspapers / Forest City Courier (Forest … / May 2, 1929, edition 1 / Page 6
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TWELFTH INSTALLMENT }! Il His withered figure seemed to have gathered strength and dignity, and j his appearance and tone, as he gazed j scornfully down at the girl at his feet, j was full of a strange dramatic force. Her heart sank as she listened to him. This was no idle, vulgar passion, no morbid craving for evil, which ani mated him. It was a purpose which had become hallowed to him; some thing which he had come to look upon as his sacred right. She understood how her drawing back must seem to him. As though a flash of light had laid bare his mind, she saw how weak, 1 how pitifully weak, any words of hers must sound, so she was silent. He had commenced walking up and down the room; and watching him fearfully, she saw that his manner j was gradually changing. The unnat- ' ural calm into which he had momen- tarily relapsed was leaving him, and he was becoming every moment more j and more excited. Fire flashed in: his eyes, and he was muttering brok-, en words and sentences to himself. ! Once he raised his clasped hands to J - the roof in a threatening gesture, j ( and in the act of doing so she sawj" the blue flash of a stiletto in his • 1 breast pocket. It frightened her, and. i she moved toward the door. ] It seemed almost as though he I read her purpose in her terror-strick- j en face, and it maddened him. He j 1 caught her by the wrist and thrust I her back. I ( . «! "You shall not leave this room, 1 girl!" he cried. "Wait, and soon l| 4 will bring you news!" She stood, still panting, overcome j for a moment by the strength of his grip. Before she could recover her- j self, he had caught up his hat and| ( was gone. Outside, she heard the 1 sound of a key in the lock. She was S a prisoner! Her first thought was the window, j Alas! It was to small even for her j to get her head through. She cried j: out. No one answered; there was no J one to answer. She was alone in the cottage, and helpless, and away over the cliffs, toward Mallory Grange, she could see a small, dark figure walk ing steadily along, with bent head and j swift steps. The cottage stood by i itself, a mile from the village, and? was approached only by a cliff path, j She turned away from the window in | despair. It seemed to her then that [ the time for her final sacrifice had | indeed come. It was a warm, drowsy morning, j and the air which floated in through i the open lattice window was heavy I with the perfume of flowers, mingled | with the faint ozone of the sea. Out side, the placid silence was broken only by the murmurous buzzing of insects and the soft lapping of the tide upon the shingly sands. Within i the room, a pale-faced girl knelt upon j the floor, with her long, slim fingers! stretched upward, and the passionate! despair of death in her cold, white | features. The sunshine laughed upon her, bathing her beautiful face in its ' fresh, bright glory. Was it an answer to her prayer, she wondered—her prayer for peace and forgiveness? Oh, that it might be so! God grant it! There was no fear in her face, j though only a moment before she had j taken out and swallowed the contents j of that little packet of poison which | had burned in her bosom for those , last few days. But there had been j just one passing shade of bitterness. l Her life had been so short, so joy- j less, until there had come to her that brief taste of wonderful, amazing happiness.* She was young to die —to die with the delirium of that passion ate joy still burning in her veins. "Yet, after all, it is best!" she whispered softly, at the end of that unspoken prayer; and with those words of calm resignation, a change crept softly in upon her face. It seemed almost as though, while yet on earth, there had come to her a touch of that exquisite spiritual beau ty which follows only upon the ex tinction of all earthly passion, and the uplifting into a purer, sweeter life. And her eyes closed upon the sunlight, and darkness stole in upon senses. She lay quite still upon the floor; but the smile still lingered up on her lips, making her face more lpvely even in its cold repose than when the glow of youth and life had shone jn her dark eyes, and lent ex pression to her features. Saints like I St. Francis of Assisi may die thus, t: but seldom woman. I "Help! For God's sake, help!" A womans cry of agony rang out ' upon the sweet morning stillness. iCount Marioni, who had been hurry-! ing on with downcast head, stood stillj in the cliff path and lifted his head. It was the woman whose memory he i had cursed who stood before him — the woman on whom his vengeance was to fall. Her face was as white as his own, t and in the swiftness of her flight her i hat had fallen away and her hair was! streaming in the breeze. Yet in thatj moment of her awful fear she recog- j nized him, and shrank back trembl-j 1 ing, as though some unseen hand had;: palsied her tongue, and laid a cold ( : weight • upon her heart. They stood face to face, breathless and speech less. A host of forgotten krndled by her appearance, had leap- I ed up within the Sicilian's heart. He j 1 had indeed loved this woman. ( "Merciful God! to meet you here," : I she faltered. "You will help me? 1 IMy husband is being murdered there lon the cliff by an escaped lunatic. joh! Leonardo, save him, and you 1 imay strike me dead at your feet. It | Jis I whom you should hate, not him. ; I Oh, come! Come, or it will be too | late!" He stood quite still, looking at her j 1 { curiously. J "And it is Ito whom you dare to j come for help—l whom you ask to • save him—your husband? Adrienne, j jdo you remember my words on the J , sands at Palermo?" j; She wrung her hands, frantically' imploring. "How can I remember anything— think of anything, now? For the love |of God, help him," she begged, seiz jing his hand. "That was all so long [ago. You would not have him killed ihere before my eyes? Come! Oh, do j come!" I the way," he answered | | sternly. "Call your loudest for other I jhelp. I make no promise, but I will see this tragedy." j She ran back along the path, and he followed her. They turned sud-. denly an abrupt corner, and came J I upon two men locked in one another's arms, and swaying backward and 'forward upon the short, green turf ] The lunatic, an immense fellow, more (than six feet high, was clutching his [opponent's throat with his left hand, (while with his right he brandished a 'long table-knift with keenly-sharpen jed edge. The struggle was virtually lover. The madman's strength was j I more than human, and desperately 1 J though he had struggled, Lord St. j Maurice was lying exhausted and j overcome in his arms. With a final effort he turned his , head at the sound of footsteps, and I [saw them come—his wife and this, | shrunken little old man. But close at j | hand though they were, nothing could j 'help him now. He saw the steel flash- j [ ing in the sunlight, and he closed his ; eyes. j ! The knife descended, but Lord St. • I # • Maurice remained unhurt. With a | swiftness which seemed almost in- j credible, the Sicilian had sprung be- j ; tween them,and the knife was quiver- j ing in his side. Behind, the lunatic j was struggling helplessly in the grasp j 1 of three keepers. \ There was a wild cry of horror. i j from s,ady St. Maurice, a choking j ! gasp of relief from her husband, and j i j' a horrid chuckle of triumph from the I .madman as he gazed upon his handi- | - j work. But after that there was sil t. ence—a deep, awe-stricken silence— r | the silence of those who stand in the >[presence of death. -' Count Marioni lay on the turf I where he had sunk, very white and s | very still, with the blood dropping t( slowly from his wound upon the e j grass, and his eyes closed. At first e • they thought that he was already t: dead; but, as though aroused by t'.Lady St. Maurice's broken sobs, he a opened his eyes and looked up. His - • lips moved, and she stooped low down - [to catch the sound. d | "Will you tell Margharita that this r ;was best?" he faltered. "I have heard e a whisper from over the sea, and— n and the White Hyacinth forgives. I e.forgive. She will understand." i- # "Leonardo," she sobbed, "your e vengeance " n He interrupted her. d "This is my vengeance!" he said. "I have kept my oath!" e Then he closed his eyes, and a gray THE FOREST CITY COURIER, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929 shade stole into his palid face. A breeze sprung up from the sea, and the tall, blood-red poppies, which stood up all around him like a regi ment of soldiers, bent their quivering heads till one or two of them actually touched his cheek. He did not move; he was dead. Lord and Lady Lumley had linger ed long in Rome, and now, on the eve of their departure, they had spent | nearly the whole of a bright Novem | ber afternoon buying curios of a wiz iened old dealer, whose shop they had found in one of the dark narrow streets at the back of the Piazzo An gelo. Lady Lumley had taken up a curious old ring, and was examining it with a vague sense of familiarity. "Ten pounds for that ring, my lady," the curio dealer remarked, "and it has a history. You will see that it bears the arms and motto of the Marionis, once the most power ful family in Sicily. I had it from the late Count himself." Lady Lumley sank into the little chair by the counter, holding the ring tightly in her hand. "Will you tell us the history?" she asked in a low tone. The man hesitated. "If I do so," he said doubtfully, "will you promise to keep it absolute ly secret?" "Yes." i "Well, then, I have told it to no 'one yet, but I will tell it to you. I Many years ago I was a chemist, and ; among my customers was Count Leo nardo di Marioni. His history was a | very sad one, as doubtless you may ■have heard. When he was quite a J young man he was arrested on some [political charge, and imprisoned for five-and-twenty years—a cruel time. Well, scarcely more than twelve BIG REDUCTION IN PRICE OF ALL FIRESTONE TIRES AND TUBES FIRESTONE Tires and Tubes, at former pric es, were recognized by many of the best posted buyers as the best buy on the American market but following up the FIRESTONE policy of giv- ing the customer more value for less money, m \V\ whenecer possible, the prices have been greatly mm reduced. You cannot afford to invest your mon m \m e y * n a ** re or tube until you have seen what we haVCtooffCr^FlßEST ° N^^^ We carry in stock a complete line of high pressure Tires and Tubes for truck or pas senger car from 30x3 to 36x6 and in Balloon from 29x4.40 to 33x6.75. 30x3 1-2 Airway Cord Tire .... $4.20 29x4.40 Airway Balloon Cord Tire $5.25 29x4.40 Firestone Balloon, $9.25 WE WOULD BE PLEASED TO SHOW YOU AND QUOTE YOU NEW PRICES WITHOUT ANY OBLIGATION TO YOU. DOGGETT MOTOR COMPANY I \ FOREST CITY, N. C months ago he came to me here, so altered that I found it hard indeed to recognize him. Poor old gentleman, when he talked for a while, I felt quite sure that his long confinement had affected his mind, and his er rand with me made me sure of it. He came to buy a celebrated poison which I used at one time to be secret ly noted for, and I could tell from his manner that he wanted it for some use. Well, I thought at first of refusing it altogether, but what was the use of that? Some one else would j have sold him an equally powerfully poison, and the mischief would be done all the same. So, after a little consideration, I made up quite an innocent powder, which might cause a little momentary faintness, but which could do no further hajrm, and I gave it to him as the real thing. I couldn't take money for doing a thing like that, so he pressed this ring upon me. You see, it really has a history.' Lord Lumley took his wife's hand and pressed it tenderly. In the deep gloom of the shop the curio dealer could not see the tears which glisten ed in her dark eyes. "We will have the ring!" Lord Lumley said, taking a note from his pocket-book and handing it across the counter. The man held it up to the light. "One hundred pounds," he remark ed. "I shall owe. your lordship nine ty." Lord Lumley shook his head. "No, Signor Pachuli, you owe me nothing; it is I who owe you a wife. Come, Margharita, let us get out into the sunshine again." And Signor Paschuli kept the note. But he has come to the conclusion i that all Englishmen traveling on their j honeymoon are mad. THE END GOVERNOR GARDNER NAMES ROAD DELEGATES Raleigh, April 29.—Governor 0. Max Gardner Wednesday announced the appointment of twenty-eight ad ditional delegates to the seventeenth annual convention of the United | States Good Roads association and the fourteenth annual convention of the Bankhead National Highway as sociation, meeting, jointly in Memphis, Tenn., April 29 to May 2. Among those named Wednesday were Dr. Lucius B. Morse, of Chimney Rock fiH It's as simple as setting a watch Yet the remarkable new Frigidaire Cold Control allows you to regulate the freez ing time in the ice trays exactly as you regulate the cooking time in your oven; New low prices—a small deposit, secures immediate delivery of Frigidaire in your home. Ask foe books giving complete information; i Farmers Hardware Co^ Forest City, N. C. Jr You can't do an honest day's work, have a r moment of comfort or pleasure or make a favorable impression on those with whom you come in con tact when you have headache. I Why don't you take Dr. Miles' Anti-Pain Pills? For Headache, Backache, Neuralgia, Monthly Pains, pains caused by Rheumatism and Neuritis. We will be glad to send you samples for 2c in stamps. L * Dr. Miles Medical Company, Elkhart, Ind. i and Clyde R. Hoey, 0 f Shelby Among those who were previous! named by Governor Gardner is \ at C. Harris, of Rutherfordton.
Forest City Courier (Forest City, N.C.)
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May 2, 1929, edition 1
6
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