LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7820, 12 May 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

SAVED BY THE SKIN OF HIS ■TEETH; (Continued). There for a second I paused, breathless, trembling, ami scarcely daring to advance, but the remembrance of that gurgling, inarticulate cry armed, roc with fresh courage, and creeping on from one iron to another of toe shutters, I Joand myself at lengfch o* the last window-ledge, with Brian's balaony just beyond mo.

To stretch out my hand from that last ledge was no difficult feat, even though tor a moment I hung down from it over the street telow in a perilous enough position. But IJrian's safety was all that 1 could think of; my own danger was nothing an* less than nothing compared with what he might be going through, and by this time I was perfectly certain that ho was in soma great danger, and 1 pulled myself up by the balcoay railings, and climbed over them in less time than it takes to write. But. even though 1 had reached the balcony, my difficulties were by no means at an end. Brian's, shutters wers tightly shut and fastened on the inside, and their slats were feat closed a\so. It was impossible to see anything- of what was passing in the room, besides which, as no : chink of light penetrated through tho shutters, I concluded that tho roein must be in darkness. I caught at the shulters and shook them violently, but they yielded not the taction of in inoh to my frantic shaking ; and no sound was sudible from within the room. Agam l I felt doubtful as to the wisdom of my impulsive action. I stood back from the shutters, and leant breathlessly against the balcony. Supposing I had, after all, made a mistake ? Supposing Brian was 'sleeping peacefully inside, undissurbed by the noise I had made without,' how foolish—how A sound struck my ear. It was the sound of a low, stifled, groan, followed by awful gasping breathing, and it came from the other side of those fast-closed shutters. Rendered desperate by the ominous sounds, I hurled myself once more against the shutters, but again my efforts were in vain \. puil and push as I would, I could not move them. "Shea 1 cried aloud to Brian in tic, CreraWing accents, but no response came, to me. I could not even hear now the groans or the gasping, breath; there, was ominous silence within the room and an equally ominous silence lay all around me. My despairing gaze wandered all round the wide pastures over which the balcony looked ; wandered to. the dark forests and the still mountains, ""' that were so big and empty of human help, and I cried out In va.in for help that was not to be found. - No answering voice came back from pasture or wood or mountain side. Only the night wind, sweeping down from the pines, answered ray cry. and the brilliant stars seemed to mock my agony t '*Brian—Brian, are yon hurt?" I cried again, beating upon the shutsere ; but no -voice replied. The awful silence was more than I could hear. GrowU desperate al last, I was meditating climbing over the balcony and leaping to the ground to run for help when' I suddenly saw that . one of the slats of the shutters near the top had slipped a little and an atom of window was visible. Without an instant's hesitation, I raised my hand and dashed it through the panec There was'a great dash of falling glass, and at the same ttme a most appalling odour filled the air around me ; its strench nearly knocked mo down, so that I gasped for breath, and clung to the railiag for support. Ballyrag myself after a moment, the awful thought smote my dazed brain that it was such a dearful •' ameU issuing from a broken pane couM have this effect upon me*standing outside in the freeh air, what must be *he effect of those fumes upon the person inside the room, and that thought rendered me more franh tic than More. Jta my agony I battered again and again on all the glass within my reaeh. never heeding my cut and bleed,ng hands, thinking only that Brian was inside, in the midst of the fumes whose exit had nearly stifled me out there «n the balcony. I tore at the slat of the shutter that had slipped till I wrenched it from its place, and by its help I went on battering at the window till every scrap of glass within my reach must hav* been broken to splinters and some fresh air must have fosnd ita way into the room, and during the whole time I was employed in shattering the window, I uttered ewes piercing enough to waken the whole neighbourhood; my anguish •bout Brian making me conscious or nothang but the necessity for help immediate holp-help from anywhere —from anywhere, only help. AH at once I heard an astonished. sleepy voioe from above my head; asSing me, in a queer patois half French and half Italian, what was the matter and what I was doing. "Ceme at once ! " I answered bacK. '•Something has happened to the gentleman in this room. Come down and open his door; he is dying ! " I do not know what made mo say tMs, unless it was the ominous silence from within the room—a silence which not even my terrible cries nor the crashing of the glass and hammering of the shutters had been nWo to break. In any case, the words were sufficient to alarm the person who bad spoken to me. There was a great scattering and scampering in the room from which UK head had.been thrust; presently lights began to appear ,'n other windows, and I heard hurried feet, tearing, down the staircase Inside the building, followed by stupendous thumps, evidently upon the door of Brians room. Still the silence within remained ' U £i? >^ Cn • •, a ," d sU " the f «»>es, with their horrible strench tered ° Ut 0i th 6 PaneS * had shatl The thumpings on the door were accompanied by shouts and calls, hut no answer came to them. am \ c^«Z m ""''-?K 0f the woodwork was continued «,«, renewea vJ , til. after what seemed to it* waitnZ i llm -\- thc **» r ovidentl,y w,lh * a cras *' f° r * «ouw hear the noise first of breaking w o od ,wor« and then of people falling and Stumbling, into the room. "»» i. th -? y **"***• there were sounds ffl n Jf ,t -'W a moment, those who r 'tE£Jr"i red room hnd '"-en ol>- ' *? * ,<Wrw ''"to IHa passage again, v "^ • After someone Wfe than • fefr crossed *** rooim, fer I heara a tread on the Wooden TOWJT ™R tfeo hapfte of the window.

die person, whoever it was, cholel md panted terribly. I heard him nutter : " Good God ! What has happenri ? " and then I realsiod that it vas Mr Begbic, and I called out to lira to be quick—be quick ! At that instant a light appeared in the room, and through the brok;n slats of the shutter I could scs the whol» apartment was filled with =i sort of impalpable niist, in which the moving l , chpking figures looked like strange ghosts. I could not see Brian anywhere.. " Air ! " someone cried. "Let in more a'ir ! " and just then Mr Uegbie's tumblings with the window handle were successful ; he pushed it open first, next unfastened the shutters, and then I dashed into the room, pushing past the amazed lawyer without any answer to his astonished questionSng as to my presence on t£o balcooy. The smell and the taste of the fumes nearly drove me into the opr en air again, but the thought of Brian inside that apartment drove me on, and, choking and panting myself I pressed for wand to a corner not far from the window, a corner round which a group of servants whispered otwl pointed. I pushed through the group, to find, huddled upon the ground close to the far side of the window, the form of my poor Brian* As I had peered through the shutters, he had been just out of my line of vision, but it was evident that lie had struggled across tho room to try and gel to the open air, when the unconsciousness, supervening on thle inhalation' of those awlul fumes', must have overtaken him.-

I Ho was quite uncouscious, and his white, drawn face looked so terrbily like death that, for one horrorstricken moment, I thoifght he was dead. But we"»dragged him out on .to the balcony, restoratives were procured, and, after an interval of agonv which I shall never forget, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at me.

I " You—came ! " he murmured. " I knew—you—wou ,d—come ! " Then hesank again into deep unconsciousness, from which it was hours before we could arouse him afresh and not until the next day was heable to give any account of the cause of the disaster.

When he was well enough to explain what had happened, he told us that, on the night of the tragedy ho was sitting up late in an armchair reading, and thinking ol various things and unobservant of the passage of time. Suddenly he became aware that an extraordinary and overpowering smell began to penetrate the apartment, accompanied by a curious white film-like mist.

j Puzzled to account for tlie smell or the mist, he staggered to the door, but, on "his attempting to •open it, he found, to his great surprise, that it was locked on the outride.

Growing every moment more dizzy and faint with the increasing power of thc fumes, which bewildered his brain and defuddled his senst'Sj, lie tried to reach the window all the while remembering that my room was hot very far away, and that, if he called loudly euough, perhaps J should bo able to hear him, Before, however, he could reach the window, he was entirely overcome by thc ghastly fumes and sank to the ground, to know no more until he woke up to see my face and the ring of the curious, anxious faces bending over him.

Investigations of his room and of thoso adjoining it led to an ominous and curious discovery.• In the next room to Brian's there was found a huge empty cylinder, shaped like one of those -that are used for oxygen, but marked with the name of a most deadly and poisonous' gas. Tho unscrewed mouth of the cylinder was just pushed through a hole carefully bored in the wall of my lover's bedroom.

On enquiry we learnt that the room where it was l found had been occupied by tho German commerciul traveller!, wBo, when morning came, had mysteriously vanished, leaving no sign of his going. It was sufficiently plain to us that in reality he was no traveller at all, but one of those terrible enemies of ours, who, on this oc casion had attacked Brian instead of ;me.-

Who Could 'doubt that this was a deliberate attempt on the part' of the SGranges to murder my lover ? Who can doubt) but that the attempt would have been successful, and that Brian would have been suffocated by the deadly fumes, had not I heard his .voJqe calling me, first in dreams, then an reality ? Ho says that by bVeaking the window I savod his life • and I believe what he says is true. And I feel I I cannot be thankful enough for having Sealed the warning of my strange dream which led to the saving of my lover from an awful death, saving him literally by tho skin of his teeth. (The End.)