 
But that other wretch could not know that I was meditating any such unusual scheme, as following him without a full day's warning. I thought of this even before I had finished my sentence, and did not need the blank astonishment in the face of the man before me to convince me that I had given utterance to a foolish accusation. "It would have been some sort of I thought he bestowed upon me a look of quiet pity, but if so he soon hid it with his uplifted glass. "Forget the girl," said he; "I know of a dozen just as pretty." I was too indignant to answer. "Women are the bane of life," he now sententiously exclaimed. "They are ever intruding themselves between a man and his comfort, as for instance just now between yourself and this good wine." I caught up the bottle in sheer desperation. "Don't talk of them," I cried, "and I will try and drink. I almost wish there was poison in the glass. My death here might bring punishment upon you." He shook his head, totally unmoved by my passion. "We deal punishment, not receive it. It would not worry me in the least to leave you lying here upon the floor." I did not believe this, but I did not stop to "Deal punishment?" I repeated. "Are you punishing me? Is that why I am here?" He laughed and held out his glass to mine. "You enjoy being sarcastic," he observed. "Well, it gives a spice to conversation, I own. Talk is apt to be dull without it." For reply I struck the glass from his hand; it fell and shivered, and he looked for the moment really distressed. "I had rather you had struck me," he remarked, "for I have an answer for an injury like that; but for a broken glass—" He sighed and looked dolefully at the pieces on the floor. Mortified and somewhat ashamed, I put down my own glass. "You should not have exasperated me," I cried, and walked away beyond temptation, to the other side of the room. His spirits had received a dampener, but in a few minutes he seized upon a cigar and began smoking; as the wreaths curled over his head he began to talk, and this time it was on sub I was roused by feeling a touch on my breast. Clapping my hand to the spot where I had felt the intruding hand, I discovered that my watch That I rushed from the house and took the shortest road to the steamer, goes without saying. I could not cross the ocean with Dora, but I might yet see her and tell her how near I came to giving her my company on that long voyage which now would only serve to further the ends of my rival. But when, after torturing delays on cars and ferry-boats, and incredible efforts to pierce a throng that was equally determined not to be pierced, I at last reached the wharf, it was to behold her, just as I had fancied in my wildest moments, leaning on a rail of the ship and listening, while she abstractedly waved her hand to some friends below, to the words of the man who had never looked so handsome to me or so odious as at this moment of his unconscious triumph. Her father was near her, and from his eager attitude and rapidly wandering gaze I saw that he was watching for me. At last he "Ah, Dick, you are late," he began, effusively, as I put foot on deck. But I waved him back and went at once to Dora. "Forgive me, pardon me," I incoherently said, as her sweet eyes rose in startled pleasure to mine. "I would have brought you flowers, but I meant to sail with you, Dora, I tried to—but wretches, villains, prevented it and—and—" "Oh, it does not matter," she said, and then blushed, probably because the words sounded unkind, "I mean—" But she could not say what she meant, for just then the bell rang for all visitors to leave, and her father came forward, evidently thinking all was right between us, smiled benignantly in her face, gave her a kiss and me a wink and disappeared in the crowd that was now rapidly going ashore. I felt that I must follow, but I gave her one look and one squeeze of the hand, and then as I The look of amazement and chagrin with which her father met my reappearance on the dock can easily be imagined. "Why, Dick," he exclaimed, "aren't you going after all? I thought I could rely on you. Where's your pluck, lad? Scared off by a frown? I wouldn't have believed it, Dick. What if she does frown to-day; she will smile to-morrow." I shook my head; I could not tell him just then that it was not through any lack of pluck on my part that I had failed him. When I left the dock I went straight to a restaurant, for I was faint as well as miserable. But my cup of coffee choked me and the rolls and eggs were more than I could face. Rising impatiently, I went out. Was any one more wretched than I that morning and could any one nourish a more bitter grievance? As I strode towards my lodgings I chewed the cud "Was the man who came for you a German?" one asked. I said "Yes." "And the man who stood guardian over you and entertained you with wine and cigars, was not he a German too?" I nodded acquiescence and they at once began to whisper together; then one of them advanced to me and said: "You have not been home, I understand; you had better come." Astonished by his manner I endeavored to inquire what he meant, but he drew me away, and not till we were within a stone's throw of my office did he say, "You must prepare yourself for a shock. The impertinences you suffered from last night were unpleasant no doubt, but if you had been allowed to return home, you might not now be deploring them in comparative peace and safety." "What do you mean?" "That your partner was not as fortunate as yourself. Look up at the house; what do you see there?" A crowd was what I saw first, but he made me look higher, and then I perceived that the windows of my room, of our room, were shattered and blackened and that part of the casement of one had been blown out. "A fire!" I shrieked. "Poor Richter was smoking—" "No, he was not smoking. He had no time for a smoke. An infernal machine burst in that room last night and your friend was its wretched victim." I never knew why my friend's life was made Have I lost Dora? From a letter I received to-day I begin to think not. |
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