Marion Marlowe in Chicago, or, Trapped by a Lunatic — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

=> could see that the cab had turned in quite an- _ other direction. The streets were growing even rougher, _ and the buildings on either side looked ram- _ _ bling and dilapidated, while only a few of the _ straggling gas lamps were lighted. 7 Where was he taking her, and what could _ she do? | _ She asked herself these questions over and _ over, but could find no answer. The mad- ’ man had drawn back in the cab and was mut- -tering to himself. After that first definite _ statement, his mind seemed to wander. _ Marion could not frame a word; she was _ too thoroughly alarmed, and, moreover, she _ was saving all her strength to be ready for what might follow. , Once she thought of crying out to the _ driver to come to her aid, but then the thought _ flashed instantly into her mind that it would be of no avail, inasmuch as he had’ been hired __ by Preston to follow her cab and was prob- __ ably his accessory in whatever crime was in- tended. For it was perfectly plain to the young girl that this was a deliberate plot. The name of “Jack Hart” and the “personal” in the paper _ were conclusive evidence, even to her un- _ trained detective instincts. # “a Poor Mr. Temple! If he had fallen into _ a madman’s plot, it was not strange that he was lost in oblivion! And to think that she could not go to him now! Could not even _ determine if he were really in that hospital ! The thought came to her with terrible bitter- ness, even in her perilous position, for she _ knew exactly how he must be suffering, if he were alive and conscious—not over his own condition, but over the sorrows of those who grieved at his absence. This fiend who sat beside her must have hated him bitterly; but what had she ever done to injure the fellow? es _ She had merely given evidence in the case where she, herself was the victim, and against the man who was so nearly her mur- derer. But he was surely insane! There was no: denying that! The courts had decided it at the very first hearing, and now she had only 0 look at the ghastly face and fiery eyeballs *. MY QUEEN. 18 and listen to his mutteringss to realize his true condition, He had not been so bad when she entered the carriage, but the excitement of his plans had been too much for him, and he was rap- idly degenerating from a cunning plotter to the realms of idiocy. . Marion had heard of these cases, but now she stared in horror. In all her thrilling ex- periences she had never been in such a posi- tion, for she was in reality the prisoner of a madman in one of the worst quarters of a strange city. She watched him narrowly, hoping—she hardly knew. what! Perhaps he would lapse into stupidity or into total unconsciousness. Either condition would allow her to make her escape, provided the cab driver had no interest besides that of making money. In the midst of her fearful reflections, she suddenly caught a full sentence from the madman’s lips, and even in her own fright- ful peril she felt a twinge of pity for him. “An innocent girl! I killed an innocent girl!” he muttered, hoarsely; then he flung up both hands and clutched frantically at his hair as he finished the sentence. “And her ghost has haunted me ever since! My God in Heaven! She is beside me this minute!” Marion’s white lips parted. She could not bear to see his agony. Summoning all her courage, she leaned forward and touched him. - “T am not dead, Mr. Preston,” she said, in a trembling whisper. “I am alive and well. You did not kill me!” 3 Percy Preston locked his hands together and glared at her in horror: it was his only intimation that he even heard her. “Oh, Mr. Preston!” she went on, more bravely; “where are you taking me? Please listen to me a minute, won’t you, Mr. Pres- ton P” Her eyes shone with €agerness as their gaze was bent upon his face, and this in- tensity seemed to calm the fellow. A little of the fear left the staring eyes, and he was able to gaze at her fixedly for a minute. “T “want you to tell the driver to take us to the Sheltering tee TIMIC LOOKS IEO im