The Argosy — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

65 Meee MISSING) KG SBPbES. BY SARAH DOUDNEY. Gai-A PT bh Re JUST IN TIME. sh Wry is he standing there? What can he be going to do?” The words broke involuntarily from Beatrice Ward’s lips when she first caught sight of that solitary figure on the embankment. He stood quite motionless, with folded arms, and eyes looking dreamily across the tranquil meadows, as if he were taking in all the freshness and beauty of the sunrise. ‘There was nothing extraordi- nary in this quiet survey of the landscape; but he had chosen a terrible spot for a halting-place. A man who simply desired to enjoy the charm of the scenery would hardly have stationed himself in the middle of the line when the down train would be coming along in a few minutes. And yet, although the face was still and pale, it gave no indication of the purpose that was in his mind. It was a young face, worn with many sorrows and stamped with habitual melancholy. But it wore to-day a quiet, musing look that did not betray the faintest sign of his determination to die. It was too early for people to be walking in the lanes and fields ; as yet no smoke had begun to curl upward from the chimneys of the nearest cottages, and Beatrice and the stranger seemed to be all alone in the pleasant summer dawn. Both were on the point of a leave-taking. She was saying a silent farewell to the familiar scenes of her childhood ; he was bidding good-bye to a world that had not used him over kindly. Her eyes had been bent upon the grass at her feet, and she had looked up suddenly and seen him standing on the line. And then in an instant the truth had come to her with the swiftness of a lightning flash. Beatrice Ward was a girl who often doubted herself, and was some- times diffident when she should have been bold. Bue to-day sve never thought of stifling her instincts. Just at this spot the fence that parted the field from the embank- ment had been broken down; and it was the work of a few moments to rush through the long grass, climb the bank, and stand face to face with the man, with her hand upon his arm, and her eyes looking bravely into his. “Come away,” she said firmly. ‘Come away! The train will be here in a minute or two. I tell you that you must come!” He glanced at her absently at first, with the air of one who had been disturbed in a day-dream. And then, slowly realising her desire © VOL. XLIII. F CoOmicbooks vn