1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



19 



She was uear the gate leading to the 

 road, and ifc was opeu, for the cows hud 

 goue that way to the farmyard, aud in 

 June, 189^, gates thut it was not an 

 imperative necessity to shut remained 

 opeu for coolness' sake. 



And here the Adelphi melodrama 

 Dame in, and through the open gate, 

 too, heralded by "shouts outside" — a 

 strange heart sickening chimor coming 

 ap from the hush of evening distance — 

 hoarse, scared yells, and the tramp of 

 running feet and confused directions ap- 

 parently issiied in many voices. Aud 

 through the open gate a horror rushed, 

 a creature with dripping jaws and star- 

 ing eyes, a big, black retriever, bearhig 

 in its strange, altered state but little 

 resemblance to the friendly, kindly dog 

 of a few days back, aud at its heels a 

 concourse of men armed with sticks and 

 farm implements and any weapon that 

 could be hastily snatched up, but none, 

 alas, with a gun. 



Evey Lancaster, revolver in hand, 

 with shells still remaining in a couple 

 of chambers, saw the mad dog enter the 

 meadow and make straight across it out 

 over the sunburned grass to where Ed- 

 ward Yereker was walking toward the 

 target. She was under the shadows of 

 the hedge, broadside on, as it were, aud 

 the dog never noticed her. 



Edward Vereker turned ou his heel at 

 the sound of the uoise at the gate, and, 

 like Evey, took in the situation at a 

 i_glauce. But he was absolutely unarm- 

 ed — he had not even a stick, and he 

 was alone in the midst of a wide field 

 •with death in its foulest form not 80 

 yards from him. 



Then Evev Lancaster, from where sho 

 «iieit on Tne grass under the heage, 



took aim aud fired. She was his friend 



and knew that his life was at stake, 



and that quickened the presence o'i 



mind aud the courage within her. She 



was made of British stuff, and that 



steadied the shakiug hand and kept the 



revolver straight, aud though the first 



bullet went wide the second carried 



true, and the mad dog, with a hideous 



yell, dropped disabled with a shatterc d 



shoulder not 15 paces from him. Then 



the crowd closed in and put an end ro 



everytliing. 



Five minutes later Edward Vereker 



and the woman who had saved him, 



leaving the excited villagers still clus- 



tered round the horror on the grass, 

 went back into the garden. 



It was as much as she could do to 

 walk now that the strain was past, be- 

 ing only a woman after all, aud the 

 green garden was going round aud 

 round in a dim mist that smelled of 

 gunpowder and grew blacker at every 

 Step. 



He saw her falter aud stop and was 

 only in time to catch her in his arms to 

 prevent her collapsing ou the lawn at 

 his feet. The earth aud sky might 

 wheel aud melt into a blackening mist 

 at will, but a pair of stroug arms were 

 round her and her cheek on a protecting 

 shoulder. 



Stroug emotions make us view tho 

 world in a distorted light with our men- 

 tal as well as our bodily eyes, and the re 

 was no David in the green garden 1 3- 

 hind the high hedge, only a brave vf > 

 man, weak and trembling, with her 

 head on the breast of the man she had 

 rescued from worse than death — the 

 mau who called her "Evey, my dar- 

 ling," and passionately kissed her. 



David Lancaster came home iu the 

 gloamiug Lj^lf an hour later, with a 

 piece of salmon in a bass bag and the 

 fifth Globe with all the latest cricket in 

 it, 



Evey, up at her window, white and 

 tremLlicg still, watching with half 

 averted eyes a figiire pacing up and 

 down under the cedars, saw her husband 

 coming in at the gate, saw him join the 

 restless figure aud tramp up and down 

 in company aud knew the story was be- 

 ing told him, for with a kiss had come 

 awakening and shame, as it came with 

 the kuo.. ledge of good and evil into the 

 first garden. 



Seme time later the two men came 

 back to the house, aud Evey's preter- 

 naturally sharpeued ears heard Edward 

 ascend to his own room aud David turn 

 down the passage to come to hers. She 

 stood in the middle of the floor in her 

 white gown, her hair slightly ruffled, 

 her face drawn with the stress of emo- 

 tion which she had undergone, her 

 hands — those little hands that had done 

 so much — hanging limply by her side. 

 And David opeued the door and came in. 



She could not look at his face, but she 

 understood as he walked across th room 



