Isabel Ostrander

“ It was Lorna.
"Hush!" she breathed. She was wrapped in a shapeless gown of some soft gray material, and even in the dim, half-light I could see that her face was ghastly, and disfigured by great bruises and discolorations. "Don't make a sound, Maida!"
She closed the door softly behind her, and felt her way in the darkness to my side. Then, as if faint she sank down beside me and her icy hand clasped mine convulsively.
"Listen to me! I am going to help you! You shall leave this place! Your lover shall take you away, and they may suffer the consequences. I care not!" ”

“ Had Gilbert tried to force his way into the house to my rescue, and been attacked and overpowered? Had he contrived instead to leave the island, and summon help from the mainland? I had heard no sound of an approaching boat. If I could only know what had taken place!
My self-control gave way under the strain of the long hours of fear and suspense and I beat frantically upon the heavy door with all my strength, crying out as loudly as I could, but no one came to me, no further sound from without broke the deathlike stillness. ”

“ Jack Horton had played so small a part in his life in the all but forgotten college days that the reminiscences had awakened no responsive chord. Hungry as he had been for human companionship in his despondency, the commonplace, cocksure stranger who spoke with the easy familiarity of an old friend had bored and slightly repelled him until he displayed his treasure. Even then he had not become a personality, but merely a wall of flesh and blood which stood between Storm and that which became in a twinkling of an eye imperative to his whole future existence. ”

“ Those are just a few of the questions you will ask yourself, as you rush through this baffling tale of mystery piled upon mystery. It's a breathless book—a story in which action never ceases for a moment, and whose outcome you never suspect until the last big moment of struggle when mystery ceases to be mystery, and you breathe the contented sigh that comes at the end of a good story well told—and thoroughly enjoyed. ”

“ She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones. Even from that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn’t the same Jim.
Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and, descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the bleaching grass to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned all at once to a black shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently that she had never seen it nor those rich people who had come to make a mock of it, but had stayed to applaud Jim. ”

“ Terhune's voice broke in upon that other eerie once, and his droning note had changed. Into its monotone there crept a breathless quality as of suspense, and it rose in a crescendo of swift, dramatic fervor. "He tries to take her in his arms, but she repulses him, at first gently, then imperiously. He becomes enraged, she defies him! See! He is advancing upon her with menace in every line of his crouched figure! She tries to elude him, to escape, but he seizes her! They struggle, she is fighting for her life!" ”

“ Limasito's principal street was well-nigh deserted in the lethargy of the noon-day siesta, but the flower-market was a riotous blaze of color in the glistening white plaza, from which radiated broad vistas of fantastically painted adobe and soberer concrete, ending in a soft green blur.
The young petroleum engineer had pictured a ten-year-old boom town in the Mexican oil belt as a wilderness of rough shacks and board sidewalks, with possibly a dancehall or two and an open-air movie as the only attractions, and the thriving little city had proved a welcome surprise. ”

“ I heard Laddie growl ominously, then a revolver shot rang out and hard upon it a sharp yelp of agony from the dog, and afterwards—silence.
I cowered down and covered my face with my trembling hands.
"Laddie," I moaned. "Poor, poor Laddie! Little true friend, they have killed you, too!"
I sat there listening through all the long hours of that night, but no further sound broke the stillness save the sighing of the wind in the trees, and that died down in the hush before the dawn. I did not sleep, but I think my senses must have left me mercifully for a time. ”

“ Surely no suspicion could attach to him for that! It was public property, the path was free to all and there would be nothing strange about a midnight stroll after the terrific heat of the day should anyone chance to cross his path.
Could he do it? Could he bring himself to walk slowly, steadily up that incline, to pass without faltering that place against the wall where Horton’s body had crumpled; to go on without a backward glance into the shadows that would lurk behind? Surely no other man in the world would dare such a supreme test of his fortitude, his strength! ”

“ I saw no letter, no one. I only know that when it was all over and the guests departed, I went to Madame's room to arrange her for the night and found her huddled upon the hearth before the little grate fire in her sitting-room in a worse state of collapse than I had ever seen her. She did not hear me when I spoke to her, did not seem to know me when I touched her, and the face she lifted to mine was like the face of one already dead; all but her eyes! They were bright and gleaming with a—a terrible light in them! Mon Dieu! ”

“ The sill of the museum window was within reach when the bending supports of the ladder emitted a warning crack and McCarty with a quick swing of his shoulder dropped the bag of bricks with a squelching thud and crash into the mud below. The sudden release from weight made the light ladder rebound so swiftly that the climber was almost jarred from his place, but he held on tenaciously. It had been a close call, but he had pushed his experiment to the limit of safety and for a moment he clung there gazing down with immense satisfaction at the bricks tumbling in all directions from the burst bag. ”

“ But a woman like that—a hand that caresses you and strikes in the dark! A creature who worms herself into your confidence under the guise of friendship and then betrays you! Such a person is unspeakably low and vile, and a coward, too."
"No!" cried Lorna. "Not a coward, at least! It is not cowardly to fight with the only weapons society has left you! If you have only your wits, you are not to blame if you are forced to use them, in any way you can!"
I looked at her curiously, surprised at her vehemence. "You're a queer girl, Lorna! Where do you ever get such funny thoughts?" ”

“ You like France, don't you?"
"Ah, yes, I love it!" cried Lorna, eagerly. "I would live there always, if I could, and never come to America. I mean to, some day."
I wondered if she referred to a possible marriage with Monsieur Pelissier. I hoped not, for I did not think he was the sort of man to make any girl happy. I fancied he could be cuttingly satirical, and even cruel, if he wished.
"France must be a fascinating country, of course," I said slowly. "But to leave America forever, not to want to see one's own country again, I can't imagine that!" ”

“ The bedroom into which they passed after a brief scrutiny was tragic in its little intimate hints of a vibrant, living presence; the gold toilet articles upon the dresser, the book open and face down on the table, a crumpled lace handkerchief, a faint perfume—the 'Rose d'Amour' of which the blind secretary had spoken—that still lingered in the air, the night-dress and tiny slippers which lay expectantly beside the turned-back covers of the bed. ”