The Argosy for May — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

NOT FOR SALE. him under the arms, dragged him into safety. Then he lifted his lantern to the sweat- ing, haggard face of the man he had rescued, to see whom it might be, but there was a startled gasp behind him from Muriel, and, with a glad cry of ‘Laszlo! Laszlo!” he saw her gather the stranger in her arms. CHAPTER XXII. IN FRIENDLY CLASP. ‘“CHEGNAY?” incredulously demand- ed the captain of the air-ship. Laszlo, faint and exhausted though he was, straightened up and threw one arm protectingly about Muriel’s shoulder. ‘Yes; Chegnay,” he panted. “ Here, at any cost, to demand where you are taking my affianced wife!” He looked so fierce, so ready to spring upon the other in a savage out- burst, that Muriel hurriedly thrust her- self between them. . “But, Laszlo, Laszlo,’’ she protested eagerly, “you are making a great mis- take. I am going with Captain von Altdorff of my own free will. There are excellent reasons for—’’ ‘No doubt,” sneeringly. ‘“ But I do not think those ‘excellent reasons’ of his will satisfy me. He will have to explain more fully why he has tried to put this shame upon an_ honorable woman, and the one, too, to whom I am . betrothed.” ‘Hush, Laszlo,” and she placed an imperatively silencing hand against his lips. ‘We have all cruelly misjudged Captain von Altdorff, and you are still doing so. He has intended no injury to me, and he is in great trouble. He is taking me to the death-bed of the woman he loves as much as you do me. ‘Yes, it is the girl you knew as Joy Van Brunt, but who is really Muriel Bonner, the actress. He has loved her, and only her all the time; and now she is lying alarmingly ill, with but faint hope for her recovery. She sent for me to come to her, and that is why [ have accompanied him upon this trip.” ‘And you believe such a trumped-up story?’ broke in her lover, frankly skep- tical. -“ Why—” 31d But again she laid her hand upon his mouth. ““T have the letter in her own hand- writing,” she said. Then she drew him a little to one side. “Tt is a long story you have to hear, dear,” she continued, a touch of gentle reproof in her tone. “ Full of ,miscon- ceptions and misunderstandings—yes, and of follies, perhaps; but it will do no good to your comprehension of it con- stantly to interrupt, or to scout at the truth of everything in it which may sound strange te you. So, you must listen quietly until the end,-and then you can either believe or disbelieve, as you see fit. But, if I know you rightly, you will decide at its conclusion that a sin- cere apology is due from you to Captain von Altdorff.” Accordingly, his hand tucked: in hers, he kept silence while she unfolded to him a revelation of all that had taken place. She told him first of the interchange fof identities between herself and her cousin and of the reasons which had brought it about; and although he had heard it all from Caxton before, he would not mar the sweetness of her con- fession by letting her know for a moment that it was a twice-told tale. Then, when suitable absolution and forgiveness had been granted under cover of the darkness, she took up the story of “Joy’s” love-affair, and showed him plainly that there had never been any real question of rivalry between himself and Von Altdorff. “He has loved her from the begin- ning,” said Muriel, “ just as you have loved me; and when he believed, from papa’s blundering answer, that he had lost her, he was roused to a pitch of jealous frenzy, just as you would have been if you thought you had lost me. “She came to the Arsenal that: very morning and, unfortunately, saw fit to coquette with him. A balloon was short- ly to be sent up. Roused almost to the point of distraction, maddened by her seeming rebuffs, he induced her to enter the basket ; then took her aloft with him, and carried her away. None but a few of his workmen were about, and he could trust them to keep silence. ““He took her to an estate of his, a ComiGcbdooks