A VISITOR FROM BEYOND.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13009, 10 January 1908, Page 10

A VISITOR FROM BEYOND.

• . By THEODORE WATTEAU. Raoul did iw>t understand what peculier motive it was that made him leave his clii'b early to rueh. homo to his •wife. Usually, he stayed in tibo club till midnight, and tihe fact that he went away early ffiis evening caused the greatest .surprise among his friends, and still it was neither a bad conscience Tior suspicion of his wife which troubled him. Mne. Dubuis was a very good wife, far too good, many thought, to be neglected by her husband who oared more for the club than for her. Luckily, however, she did not know that people felt that way, and as for herself, sho had never once complained about her husband, not even to her most intimate friends. What ccused Raoul to rush home was one of those irresistible impulses which suddenly take hold of a person, and Raoul wasted no time to try to find ouit what caused it. On the way home he thought tibat his wife would undoubtedly be surprised, -and was wondering what she would cay when edio caw him so early. Usually, she was sitting in the parlour, beneath the big lamp, working on some embroidery which never seemed finished. He wee co sure to find her sitting in the same position to-rtdght, that when he came in and found tho reception room deserted <uid dark, ho did not believe his own eyes. When he had recovered somewhat, he carefully sneaked across the floor in the darkness calling the name of his wife, but no enswor came. This began to worry him eC.no. He rsn against an arm-chair, threw him.«elf down into it, and began to think. Hie first- thoughts were unpleasant and dreary-, but when some time had passed, and he began to get used to tho darkness, he grew angry. "Where in the world could she have gone to? For the first time since, his marriage Uaoul discovered what his wife really meant to him. Even the day before, he had expressed his opinion that, the homo wns nothing but A temporary pLaco where you sleep, and where the wife looked after things. And now, it was suddenly eleir to him, that tho wife wns really the most important thing in the home, and that the home was consider ably more than he hod made it out to be. How terribly lonoorno he seemed to be without her! "Where in tihe world could she have cone to? And what right had the wife to the house in the evening, anyway? Surely it was not right of her, and he intended to let her know what he thought when she .should come bach. Of course, she had never done a thing like that before, never. And still, may bo she had. How could he know, he who never returned until after midnight? Perhaps—good Lord! Perhaps she was in the habit of doing it. Well, he would wait, and he would find out. He would know how to cure her of that. He grew more and more angry, when he had waited 15 minutes, pacing up and down the floor. When half an hour had passed, he clenched his fists, and when an hour had passed, he came near tearing out his hair, until he, quite exhausted, threw himself down into the chair once more, and soon fell asleep. How long he had slept he did not know. He woke up feeling very much oppressed, as if he had been sufferine

from a nightmare. Ho had dreamed nothing, but his head was all confused, and the absolute darkness ot the room increased the confusion ot his brain. It lasted possibly about a minute, until ho began to realise where lie was, and what he then saw was positively none of those peculiar illusions which present themselves to our minds as wo are temporarily dwelling on the threshold between being asleep and awake. In tho darkness in tho middle of the room, ho saw a round object, illuminated by a strange light. Wondering what this might be he looked at it closer, and discovered, to his surprise, that it was the face of a man illuminated by the light from a cigarette, which ho was puffing calmly. There was no doubt it was a man smoking, and every time ho took a whiff from the cigarette ho could almost distinguish every feature of the smoker's face. Raout was terror stricken, but kept perfectly quiet. He did not doubt that the man was a burglar, one of those daring, cool criminals who wanted to enjoy his cigarette in peace before ho started to plunder the house. That was all because his wife had dared to go out while he was in his club. Surely this would teach her a lesson. Again, Raoul stared into the darkness, endeavouring to get a bettor look of the strange face. But the man was evidently hcM'ing the cigarette between his fingers and he had to wait until it pleased him to take another puff. While he was waiting, ho wondered how he could overpower the fellow, and hoped that Providence would keep his wife away from homo until the affair was over. Juet ct this moment ho heard somebody noving about the room, and suddenly he heard tQio soft voice of his wife, coming from the bedroom, humming some love song. Great Gcd, she must have come home while he was asleep, and he made himself ready to throw himself upon the burglar, who, a<> he supposed, would now. endeavour to eectne. But, to his surprise, he sr.w that the rascal didn't seem even the least, bit nervous. He was so absolutely calm, that it jarred on Reoul'e nerves. And, nevertheless, ho hrd to Icngh a little to himself of • how he was preparing to jump upon the fellow, and thought of how scared he would be. when suddenly out of tho darkness, some invisible power had caught him. Bnt really was not it daaigrercue to jump et i man in tho darkness? Muybo it to, but the advantage was on his tide, and now ho just wanted to wait until he should take another whiff from the cigarette, that he inigiht be absolutely sure of his whereabouts. Now the lurgler took the cigarette between his lips. Evidently it was shorter now, for it illuminated the man's face brighter than before, and Reoul recojniiscd the face, and this fart filled him with a terrible suspicion, which ir-ade him quite weak awl powerless so that he momentarily was unable to move. The man whose face he saw, was Gerard, his old rival, wiho h«d been in love with his wife, while rllie woe still a schoolgirl. There was no doubt t!v\t it was he, and Rnoul re-n:c-.ii:u'd fitting in the ch-riir staring into the darkness, and trying to concentrflte. his thoughts. Xow it would b-o I'ecffstiry to use great caution, or he would t.poil everything. Again, he lieard his wife .humming in her bedroom. Humming mere lovo con v 2s, and the idea that t-.he wos net humming for him m«;de him wild. Once more the. cigarette moved, up and down, ouce more it turned white and rod. and once more ho saw tho face. Thero was no mistake, it was Gerard's face. The cigarette had burned co close down to the lips of the man that Raoul noticed even the of the face which seemed suddenly unnaturally calm, and oven cad, ns if the man were suffering. The expression of the face made a deep impression upon Raoul, and long after it had again grown dark around tihim he was thinking of it. What ho feared now was that Gerard would try to light another cigarette, and discover that he was not alone. He had always been a lover of melodramas, and it was his firm intention to wait until his wife should eonio into the room, and both of them be found together by him. Motionless, he waited in the darkness until he was ready to drop with nervous suspense. The sound of a match being struck in the next room aroused him from his thoughts. Immediately afterwards he heard his wife coming, and he couk. see from the light which fell through the crack under the door that she was carrying .1 lamp. The whole situation pleased him immensely now; be would remain absolutely quiet, and when she should enter the room with the lamp she would suddenly stand face to face with him and so-? that he had been a mute witness'ot' all that had happened. And then—then ii would be his turn.

Slowly his wife came toward the door. He could hear the train of her dress dragging over the carpet. . Then the door suddenly opened, and the bright light from the lamp illuminated every corner of the room. The young wife'looked beautiful as she stood there holding the lamp, but Raoul had no eye for beauty. He jumped to his feet and rushed at her like a wild man. His wife cried aloud in terror, and fell to the floor in a faint, breaking the lamp as she fell. During the short moment when she had been standing there, holding the lamp, Raoul had seen that Gerard, the man with tho oiirirette, was no longer there, and that he and his wife were, the only living beinzs in the room. The next dai - at the breakfast- table his wife handed him a cablegram from Guadalajara, in Mexico, announcing the death of Gerard in that city. Raoul did not dare to ask his wife anr questions, but he was very nervous as ho said to himself: "Good God, when I think of it that I intended to rush upon him in the darkness."