Page:By Sanction of Law.pdf/221

 "Well, Dear, I must close now. I hear my father still pacing the floor below and it is almost three o'clock. I shall try to sleep for I know tomorrow will be a hard day for me. I shall dream of you, however, and the time when we shall be together. I am so lonesome, Truman—lonesome for you. I would ask you to come to me so that we two could fight and master the situation together, I am so weak! But I know what a danger that would be for you and so I must bear it alone. I shall be brave for your sake, though, and our love shall carry us on."

She signed, sealed and closed the letter, then without calling for her maid, whom she had dismissed long ago, she prepared for bed. Daylight was streaking across the southern sky, however, before she was able to close her eyes. It was far toward mid-day when she awoke with a start, conscious even before she opened her eyes that someone was in her room. She slowly opened her eyes to look into the fiery orbs of her father. He had finished reading her letter of the night before. Her face flushed in anger at the intrusion and the discourtesy of the act of opening the letter, even though the act was performed by her father.

For several moments the two stood gazing at each other, the father's look being one of menace and threat, the girl's that of anger. Suddenly Colonel Lauriston's face became so distorted with rage that he seemed another man. He stepped to the bed. Lida did not flinch or avert her gaze, though believing, in his madness, he was about to do her harm. She was the first to speak.