Page:Episodes-before-thirty.djvu/144

Rh dream again. I could hear his soft tread as his stockinged feet gripped the cable that swayed slightly as it sagged to the centre half way across. The sound, the figure came nearer; it came at me; it--was not Dixon after all. It was Boyde.... Then, as he moved with slow, creeping tread, nearer, ever nearer, I perceived suddenly that the rope was gone. There was no rope. He walked on empty air towards me--towards--me. I was appalled, speechless, paralyzed. That figure walking on space, walking towards me, walking remorselessly nearer was terrible.... The next second the door opened and Boyde stood peering at me round the edge, his boots in his hands.

One morning, tired of learning the "Witch of Islam" by heart, I leaned over the bed, and something in the waste-paper basket close beside it caught my eye; a scrap of coloured paper--several scraps--pink. Looking nearer, I saw it was a torn-up cheque. Without any particular interest at first I stared at the unfamiliar thing, wondering vaguely how it came to be there. Only after this casual inspection did it occur to me as being rather odd. A cheque! What was it? Whose was it? How did it come to be there, torn up in my waste-paper basket? It was a long time since I had seen such a thing as a cheque; and idly, with no more curiosity than this, I lay gazing at the scraps of coloured paper.

The basket lay within easy reach; I stretched out an arm and picked it up; I emptied the contents on the white counterpane; I sorted out the coloured scraps from among the general litter. The scraps were small, and the puzzle amused me. It was a long business. Bit by bit the cheque took shape. The word "Toronto" was the first detail that caught my attention closer. Presently, fitting three tiny scraps together, I saw to my surprise a name in full--Arthur Glyn Boyde. Another little group made "Kay." A third read "Seventy Five Dollars." My interest increased with every moment, till at last the complete cheque lay pieced together before my eyes.

It was drawn by Kay on my old Toronto bank for the Rh