Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/239

Rh fallen without help. She is mine; I shall marry her."

"You shall not."

"I shall."

A shot rang through the room. Hugh flung the smoking gun from him, his face white as death.

"My God, Ernest!" he gasped.

Ernest fixed him with his eyes.

"Be more careful with loaded guns," he smiled, "or there may be an ugly accident some day, awkward for you to explain."

But Hugh had marched from the room. All that night he rode like a madman over the country-side, and when he reached home at dawn his horse staggered beneath him, covered with sweat. Before the sun was up, Hugh was prowling about the house where his love slept. He watched the silent building till it woke from its slumbering. One by one the blinds were drawn up, like eyes slowly opening to the light. The front door opened, and dogs rushed forth, barking in their scramble of joyful liberty. He sat in the rose garden and waited. He knew Maud loved the roses, and tended them every day when she had