trolled himself, remembering that he, for the moment, was host.
‘ ‘ The wind blew your oration into the fire when I opened the
door,” said Stanford hesitatingly, for he was unnerved by the
look in Radcliff’s face.
• “ I thank you for rescuing it,” replied Radcliff, with the coldest
sarcasm.
Furiously stung by the tone, Stanford was on the point of
throwing the paper back into the grate.
" Won’t you be seated? ” said Radcliff icily.
Stanford dared not trust himself to reply, and, turning abruptly,
left the house.
Instead of giving up in despair, as might be expected, the out
come of Harry’s unfortunate visit to Radcliff’s was to arouse a
stubborn determination to live down the bad feeling against him,
and he wrote a letter to Radcliff explaining fully the suspicious
circumstances under which they had last met, but received no re
ply. However, the annoyance seemed to cease, and Harry began
to hope that he was to be let alone in the future; but three nights
afterward he found that he was sadly mistaken.
Tate in the evening he was hurrying home from a lecture
which he had attended at the college. The streets were dimly
lighted, especially in the part of the town where he roomed. As
he was passing a dark alley suddenly he heard footsteps behind
him. He turned quickly about, and the next instant was seized
by a dozen strong arms, a handkerchief was tied over his eyes,
and he was hurried rudely away.
After a long, tedious tramp, which seemed to him to be miles,
they stopped and the blindfold was torn away. He was standing
upon a railroad track, surrounded by fifteen or twenty men with
masks pulled low over their faces. After a moment of intense
silence, during which Harry could almost hear his heart beat,
one of them, in a hoarse and unnatural tone, began to speak.
“ Sir, are you Harry Stanford ?”
Harry was tempted to deny his identity, but replied as steadily
as he could “ I am.”
“Then you must die! Repent! And remember that the great
est offence you ever committed was your cowardly, vile betrayal
of Ralph Stewart. For every second you deprived of at
tendance at college that noble man you shall spend qn eternity in
The Free Lance.
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