with fear
and horror, looking first upon him and then upon the picture.

The silence of the night was unbroken save by those slow footsteps in
the street to which I had listened before retiring. But suddenly I heard
a low wailing cry in the room adjoining ours. It so startled me that
I came near dropping the lamp. Strange and weird it sounded, gradually
growing shriller and more terrible to hear! It was the voice of my
stepmother. Was she dreaming? And had Rayel seen the vision that
affrighted her? Was that dagger pricking her brain? In a moment the
swelling cry broke into a sharp scream, such as might come from one
exposed to sudden peril, and ceased. Then the sound of a bell rang
sharply through the house, followed by loud knocking at the door and a
man's shout.

"Open the door, I command you!" he said.

He must have heard that piercing cry. Rayel still lay motionless upon
the floor. Was he asleep? Why did he not rise? I began to feel numb. I
seemed to have lost the power of motion. I could hear some one rapping
at our door, but I could not move.

"Kendric! Kendric! Kendric!" Was it my stepmother who was calling me?
What a piteous, pleading tone! "Let me speak to you, Kendric! For God's
sake, let me tell you!" I was reeling: my strength had all left me.
Crash! went the lamp at my feet. There was a great flash of light, which
dazzled my eyes, and I fell heavily upon the floor.

I was in the open air when thought and feeling came back to me. My hands
and face were paining me as if they had been terribly burned. There were
a number of men standing over a motionless figure that lay beside me.

"The poor lad!" said one of the men "he's nearly roasted. See here
how the clothes have been burned away from his neck! Can't ye stop the
blood? The mon'll die afore the amb'lance comes ef we don't stop the
blood. A brave mon he is, too. D'ye see 'im coming down the stairs with
th' other one on his back?"

Of whom were they talking? I struggled to my feet--I could feel no pain
now--and bent over that still form which had been lying beside me. Oh!
it was the heaven-blessed face of Rayel, now bleeding and scarred and
ghastly. I raised his head. The hair fell away where my hand touched it,
and a groan escaped his lips. I could not speak nor weep nor utter
any sound. A strange calmness came over my spirit and I sat there
motionless, bending over him I loved so well, while the crowd of men
looked on in silence. "After His own ima