Then it descended leisurely to the floor below, and from a cupboard produced some scraps of food, which it proceeded to consume, after which it returned to the stable, extinguished the lantern, lay down upon its bed of straw and slept. How long it slept, Allan could not tell, but at last it arose, gathered the straw under one arm, and with the lantern swinging from the other hand, returned to the house. A portion of the straw was added to the pile of rubbish in the cellar, and the rest of it to the pile on the floor above. Then, the idiot opened the lantern and poured over the pile the kerosene which remained in it. Finally, with a devilish leer, he struck a match and touched it to the straw.
For a moment he sat feeding the flames carefully, his face more demoniac than ever in the red shadows which danced over it. Then, closing the door, he proceeded to the cellar and set fire to the rubbish there, and, finally, left the house and sat down on a little hummock of earth outside. Allan watched the flame grow and grow, the straw throwing off a dense cloud of smoke as it burned; he saw himself awaken, crawl to the door, along the hall, to the stairs; saw himself pitch headforemost through the darkness—
And he started awake to find Mamie’s arms about him, and her dear face above him—
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FOR an instant, Mamie bent above him, gazing down at him, her face very tender; then she made as though to draw away, but Allan threw his arm about her and held her tight.
“Is it a dream?” he asked, “or is it really you, Mamie?”
“Oh, it isn’t a dream,” she answered, laughing.
He drew a deep breath of relief as he looked up at her, and then glanced about the familiar room.
“I’ve dreamed so many times,” he said, “and always you were bending over me—a sort of guardian angel—‘guarding me, out of all the world.’”
Her colour heightened and her eyes grew bright.
“It’s sweet of you to say that,” she said.
“Yes—I thought I was still in that old stone house. And I was crying for you, Mamie!”
“Yes, for you—just as I have done a dozen times before.”
He stopped for an instant and gazed up into her eyes, and his lips were trembling.
“Do you know why, Mamie?” he asked, at last. “Can’t you guess why?”