Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/76

"Late in the afternoon I went down to the circus. I half hoped, and yet I feared, to meet Mr. Ferris. More than once I thought of turning back, but I felt that I must go on and learn my fate. I passed in unnoticed, and made my way along the gloomy passages without coming across a soul.

"My heart gave a wild throb."

"When I got inside, the sight of the great empty space before me sent a cold chill through me. I was so accustomed to the blaze of lights, the loud music of the band, and the throng of eager spectators, that I shuddered as I looked around the bare, deserted building. The silence was awful!

"Suddenly my eyes fell upon the figure of a man. He was standing with one foot on the rail that surrounded the track—his elbow on his knee, and his chin in his hand—gazing sadly into the ring. My heart gave My heart gave a wild throb; it was Gilbert Ferris!

"I must have made some hasty movement, for he turned round sharply. I crouched close into the band-stand, trembling with doubt and fear. He looked at me long and steadily—and, oh! what a look that was! Then, without a word, he turned on his heel and walked away. I think he must have partly guessed the truth.

"If he had cursed me, struck me—aye, even stabbed me!—I could have borne it; I could have gone on my knees and kissed his hand! But that look—that look of loathing and contempt—struck home to very heart! I knew it was my death sentence; I felt it would kill me sooner or later. And it has nearly done so already!

"I managed to get through the inquest without suspicion. But I didn't much care how the matter went; it wouldn't have troubled me if I had been arrested and tried for murder. When all was over, I went and joined a wretched travelling circus. My health soon broke down, and I came back here to die!"

A death-like silence followed. The effort of