Day and Night Stories

sing a few of them should have registered experiences of a novel order. For to step aside from Self is to enter a larger world, t

r a moment, or whether the tension of long and terrible months resulted in an exaltation of emotion, the experience claims significa

ge affairs betrayed this malicious tendency of the gods. It showed itself in earliest days, at school, at Cambridge, in travel, even in house-parties and the lighter social intercourse. Though distant cousins, their families were not intimate, and there was no obvious reason why their paths should fall so persistently together. Yet their paths did so, crossing and recrossing in the way described. Sooner or later, in all his undertakings, Smith would note the shadow o

on the other hand, was conscious of a depth and strength in the tie that certainly intrigued him; being of a thoughtful, introspective nature, he was keenly sensible of the strange competition in their lives, and sought in various ways for its explanation, though wi

the origin of their tie and rivalry might be, but especially why it was that he invariably lost, and why he was so often obliged to help his rival to the point e

party, too, angry at being dragged into the case, turned hostile to him, thwarting various subsequent projects. In no other way could Jones have procured this particular evidence; he did not know of its existence even. Th

whispering in the depths of him, became much louder, grew into a statement that he accepted without further ado: "I'm paying off a debt," he phrased it, "an old, old debt is being discharged. I owe him this-my help and so forth." H

d join the very regiment he himself was in. They trained together, were in the same retreats and the same advances together. Their friendship deepened. Under the str

portunities of advantage presented itself which only the highest courage could make use of. Neither, certainly, was thinking of personal reward; it was merely that each saw the chance by which instant heroism might gain a surprise advantage for their side. The risk was heavy, but there was a chance; and success would mean a decisive result, to say nothing of high distinction for the man who obtained it-if he survived. Smith, being a few yards ahead of his cousin, had the moment in his grasp. He was in the act of dashing

des!" He was, further, aware of another impulse than the obvious one. In the first fraction of a second it was overwhelmingly established. And it was this: that the entire episode was familiar to him. A subtle familiarity was present. All this had happened before. He had already-somewhere, somehow-seen death descending upon his cousin from the air. Yet with a difference. The "difference" escaped him; the familiarity was vivid.

y "decorated," it seemed, having snatched success from his cousin's hands, while little aware whose help had made it easier.?... And once again there sto

l, honest repayment of a debt incurred. Some ancient balance of account was being settled; there was no "chance"; injustice and caprice played

und of busy footsteps in the ward: "

re of things he could not quite account for. He saw. It was absolutely real. Only, the critical faculty was gone. He did not question what he saw, as he stared across at his cousin's bed. He knew. Perhaps the beaten, worn-out body let something through at last. The

ainty that left no room for doubt. It was not the cells of memory in his brain of To-day that

And the little lamp, the sheets, the figure framed between them-all these slid cleverly away and vanished utterly. He stood in another place that had lain behind all these appearances-a landscape with wooded hills, a foaming river, the sun just sinking below the forest, and dusk creeping from a gorge along the lonely banks. In the warm air there was a perfume of great flowers and heavy-scented trees; there were fire-flies, and the

sterday, he knew that it was of long, long ago.?... And his brother came up close beside him, resting his bloody spear with a clattering sound against the boulders on the shore. He saw the gleaming of the metal in the sunset,

is brother. "Yet I know

ply. "Besides, we came down wind, thus giving i

laughed si

she waits for me by the fire across the river, and that I would get to her. With your help added to my love," he went on in a trusting voice, "the gods have shown m

at he desired go down in ashes.?... He watched his brother stride towards the water, the deer-skin cast across one naked shoulder-when another object caught his practised eye. In mid-air it passed suddenly, like a shining gleam; it seemed to hang a second; then it swept swif

sed. He heard the roar, the ugly thud, the crash, the cry for help-too late ... and when, an instant afterwards, his steel plunged into the great beast's heart, the human heart and life he might have saved lay still for ever.?... He heard the water rushing past, an icy wind came down the gorge against his n

"May the gods forgive me, for I did not mean it!

, and that something she gave him soothed his violent pain and helped him into deeper sleep again. There was, he noticed, anyhow, no longer

He believed that he understood at last the meaning of the tie that had fettered him and puzzled him so long. The memory of those far-off days of shepherding beneath the stars

that was a brave man's love. He watched over his cousin. In the fighting especially, when possible, he sought to protect and shield him, regardless of his own personal safety

ancient, primitive days when he and his brother were shepherding beneath other stars. But the reckless heroism which saved his cousin under fire may later enshrine another memory wh