The world destroyer
The world destroyer
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Excerpt:
It, at last, became evident to me that the whole world was wrong, but you may guess that this was after a bitter struggle. Why, even after the shock of my father's death, when I fainted and got that terrible cut on the forehead, I was still ready to believe that all men were good. " It surely could not be," I said to myself, "that that old grey-haired man, Philip Winship, was guilty of such a dastardly act!
Why he had been my father's life-long companion and business partner! Surely he could not have been the cause of his death!" Ah, I remember that night well, when it all happened! It was a time when we entertained at our house, and Alice Winship and I were to announce our engagement. I had secretly seen that all our closest friends were gathered there, and we were to hold high revelry.
Then I discovered that the man of all men, to whom I wished to announce the engagement, was not present. Telephone connections were cut off from his club, but it being only a short distance away, I put on my great coat to step over there. I might have known that something would happen from the very nature of the night. Inside everything had seemed warm and beautiful; but outside the night was terrible — bitter cold, and dark and stormy.
The wind swept down the dark canyons of the city streets in great rattling gusts, wrenching at every available object, roof, and shutter, and door, hurling its weapons headlong into my path. The fine, lifted snow struck my face and eyes like a shower of arrows; the sting of the cold penetrated to the bone. I braced myself for renewed effort when a lull in the wind let me fall to my face. I heard the wild cry of the night renew itself over my head. It was a cry of laughter — too shrill and terrible for the mere play of winds. I could not find him, and as I left the club to return, I blamed myself for not taking a cab. It was as if I felt my way along the wall of the street till I came to our home.
As I pushed up the steps and through the swinging storm doors, the same wild cry of the night followed me viciously through the cracks. But I stamped the snow from my feet and laughed aloud. This kind of thing would do very well on open sea or land, but inside was the little comer of paradise it could not touch. Surely my father was in there now.
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