Mason, with the smoking pistol clenched in his hand, and with his left arm still pressed against his heart, walked over to the table and stood by it, leaning heavily upon it as he stared at the little group bending over his dead rival. At that moment the door was flung open and Marian, dressed as she had been at the dance, but with tear-stained face, frightened looks, and dishevelled hair, burst into the room. She happened to face Mason, and, her back being turned to the other end of the room, she did not see the body of Gardner. "I heard shots," she cried; "have they--where is he?" "Colonel and gentlemen," said Mason, faintly, coming forward with that left hand still pressed against his breast, "'tis an unseemly moment to announce it, but Miss Fletcher has honored me with a promise of herself to me to-night. We are----" The girl turned to him with a look of abject horror and repulsion. She screamed faintly. The man was half blind apparently; he did not seem to realize. "Have no fear for me, Marian dear," he went on, softly, "I am----" "What have you done?" she shrieked. "Where is Robert Gardner? 'Tis he I love, not you!" Her eyes instinctively followed the glances of those about her. "Oh!" she cried. "What is that? Robert! Oh, my God, and I have killed you!" Her voice rang through the room in such an awful note of agony that every man's heart stood still. The colonel moved toward her, but her living lover was quicker. He caught her arm. "Don't touch me!" she cried, shrinking away from him. "There is blood on your hand! His blood! You are a murderer!" Her bitter words recalled him in a measure to himself. "No, madam," he answered, smiling faintly, "'Tis my own." He tore open his coat, showing the bosom of his shirt and waistcoat stained with blood. He had been hit, but the loose coat had deceived his opponent's aim, and the bullet had missed the heart. He had so controlled himself that no one suspected that he was wounded, and he had almost bled to death in the effort. The woman, the roses all shuddered out of her cheeks, a ghastly picture, stared from the dead to the living with dazed, terrified glances. "You," continued Mason, swaying as he spoke,--"you have trifled with two honest men, and from your cursed coquetry one lies dead yonder and one--and one--dies--at your feet!" He suddenly collapsed before her, caught feebly at her white satin skirt with his bloody hands as he lay upon the floor and strove to carry it to his lips. "He loved you," he murmured, "and I, too--we were fools--for a woman." That was all. SAVED BY HER SLIPPER A ROMANCE OF THE BORDER "When greater perils men environ, Then women show a front of iron; And, gentle in their manner, they Do bold things in a quiet way." THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH I.--IN FORT PATRICK HENRY The Indians were out again!