THE FEARFUL NEWS.
What awful premonition of disaster had filled Cleo Ballard all that
night! The guests gathered awestruck about the fallen figure which, but
a moment before, was so full of life, vivacity, and beauty.
"What is the matter?" some one breathed.
Fanny Morton's sharp words cut the air:
"Some Japanese has died, that is all--killed himself, they say. She
fainted when she heard the drums beat."
Very gently they carried the unconscious girl to her room. The music had
ceased; the guests had lost their appetite for enjoyment. Almost with
one accord all, save a few stragglers, had deserted the ball-room, and
were now grouped in the grounds of the hotel, or on the steps and
piazzas, waiting for the return of the two men who had gone to learn the
cause of the alarm.
At last they came up the path. They walked slowly, laggingly. Mrs. Davis
ran down to meet them.
"What is it?" she whispered, fearfully. "Cleo has fainted, and a panic
has spread among all the guests."
Walter Davis's usually good-tempered face was bleached to a white
horror.
"Orito, his father, and Watanabe Omi have all killed themselves," he
said, huskily.
The American lady stood stock-still, staring at them with fixed eyes of
horror. The news spread rapidly among the guests, all of whom had known
both families well. They were asking each other with pale lips--the
cause? the cause?
Mrs. Davis clung in terror to her husband.
"Keep it from Cleo," she almost wailed. "Oh, don't let _her_ know
it--she must not know it--she must not."
The guests lingered late that night, in the open air. It was past three
o'clock before they began to disperse slowly, one by one, to their rooms
or their homes.