Washington telegraph., 1857-11-25

" hen / had waited long time, very
patiently, without hearing the old man lie
down, / resolved to open a little, a very,
very little Creyice in the lantern. So |
opened it-you cannot imagine how steal
thily. stcalthiiy-uu.ii at length a single
Z dim ray Ike the thread Of the spider, shot
from out cf the crcyice and fell upon the
vuliure eve.
It was open, wide, wide open aal
-rew !zrio.a as ! c7zed upon Il. ! saw it
with pericc; Lis;iuctness-ali a dull blue.
with AiGc8u- veil over IL thlt chilled the
very marrow in my bones but could zee
upthiu- else OF the old mau's face .r per-
son, for I had directed the ray, Is If by
Instinct, precisely upon the damue3 spot.
Aud uuw-haye not told You that what
YOU mistake Tor maducss j. butoyer acute.
ness Of the senses .-uow, say, there came
o. lHy ears a low, dull, gEiei. sound
much such a sound Is a watch make. when
cnvclopcd iu cotton, l knew that sound
well, too Ii was tie beating of the old
mans heart. ItiIeFcased ny tary. as the
beating Of "a drum stimulates tAc sUlliyr
into courage.
But even yet | rctrliuci aud kept still;
/ scarcely breathcd, hold ,hs lantern mo-
tiouiess. 1 tried how st-aiily could
maintain the ray upon the eye. Iuan-
time the Le.ii-L utt8o of the heart in-
creased. IL grew quicker aui louder ev-
cry instant. The old mans terror must
have been extreme. 1t crew !auler.
say, louder every moment do You mark
ma well. 1 have told y0u that am nery-
j G.
hour ot the night, and auiid the dreadful
silence %. THAT house, SO strange 81 noise as
this excited Me Co uncomfortable wrath.
Yet io. some minutes lou-er, ! F..raiuai
and kent sl,i. But the beating crew lou :
er. louder. ! thought the heart aus,
burst;
And now new anxio;y seized me. that
the sound would be heard by Uci.lblr
His last hour had come With lJui veil
threw open the llutarn and Iy3pel int,
the room i.c shrilkcd ouce-ouly once.
'u an instant ! DRAGGED him =, tsa ao.r
.uI pulled the heavy bed over him. 4
then >at upon tie bed and smiled -liiy L.
and the deed So far done. But Tor r14n~
minutes the heart beat on sgitt a mUf.cl
--,,t,r,I 1uis, !rwcvJr. did not yex me
u would u.t be- heard through the walls
vt leugth il ceased. The olI nan wa.
dead. J removed the bed and cAamiu,i
the corpse. lcs, hc was stone, stone dad.
placed my hand upon the heart anI held
IL there many minutes. There Eas uo
pulslti.n. ] be Dli msu was sfuuc dead.
His eye would trouble me lp more.
81 sou -tiii thiuh me mad y4u will ,Lili
go l1 longer when ! describe t-s ir.. ne
ri.u- : tHlE for tUe cYayc.!m.ut OBJ tle
body. Iu. ai-lt Usu,i. auI ! worked
.astI.v, buj 10 ...eale. lIr-t ul 20 I.s-
me45eleI the corpse. / eat 60. tsc head.
arms aud lr--. then took up three
rMnb8 FROM the dlar.ug 0f ile chamber,
aud deposited gN between the selut'iu.s
then replaced JAa boards 50 cisvcriY. SO
cuuu.l4lr. iha: nl human oyc-uot even
hi>--ceuid hage detected anything w.,a-.
There was nothing o. wash out-uo stain
of any kiud-uy blood spots v.iatsfcr. /
had been too weary for ti4t. = tub had
caught all-ha hs
When / had Iaaia an end 81 these Ia
bors il was four O'Clock, s;i.l dark a- mid
might Asthe bell sounded ;hc hour there
came knocking at the street door. 1
went down o. open ]: with .ght heart
fgf what had ! now u fear! There ea-
tered three men. T.5 iutrUG..al .Aau-
selves with perfect -uIvity as officers ut
the police. \ shrici. had tseu herd ly
a ueighbor during the night; suspicion OF
foul play bad been aroused; information
had been lodged 1t tile police office. and
they Cthy Olierrs) had been dypuicd 20
search tie premises.
smiled, Tor what had 10 fear. badc
the gentlemen welcome The shriek, |
said, ives iny own, ia O. 3s-.u,. ID- did
mau mentioned was absent in tie couu-
Try. I took my visitors ali over tAs house.
| babe them search, search wail. II
length I led tlem 10 his chamber. l
showed them bis treasures. secure, uUiis-
turbed. in the enthusiasm Of my conf
deuce ! brought cha..s iu.3 lie Room aud
desired them hcse TO rest ir,A their fa-
tigues; while I, Ia ;hc wild audaei,y " uy
perfect triumph, laced my own seat upon
,he very spot beneath which yep sd tie
corpse OF tAe victim.
The oE.cess were satisfied. Ny man
uer bad convinced thcm. was singular
" al ease. They sat, and while / answer
ed choerily, they ehatted Of familiar things.
But, ere long, felt myself getting pale,
and wished them gone. My head ached
and | !aucied ringing in my ears; but
still they sat and still chatJei. The ring
iug became more distinct talked more
freely TO get rid of,he fecliu. but it con-
tinued and gained defuitncss, until at
length found that the noise was not with
IN my ears.
No doubt ] now grew very pale, but |
ts!sci more auently aud w;th q bright
ened voice Yet the sound increased, aud
what could / do. IL wss a low. dull,
quick sOuud-much such sound as q
watch makes when cuyelupcd ia cotton.
! sasped for breath, and yet the officers
heard It not l talked more quickly, more
yehemeutly, but tie noise steadily incrcas-
ed / arose and argued about tribes, in a
J. /.