Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-07-07

whist puzzled ne waa, thAt such . surly
fellow ahonld take 10 laTking ed playing
the fool Yen are ysT much like my last
aVery well; now that mstter h settled,
let N look Ct the ro0ma"
The lighted gas showed me large one
and very barely furnisAcd. There NAe .
large leather-coversd table with . desk
on It, four chairs, IN inkstspd, and par
italy filed waste-paper basket, and that
was al a 80 M 81
@Rather meagre, Mr.. Moss."
"Now, my dear DIR, what more could
you wantf Would you like safe. I've
got one TO spare down stairs and you shAll
have II, and . new INST for your feet
there now,-I hate haggliDg."
Let me zee the other room, please
II was one which person sitting - the
table would have right opposite 70 him,
and il had no door. at was . clerks
ONCE" Mr.. Moss said, "and yoa wanted
your eye on such chaps" / suggested
that the principal might sometimes want
privacy, whereupon he said "he had the
door down stairs and it should be hung
At once II wished it" But having NO
intention Of engaging clerk u present l
told him il was of NO consequence.
The room was shout half the size Of the
outer one, and contained . desk and stool.
There was large closet for Goals and such.
like matters, and good allowance Of dust
and cobwebs, all over.
an have il cleaned up tomorrow"
said Mr.. Moss. at looks beautiful when
clean, and you'll nnd the desk 70 be real
Spanish mahogany"
They would suit me well enough, and l
told Mr.. Moss 90; paid him . quarters
rent in advance. and rose 70 depart.
20, by the way. Mr.. Mos" exclaimed,
. sudden thought striking me j will
send man 10 paint my name on the door,
and on the wan down stairs"
"yery good, sir; 1 would do II at once
IL were you. Carl was loose fish, and
IL you delayed it until you got here you
might de annoyed"
"How 60. What WAS hes"
"Take cigar first, Mr.. Harker, you'll
find no better In Liverpool Lord how
like him You do look when don't zee
your eyes!"
"And yet I have not been thought to re-
semble loose fish before, Mr.. Noes"
II didn't mean that. Have you never
seen an cgiy person resemble very hand
some one, I have many time. Well,
about Carl; he was here about two years,
and call me Jew II l could reckon him
up. He used 10 come here about noon,
and work up to eight or nine o'clock at
night but what business he worked at
could never find out. know he had .
big ledger, and two or three such books
but big ledger won't make . business
any more than big carpet-bag will, and
he always carried one. He would come
and smoke cigar with me now and then;
but never came up here during oil that
time, and he kept this door locked. He
always seemed expecting blow, did poor
Carl, more like rat In corner than any.
thing else, poor beggaYi Well, cir, one
morning found the key on my mat, and
found the place just - you see 1t, and
have never seen Carl since. One or two
queer looking men have inquired about
him, and asked II he was coming back,
and l aid most likely he would, and likely
enough he will"
mot Ut al an interesting story" !
thought, and felt inclined 70 yawn In
Nh. Moss face; but / thanked him for
his information, and promised TO take pos
session m three days, which / spent. In
presenting my letters Of Introduction, and
making other arrangements Tor the prose-
cution Of my plans.
Al length the eventful day arrived, and
I stood In my own Office, with my name
emblazoned on the door and passage wall.
was waiting for friend to call on me
(who, by the way, had promised to put
me In the way OF doing some business that
very day., and felt impatient for his ar.
rival in n0nneu,1ance
The Office was clean and tidy, and the
floors had been well scrubbed.
Why hadn't they emptied the waste
paper basket Of oil that lumberi
The ofdce-keeper had lighted are, and
took up the basket TO perform the opera
ton myself but from some cause or other
placed It on the table and began idly TO
burn the scraps, one by one.
had nearly disposed of them all when
q scrap attracted my attention and read
II. II was torn 20 - 70 leave few words
intact, and It ran thus:
Louise has gwen your description, and
you may rely on our finding you. For
ward the plates ct once, Or"
Then another piece Of mysterious
paper, apparently . plan Of some place or
other.
What did this meant
But had no time to consider, for my
friend entered, and putting tho two pieces
of paper In my drawer, emptied the bas-
ket IN tho Ore, and went out with him to
do good days work.
Returning late In the evening, rent
the 6re, and addressed myself TO the writ
Ing of two important letters 10 be posted
BY 11;80 that night, In order TO be in time
for the Cunard liner, which sailed early
In the morning and then It was that the
black darkness Of the dOOrless room op-
posite to me began TO trouble me most
Il had troubled me before, but on this
night 1t troubled me tcnfold. From child.
hood have been imaginative, and know.
ing this, stirred the fre, called myself
an ass, and went on with my letter. But
not for long. Ny eyes wandered to the
black darkness of the doorway, and
bgan to ransack my memory for statistics
Of men who could tell by some occult
power II any one were hidden In the
room they entered and laughed aloud
when remembered that ] had read Of
one sensitive gentleman, who by this
same occult sense had found that . sur
geon's skeleton was In closet behind
him.
oun Njsl;kn hoSws In thu dark h,,t 7