Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-02-22
are pretty sure to murder me, bu. had rather

are pretty sure TO murder me, but had rather
tb 4 1t 81 ould be ter than sooner.
While think of these things, am lying back
all the screaming In the world win help meg il
had twenty lung power could not drow,. the
rush Of an express train. oh, IL my der boy
how thankful should be to see hiaI Oh. that
cloak, and those horrid waxy hands, OF course
Il see 1T now!-they remained stick out, while
f sns, mans IN heal ones were fu~oling about my
thought of Madame TassaUd flashed ludicrousy
across me. Then they b. gin to talk Of me. 1t
=, pam pam, test they are Dot taken in by my feint
saying, what a good-looking woman she IS!
% s sss h.ss I'D NJ
DOUBT as 20 ner Deing Of exalted rank-a duchess
probably dead duchess by morning, think
grlmyJ hey 60 ON to say how odd il is that
people III ~ class of life never travel with their
own lew0 5, but always with paste ones, the real
ones oeUIg meanwhile deposited at the bankers
My poor, poor sapphires! good-by-a long good
poaT'd tor the loss of YOU and the rest of my
ormamentsLwin 90 bare necked, and bare
armed, or clad in Salviati beads for the rest of
Wy heLso that do but attain the next stop
AS am 50 thinking one of the men looks, or
! imagine that he looks gather curiously toward
on my face the signs Of the agony Of terror am
enduring, 1 throw my pocket-handkerchief-a
| very fine cambria one-Oyer my face.
| And now, oh reader! I am going to tell you
something which am sure you will not believe:
can hardly believe it myself; but, as I 80 lie,
despite the tumult of my mind-despite the
chilly terror which seems to be benumbng NV
| feelings-in the midst of it all drowsiness
keeps stealing over me- / am now convinced
either that that vile potion must have been of
| extraordinary strength, or that l. through the
shaking Of the carriage or the unsteadiness OF
! my hand carried more to mouth and swallowed
| more-I did not mean to swallow any-than I
intended, tor-you will harry credit Il, butt
fell asleep!
| When L awake-awake with a bewihlered,
mixei sense of having been q long tine asleep
OF not knowing where am-and of having
| some great dread and horror on my mind
awake and look round, the dawn is breaking
| shiver with the chilly sensation that the
| coming OF even warm day brings, and look
round, still half unconsciously, in misty way
| But what has happened? How empty the car
rage is! The dressing-case is gone! The cloak
| is gone! Watson Is gone! But the man in the
cloak and the wax hands still sits besides me:
sun the hands are holding the paper; still the
with him! A feeling of the most appalling
desoLttlon and despair comes over ne-van-
9nishes me utterly: y, clasp my hands together
| beside me, groan out, We'll! did not think
1 that Watson would have forsaken mel, In
1 stantly, a sort of movement and SILVER runs
/ through the figure; the newspaper drops from
l the hands, which, however, continue to be still
held out I'm the same position, as if still graspng
/ n; ana behind the newspaper, 4 see, by the
dim morning light and the dim lamp CLEANS
| that there is no real face, but a mask. A sort
Of chOked sound is coming from behind the
| mask Shivers of cold fear running over
| me. Never to this day shall know what gave
me the despairing courage to do it, but before
l know what am doing, find myself tearing
| at the cloak-tearing away the mask-tearing
away the hands. Ii would he better to find any-
| thing underneath--Satan himself-a horrible
| dead body-anything sooner than submit any
| Longer to this hideOus mystery. And 1 am re-
wardtd. When the cloak lies at the bottom Of
the carriage-when the mask, and the false
hands and false feet-there are false feet too
are all cast away, in different directions what
do you think find underneath?
Watson! Yes; il appears that while / slept
am sure that they must have rubbed some
more Of the drug on nv lips while was uncon-
scious, or never could have slept so heavily or
so long-they dressed up Watson i'm the mask
feet, hands and cloak; set the hat on her head
gagged her, and placed her beside me in the
attitude occupied by the man. They had then.
AT the next station got out, taking with them
dressing case and clock and had made OFF in all
security. When arrive in Paris, You will not
be surprised to hear that il does not once occur
to me whether 1 am looking green or no.
And this Is the true history of nv night jour
ney to Paris! You will be glad, / dare say, to
and good many of my other ornaments. The
police being promptly set on, the robbers were
after much trouble and time, at length secured
and II turned out that the man in the cloak was
an eNvalet Of my husbands, who was acauaint ted
with my bad habit of travelling i'm company with
my trlnketsIa bad habit which l have since
seen fit to abandon.
What have written is literally true, though
it'iid not happen to myself.-Rtoda Brou3l ien .
in Temple Bar.