Litchfield enquirer., 1874-08-27

-
 had added little to my stock of ohserya
 tions concerning the Brothers RekIam
 their D, o ,eedings, and ways of life, except
 in this respect: had not failed to note
 that all their collection of treasures, not
 witlistan.ling their business, was almost
 altogether at il sani-iaill They were
 tradesmen apparently possessed of al
 abundance of wares. but the, f:aliy trad
 ed m nothing. No customers ever entered
 the shop; or if they did. it was only tG
 quit it again rapidly, without any sale oi purchase having been effected. Some
 times, indeed, the shutters remained clos ed for days together.
 Another thing remarked, too, was the
 late hours they kept. They were seldom
 absent from the house. and they never, SO far as could ascertain, received any
 visitors. Yet they seemed to be moved
 by an extreme repugnance to retire to rest At all times of the night, I could heal them stirring in the house, restless in the shop, or passing up and down the staircase or pacing to and fro the floors above me. Their movements were generally of 6 stealthy kind, as though they were seek
 ing to make as little noise as possible; il might be out of consideration for my com fort But now and then, their disposition to quarrel asserted itself.
 The domestic arrangements were by nc means effective, but they answered my moderate wants. There was no regular female servant-only sort of charwo- man, who came i'll the morning to prepare breakfast, and again appeared for a short time at night. This suited tolerably we'll, for l did not dine in the house. Odd jobs and errands were excuted by a small Jew boy. The disappearance of this fellow was the first thing that struck me with surprise. Then, had fresh cause for as- tonishment in seeing that the shop shut ters were now very seldom removed. My landlords had, a3 it seemed, abandoned all attempt to carry on publicly their trade as dealers i'll antiquities and curios- ties. But they watched me, I felt per- suaded, more closely than ever. I was conscious that my residence under their roof was becoming more and more painful and uncomfortable. ..-
 The summertime had arrived. and for some days the weather had been almost sultry. I could scarcely breathe Tn my murky oppressive apart ments. The moulded ceiling and the poLChCO ostA1o 6cClIlOu HOW to 1DSOID all the air as we'll as the light.
 was sitting in the third room at the back of my bedroom, I remember, which was comparatively cooler than the others. for it was not subjected to the fierce glare of the afternoon sun, as they were. It was night; very still, airless, summer night. The moon was shining through Q sultry mist. was smoking a cigar. had abandoned article after article of dress, and was certainly in rather an unat- tired condition. But cloth clothes were not to be borne in such weather.
 In quest of more air, I had stepped from my window on the leads beneath the roof of Messrs. Reklam's back shop. The plane-tree and the lilac bushes, look ing more pallid than ever as the moonlight blanched their leaves, were on my left hand, Before me was the raised sky-light of the shop below, the dusty panes redden- ed by the gleaming of light burning be- heath. Scarcely thinking of what I did as smoking, leant over the sky-light, and endeavored to peer through it's glass. could discern, but only in a vague sort of way, the fignres of my landlords mov- ing hither and thither, and employed I know not precisely how. There was no the fact, however, that they were very busy. What they were doing, was by no means clear to me. I stood for some moments observing them. They were surrounded by papers and books 50 much could clearly perceive-and by various packages and bundles, which they seemed to be passing from right to left, IS though they were counting and taking note of them; but even of this I could not be quite certain.
 On sudden, and accidentally, for there could not possibly have been any design
 in the matter, Aaron Reklam raised his eyes from the table before him, and fixed them on the sky-light above. Then I be- came concious that he had perceived my presence. Probably, my figure, seen with the moonlight behind me, presented a lark object, that was only to be explain ed by the fact that some one was looking 1own upon him and observing his pro- ceedings: or it might be that he had de- tected me by the light of my cigar. For a moment it seemed to me there gleamed upon me the strange glare of his promin- ent scintillating green eyes. Then all was darkness. He had turned off the gas 1 conld see nothing more. In some trepi- lation, retreated to my bed-chamber.
 l slept very i'll that night, remember; not merely because of the oppressive heat of the weather, and the lack of freshness in the air; but was greatly disturbed in mind. Moreover, my forehead burned, my heart beat distressingly; I was in a. state of feverish restlessness. When sleep at last came to me, my dreams were terrible underwent an agonizing nightmare Brothers Reklam haunted me. I could never lose sight of the pallid faces. In all kinds of strange situations, their gleam- ing, menacing eyes seemed to follow me and find me out, to scorch me up and pierce me through and through, to bring to bear upon me all kinds of bangs and tOrtures. I became convinced that they were bent upon my destruction, now by this means, now by that. Their only hes itation was as to the kind of death they should infiict upon me They were at a loss to decide upon one sufficiently pain full. At length, as thought, they had resolved upon my assassination, by a va- ried system of intensed and horrible cruel ty, to be gradually applied, with a view to my greater suffering.
 l awoke in dreadful panic. It seemed 1o m0 sua0 Eopo CiEcIOu ny u0cks anu that my landlords by slow degrees were it more and more. I experi- enced an agonizing sense of suffocation. In my alarm, I know, I leapt from my bed, and stood for a moment swaying to and fro upon the floor like drunken man. What had happened? I asked myself. Something dreadful, knew.
 There was strange crimson light throbbing and fiickering in the room. The air was thick with smoke, and the stifing fumes of some drug or spirit of extraordinay pungency. I could hear, too, wild cries in the street without, loud knocking at the outer door of the house, and the roaring, cracking sounds of burn ing wood, and the licking and writhing of flames. The house of Messrs. Reklam Brothers was on fire! s s
 There was not a minute to lose. I hast fly gathered about me few articles of dress. My alarm and agitation were ex- treme, but had the sense to perceived that could only hope to escape with life if even that was still possible. I at once abandoned all thought of rescuing aught else from the flames. Yet it was, even in that moment of panic. with sigh of deep anguish turned my back upon all my hhousehold treasures and r,osses