The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-24
NUMBER 2 MELR0SE SQUARE.
A STORY IN TwoC CHAPTERS.

nave salu tne SUITCASE toOk
bend here and crossed q long win
dow, which daylight lighted from
lop to bottom. This window gave
on the dead wall Of a neighbor-
Ing house about eight feet distant. There
was no blind to it. As on the first night,
it frowned on me in black, unsheltered
nakedness when / turned the corner.
As on the first night, I saw myself reflect
ed at full length in it, the candle in my
hand, the buttons and fringe on my
dress, the-my God! but who, who or
what was that behind me, that erouching
figure which froze nae to the spot, actual
Iy paralyzed with dread-a dread which
was all the more avermastering because
had heard not the faintest rustic or
Eonnd to give nae warning of il
Believe me or not; but just below me,
creeping slowly, with soft, gliding noise
Jess steps, was the figure Of mani
At the moment he was on the same
bngle of the stairs with me. The banis-
eer separated us, and at first the light
snly fell On his head-the head Of an
Rld man, bald, with tufts of grayish
white hair hanging in coarse, shaggy
Iocks over the large, red, wrinkled ears,
Ind q short stubby beard, white too; an
Did man with stopping shoulders and
Fleavily corrugated brow. The face be-
heath was inexpressibly evil and repul-
five; evil and repulsive in the loose,
hanging, sensual hips; evil and repukive
(tf the cruel, vindictive eyes, almost
hidden under their overhanging brows;
TO evil and repulsive in every line and
turve of the hoary head and brutal wolf
ssh jaws, that even if met by daylight,
in crowded street, one would have in
Stinctively shuddered and shrunk away
trom contact with him. How much
more so now, when Illuminated by an
Expression Of such deadly, sinister deter
enination that the. very sight of it seemed
10 chill ones heart and limbs, and de-
prive one even Of the power of a cry for
help. .aa
/ In that moment Of mortal, agonized
error, longer in seeming than all the
Years Of my past life, I felt as though in
Iyhe presence Of some feroeieus animal,
some creature without pity, without
CONSCIENCE, without soul, whose very
glance must foul and destroy if it once
fell on one.
For that was the stangest part Of it,
adding in one way to the mystery and
horror Of his presence. This creature,
man or devil, never looked at me; seemed,
if it were possible to believe such a
thing, unconscious even OF my presence.
Like the .vision-woman of last night,
its eyes were fixed straight before it.
Like the vision woman Of last night,
they never blinked or wandered once, but
seemed concentrated in one fixed, deadly
stare, stare which had for it's object
the drawing-room door!
Could it be-was it possible, or was
this some horrible, fevered dream?-that
she was there now, covering behind
that door; woman, young, almost a
child alone in the night, utterly friend
less, waiting and listening in an anguish
of fear beyond words, beyond hope, be-
yond even prayer, for the approach of
this very man who, step, by step, was
gradually drawing nearer to her-the
man whose unseen presence had made
the room below horrible with meditated
crime, whom / had thought to leave be-
hind me there!
I could see the whole of him now.
Inch by inch, with a stealthy, move
ment, as though he were raising himself
By the wrinkled, sinewy hand which
grasped the rail Of the banisters so close
to me that it almost touched my dress,
rather than by the use Of his feet. He
had gained the landing outside the draw
ing-room door; and I saw that he was
clad only in trousers and shirt, the latter
open at the threat so as to show the
wrinkled, hairy skin; also, that he carried
in his left hand an ordinary table-knife,
with black horn handle, the blade of
which, worn to point like a dagger,
had evidently been recently sharpened.
I saw, too, for the first time, that he was
not alone. Close to his side, and alter
nately rubbing herself against his legs
and the knuckles Of his left hand was a
big, yellow, gaunt-bodied cat, with an
large head, and one eye bleed
liNg and sore from some recent wound.
There was something peculiarly horri-
BILE about this cat. horrible even in the
almost obtrusive way in which she Law
| shed her caresses on her sinister COM
ioanion, and then, leaning forward,
erouched down at the door smelling at it
snd turning her sound eye on her master,
Is if aware of his object, and inviting
him to hurry with it. Still without a
word, and seeming indeed, to hold his
breath between his clenched teeth, he
struck at her with the knife to drive her
'.pff; and then, gliding closer to the door,
ne gsve one furtive glance around him,
hnd, tightening bis hold Of the weapon,
said his hand upon the lock.
That broke the spell which held me,
~ "a. Fad held me until then, numb and
1speechless; and as the handle slowly
,turned under those cruel, sinewy fingers,
il shrieked aloud, shrieked again and
again, till the whole house rang with my
cries Of fear and horror; shrieked, and
springing wildly forward, saw--nothing!
q blank, empty space, where a moment
before had been man and animal, and