The Portland daily press., 1881-01-22

| uclsub, anu every lUOtldll mduc ue oldft, a.
if next moment were our last. AS the dusl
deepened my anxiety increased; and when a
length the ayah conducted the joiner, as
had before instructed her, to my room,
was almost too overpowered to speak. An
drew and the blacksmith were for the time
detained in the kitchen, as I wished tt
talk the matter over with the joiner, as the
most intelligent of the three.
AS he entered my room / was surprised
to Fl d second person behind him, whom
he introduced to ME as Mr.. Burrowes, the
district inspector of police, who has been Oh
an official visit to the village that day, and
who when he heard the story, volunteered
his service in place of the constable His
presence at once gave me great relief; and
this was EXCHANGED when | fonnd that he
had had long experience in the London de-
tective force. and was entering with the en-,
thusiasm of his profession into our plans He
had already heard from the joiner what h ad
passed that day; complimented me highly on
the presence of mind had displayed on the
| previous evening, and expressed his acoui-
essence in every thing that we had since done
When, however, l mentioned to him my
| unexpected interview that afternoon with
Mrs. Weevil, and that she had left the
house, he was good deal taken aback. He
questioned me closely as to her manner and
appearance when she was in my room, and
| as to whether she seemed much affected by
| her sons illness. | answered his several
| questions to the best of my ability, and he,
after thinking awhile, pacing up and down
the room, turned to me and said:
| ''Let everything be carried out as you for
merly proposed. See that your family retire
al the usual hour, with as little appearance
as possible of anything unusual going on.
If the woman has taken alarm, nothing will
be lost by waiting till tomorrow, when her
rooms can be more carefully examined by
daylight. In the first place will you show
me the bedroom in which you were dis
! turbed last night?'
conducted him thither, the joiner fol-
| lowing; and after he had ascertaned where,
| to use his own expression, had first seen
| the party he at once intimated his plans.
| He said | was to retire to my room as usual,
seat myself in my chair as on the previous
evening, and either sleep or appear to sleep
as was most agreeable to myself. Beyond
the window stood large wardrobe, in
which after the house was all quiet he and
the joiner would conceal themselves; the
blacksmith and the gardener being guard
upon the door of the housekeeper's room be-
low. The village constable, he had ar
ranged, would keep watch on the outside of
the house, bnt SO as not to be readily dis
covered.
The duties of the household, in the alb
sence of my servants, fell somewhat heavily
on the ayah and myself and the time passed
quickly for me as / hustled about, seeing
the children put to bed; after which the
ayah also retired. During all this time ev-
erything had been carried on in the custom
airy way. Mr.. Burrowes and the rest of his
helpers betook themselves for the time to
distant apartment up stairs, and the house
had resounded all the evening with the
mingled sounds Of laughter and noise in
separabe from a large family of children
such as ours. But now all was silent; the
men had slipped quietly to their different
posts; Mr.. Burrowes and the joiner were, l
knew, in the wardrobe at the other end of
my bedryom, and was seated in my lou e
ing chair, as on the previous evening.
As sat in this position thinking, could
not help observing to myself, how near we
were all making ourselves ridiculous. The
old woman whom [ had suspected was out
of the house; no one else but the ordinary
members of the household and the watchers
could possibly be in it,; and here was l sit
ting at my bedroom fire, making believe
sleep, with two men concealed in the ward
robe, all hoping to catch-we did not know
what. The humor of the situation so strong
ly affected me that could scarcely refrain
fro bursting into laughter. But the
thought of Mr.. Burrowes having put him
self to so much trouble on my account, COM
bined with remembrance of what l had
experienced during the past twenty-four
hours, gradually sobered my feelings;
and | shortly found my thoughts
floating away in the dim remembrance to
my life in India; to my distant husband; to
our long separation; to the terrible nights
and days of that fearful mutiny, whose hor-
rors still rose up before me; TO-
There was a thud ON the floor, and [
ctarta1 7 had hnnn ac1aan nd in, ,,el,,
Der had knocked book off the small table
at my elbow. The fire was burning low,
aud l rose in a confused state to trim it,
when my eyes fell upon what l had seen on
the previous evening. In the imperfect
light it seemed taller and more CHASTITY
looking than before and was approaching
me from behind. As my eyes fell upon it [
gave loud shrek and caught hold of a
chair to support myself. AS did so 1 saw
the figure gradually recede from me, an /
the room seemed to grow suddenly darker
l am certain that, left to myself, should at
that moment have tainted right away, for
the whole thing had been so sudden and
found me so unprepared, that in my confu-
sion [ forgot all about the business of the
night. But just as the white figure seemed
to be approaching the curtained windows |
saw two dark figures dash quickly upon it
from behind, then sharp and violent strug-
as if locked together in a deadly embrace.
The white figure had managed to wrench
one arm loose, and in another minute there
was the sharp click of pistol. Thanks to
our forethought, the weapon was harm
less. By this time the noise of the struggle
that was going ON had brought the black
smith and Andrew up to to my apartment;
and with their help the white figure was in
a few seconds manacled and led forward to
lt0t,f h ~ fa
plice-hanging in tatters about him. He
was at once kEo&n to the majority of the
company-it was the steward! He turned
his back ON me with stifed oath.
Leaving him now helpless, with his hands
fast behind his back, in charge of the black
smith, Mr.. Butrowes led the way to the
housekeeper's rooms below, the door of
which was found to be locked. 1t was at
once burst open, and taking candle with
us, we entered. The outer room was in
the same condition as l had seen it during
the day; but the inner room showed the
bed drawn forward, and the paneling of the
recess which We had discovered standing
open. Nobody was there. Taking the can
die forward, to examine the recess, Mr..
Burrowes found the box had a movable bot
tom, in addition to that which we had dis
covered, and that by its removal an opening
sufficient for one person at a time led down
trap-stair into the cellars below. Mr..
Burrowes and the joiner at once descended,
taking the light with them, the rest of us
waiting as dire cted in the outer apartment,
or watching the Hobbies that led to it. In
few minutes heard sudden footsteps in my
bedroom, and rushing thither, found that
Mr.. Burrowes a d the joiner had reached it
from the cellars, into which the trap-door
led, the whole of the woodwork of one side
of the window of my room being ingeniously
made to move back upon hinges like door,
yet 80 constructed that it could not be opened
by anyone in the room. When the steward
was searched there was found on him beside
the pistols bunch of duplicate keys, which
could open any chamber, or other lockfast
place, in the house.
The constable having been called in from
the garden, the steward, who had hitherto
stood silent and sullen, with dark express
sion of malice and revenge upon his face,
was handed over to him, and he was in
structed by his superior to convey him to the
local police office and place him in cell.
The blacksmith he ordered to accompany
the constabl- and see that the prisoner did
not effect an escape.
Meantime the gardener, who, since the
''ghost" had been discovered to be but flesh
and blood like himself had become as bold as
a lion, volunteered to stay in the house with
us all night, and help me to soothe the fears
fiaI al; II d.,