Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-08-03

and saying, "Oh, spare me spare me p
in agonizing supplication, and with
the very look on her face that / saw
now. Thinking of my dream, l look
ed at her closely, but only said
There. S nothing amiss with the cakes
Janet, and she left the room. The
cakes proved to be more than usually
delicious, and as / rang for more l re-
marked to Mr.. st. John that Janet
must have said that to get extra praise
for her cooking; and we all smiled,
and waited to smile at her. We wait
ed i'll vain. She did not answer the
summons, and after ringing again I
stepped into the kitchen to ascertain
the cause of the delay. Janet was not
| there, and / could not find her. l
called to Mr.. ST. John, and together
we went to her bedroom, and from
there all over the house, but no Janet
was to be found All through the day
/ expected her to walk in at any mo-
ment, and busted my mind wondering
how on earth she could account for
her conduct; but when night came,
and no Janet, | grew alarmed, and
my husband went out and hunt
ed up her only acquaintance, Mrs.
! Baker, but she had seen or heard
nothing of her since the Sunday pre-
vious. Mr.. st. John then went to the
police station, and gave notice of her
| disappearance An officer returned
with him to the house. and another
vain search was made. Her trunk and
all her clothing and personal effects
were in their proper places. Moth
ing had been removed, apparently.
The officer was of the opinion that
she had taken a situation more to
her liking, and had dreaded saying
| anything about it to me, and so took
this easy method of making the change.
But we secuted the idea 1t was sim
ply impossible of belief, knowing
Janet as we did The officer shrugged
his shoulders, and no doubt thought us
parcel of fools. After he had retired,
Charles said he feared we must come
! to ii sooner or later that the mans
theory was right; but / knew better,
and would not believe it, though it
seemed the only feasible explanation.
Nelly, my eldest daughter remem
bered to have heard voices in the
kitchen the night before, while we
were at the opera, but supposed Mrs
Baker was paying Janet visit as she
sometimes did of an evening
Weeks and months passed away and
no tidings came of our dear old servant
We locked her room and allowed no
one to enter it, leaving her things ex-
actly as she left them. This was done
by the advice of the police officers for
I lynnyVn hacf tn hIplcn1f
He admitted by this time that Janet
could not have taken another situa-
ton in the city, as she would have
been found ere this had such been
the case. The story had been noised a
good deal at the time.
AT last Charles advertised reward
Of 81, 900 for any information which
might lead to her whereabouts, living
or dead a detective came out from
Philadelphia to look it up. He exam
med the house from top to bottom, but
did not give us any encouragement.
He spent more than an hour i'll Janet's
old room, and when he departed he
said that if we heard from him at all it
would be very soon. Charles thought
from something the man said, some
word that he dropped, that he had
found a clue. But we lost all hope
when three weeks had gone by and no
message had come | was thoroughly
disheartened anyhow, and my nerves
were wrought up to such pitch that
started at every sound.
One evening, Just five months after
Jancts mysterious disappearance, the
door bell rang, and Charles Gn the alb
scnce of Janet's successor), going to
the door, found there the detective of
iicer, accompanied by another man.
My husband showed them into the Ii
brary, and, after an interview of about
an hour, he came to me to ask me to
Join them He was looking very grave.
and | saw that he had some news.
Compose yourself, Maria, he said,
for | was trembling with nervous
ness. Il am afraid you will be very
much shocked" You may be sure his
remark did not tend to compose me :;
but accompanied him to the library,
and there, dear reader, | passed
through such a sceue of aStoniShment,
Indignation and sorrow as | hope to
be spared again. Many years have
passed since that hour, but can this
moment recall wildly the painful
sensations | experienced that evening
in the library,
For Janet, whom we loved aud
whom we trusted so implicitly, was,
during all the years she was i'll our
home, the paid spy of secret socie-
tv. She was an educated woman,
and, imposing upon us by her etfecta-
ton of ignorance, had free access to all
our letters, papers and correspon-
dence. She had placed, or caused to
be placed, II Wire from her room to
our family sitting room, and by that
means could put herself in possession
of all our private conversation. This
was long before the introduction of
the telephone to the world, but the
principle had been used by that society
for years The detective, Mr. jerks,
said that the discovery of one end of
the wire, from which the receiver had
been evidently suddenly removed,
was the clue he found He had
known of that society having used
wires III that way before. | was very
seldom in Janet's room, and we sup
posed that some OF her belongings
were used to conceal the arrange
meut. The other end of the wire in
the sitting room was adjusted i'll IL ven
tilating fue out of Immediate sight.
The man who accompanied Mr.. jerks
belonged to the society, but had been
induced to bctray its secrets up to a
certain limit for consideration.
Why they needed spy i'll our family,
or what benefit they derived from it,
the man did not know or would not
tell and we have never since ascer
tanned. He said there We're hundreds
of spies III every large city at the bid
ding of the society. We could
learn nothing from him of the name
and nature or the objects of the asso-
citation He would answer no ques-
tons which did not bear directly on
the disappearance of our old servant,
Charles inquired where Janet was
now. and after some hesitation the
man said she was sent to London and
placed i'll the household of a noble
man. just as he was leaving, he
seemed IL be touched by my evident
sorrow, and volunteered the informa
ton that Janet was greatly distressed
at being Obliged To leave us, and had
beSought in vain to be spared the nee
eSSity, but she was altogether to use
full tool to be left at any place one
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