Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-11-27

and sister they succeeded by-and-by il
bringing all danger to an end. For som
days Mr.. Garston made himself pris
oner; then, as cause for anxiety dimin
ished, he ventured to 60 with his broth
er on various short expeditions, an,
presently things reached stage at whicl
he saw his patient in the morning, ant
then felt himself at liberty $50 far as sh'
was concerned) to be absent until tn
same hour on the following day. Nh
Sterling joined in some of these excur
sions; two or three times bis younges
daughter, Emmie (the Sterlings wer'
great in diminutives), was of the party
and the Sterlings' sitting room was al
ways open to the brothers in the even
ing. Thus considerable degree of init
macy grew up before Minnie was able tc
leave her room.
1t was in the very end of her imprisop.
ment that curious incident occurred
One evening, after the two brothers
had been absent all day, and when they
had come back to the hotel unusually
tired. Mr.. Garston refused to drop in fol
the customary cup of tea in the Sterling'e
sitting room. He would smoke cigar
he said, and 60 to bed early. The hea,
of the day had made his head ache, and
he was not bright enough to care for talk
So he was left alone, aud before 10 O'Clock
went to bed.
He had taken book with him, which
at first interested him good deal. He
had no premonitory feeling of drowsi.
ness to warn him to put out his light, bu.
he probably did fall asIeep-as we some.
times do-quite abruptly. At any rate
waking or asleep, his attention was rous-
ed by the opening of his door and the
entrance of a man into his still-lighted
bedroom. The intruder appeared to be
about his own age-30; was rather good
looking, tall and we'll made, with blue
eyes and a quantity of wavy or curly
brown hair. He was in brown knicker-
booker euit-a very prominent brown,
| not at all likely to be taken for any other
| color; and he was carrying something,
not clearly distinguishable, in his hand.
He walked composedly into the middle
of the room, looked steadily at its startled
occupant, and then, without having
spoken a word, turned and walked out
again.
Mr.. Garston, astonished at this mid.
night visitation, and annoyed with him
self for not having spoken to the intru-
der, which he had seemed unable to do,
quickly jumped out of bed, threw on a
dressing gown and hurried to the door.
Bright moonlight was filling the CORR
dor, and he could see the stranger going
deliberately toward the staircase. OF
course the natural conclusion was that
it was some belated guest who had miss
ed the way to his own room; but against
this theory there was some mystic rious
feeling of "uncanniness" in the whole
proceeding that seemed to compel Mr.
Garston to follow and see whittier the
unknown would 60. This curious feeling
increased as the man-his noticeable
dress fully lighted up from time to time
by an infowing stream of moonlight
went on, leaving the story on which
were the rooms occupied by the two
brothers, and descending the corridor
partly occupied by the Sterlings. They
had five rooms, and the middle one was
that occupied by Minnie.
She was now 60 far recovered as % be
left alone at night, her sisters room adj
joining and opening into hers. MIR. Cars
ton was, of course, acquainted with these
arrangements, and it was with al in
crease of surprise and curiosity that he
now saw his mysterious visitor pause at
Minnie Sterling's door, then open it quiz
city and walk in. The young man fol-
lowed. The stranger approached the
bedside where the young girl lay calmly
sleeping, undisturbed by the invasion of
her room. He paused for a moment,
then raised his arm, and with one strong
steady stroke plunged long knife into
the sleeper's breast!
There was moment in which the
Mortified bystanGer saw nothing; then
his vision steadied, and he perceived
that the murderer was gone, that the
sleeper still lay before him, but sleep had
passed into death without cry. without
q struggle. And then he was conscious
of a strange numbness of all his facul-
ties, which made it impossible to speak
or act or even think. It did not occur to
him to give any alarm or in any way
make known what had happened. He
turned away and left the room and got
back to his own without shaking off the
numbness in the least; and 90, from a
kind of horrible mental haze, he fell into
deep but troubled sleep.
He woke in the morning later than U.s.
ual, and as he woke the fearful expert
ence of the night returned to hisme,nory.
At first he thought it had been dream
then every detail came to his recollec.
ton with such perfect clearness that he
assured himselfit was not so; and then
came dread of being summoned by the
Sterling's, as he certainly would be the
moment the tragedy was discovered.
He sprang up and dressed. The hotel
was already awake and astir, and he
wondered the murder had not yet been
made known to fill the cheerful house
with horror and dismay. Every moment
he expected some cry of distress, some
hurried footstep rushing to tell him the
fatal news; but all was quiet, or, rather,
all was noisy, with the usual sounds of
coming and going, in that great caravan
sery.
At last he could endure suspense no
longer. He went down stairs, and,
though it was far before the hour of his
daily visit, he approached with indie
scribable anxiety the door of the Ster-
lings' sitting room. Just as he did so it |
opened and Mr.. Sterling came out.
"Ah, Mr.. Garston," he exclaimed, in |
his CHEEKY voice and homely Northern
accent, well met? My wife was just
senOlng me 10 ask you 10 speak 10 ner
before breakfast"
What could it mean? The young man
followed the elder into his room in the
strangest confusion of mind. Mrs Ster-
ling was there, fresh and cheerful as the
Minnie won't rest, Mr. Garston," she
said, unless ask your leave for her to
90 out little this morning. Early, she
says, before the sun gets too hot. l told
her it would be time enough to ask you
when you came to see her; but she is