The state journal., 1884-12-13

at hand. / rang the alarm bell, and Il
very short time both the Governor ant
the doctor were on the spot. The mrs
idea of all ofus; was that the prisoner hat
poisoned himself but how, when an(
with what? The doctor was evidently
nonplussed. He opened a veln' ant
ordered his limbs to be chafed, and triet
a few other simple remedies, but with
out any apparent effect At the end of {
Quarter of an hour the prisoner was t.
all appearance exactly the same as wher
first discovered. The Governor and the
doctor looked at each other in dismay.
Suddenly, and without q moments
warning as it seemed, the light of liv
| ing soul flashed back into the glazed
upturned eyes, and presently a voice,
| hollow, faint, and with a sort of far
| away sound in it, startled us all, as
though it were indeed an utterance from
the tomb.
what the deuce are you good people
| doing here MIR. Governor and Mon
sieur lie Medecin and my two sturdy men.
| alarms | am not worth this bother
that's made about me. Thank you all
| the same"
"Glad you have come around" said
the doctor. "Some kind of fit, / sup
pose I"
Possibly" said Van Klugen, dryly.
moribund man like me. 1t would only
have been common charity TO have left
me undisturbed.
The Governor, who was man of few
words, shook his head and smiled faint
dissent.
you were afraid your next Mondays
show might have been spoiled, Ell? 1t
would have been very tame affair
without the presence of the tragedian- in
chief. Your groundlings would have
just cause to consider themselves ag-
grieved."
The doctor felt his pulse. You are
send much better he said" Il will
you composing draught"
(Which shall decline to take" said
the prisoner. Gentlemen, am better
now, and would be alone" Thereupon
he turned his face to the wall and shut
his eyes. The Governor and doctor felt
there was nothing left for them but to
retire.
Mr.. Van Klugen seemed as usual next
morning, and made no allusion to the
scene of the previous night His mother
made her customary visit during the
course of the day.
About o'clock the next evening Mr.
Van Klugen abruptly closed the big book
nc had been reading, took a few turns
round his cell, and then spoke, address.
ing himself both to me and my fellow
warden, Stockley.
'YOu thought that was very i'll last
night, did you notf' he asked. "And
you imagined that was going to die?
Well, l want to be iii to night in the very
same way. I say advisedly that want
to be. At 10 o'clock precisely I shall be-
gin to be i'll at 2 o'clock precisely Ishall
begin to recover. Do not be alarmed; |
am not going to commit suicide. On that
point | give you my word of honor
Now, have here two ten-round notes,
of which will ask each of you TO accept
one, the sole condition being that you do
not disturb me in any way between the
hours of12 and 2, but leave me to come
round entirely of my own accord. You
will be doing kindness to dying man,
and at the same time to a certain extent
benefit yourself What say you?"
1t was a strange, q very strange pro-
posal. My mate and l laid our heads to.
gether and talked it over in whispers.
Both of us were poor men, and ten
pounds each would be little godsend to
us. In BRIEF after some further CONVEX
sation with our prisoner, and after he had
again given US his solemn assurance that
it was not his intention to commit
suicide, we agreed to the offer. The
money was handed over to us at once,
and we awaited the hour of 10 with an
anxiety which we could scarcely conceal.
1t came at last, doomed out slowly and
solemnly by the prison clock. Mr.. Van
Klugen had retired to his pallet at II 80,
as he always did, and to all appearance
had gone off into one Of his usual quiet
sleeps. The time went on. Five min
utes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour
passed, and the sleeping man stirred not.
l arose and crossed to the side of his bed
so as to observe him more closely. AS
on the preceding night, he looked more
like corpse than a man with the slight.
est breath of life in him; indeed, it was
only through having seen him present
the same appearance before, that 1 could
believe him to be still alive. Both and
my mate were horribly frightened, and
at that moment we would gladly have
given up our twenty pounds if by so
doing we could have brought our charge
back to consciousness. The glazed eyes.
the pinched nostrils, the drawn.in cheeks,
the cadaverous complexion, like that of
man several days dead, and the deadly
cold hands, were enough to frighten any
one. laid my hand. on his heart, while
Stockley held small mirror close above
his lips. What relief it was to find
that he still breathed, although that
breathing was of the faintest For two
hours he remained without the slightest
apparent change, while we sat anxiously
by him. Once or twice we debated in a
whisper whether we had not better sum-
mon the doctor, but our debate came to
nothing. We both declared afterward
that those were the longest two hours we
had ever spent in our lives. 1t was with
sigh of relief that we heard the prison
clock strike Q.
We still sat by our charge, watching
him anxiously. A few minutes later and
the first faint signs of returning consci.
business became apparent. A minute or
two later still he opened his eyes, sat I'D
and looked around. II am glad that to.
night you have acted like sensible men,"
were his first words. "Ycu see that |
have kept my promise by coming back to
you. You have done me very great
service, and l thank you for it," He lay
down, turned his face to the wall and
went off to sleep like child.
III.
When StOckley and l went on duty
next evening neither of us anticipated
We should be subjected to repetition OF