The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-25
THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL. SATURDAY, APRIL a5 1885

The doors were closed and surely no one had
opened the m. Yet was positive that some one
was In the room. What had that
beautiful woman to do with mes / be-
gan to think strange thoughts of what might
be done to prevent the only witness from appear
ing against MIR. Roberts in the morning. Was
some one hiding behind yonder curtain waiting
his chance to murder meg l crossed the room
with an agitation which shamed me- No one
was there 1t was folly; knew it But it was
very real / searched the room carefully. l
was absolutely alone even locked the windows,
closed the shutters and bolted the door to pre-
vent an unexpected attack, but the positive i'm
preston of presence in the room did not for
moment leave me. | threw myself angrily into
my chair, and, with grim determination, began
to read the first book upon which could lay my
hands 1t was dreary scientific work; still,
ever and again would involuntarily start, and
look over my shoulder in an absolute certainty
that l should find some one standing there.
Bringing all the power of my will to
bear, l fixed my eyes and thoughts upon
the page before me, and fought fiercely to
prevent myself from looking up Cold shud-
ders crept over me- | knew that an assassin
was standing behind my chair, with his knife
raised to stab me. could hear the rustling of
his garments as the blade descended, and even
the point would pierce me. But it went no fur
ther, and after reading many page without the
slightest comprehension of single word, grad
ualiy grew little calmer, and the vaguely wan
derlng impression seemed centering In DICKS
arm chair opposite
Many a night we two, Dick and T. had sat
IN those chairs; often silent for an hour or more
unless read q page aloud yet not silent. for,
though Dick never read at night, he was always
thinking and noting his thoughts upon little
tablet which he always carried, He had way
of thinking half aloud: imagining cases in
court and working them up, or when business
became moro real with him, he would
work up his actual cases, making notes for the
Hn CTR lIT1ry
even when he had something to say to me.
Every sentence he spoke would often come so
mingled and interspersed with notes for his tab
let that one who had not known him very we'll
must have found it impossible to trace his mean
ing, and understand what it was that he really
intended to say.
Suddenly profound, death-like silence seemed
to pervade the room. 1t was as if it had been
full of noise before. | struggled in vain to drag
back my thoughts to the profoundly scientific
pages, when l became aware that the silence
was broken by whispered words, and, startled
from the book before me, my eyes turned to the
armchair and rested full upon the face of Rich
ard Haistead, as he sat in his familiar position.
talking to himself, and making notes upon his
tablet. / shuddered. l stared at him in hor-
ror. The book fell from my knee but l did not
notice it.
Then it came over me that had fallen asleep
there over those dull pages, and only dreamed
fearful dream Oh, the luxury of waking out of
such dreaml / pressed my eyes and forehead
to make myself sure that was fully awake and
then looked again. Yes, 1t was Dick, living
breathing, dear old Dick With a deep sigh l
threw myself back into the depths of my arm
chair and, smiling, my eyes rested contentedly
upon my friend. TO wake from such dream is
almost sufficient compensation for having
dreamed.
Slowly, in that delightful calm, I began run
ming over the items of my dream and smiling at
the Importance which 1 had placed upon several
incidents which now seemed absurdly trivial. l
almost laughed as / thought of myself going into
a courtroom to testify against ma upon such
a fragment of suspicion AS soon as Dick had
finished the little matter upon which he was
then working | would tell him my dream and
see him laugh. too. Then l began to find myself
little uncertain to where the reality ended
and where the dream began. I drew my hand
thoughtfully across my face. Great heavens!
my beard was gone. l sprang to my feet
Dick" shouted, in an agony of fear He did
not move. He did not even lift his eyes
.'Dick, for Gods sake speak to mel"
Still he kept on with his work. Spell bound, /
stood with my eyes riveted upon him. Then for
the first time l began to comprehend what he
was saying, and to my dying day shall remem-
Der every syllable.
Five six, eleven-I knew you would regret
it-eeven; yes, eleven you did not mean it.
Did he say ten? twelve! You are queer fellow
about that, Bob-ten and twelve-you did not
mean to wrong mel can prove that to be- true
but you did, and the best way to show my for
giveness is to ask you to do me favor-twelve
is impossbe-you are very queer about that
that is the point to establish-you did not mean
to wrong any one; but you will if
eleven and twelve. That settles It, You
are not careful. To-morrow?e The case
is Good! If you ever believed me
in all your life Bob, believe me when say that
Roland Roberts is innocent. You can prove it.
if you will. / wronged him before died |
can only atone for it through you. Do this for
him, and you will be doing it for me- Twenty
nine. Two ciphers. Twenty three"
I started toward the armchair to grasp the
hand that was fading away from me, but re-
coied in terror. The arm chair empty.
After moment | turned away and slowly
paced the room for half an hour The terror
was no longer upon me. The disturbing nflu-
ence was gone. At the end Of the half hour,
having laid out my plan for action, went to
the dining room and ate heartily of the lunch
which my old servant had thoughtfully left
upon the table Then l returned to the
empty room and, without a thought of fear
turned down the lamp. threw myself upon the
sofa and, for the first time since Dick killed.
fell into a quiet sleep. 1t was broad daylight
when | woke, but the moment the memory of the
night returned to me its purposes came back I'M
changed / chagrined to think upon what
feeble evidence had thought to convict man
of murder
The prisoner was to be brought in to make his
plea at Ii o'clock. At TO- accompanied only by
my old servant unless man who had certainly
followed us from my home was detective set to
watch me), | gained permission tie see the
prisoner. 1came abruptly to the point with him,
saying:
Il am summoned, as you know, as the prin-
cpal witness against you. Now, remarkable
incidents have convinced me of your innocence,
and wish to know, instead, what can best do
to relieve you"
He regarded me calmly as I spoke and replied,
without hesitation:
you are a fool Good day"
n soft answer was upon my lips, when, sud
denly seemed to read it in his eyes, that he
needed no assistance. His defense was already
prepared. l was the man through whom he pro-
posed to prove his innocence, and this act of
mine was but crying to him for quarter, even
before the battle was begun Yes, was fool
left him without another word
/ sat in the courtroom, shrinking from many
an eye, which knew was turned upon me, say
ing: ''Thou art the man. And the cold per