Wichita eagle., 1888-06-10

man.
thought first Of Miss Turpin, our govern
ess, and Mrs Climber, and IN this order.
They both occupied rooms on the same floor
as myself. but far in the rear of the building
1t was an ugly venture to get to them As
was debating, | remembered my mothers
Jewela These were deposited in a dressing
case locked into wardrobe strong box in
papa's room Had they escaped the thievesi
Would they escapei By almost mechanical
impulse unfastened and opened my door,
and stepped lightly the Ave or six PAGES to
that OF the vast cavern like chamber in
which, the fable goes. a queen once slept
There was Light within, other than that OF
the wan young moon, which glimmered feebly
through lozenge shaped panes in a window
high over my head | sucked in my breath
with we'll nigh audible gasp and shivered;
but it was as though a subtle fascination
drew me nearer in spite Of the peril l crept
to the tell tale crack through which the PEN
ciled line of light fell A single peep and
knew the worst, we were betrayed Kneel-
ing before the receptacle OF my mothers
family heirlooms was a woman holding
lamp for the guidance Of male confederate,
who busted himself with file at the ward
robe lock. They seemed equally absorbed in
their nefarious task. The man | had never
before seen. the woman was Mrs Climber.
believe ! was higher to swooning than on
any previous or subsequent occasion Luck
ly, with a supreme effort was able to re-
cover the self possession wrested from me
by the double shock | dare not think what
might have been the denouement. in the con-
trary event
How papa had been deceived and all Of
us, for. though | had vaguely disliked the
newcomer, no suspicion OF her fidelity had
entered my mind. yet my eyes had testified
that she was an accomplice In a sinister plot.
Very possibly she was its originator.
1t gave me intense anxiety to decide upon
my next step A daring suggestion few to
my brain, but dismissed it, not so much as
impracticable as useless. 1t was to lock the
two thieves in This was possible if man.
aged with adroitness, for the key cast
shadow on the polished floor. Mrs. Climber
had locked the door of papa's room with
bypOcrItical care as we retired that night,
saying that housemaids were curious and had
been known to walk in their sleep, and that
it was not well to trust them to excess. And
now the adventures had left the key on the
outside. But what would the countermove
availf There were villains below making
away with the plate, | had heard them they
would come to the rescue, and | had no
means Of successfully following up the tenn
porary advantage Yet my fingers itched to
drag to that door and imprison my foes
Clangi clatteri all our bells seemed to be
ringing at once, and Mrs Climbers precious
confederates would not have given the
alarm. it must mean for them interruption
and discontinue. And in a trice had acted
on my wild idea The great oak door was
fast-fasti | had the key, and with it | fed
to my own room There | covered as chill
dren do under the bedciothes, and suffered
paroxysm after paroxysm of helpless abject
terror Every vestlge of bravery, deliberate
or fortutous had forsaken me But | was
not molested
What happened the other side of my
fortress can be simply and succinctly related
in the words with which on the morrow our
friend and benefactor, Mr. Lidlaw, enlght-
ened papa 1t will be peedful to resume from
the point of his recognition of Mrs Climbers
handwriting when chatting IN our drawing
room
You see, ] am an expert in these mat
ters," he said Probably you may have seen
my name IN the newspapers IN connection
with some trial, civil or criminal, IN which
the Identification of handwriting has formed
a leading feature in the proceedlngsr
81 have" papa answered
Exactly And two months ago had to
make professional study of various docu-
ments and signatures in a north Country case
of systematic aud long continued fraud |
am prepared to swear that the specimen of
Mrs. Chmber's alias Mrs Clegg's hand shown
me by youD son is the fac slmie of a large
number of those forged papers. The writer
is the same And now that | have seen her
she had most valid reason for keeping in
the background yesterday evening" recog-
nize the woman too. She only escaped a long
term Of penal servitude through the plea
that she was her husbands tool And
another thing made me startled and suspi-
cious. 1t was this: at Daleford q man left
the same train whom identified in spite of
his wrappings as the brother Of the con-
demned Long Firm swindler, who stood in
the dock with Mrs Clegg. He'll soon follow
him into convict cell He was involved in
the Manchester case, though there was q flaw
in the evidence, and he eluded the grasp of
justice"
"But Mrs. Climbers testimonials-they
were most excellent" murmured papa.
Forged, my dear sir; entertain no doubt
of it, replied Mr. Lidlaw 'These people
saw your advertisement, and application and
references were all parts Of rather clever
plant But the female trickster carried her
daring step too far, and will pay the penal
tv When | was confronted with that
couplet in the hand had so much reason to
know. got an inkling Of the game that was
on foot And instead of going on to Walnsey
Gross returned to Daleford and interviewed
a sergeant of police 1t seemed that he was
in possession of an official warning that
tended In the like direction Of watchfulness
We both had a suspicion that yo1 might
have been lured out of the way by bogus
message"
mo; there was no stratagem there" put
In my father.
Then events conspired 50 far with the
gang Of rogueS Well. We came up to the
manor to make sure that ell was right, and
we found an open window:and moving lights
We were five in number and armed The
sergeant and two Of his men entered by the
same road as the burglars, and at sigma,
from tho officer | aroused the household
One thief was taken In the act Of selecting
the choicest specimens Of your old fashioned
silver. and to our infinite bewilderrnent We
discovered later that your clever housekeeper
and second confederate were caught like
rats in a tap That was the work Of Miss
Maggie here Az soon a. We learned this We
applied to the young lady, got the key and
entered We were only just in time to thwa-t
an attempt to escape by the window But
for the height and the swkwardness of the
descent, the man at least would have escaped
But the three are In Siston Jail"
And have to thank you" said papa,
"for the protection CT my property, Mr..
IIdlaw. am sincerely grateful"