Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-16
"Leave that to me. You will repent If

"Leave that to me. You will repent If
you do not"
The scene, the voice, the aspect of the
singular being had, l confess, unnerved
me by this time. The grotesque sur
roundings alone would have gone for
nothing, but sense of an underlying
mystery and purpose was there; more
over, was aware of a curious pervadng
scent which no doubt emanated from the
masses of stuffs around, mixture of
Eastern perfume and Eastern dirt, pecu-
liar and penetrating. 1t affected my
head.
"Tell me-" he asked earnestly, show
many"
knew he meant deaths, and briefly
told the story.
An expression of intense joy lit up his
withered visage to an incredible degree.
He began counting on his fingers, and
could hear he counted in Persian numer-
ais.
G."You seem to owe the world grudge"
| said angrily. "Your fiendish arts have
destroyed these innocent persons. l
wish l could hand you over to the law to
answer for their lives"
He looked with cynical contempt at
me. 1--WE are all alike, we get what we
want out of the world as we cam" he
answered. "Some are wiser than 9TH
ers."
Then he went on counting. zone
more" With this he turned his glitter
ing, viper-like eyes with darting glance
upon me.
had an oddly confused feeling in my
head, and the gorgeous, squald contents
of the room swan before my eyes. Zone
more," he repeated, ''and the goal is
won." Silently he crept up to the rusty
CRATE, stirred up the fire with a bit of
charred wood, then with the burning end
of the latter deliberately set light to a
heap of spangled muslin of very fine
texture.
"What are you about, mailman p ex-
claimed but when 1 tried to rise from
my seat found my limbs like lead. He
glided from corner to corner of the little
room with bit of flaming stuff in his
hand; here he applied it to an open
newspaper, there to a linen sheet, again
to length of colored calico. The smell.
sound and sight of burning filled and
chOked the atmosphere-and | remained
like log!
Like a phantom in a wild dream, 1 saw
the weird figure of the Oriental waving
the Malacca cane about his head, in
rhythmic movements.
zone more!' he cried exultantly. "The
hour has come. The number is made up.
My glory is assured for vast eternties. :"
Then | thought | saw him fall to the
ground. | made frantic effort. With
all the strength that could muster in
failing body and Keeling mind, I flung
myself at the door. 1t was frail and DID,
a thing of temporary construction, and
II gave way before my sheer weight.
Half stunned, bleeding and gasping,
crawled through. a breath-one breath
of fresh air came to me, ana was saved I!
The flames behind me burst up furiously
at the same instant. but | crawled on,
and determined battering upon the
window told me that help was close at
hand.
In two minutes more had been pulled
out into the open air. For some time
knew nothing more of what passed
OF the rickety old house only the
blackened shell remained, bullying and
tottering to its fall.
OF the old man no trace was found, as
was inevitable, but | purchased after
wards little lump of metal which
believe to be the remains OF the silver
gilt knob of the Maacca cane.
Marion locked it up in a sealed boX-a
compromise, as | would not let her bury
it.
| told her the whole story. Whether
made particular mention of Kitty or not
| forget, but was rather affecting in my
account of the happy home suddenly
broken up, and drew some tears from
her sympathetic eyes, Belgravia.
SOME GOLD WINTERS.