The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-05-11
THE GREA! %fsPER,
By A

xon because you see it, but am / to DENY
its existence because / have no sight?
Are You justified, then, in declaring that
we are not ,ncnaced by this disaster
which is to overwhelm us because YOU
have not my faculty of prevision7 You
who cannot deny prescience to a lee. the
rrcsentpment Of coming storm to cattle,
TEL me that my conviction is nothing.
lt Is only by conviction that we live.
what saves Us from destruction but the
convicaon that, by stepping into an
about you; we are on the edge Of an
ABYSS. There are signs TO strike tia
FULLEST intelligence. Your turn will
comet"
l had hung my watch in the pocket
upon the hanging at the head of the bed;
ats lively ticking sounded strangely out
of keeping with the gloom and stiffness
OF the surroundings. The shaded light
gave a funeral aspect to the bed-hang-
ings; the b%aldaquin over my head might
have been a catafalquo for tho dead. /
wondered how many men had ended
their days on this bed since those hang
ings had been put up Would Van
Heecks presentilnent 5efulflled? Should
L b found there in the morning dead2
~ was wei suited for q murder that
ned. with US pall-like hangings to con
cead II lurking murderer.
1,o-tac, %tic-tac, tic-tae, tic-tac, tic-tac,
My ear had become so familiar to tho
Disk movement of my watch that the
slightest sound was audible above it.
Ard a scund, slight indeed, l heard.
10 my mind, dwelling then upon as
s~sssins, it sounded like the drawing of a
dagger from its sheath.
Turning my head toward the side from
which the sound seemed to proceed, [
fsncled l saw the heavy curtain move: it
was etwee me and the lamp. The
movement was as slight as the sound. If
e was a fact that l heard one, it was a
fact that l saw the other.
drew myself up gradually, and, lean
ing forward, suddenly flung back the
curtain with my left hand. There was
no resistance to my hand; nothing to be
seen beyond but the lamp burning stead
and the dim outline of the hiS Chimney
piece.
i got upon my kneer, and pushed the
curtain flat against the wall, TO be sure
saat there con.d by no possibility be any
one concerted in the heavy folds-to ss-
sure M self that my suspicion was ut
teriv without foundation.
ms end of the room was comparative
~ light, and the sadd,e-back chair was so
placed rs to preclude the possibility of
any on hiding beyond it.
Ii the curtain had indeed moved, it
mus have been by hand from under
Sise bed. 1t was easier to believe that 1
Tad been mistaken in seeing tho slight
movement than to suppose that [ had
~overiooked a concealed thief when l
looked under the bed to satisfy Van
Hoeck; so l let the curtain fall, and Law
down again,
My thoughts still dwelt upon the idea
OF assassination. Setting anide he idea
OF an intrigue in which Lola was con
ceFned, there was yet nothing preposter-
GUS in Van Eoeck's presentiment. There
were eight or ten servants in the house,
and undoubtedly every one of them knew
OF the marvellous treasure in nv keen
ing. They would tell their friends in The
adjacent village, the keepers, the trades
peopie-ln a few days the story would be
carried about and made known to hun
dreds: and was there none among them
whose cupidity might take practical
forplf
Il was quite possible that under this
very roof there WAS one with the inge-
nnlty and daring to plan and execute the
robbery. A servantintimately acquaint-
Ell with the arrangement of tho rooms
ana inc peculharlties Of the building
would PROBABLY know of the external
means OF communication between tho
bay and the oriel- windows. Without
thls knowledge, no one, it seemed to me,
would dare to attempt that hazardous
passage at night and in the dark: but
with that knowledge, and possibly some
previous practice, the feat was sufficiently
practicable. In that case, Edith might
actually have heard and seen what She
had since attributed to Imagination.
But what end could be served by these
repeated attacks Upon her sens;bility?
a cause is sometimes discovered by ex-
anining the effect. Now, what effect
bad been produced by these attacks?
The first had frightened Edith excessive
ly; the second had made n lighter i'm
pression-thus far tie effect had been
coatned to her; but the third-for
only to q third fright could | attribute
ner scream of terror-had brought her
father and myself from our rooms. In
stantly, something like the truth flashed
upon my mind:
10 bring me from my room was the
very object with which the attack upon
Edith had been made.
unrldd.ing h mystery with this KEY,
1 assuncd that the thief had watchedn. ne
close the door upon Van Hoeck and re-
tufl to my room; that, after allowing ne
sufficient time to get to bed, but not to
fall lnto sound sleep, he had made tho
attack upon Edith, opening her door be-
forehand to provide a speedy means of
escape and to ALLOW her cry to be more
distinctly heard; that, having succeeded
IN terrifying her, he had sped down the
stairs in the left block, passed through
The library and dining-room, and ascend
81 by the stairs in the right block about
the same time that | might be supposed
TO have reached Edith's room, and that,
reckoning upon my keeping tho Great
Hesper under my pillow, and leaving it
there IN my alarm upon Edith's account,
ne mad expected to have possessed him
self OF our treasure. Ii what I thus as
stunned was a fact, then. indeed, this plan
might have succeeded but for Van
Hoeek's prudent insistence upon my
strapping the diamond to my wrist.
AS l thus explained what had happen
ed. n more startling reflection occurred
to my mind. The thief had been disap-
pointed in not finding the diamond be-
meath my pillow, but he yet might not
lie might not nave left the room. He
might be hidden there at that very mo-
ment!
What was more easy. being in tho
room, than to conceal himself in it? The
curtain that masked the oriel, the great
chest, the settle, the press, We're all sug-
Eestive OF that course. The fellow might
be under the very bed l was lying upon!
The movement l had seen in the cur
tain, the sound similar to the drawing of
q blade from its sheath (Which might
well have been caused by the movement
of the heavy valance Of the bed), strength
cned the suspicion. Was he lying
there. waiting for the sound of my heavy
breathing to assure him that l slept?
There was scarcely tho necessity to
wait for that, for what resistance could
|, lying upon my back there, make
against a foe springing out of the dark
upon me?
/ thought of the clasp-knife Van Hoeck
had given me, and, stretching out my
hand, l felt for it where I had stuck it
between the mattress and the bedstead.
/ could not find it.
Pushing back the curtains so that the
light from the lamp fell upon the edge
of the bedstead, I assured myself that it
was not where l had left it. 1t must
have Slipnal fbro1Cb-or ham dra ~