Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-04-28
CHAPTER Y.

Ignorant of what had occurred in
Edith's room before her cry for help. l
paced my room. thinking how terrible
the fright must have been that made her
faint a second time, and despite her be-
lief in the unreality of these mysterious
appearances.
Your turn will come" Van Hoeck
had said to me, and these words coming
back to my mind, | asked myself If the
repeated attacks upon Edith might not
be part OF "A complicated scheme to OBJ
tain the diamond.
Such a plot was the more possible be-
cause il seemed impossible. An act Of
l~egerdemain succeeds or not. according
to the skill with which the conjurer fixes
our attention on a false train of opera
ions while he works ont the actual feat.
As | made these reflections. | took tho
Great Hesper from the pouch or my
waist strap, and buckled it in it's case up
on my left wrist: then | doubly locked
the door, saw that there was oil in the
lamp, put n no. of wax matches beside
it on the table, and finally opened the
long-bladed knife Van Hoeck had given
me, and stuck it between tie mattress
and the side of the bedsteal.
The room was thickly carpeted and
0ak-panelled. The furniture-with the
exception of the toilet arrangements and
a low, saddle-baCk chair-was antique
aud Of oak. The bedstead was particu-
larly wide. with four carved pillars car
rying n b~aldaquin and heavy curtain OF
some thick brocaded stuff, looped at the
foot. but hanging loose at the head, it
faced the oriel.
Between the right side of the bed and
the wall was n square table-on which
stood the lamp-with the saddle-back
chair beside 1t. On the laft-hand side OF
the bed was a tall carved black press. A
large chimney, with a sculptured mantel
and an open hearth, faced the door. A
screen shut off the wash-stand, which
| stood to the left of the orlel. A broad
settle with n valance, and covered with
"A stuff similar TO the hangings of the
bed, ran round the three-sided recess
formed bv the window-curtains Of the
same kind shut off this recess. A corner
cabinet, with folding doors in the lover
part, fitted the angle of the walls to the
right; between this and the door was n
deep, wide, and long chest, and above it
"a large mirror. An e%scritoire, some
high-backed chairs. AMI a second table.
completed the furniture. There was no
door but the one opening upon the COR
ridor, and no window ave the oriol.
In the early part OF the night | had de-
.cribed these particulars to Van Hoeck,
ut his request, and he had made me ex-
anime the press, the oil chest, the hang
ings of the bod and settles; everything,
in fact, which might afford a hiting-place
to Lola or another.
i had even gone down upon my knees,
and looked un,ler the bed, to appease his
anxiety. And yet now a vague uneasi-
ness possessed me as | raised the lamp
shade, and looked round the room. The
dark oak wainscot. the sombre~ hangings,
the painted ceiling overhead, absorbed
the hight; there was "a black void on the
opposite side Of the bed. where the light
from the lamp was intercepted by the
curtains; l could not See even the outline
Of the great press.
| re-adjusted the shade. turned the
wick higher, and, half-undreSSsi, threw
myself upon the bed. ! was not afraid
in strength | was a match for any natur-
al foe, and l did not believe in the exist
ence of any other-yet ] felt myself in
fected with Van Hoeck prescntimentO OF
impending calamity.
Van Hoeck's theory of Lola's compiled
ty in a plot to steal the diamond, had
been upset BY the fact that i was watch
ing her asleep ut my door at the very
time Edith believed she saw the girl
looking through the blinds; hut this had
in nowis e shaken his conviction that the
mysterious appearance was connected
rI-h the scheme to ROB IL.
(TO be cOntinued.o
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The latest notion IN gloves 10 - u0e the