The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-05-04
CHAPTER X,

Ignorant df what had occurred in
Edith's room before her cry for help, ]
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
Your turn viii cone,a Van Hoech
had said to me, and these words corning
back !" my mind, aske... myself if tile
repeated attac.ss upon Edith might not
be r.-..v Of a complicated scheme to OBJ
tain the diamond.
Such a plot was tho more possible be-
cause it eecmed impossible. An act Of
leSefdemain succeeds or not, according
to the skill with which the conjurer fixes
attention On a false train Of opera
tions while he works out the actual feat.
AS l made these reflections, I took the
Great Hesper from tho pouch on my
waist strap, and buckled it in its case up
on my left wrist: then I doubly locked
the door, saw that there was oil in the
lamp, put n box OF wax matches beside
it on the table. and finally opened the
long-biaded knife Van Hoeek had given
me, and stuck it Lctw.een the mattress
and the side of the Jedsteal.
The room was thickly carpeted and
oak-panelied. The. fulniture-with the
exception of the toilet arrangements and
a low, saddle. back chair-was antique
and Of oak. The bedstead was particu-
larly wide. with four carved pillars car
rying a baldaGuin ard 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 a square table-on which
stood the lamp--with the saddle-back
chair beside it. On the left-hand side of
the bed wa a tall carved black press. A
and an open hearth, faced the door. A
screen shut off the wash-stand, which
stood to the left of the orlel. A broad
Bettle with a valance, and covered with
q stuff similar to the hangings of the
bed, ran round the three-sided recess
formed by the window-curtains of the
same kind shut off this recess. A corner
cabinet, with folding doors in the lower
part, fitted the angle of the walls to the
right; between this and the door was q
deep, wide, and long chest, and above it
q large mirror. AN escritoire, some
high-backed chairs, and q second table,
completed thevfurniture. There was nc
door but the n opening upon the Cor.
rider, and no window save the oriel.
In the early part of the night I had de
scribed these particulars to Van Hoeck,
at his request, and he had made me ex'
anime the press, the old chest, the hang.
ings of the bed and settles; everything
in fact, which might afford a hiding-place
to Lola or another.
l had even gone down upon my knees
and looked under the bed, to appease hf
anxiety. And yet now q 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 light; there was a black void on The
opposite side of the bed, where the ligh
from the lamp vas intercepted by tht
curtains; l could not see even the outline
of the great press.
l re-adjusted the shade. turned thu
wick higher, and, half-undressed, threw
myself upon the bed. l was not afraid
h strength l was a match for any natur
al foe, and I did not believe in the exist
once of any other-yet l felt myself in
footed with Van Hoeck's presentiment G
impending calamity.
Van Hoeck's theory of Jola's compiled
ty in a plot to steal the diamond, ha'
been upset by the fact that / was watch
ing her asleep at my door at the YER
time Edith believed she saw the gil
looking through the blinds; but this ha'
in nowise shaken his conviction that tn
mysterious appearance was connecte'
HiL the scheme to rob us.
ITO he continued