San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-02-08
THE GREAT HESPER.
BY FRANK BARRETT.

imagination. Was she awake or asleep:
She touched her eyes to be sure they were
open. Then it occurred to her that she
might have been asleep a long while.
There was nothing extraordinary in
lamp going out. or her head slipping from
the pillow. Saying this to herself, she
felt for the pillow.
To her establishment she found that
both We're gone.
1t was droll. She felt inclined to laugh
thinking how she must have tossed about
in her sleep to knock both pillows out.
But the bedclothes were perfectly smooth,
the bed on each side of her even, and
soft, and yielding. That was strange!
II must have done all the tossing with
my head" she said to herself, still tickled
by the oddity of the thing.
One thing was certain-she could not
sleep in comfort with nothing but boil
ster under her head.
She leaned out and felt upon the floor
as far as she could reach to the right.
The pillows had not slipped ont on that
side. Then putting her shoulder against
the wall she felt down on the left. There
was nothing there. What did it all
mean? Decidedly this must be a new
freak OF her IMAGINATION.
She was not yet thoroughly frightened.
The spirit who could steal her pillows
must have some sense of humor; it was
preferable to drumming on the window
panes and glaring through the blinds at
her. Hearing and sight had been tried,
and now her sense of touch was to be
tested.
But though she tried to make light of
tlA Hair oh fol haf
BILE underlay its comic aspect and lit
tie shiver ran through her at the thought
of getting up and striking a light. 1t
was 80 much easier to be courageous in
the daylight than in such darkness as
this.
After all, perhaps the pillows had slid
out of the bed in a natural way, and lay
only lust a little beyond her reach. But
rather than stretch her arm out again in
the dark space. she preferred to put up
with the bolster doubled.
She doubled the bolster and gave it
little pat; then she put up lock Of hair
that had come down, and told herself
not to be stupid about a little thing like
that; and, wondering whether she should
dare to tell of this incident in the morn
ing, she dropped on her elbow, and laid
down her head-down, down, down till
1t touched the bed.
'What was this?" she asked herself,
starting up in a fright. She felt from
side to side; now the bolster was gone;
there was nothing there but the bed.
But this pantomime trick was no long
er comic. She felt the tears of fright
springing in her eyes, and something ris-
ing in her throat. Cold fear chilled her
to the bone.
Was she in reality awake? The strik-
ing of the clock in the belfry assured her
of that.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding
dong it lightly chimed; and the hour was
tolled out slowly, generously, solemn:
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
But if this was not Authorization, what
was it? The work of actual hands?
what then? If they had no more direful
intention than to play trick of this
kind. they were not to be feared. 1t was
not terrific; it was merely childish mis-
chief, and this reflection suggested that,
after all, it might only be Lola who was
trying to brighten her. And just for one
moment, as she leaned back on her ell
bow, she fancied she saw something like
those luminous eyes in the midst of the
darkness, and close to her-there! there,
above her, toward the side of the bed.
SIS it you, Lola?" she asked, but in a
voice so faint. for she was sick with
fright, that she herself could hardly hear
the words she spoke.
1t was a fancy, or the eyes were turn
ed away. Yet, still leaning upon her ell
bow that quivered under her she strain
ed her eyes to penetrate the darkness.
Not long, perhaps, though it seemed
so, her heart beating painfully, her mouth
parched and dry, the hot breath catching
the back of her throat.
Something seemed to be touching her
hair. Was 1t the lace curtain!
She raised her trembling hand, and
felt something level with the top of her
head. But it was not the curtain. II
tcds the piliO,c, or she tcds mad
Her strength gave way, and she fell
back upon the bed; but the terrible sus-
picion that the pillows had been with
drawn for the purpose of smothering her
made her throw her hand up.
The pillow had descended; it was close
to her face. She tried to scream, but
the pillow was already upon her mouth,
and smothered the cry.
II closed down upon her head, firm
and hard. She could no longer breathe.
1t pressed upon her throat, as she lay
with the back of her head pushed down
into the bed.
The touch of Death aroused the instinct
of self-preservation within her, and, with
frantic effort, she tore herself from I'M
der that suffocating pressure, flung her
self from the bed, and, as respiration
returned, cried with all her force for
help.
CHAPTER X.
Ignorant of 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 q second time and desnite her be-