Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-02-01

through long window Mr. Wentworth
saw "A patch Of shade, the clean cut shadow
Of the house, and then glare of sun ON d
greening scrap Of garden. He drew the
portiGres wide open and looked in. It wa,
IA library. There were book shelves in all
sorts uf odd places Narrow ones wide
enough for only three volumes, followed
the window-lrames two shelves fitted
neatly between the top Of the sofa and the
bottom of "A picture; five from the floor t.
the top Of the piano. The walls were a
mosaic Of books and pictures, each fitting
into the other like the pieces Of a puzzle.
Lured by the quantness Of the room, Mr..
Wentworth stole into this students para
disc.
There were seats covered with brown
leather cushions built in below the win
dows, Sleepy Hollow chairs, and in one
corner an odd looking stool with four high
sides Of wood like a box, and a blue plush
cushion on top, the sides rising level with
the cushion He barely noticed this, for
his eyes fell on a new magazine on the cen
tire table, which he was particularly anx
ious to see He glanced at it, became in
terestcd, laid his hat and stick on a chair.
and turned 10 sit down. The square stool
with the wooden sides was near him, and
he sat ON it..
Then something fearful happened the
top Of the stool suddenly went down
swiftly, silently dropped like trap-door
on the stage-aud Mr. Wentworth went
down with it, lie was conscious Of sud
den subsidence Of the plush cushion be
meath him. of being violently thrown on
his beam ends with his feet in the air, of
ilnging out his arms as he shot down,
| grasplug bludly, and selzing the high wood
en sides which still stood immovable. and
so arrestng his downward flight 1t was
so sudden, 50 horribly unexpected that for
a moment he was bcnumbed. stupefed
Where was he What was it What had
| happened He seemed crammed down in
to IA wooden funnel, with his feet coming
out at the top. The stool had dropped some
three or four feet, leaving the sides stand
| ing like an empty box and forming a sort
Of shaft, to the sides Of which he clung
with his fingers hooked over the top Feet
and fingers were all that was visible, for
| his head was quite low down, like Truth in
J her well.
what in the name Of heaven is it q he
/ gasped, and then his arrested mind sud
| denly snapped back into action.
He had sat on something which had given
/ way, he didn't know what but one thing
/ be did know, and that was that he must
| get out before Miss Lowry came down. lie
| was afraid to let 20 even for an instant
| for fear he would fall down past all re
/ claiming He bent his ankles So that he
| could clutch the top of the shaft with his
/ heels ike IA performer on the trapcze he
/ yrpped Gercely with his hands, and then he
| strained and tugged With the frenzy Of
/ despair. He rose a little, the muscles
| swelling in his arms, hi, teeth set, hi, face
crimson. only t. sink back again with a
/ thud ON the cushion. which gave wuruiugly
| beneath the weight of his returning body
| There was no doubt about 1t If he let 20,
| down, down, down the Internal machine
/ would fall and smash when 1t reached the
| bottom
What can the people be Ike who have
such a man trap n their house ' he yruan-
ed. and then remembered the robher den
IN the Cluister and Hearth, where the bed
/ had false bottom and whoever lay ON it
| was precpltated down AN abyss, killed and
| robbed Was this a similar contrivauce z
/ We're these people bandits lie wished
| they we're IL would iuiuse into his pres
eut position an element Of the dramatic,
/ the heroic, which was now conspicuOusly
/ lacking
| He tried to struggle up, to turn and twine
aud twist His own suppcne,s surprised
/ him If he could only stand on hi, head,
/ 50 that he could get his knees and his el
/ bows over the sides. then one fierce wrench
and he would Ice up And suppose the la
/ dy entered at that critical moment. and
saw him emerging out of the hole, head
/ down What would he dot Spring light
/ lv to his feet, and with bent body kiss his
/ finger tips to her
Sick with horror and humiliation, he sank
2 IL J. 4. 4. l. L..
| much longer. He had spent some moments
in the drawing room before he saw the
I magazine If she had each separate hair
/ ON her head to curl, and half dozen ban
/ lo. to tune, she could not be much longer.
/ At any moment she might enter Madden
/ ed hy the thought he made another effort
-frutless as the first lie had no room 10
/ put forth his strength, and no fulcrum to
I work on He didn't believe he would ever
/ get out He was like the rude foreflthers
I of the hamlet-ln their narrow cell forever
laid What ,rouid he do when she came
in And pierced with rage and misery, he
writhed and ground his teeth, swearing in a
whisper.
The paroxysm past. he became suddenly
silent and thought of the approaching de-
ao,ment as sick men think Of death His
/ Imagination was more active than 1t had
ever been before He pictured Mis-, Low
rvs entrance How much Of him would
she see The soles of his shoes and his fin
gers PerhapS-oh, blssful thought -
she would not notice them, it not being
. customary for visitors to assume the strIk-
ing attitude in which Miss Lowry would
/ find him unless miracle interviewed Or
seeing him, or rather the soles Of his shoes,
She might think them an optical deluson, a
I ~ in
that She should think them what they really
were She would suppose he had waited
until he was tired, and gone home. Men
have done that. But if she did him
She had never met him before, and she
might think it practical joke. or "a tempo
rary alteration or call in the police. IT
would all appear tomorrow in the papers
And again, terrified, appalled,, he struggled
in mpotent despair.
Was she never coming His arms began
to ache, and he wondered if he let go how
far he would fall The remedy was desper
ate, but 50 was the ill., How deep was the
inexplicable chasm over which he hung
As if in answer to his thought he felt ten
sion over his shoulder snap suddenly, anC
then heard something drop with a series o
metallic clicks down the shaft to the bottom
He knew it-a suspender button helistene,
to il as it struck the sides Of the shaft, witt
the absorbed interest Of Swiss trayele
who throws "a stone into crevasse and hear
the dying reverherationsa as it leaps from wal
to wall. 1t seemed a long time reaching
the bottom. Clearly he was suspended owe
an abyss.
Its evident cant drop, thought Went
worth, grimly 1T would he sheer suicide
and-Merciful Heaven, here she comes ~
Yes, there was a sound on the stairs, tn
froufrou Of womans skirts, a step on tn
sill of the drawing room door, pause
then the click of the purtitre rings slidin
together ON the brass rod as a hand dreN
the curtain back. Wentworth held hi
breath, his eyes staring classify at the TO
of one of his shoes in his intense endeavo
to be motionless and to hear everything
lie was conscious, by little icy vibration
thrilling through him, like bubbles in cham
2 pagne, that she was looking about for him
and that his shoes were new and the sole
, shone garishly in that durkened corner
) She seemed strangely silent perhaps sh
had suddenly seen them and tainted froI
: fright As this occurred to him she stirre
again with sound like the suhdued, r,
treating rustic of waves, and the scent c
violets seemed to blend with her NOV,
mcnts She was coming in he fancied h
could hear the portere slipping with ric
heaviness from between her lingering fin
( gers then came the tap of her heels shar
e and distinct, ON the hard wood floor al
- ruptly silenoed on the rug. She pause
- again, laughed in a stealthy, surprised way
, and said softly to herself why, how fun
d ny Where can he he =
a Wentworth set his jaws, and his nostri
h quivered.
Miss Lowry was ashamed of having tai
5 en- so long to dress She had had seri'
. of msfortunes the plastron Of her lill
waist was mislaid, and it had taken son
moments to find it the violets she ha
e crushed into her belt were wet, and she ha
r. to take them out and dry their stems on
5 towel the how of her slipper had come OF
e and in pinnng it on she had pricked her iil
/ ger. When she hurried down stairs 81