The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-03
THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL WEDNESDAY JULY 8. 1889

] biluUIlOl u,
! end of long, silent corridor and across
mid-landing, was not an insufficient deter
rent. No: / must toss and turn and wait
/ for the tardy morning,
! Suddenly chill shot through my veins;
| sat up among the pillows, rigid, and, |
| doubt not, blanched almost to their own
whiteness. / listened in very agony of
attention. From the depths below there
had echoed distinctly upward-or my
faculties were playing me false-the sound
OF the sullen yielding OF a bolt. Ny
| apartments were Immediately over the
plate closet, and adjacent to the partition
which closed in the second fight of stairs.
| This accounted for the transmission of the
noise. But the noise was an ominOus dis
closure. In the dead of night it was
| surely illegitimate, and spoke of crime.
The veriest craven will sometimes OBJ
tain an access Of courage as mysterious in
Its source as, generally, transient in its
| sway. ] am not calling myself hard
names. Indeed, l should be sorry to be-
lieve that absolutely belong to the class
whose badge is white feather. But I
have owned to trepidation, and now 1
mastered Tor at least a few minutes the
first paralysis of fright | pressed my
| throbbing temples hard against the wains-
cot and found that the wood was a faith
full conductor of sound. A rumbling and
grating that could have no honest and sat
istactory cause Jared upon my highly
strung nerves. I was not the victim of
delusion. Assured of this, 1 began to
dress, with quaking. fumbling fingers, and
IN the dark. Plan had none as vet, and
| my actuatlng purpose was merely to reach
and alarm the rest of the household. 1t
was just blind instinct, for did not pause
| to ask what effectual resistance to a gang
! of robbers could be offered by pack of
scared women, an invalid boy and one
lettering old man.
1 thought first of Miss Turpin, our gov
erness, and Mrs. Climber, and in this
order. They both occupied rooms on the
same floor as myself, but far in the rear of
the building II was an ugly venture to
get to them. As Twas debating remem-
| bered my mothers jewels. These were
deposited in dressing-case locked into
wardrobe stronghold In papa's room.
! Had they escaped the thieves? Would
| they escape? By almost a mechanical
impulse | unfastened and opened my door
and stepped lightly the five or six PAGES to
that OF the vast cavern-like chamber in
which, the fable goes, queen once slept.
| There was light within other than that
| OF the wan young moon, which glimmered
feebly through lozenge-shsped panes in
window high over my head. l sucked
in my breath with a well-nigh audible
grasp and shivered; but it was as though
a subtle fascination drew me nearer in
| spite of the peril. l crept to the tell-tale
crack through which the penciled line OF
light fell. 4 single peep and ! knew the
worst; we were betrayed. Kneeling before
the receptacle of nv mothers family
heirlOoms was a woman, holding a lamp
| for the guidance of male confederate,
| who busted himself with a file at the
wardrobe lock. They seemed equally
absorbed in their neiarious task. The
man | had never before seen; the woman
was Mrs. Climber. | believe | was higher
to swooning than on any previous or
| subsequent occasion. Luckily, with a
supreme effort l was able to recover the
self-possession wrested from me by the
| double shock l dare not think what
might have been the denouement in the
| contrary event.
How papa had been deceived and all
| of us, for though l had vaguely disliked
the newcomer, no suspicion OF her fidelity
had entered my mind; yet my eyes testi-
fed that she was an accomplce in a sin
lister plot Very possibly she was its
| originator.
1t gave me intense anxiety to decide
upon my next step. a daring suggestion
flew to my brain; but | dismissed it, not
so much as impracticable as useless. 1t
was to lock the two thieves in. This was
| possible, if managed with adroitness, for
the key cast a shadow on the polished
| floor. Mrs. Climber had locked the door
of papa's room with hvpocritical care, as
we retired that night, saving that house
maids were curious and had been known
to walk in their sleep, and that it was not
we'll to trust them to excess. And now
the adventures had left the key on the
outside. But what would the counter
move avail? There were villains below
making sway with the plate; l had heard
| them they would come to the rescue and
1 had no means OF successfully following
up the temporary advantage. Yet my
fingers itched to drag to that door and i'm
prison nv foes.
Clang clatter all our bells seemed to
be ringing at once, and Mrs. Climbers
precious confederates would not have
given the alarm; it must mean for them
interruption and discontinue. And in
trice | had acted on my wild idea. The
great oak door was fast-fast! | had the
key, and with it fed to my own room.
There l covered as children do under the
bed-clothes, and suffered paroxysm after
paroxysm of helpless, abject terror. Every
vestlgeo OF bravery, dellDerate or fortultous,
had forsaken me. But was not molested.
What happened on the other side of my
fortress can be simply and succinctly re-
lated in the words with which, on the
morrow, our friend and benefactor, Mr..
Lidlaw, enlightened papa. 1t will be
needful to resume from the point OF his
recognition of Mrs. Climbers handwriting
when chatting in our drawing-room.
You see, | am an expert in these mat
ters," he said. Probably you may have
seen my name in the newspapers in con-
nection with some trial, civil or criminal.
in which the Identification of handwrit-
ing has formed leading feature in the
proceedings?"
81 have" papa answered.
Exactly. And two months ago | had
to make a professional study of various
documents and signatures in a north
country case of systematic and long-con-
tinued fraud. l am prepared to swear
that the specimen of Mrs. Climbers, alias
Mrs. Clegg, hand shown me by your son
is the fac-simile OF large number of those
forged papers. The writer is the same.
And now that have seen her
she had most valid reason
for keeping in the background
yesterday evening" recognize the
woman too. She only escaped long
term of penal servitude through the plea