Wichita eagle., 1890-02-05

| Ted slept at night. A pretty hitter he mad
of it all. But he had not yet discovered tn
secret OF my footstoo Can any one imagin
what / endured as 1 sat there. helpless as
Door little Chinese ''joss, the cold perspira
ton of fear on my forehead, while l askes
myself: What will the fellow do nextF'
He turned round while proceeding with hi
search, and looking at me said:
Halo, Poppet, how pale you are! AIM
| going to faint, are you! o don't faint, for
shall want you to talk to me a bit I'll oper
the window and give you mouthful OF fresl
air. This room is precious close"
He went to the window-the window which
| dear Ted had cautioned me not to touch thai
morning-unfastened the catch and wOulC
have let down the upper part, but he wa
| saved the trouble, for, the cord being broken
| down quick as q shot came the window, and
as luck would have it, caught his eight fin
gers tight between the upper and middle
frames.
| The pain and the shock must have been
| dreadful the window frame being wide and
very heavy one He uttered a howl, then
kicked frantically: but all was in vain.
| There he stood, with both hands held aloft
caught in as nice trap as could have been
| devised for an evil dOer.
Then he glanced at me, and the sight Of
| me, "picter of good behavior that 1 was,
must have filed his soul with remorse, since
through his own act I was rendered power
less to assist him. He whined, however:
Cant you help une.''
As it was impossible for me willingly to
look on while fellow creature suffered such
anguish as knew he must DC enduring,
afro t,,tr
had tied me too firmly for that. He took to
kicking again and began to swear horribly.
May never again k1Ar such language as
was forced to listen to that afternoon.
His hands soon swelIed, and l saw some
drops of blood trickle slowly down the panes,
the rings he wore on his dirty fingers having
been forced into the flesh. The piercing air
which rushed in freely through the wide
aperture must have greatly aggravated his
suffering. l know | was nearly frozen. And
ell this time the clock on the mantelpiece
kept ticking off the moments TRANQUILITY, as
though to assure me that time could not be
hurried into quicker pace by any considera-
tion Of human dlstreSs
Imagine What two hours in such situation
meant for both of us! Two hoursl ] think
the poor wretch at the window tainted; but
the horrible dragging of his body on his poor
MANNED hand reused him directly. Trembling
with cold and conmiseration, sat Watching
him, the tears rolling down my cheeks. o,
why had refused Ted's kind proposal to send
Cousin Milly to me? Why had I been 80
captious about her dear little babys Better
a room full of babies, all doing their worst,
than
But here l swooned, and fell, chair and all,
on the rug before the cold CRATE, the fire hav-
ing died out long since.
Just on the hour of 3 became conscious Of
a dull thud below, which | knew to be
knock at the street door. lay listening, but
rather wondering vaguely what would hap
pen next, than taking any interest in things
of this life, from which seemed in q man
ner to have foated away.
After an interval | heard steps plodding
up the stairs, and loud CHEEKY voice, which
l recognized as that Of our old friend, Mr.
Joy, the carpenter, called out:
"Huiloa. Anybody at homee'
Coming to our room door, he knocked,
then turned the handle, bat Of course found
it locked Being unable TO speak, yet tried
to groan, and made some inarticalate noises,
but 1 could hardly hope the old man heard
companion in misfortune, one would suppose
he would gladly have hailed a prison as an
escape from such a plight as he was in. and
SO, no doubt, he would, only he had no choice
at that moment, having gone off again in .
heavy swoon.
heard the carpenter 60 down stairs, and
hopes of relief died away in my breast 0
Joy, JOY, why did you come TO mock me
thus! Two more hours probably before Ted
will be home! Shall I be alive by thens
Ny bound and aching limbs were on the rack
of pain; l lay and sobbed miserably. But
bark! A shout from the back garden!
What the dickens is all thiss"
Again heard the voice of Joy.
1t appeared that the carpenter, on trying
our room door and finding it fastened, con-
cluded We were all out but went round to
the back Of the house ''to have a look at that
winder' which my brother had sent him to
mend-of course not expecting to find it con-
verted into a man trap He had noticed,
whife knocking at the street door, that the
parlor window was unfastened, and, think
ing it unsafe, especially as Mrs. Brown was
out, he had used his privilege as our old
friend and hers to Get through and fasten it
before coming upstairs No doubt the thief
had entered the house by that way
1t was not long before help came, and the
door was broken open, when our misery was
ended. l dare say, since prisons were first
built, there never was a culprit who walked
into Jail more meekly than did the one who
had intended to rob my brother.
They say the poor fellows hands will never
be right again; amputstion may be necessary,
as erysipelas is getting in. Well, all can
say is freely forgive him for the suffering,
mental and bodily, be caused me.
was in bed for fortnight, bat eventually
got all right again. Dear Ted says l am
brick, but that may be his partiafity. Any
how, my footstoOl proved to be a very effec-
tive safe. To othis hour no one knows about it
but you, Ted and nyself.-True Flag