Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-08-28

cItt ottItA 6tt itDf
1 did not much like tha arrangement
of James new house when Icame to stay
in it. The way the two bedrooms, hers
and mine, were shut off from the rest of
the house by a door. barred and locked
at night for fear of burglars, was, I
thought, unpleasant, especially as ono
An my room for the night there was no
possibility Of getting out Of it, the key
of the door of the passage not being even
allowed to remain In the lock, but retir-
ing with Jane, the canary cage and
other valuables into her own apartment.
I demonstrated, but l soon found that
Jane had not remained unmarried for
nothing. She was decided on the point.
The outer door would be locked as usual,
and the key would be deposited under
the pincushion in her room as usual, and
it was so.
The next morning, as Jane and I went
out for a stroll before luncheon, We had
to pass the house to which l had driven
by mistake the day before. To our as
Constituent there was a crowd before
the door, and a policeman with his back
to it was guarding the entrance. The
blinds We're all drawn down. The image
Of the pale, lonely woman sitting by her
little fire, whom l had disturbed the day
before, came suddenly back to me with
strange qualm.
"What Is itT' I hurriedly asked a
bakers boy who was standing at an
area railing rubbing his chin against the
loaf he was waiting to deliver. The boy
grinued.
''It's murder!" he said, with relish.
"Burg1lars in the night. I've supplied
her regular these two months. One GUAR
tern best white, one-half quartern brown
every morning, French rolls occasional;
but it's all up now" And he went off
whktling a tune which all bakers boys
whistled about that time, called my
Grandfather's Timepiece," or something
similar.
A second policeman came up the street
ut this moment, and from him 1 learned
all the little there was TO know. The.
poor lady had not been murdered, 1t
seemed, but being subject to heart COM
plant had died in the night Of an acute
attack, evidently brought on by fright.
The maid, the only other person in the
house, sleeping as maids of all work only
can, had heard nothing, and awoke in
the morning to find her mistress dead in
her bed, with the window and door open.
Strangely enough, the policeman added,
although nothing III the house had been
touched, the lock of an unused bedroom
had been forced and the room evidently
searched.
Poor Jane was quite overcome. She
seemed convinced that it was only by a
special intervention Of Providence that
she had changed her house, and that her
successor had been sacrificed instead of
herself.
"It might have been mel" she said over
and over again that afternoon.
Wishing to give a turn to her thoughts
] began to talk about Sir Johns legacy
In which she had evinced the greatest
interest the night before, and greatly tc
her delight showed her the jewels. Ihad
not looked at them since Sir John had
given them to me, and I was myself as.
tonished at their magnificence asI spread
them out on the table under the gas
lamp.
Jane exhausted herself in admiration
but as I was putting them away again
saying it was time for me to be dressing
and going to meet Carr, who was to join
me- at the Criterion, she begged me or
no account to take them with me, affirm.
ing that it would be much safer to leave
them at home. ! was firm, but she wa
Armer, and in the end I allowed her t.
lock them up in the tea caddy, where
h6 small stock Of ready money reposed
met Carr as we had arranged and
we had q very pleasant evening. Pool
Carr, who had seen the papers, had
hardly expected that I should turn up
moving the catastrophe Of the previous
night had taken place at the house ! wa,
going to, and was much relieved to heal
that my sister had moved and had thus
been spared all the horror Of the event
The dinner vas good, the play better
I should have come home feeling that
had enjoyed myself thoroughly If it had
not been for a little adventure with ouI
cab driver that very nearly proved seri
ous We got a hanson directly we came
out Of the theatre, but instead of taking
rs to the direction we gave him, after
we had driven for some distance / began
to make out that the cabman was goine
wrong, and Carr shouted to him to stop
but t%hereupon he dashed up his horst
and away he went like the winds, up one
street and down another, till l had los
all idea where we were. Carr, who wa
young and active, did all he could, but
the cabman, who / am afraid mus
have been intoxicated, took not tn.
slightest notice, and continued drivins
madly, heaven knows where.
At last, after getting into u very ding,
neighborhood, we turned up a crooked
dark street, unlit by any lamp, a stree
80 narrow that l thought every momen'
the cab would be overturned. In an
other moment I saw two men rush GU
Of a doorway. One seized the horse
which was much blown by this time
and brought 1t violently to a standstill
while the other flew at the cab, ant
catching Carr by the collar proceeded t.
drag him out by main force. Isuppos,
Carr did his best, but being only a:
American he certainly made a very poo.
fght of it; and while I was laying int,
the man who had got hold Of him I wa
suddenly caught by the legs myself from
the other side Of the cab. ! turned o,
my assailant, saw q heavy stick levelet
q. me, caught at 1t, missed 1t, beheld
series of fireworks and remembered moth
ing more.
The first thing I heard on beginnin,
to come to myself was a series of sub
dued hut evidently heartfelt oaths, ans
became sensible Of an airy feeling, un
pleasant IN the extreme, ~proceedin,
from an open condition Of coat an
waistcoat, quite unsnited to the time o
year. A low chorus Of mnfled whisper
Ing was going on round me. As
groaned involuntarily 1t stopped.
"Heis coming cor / heard Carr say
"Go and fetch soane brandy" And
felt myself turned right side uppermosi
and my hands were rubbed, while Carr
IN . voice OF the greatest anxiety, aske
mo how / felt. I was soon able TO ID
mp and to become aware that I lad
splitting headache, and was staring at
tallow candle stuck in q bottie Havtn
got - FAR / got . httle fnrthG. and q
booking round found myse4 lselinaneq