Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-10-03

0oeA purl0tne0; but there II remained.
l shifted it, partially covered It with
other things, as if by accident. or as il
1t had been forgotten. Yet it was al
ways Forthcoming whenever 1 looked.
lput solitar y sovereign on corner OF
the mantelpiece; the housemaid twice
drew my attention to the fact that the
coin was still ly ing there. No. moth.
ing that I ever pl aced rs a bait disap.
peared. The depredati ons were con.
fined to such objects as I hadn't been
thinking about until I wanted them.
The month was August, the nights
hot and sultry and less than ever con-
ducive to sleep. 1 had nothing to dc
that evening, and, although turned in
early it was with the usual result The
clock had just struck one, and l had
been in bed since eleven without clos
ing my eyes. 1t was the old story; I
was accustomed to it. Suddenly, amid
the host of perplexing and even awe
inspiring thoughts whirling through
rememb ered that pocket letter case
containing the two one pound sterling
Scotch bank notes. Where was it? !
had not seen it for weeks. After rest
lessly striving to drive away the desire
to get up and get it. it mastered me,
and ont of bed sprang. For fully ali
hour l carried on the quest, but all in
vain. Every conceivable corner, draw
er and pocket was ransaczed The key
Of the escritoire had been mislaid. SO I
could not examine that; but knew 1t
contained little else but papers.
At length, entirely exhausted, irri-
tated and fevered, and with the cham
Der candle expiring with a sputter, l
flung myself on a couch in the drawing
room Dawn had not yet broken, but
in q few minutes, as 1 lay there coiled
up in my dressing gown, I unexpected
ly fell asleep-a restless, dreaming
sleep. full of fantastic, wierdlike. indie
scribable shapes.
When awoke it was daylight.
though the room was still shadowy and
obscure, save in one spot close to the
long window, where the Venetian
bliad was partially raised-the win
dow nearest that dark corner oc cupied
by the old escritoire. The head of the
couch was toward the mautelpiece, but
almost facing the door from the land
ing on the further side Of the wall.
At the moment l opened my eyes
with a feeling of relief at having just
escaped some visionary peril, to my
amazement l saw that door slowly open
and the figure of q man stenlthily en-
tering it. 1t did not make the faintest
sound on its hinges, nor did he with his
footstep--not SO much as the creak-
ing of plank The light in
that part of the room was far
too dim to allow of my seeing what
he was like. His face was slightly
averted. also. and except that the gem
eral looks of the man seemed to be
not altogether unfamiliar. could not
in the least tell who he was The first
impulse, of course, was to sit up and
call out, but for some inexplicablc rea-
son / restrained it--perhaps because
the thought instantly crossed my mind
that here was the thief. and upon that
1 suppose I rapidly concluded to watch,
and pretended to be still sleeping.
However this may be, did not move
as I observed him creep noiselessly
across the room to the end of the man
telpiece farthest from that where was
lying. He appeared not to notice me,
and after feeling with his hand for a
moment between the edge of the look
ing glass and the wall by the mantel
shelf, he took something away, and in
stantly crossed back to the window by
the escritoire. He passed the little
gap of light SO quickly into the dark
corner that l still failed to recognize
him. Then could dimly make out that
he was apparently unlocking the luIn-
boring piece Of old furniture, though
still without making the slightest
sound
"Ho! ho!" thought l, my fine fellow,
now I've caught you, have I? You
have found the key, and are going to
exercise your calling in that direction,
eh? Well, there's not much that is
worth your attention there; you won't
find that a profitable hunting ground"
was not long, you may depend. IN
coming to a determination. While he
was still fumbling at the escritoire l
rose, and, stealing softly up behind
him, suddenly seized him by the back
of his collar. He endeavored to writhe
out of my grasp, but l turned him
round so quickly that we both stag
gered and fell on the floor in huddled
heap together-he undermost In the fall
struck my forehead severely against
some thing, probably projecting chair
For the moment the blow seemed to
blind me; but as we had rolled over
into the gap of light from the window
caught sight of his face, turned up as
it was toward mine, and l saw-whose
face think you? Why; no other than
my own-yes, my very own, as I well
knew it in the looking-glass.
That one instant of amazement and
in which, as by a flash. ]
made this recognition, was followed by
a total oblivion of all surroundings.
The face and figure seemed to fade
away beneath me and to vanish with
my consciousness.
How long lay PROSTATE, face down
ward on the floor, I know not: but in
that position found myself when my
bewildered senses slowly returned.
For awhile. of course. l could remem-
Der nothing-how 1 came there or what
had brought me to such a pass. Only
very slowly did the circumstances re-
call themselves What on earth did
they mean? My forehead was unmis-