The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-04-20

there he would stand helplessly and
hopeiessly exposed, with those miserable
trousers in his possession. Escape was
impossible. Nothing could save him
He was ignominiously run to earth.
If ever any one felt desperate Jack did
SO at that moment. The newcomer,
however, did not shut the door, but
passed on into the room, leaving it open
behind her. Jack could see her as he
stood shivering in his hiding place, and
it did not add to his comfort to recog-
nize his aunt. But he was conscious of
blessed sense of relief when he saw
her making for door on the opposite
side of the room, which apparently led
into another chamber beyond. She
opened it and went in. Now was his
chance to escaped Looking nervously
out, and dreading every moment to see
her reappear, he slipped quietly round
the door and into the passage. Then,
fancying he heard his aunt emerge from
the inner room, he scuttled off on tiptoe
to his own bedchamber as fast as he
could run
1t was not until he reached that haven,
breathless and trembling, that a con-
sciousness of something missing came
over him. He had not got the trousers!
Terrible conviction! In the hurry and
agitation of his escape from behind the
door he must have dropped them. What
on earth was to be done now? he asked
himself in sickening dismay Should he
hasten back and make desperate effort
to recover them? Mol His courage
failed him at the thought He should
probably run into his aunt while doing
so, and that would put the finishing
stroke to everything There was moth
ing for it but to let matters take their
course. And wherever the trousers were
picked up, whether behind the door or
in the passage outside; there was, thank
heavenl no evidence to connect their
presence there with himself
But in his existing uneasy and forebod-
ing frame of mind, he felt it would be quite
impossible for him to face the company
again that night without exciting sus-
picion by his demeanor So he locked
himself into his room and retired straight
to bed, though not to sleep, for he lay
awake most of the night brooding mis-
erably over this unhappy affair. Even
the brief spells of slumber he enioyed
were disturbed by awful nightmares, in
which pair of black trousers, with
huge rent in them, were always the
prominent feature.
Next morning it was with the great
est difficulty that he could force himself
to go down to breakfast. For if the
discovery of those wretched trousers, in
their torn condition, was mentioned-as
it was, of course, certain to be-he knew
he should betray himself to the others
by his guilty blushes. He therefore ex-
perienced the most relieved surprise
when the meal passed without any allu-
sion being made to them. No one even
appeared to notice that his face looked
pale and haggard, except, perhaps, Lily !,
whose eyes he several times met fixed
upon himself with certain anxious in
terest expressed in them.
The day dragged on with leadenI
wings, and at every minute, in his un
easy guiltiness of conscience, Jack ex-
pected to be summoned by his Uncle
Tester and ordered to explain his scan
dalous and deceitful conduct, but nc
such summons came, and at last dinner
time was reached That, of course, was
certain to bring the subject of the dress
trousers upon the tapis, and it was with
a heavy, miserable heart that Jack en-
tered the drawing room at the sounding
of the gong. 80
What, then, was his surprise to see his
uncle standing on the hearthrug, in
cased as to his neither limbs in evening
inexpressibles, and to hear him say to a
guest, who had made jocular inquiry
on the subject: 'sYes, most extraor-
dinary thing. They had somehow got
folded away by mistake inside Lily's
riding habit, and sent up to her room.
She found them there this morning.
y
After dinner, in the drawing room,
while Jack was sitting by himself apart
from the others, pretending to read, but
really speculating on the extraordinary
and inexplicable result Of the trousers
episode, Lily strolled across to him, and
said in a low voice, with an amused
twinkle in her soft, bright eyes:
'tJack, it was an awfully bold stroke
of yours to leave those-those-
suppose there is no harm in the word
those trousers in my bedroom last night.
"Oh, say, it was an accident really
.grasped Jack, seeing that the girl had
somehow mastered his secret, and that
denial would be useless esBut was it
your room where left them? And how
did you find out it was me?''
'tBy guess work." she replied, laugh
ing. Il am rather sharp in putting two
and two together. y Why and
how you managed to split the articles |
failed to conjecture; but that you were
the culprit your demeanor last night
and today has sufficiently shown me-
When L found them last night on the
floor behind the door of my bedroom /
did not quite know what to do. But
having slept upon the matter and con-
firmed my over night suspicious of
you by. observation at breakfast this