Middletown transcript., 1891-08-06

neiO III IeSpouso W MS pressing INV
tation."
Val. aud had the clew to tn
riddle simultaneously.
"You are wanting Valentia Lodg'
Walnsey Cross" I said.
I" 1t is Mr.. John Escott who live
here; there has been mistake,
cried Val.
Mr.. Lidlaw stood as though par
alyzed by the revelation of his blund
er; then shadow of intense vexatioi
passed over his features and this il
turn yielding to a smile at his owl
expense. "Whew This comes o
not being sufficiently precise in in
vestigation a lesson l hardly ough
to need to learn, after all these years,
he grimly soliloquized. Then h'
bowed deprecatingly to us. and pro-
ceeded The storm was raging 81
fiercely that | was content in thu
stationyard with little delay and few
words. I asked the coachman wht
was handiest if he could drive me te
Captain Escott's, Walnsey, and he
said 'Yes,' i suppose he did not catch
more than the surname; and / was
ignorant that Walnsey and Walnsey
Cross are not Identical places"
They are three miles apart" said
Val.
" / was uncertain of my train OF
Captain Escott would have sent to
meet me. l begged him not to do
that. The question now is how to get
away, for the driver-he was none too
sober-is gone and my luggage is in
your hall. 1t is most unfortunate
and absurd and wholly my fault, for
| remember remarking that the
fellow called your home the Manor
which was not familiar name for il
both at Daleford station and here
on arrival. / tender thousand apo
logies."
Forthwith our group of four re-
solved itself into committee for deal.
ing with this singular emergency.
Our debate had but q lame issue. Ii
papa had been here and had become
convinced of the bona fdcs of his un.
invited guest he would have sent
Spence with Mr.. Lidlaw to Captain
Escott's. But both papa and the men
were absent. Josephus was old, and
often ailing; I hesitated to suggest
any scheme that should involve his
going out into the tempest. And Ger.
tainly Val. must not venture any
such exposure.
Mr.. Lidlaw carefully inquired his
way, and announced that he should
walk. He asked, too-very oddly, as
| thought, with a new twinkle of
doubt-the nearest route back to
Daleford village. Walls directions
were clear and full, and if the
stranger obeyed them, he could not
possibly go astray in either direction.
1t seemed inhospitable TO permit him
to turn out unattended into the night;
but | could perceive no alternative,
and I have reason to think that he
would have overruled any and every
objection.
Mrs. Climber had not appeared.
This struck US afterwards as strange.
However busy she might be with her
correspondence, it was curious that
she should have heard nothing Of the
arrival, or that hearing, she should
have kept away. Some twenty
minutes after Mr.. Lidlaw had left she
entered tine drawing-room and listen
ed to our joint narrative of what had
happened. 1 fancied that she was
preoccupied, until Alice casually re-
ferred to the visitors inspection of her
handwriting, and that then her manner
changed, and she listened with more
anxiety-than she
cared for US to observe. From this
fact-ifsuch it were-I was, however,
at a loss to draw any particular de-
duction.
/ pass over the hours that elapsed
between this episode and midnight
We had retired early, and the house
ought to have been as dark and still
as if uninhabited. Older friends tell
me that it is the privilege of healthy
girlhood to sleep soundly and with
ease. do not doubt that they are
right; but on this occasion I con-
tinued obstinately awake. The day
had not wanted in agitation and sur
prises, and they had affected my
spirit with unusual restlessness. Per
haps I am nervous by temperament,
and it was this quality which filled
the darkness with shapes of terror,
aud my brain with inchaotic fears of
some stealthily on creeping evil. 1t
is likely enough to be the true and
ample explanation of mental con-
dition. Certainly I could not rest.
How vainly wished that I had pro-
posed to Alice that we should occupy
the same room. She would
have consented, although / had no
reason to suppose that Alice shared
my tremors. But it would be a con-
fession of cowardice, of which l should
not soon hear the last, to 60 to her
now, even if the situation of her room,
at the end off long, silent corridor
and across mid-landing, was an in
sufficient deterrent. No; l must
toss and turn and wait for the tardy
Suddenly a chill ran through my
veins; | sat up among the pillows,
rigid, and, doubt not, blanched
almost to their own whiteness. 1
listened in very agony of attention.
From the depths below there had
echoed distinctly upward-or my fac
ulties were playing me false-the
sound of the sullen yielding of bolt.
My apartment was Immediately over
the plate closets, and adjacent to the
partition which closed in the second
flight of stairs. This accounted for
the transmission of the noise. But the
noise was an ominous disclosure. In
the dead of night it was surely illegiti-
mate, and spoke of crime.
The veriest craven will sometimes