The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-11-19

been In bed since eleven without clos
| Ing my eyes. II was the old story; /
was accustomed to It Suddenly, amid
the host Of pcrplcxing and even awe
inspiring thoughts whirling through
ones brain under these conditions, /
remembered 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 out Of bed sprang. For fully an
hour carried on the quest, but all in
vain. Every conceivable corner, draw
er and pocket was ransacIxed. The key
OF the escritoire had been mislaid, SO /
could not examine that; butsf knew it
contained little else but papers.
/ At length, entirely exhausted, irri-
tated and fevercd, and with the cham
Der candle expiring with sputter. /
Hung myself on couch in the drawing
room. Dawn had not yet broken, but
in few minutes. as lay there coiled
up ia my dressing gown i unexpected
\ ly fell asleep-a restless, dreaming
4 sleep. full of fantastic, w.erdlike, inde--l
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
blind was partially raised-the win
dow nearest that dark corner occupied
by the old escritoire. The head Of the
couch was toward the mantelpiece, but
almost facing the door from the land
ing on the further side of the wall.
AT the moment opened my eyes
with a feeling of relief at having just
ESCAPED some visionary peril, to my
amazement saw that door slowly open
and the figure Of o man stealthily 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 gen.
cral 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 inexplicable rea-
son ] restrained it-perhaps because
the thought instantly crossed my mind
that here was the thief, and upon that
! suppose rapidly concluded to watch,
and pretended to be still sleeping.
! However this may be, did not move
as ! 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
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 / still failed to recognize
him Then could dimly make out that
he was apparently unlocking the lum-
herring piece of old furniture, though
still without making the slightest
sound
ITO! hop thought /, my fine fellow,
nav I've caught you, have 1? You
| hsve 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 profitable hunting ground"
| was not long, you may depend In
coming to a determination. While he
MAS still fambliBg at the eseritoire
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 a fuddled
heap toge ther-he undermost In the fall
struck my forehead severely against
something, 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 | saw-whose
face think you? Why; no other than
my own-yes, my very own, as | well
knew it in the lookinggla
That one instant of amazement and
CONSERVATION in which. as by flash, I
made this recognition was followed by
4 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, know not; but in
that position | found myself when my
bewildered senses slowly returned.
For awhile, of course, / could remem-
Der nothing-how ! came there or what |
had brought me to such pass. Only |
very slowly did the circumstances re-
call themselves. What ON earth did
they mean? My forehead was unmis-
takably cut and still bleeding: indeed
there was patch of CONCEALED blood
on the carpet plainly visible in the
broad flood of early sunlight now
streaming in beneath the half-raised
blind Had | been dreaming? More
likely ] had had fit; anyhow, was
SO utterly bewildered that twas some
time before my thoughts became CO.
hercnt. Then, alarmed and fully con-
scious for the first time in my life that
| must be seriously ill or laboring UNI
der some mysterious mental alteration,
rose from the floor and sat down in
an adjacent chair.
AS my eyes wandered vacantly
around they fell upon the circular tap
of the old escritoire. 1t was partially
open. Some one had been at it; that
was clear. That was no dream, no
fancy-@scarcely due to a fit, one would
think-at least, not of the sort / had
tremblingly thought of. Yes, and
there was the missing key i'll the lock.
When these facts had been fully broken