The record-union., 1891-11-14

visit Of this distinguished guest that dis
covered who was the thief, and arrived at
the secret of the whole mystery.
The month was August, the nights hot
and sultry and less than ever conducive
| to sleep. l had nothing to do that even
! ing, and although I turned in early it was
with the usual result. The clocks had
| just struck l, and l had been in bed since
| IL without closing my eyes 1t was the
! old story; l was accustomed TO 1t. Sud
denly, amidst the host of perplexing and
often awe-inspiring thoughts whirling
| through ones brain under these cOndi-
| tiOns, [ remembered that pocket letter
| case containing the two FL Scotch bank
notes. Where was it? l had not seen it
for weeks. After restlessly striving to
drive away the desire to get up and
| search for it it mastered me- and out of
bed I sprang. For fully an hour I car
ried on the quest, but all in vain. Every
| conceivable and inconceivable corner,
| drawer and pocket was ranSacked. The
key to the escritoirc had been mislaid, so
/ could not examine that; but l knew it
contained little else than papers.
| AT length, entirely exhausted, iTritated
and fevered, aud with the chamber candle
| expiring with q splutter l flung myself
! on couch in the draWing-room. Dawn
had not yet broken; but in few minutes,
as 1 lay there coiled up in my dressing
gown, L unexpectedly fell asleep-a rest
|
weird-like, indescribable shapes.
! When l awoke it was daylight, though
| the room was still shadowy and obscure,
save in one spot close to the long window,
| where the VenetianI blind was partially
raised-the window 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 landing on the further side of
| the wall.
At the moment I opened my eyes with
feeling of relief at having just escaped
! some visionary peril, to my amaZement
| | saw that door slowly open and the fig
ure of q man stealthily entering by it. 1t
did not make the taintest sound on its
! hinges, nor did he with his fOotStep-nOt
so much as the creaking 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 general look of the
! man seemed to be not altogether unfa-
miliar, | could not in the least tell who it
! was. The first impulse, of course, was to
| sit up and call out, but for some mex
| plicable reason | restrained it; perhaps
| because the thought instantly crossed my
mind that here was the thief, and upon
| that l suppose | rapidly concluded to
| watch him and pretend to be still sleep
ing.
However this may be, did not move
as | observed him creep noiselessly across
! the room to the end of the mantelpiece
| furtheSt from that where / was lying.
He appeared not to notice me, and after
| feeling with his hand for a moment be-
| tween the edge of the loolling-glasS and
the wall by the mantelshelfhe took some
thing away, and instantly crossed back
| to the window by the eScritoire. He
! passed the little gap of light so quickly
! that still failed to recognize him. Then
| could dimly make out that he was un-
| locking the numbering piece of old furni-
ture, though still without making the
| slightest sound.
"Ho! hop thought I, ''my fine fellow,
now I've caught you, have l? You have
| found the key and are going to exercise
| your calling in that direction, eh? Well,
there's notmuch that is worth your atten-
| ton there; you won't find that a profita-
| bic hunting grOundn'
! l was not long, you may depend, in
| coming to determination. While he was
/ still fumbling at the escritoire l rose, and
stealing softly up behind him, suddenly
seized him by the neck of his collar. He
! endeavored to writhe out of my grasp.
! but L turned him round so quickly that
we both staggered and fell on the floor in
a huddled heap together-he undermost
! In the fall struck my forehead severely
against something, probably projecting
chair. For the moment the blow seemed
/ 10 DlIuu me, DuJ us we Iatt fOlled over
! into the gap Of light from the window,
had caught sight Of his face turned up as
| If it was toward mine, and ] Saw-whose
| face, think you? Why, no other than my
own-yes, my very own, as l well knew
it in the looking-glass.
! That one instant of amazement and
| CONSERVATION in which, as by a flash, [
made this recognition was followed by Il
| total oblivion OF all surroundings Tho
| face and figure seemed to fade away be-
meath me and to vanish with my consci-
BUSINESS.
How long lay PROSTATE, face down.
| ward on the floor. know not; but in that
| position L found myself when my bewil-
| dered senses slowly returned. For awhile
of course, L could remember nothing
| how L came there or what had brought
| me to such pass. Only very slowly
| did the circumstances recall themselves
| What on earth did they mean? Ny fore
head was Enthusiastically cut and still
! bleeding; indeed, there was q patch Of
congealed blood on the carpet plainly
visible in the broad flood of early sun
light now streaming in beneath the half
raised blind. Had / been dreamiup9
More likely L had had q fit; anyhow, /
was SO utterly bewildered that it was
some time before my thoughts became
coherent. Then alarmed, and full CON
scious for the first time in my life that
must be seriously i'll or laboring under
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 top Of the old
escritoire. 1t was partially open. Some
one had been at 1t, then, that was clear!
That was no dream, no fanCy-scarcelv
due to fit, one would think-at least not
of the sort Ilhad tremblingly thought of
Yes, and there was the missing kew i'm tho
lOnl- haCr .1yaTr, I,
in upon my cobwebbed brain. thew had
led to put one idea. Acting on it. [
pushed the lid full open, and with the ra-
pidity OF thought pulled out one drawer
after another, and there, in most of them.
were deposited a lot of the articles and
objects L had SO long missed-there, in
this neglected, useless piece of odd fIIrni-
ture! [ turned them all out in a confl-
sion worse confounded than my thoughts.
But there they were-almost every one:
cigar case, silver Matchbox, trinkets.
locket and pocketbook containing the
Scotch bank notes.
Then how on earth had they come to be
in this place? a thief would hardly have
stolen them to conceal them thus in my
own apartments, unleSS-unlesS-and
then, very reluctantly, slowly, and at
first but vaguely, did | arrive at the con-
clusion-unleSs the thief was myself
Verify this was an alarming Supposi-
ton, and confirmed my worst dread. I
must be suffering under some frightful,
lnexplicable brain disease, for that had
done this thing was wholly and totally
unconscious.
For days and days, however, I took no
action. 1 hesitated to breathe word of
the extraordinary affair to soul. Who
would believe it? Everybody would say
had gone out of mind-I thought so my