Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-24
SO thoughtful. I'll send the boz. on. -

lOOh luz IL Juob sIS sOOu
"Oh, never mind the letter. linton.
rupted. .. dare say it's only from Jack
Tomorrow morning will do very Wen for
that. But, Mn Gludge, you'll come back
and stay with me till Peter gets back,
Jean is away, you know, and"-
Yes my dear, FL do that" assented the
woman, evidently relieved to be let off 40
easily on the score of the letter. "And IL
won't be long first. It's only short half
mile to Romney's, if the wind didn't blow
so like all possessed"
With good humored nod she disan.
peared into the rain and darkness. and 7
ran back to pile fresh logs on the waning
fire. Bank burglars, extradited wander,
ers, a lunatic at large-with all these nos.
sibilities whirling in my brain it is not
strange tn 1t lighted second lamp in or
der effectu ally to Danish all lurking shad-
ows from the angles of the room, and
started nervously when sudden blast of
wind shooz the window shutters as if with
some imperious hand.
Il IL go up TO the garnet and bring down
some butternuts," thought |, land then
I'll get some cider from the cellar II will
be fun to crack the butternuts and watch
the shells blaze in the fire, and Mrs Gludpe
Will like drink of cider when she comes
back all wet and chill.'
Cheered by this happy thought. Icaugbt
up lamp and flew to the garrett of the
roomy old house where my father had
bestowed all the nutty treasures of the
autumn woods. Somehow, Priscilla. the
cat, had got locked into the garnet, and /
had to release her from durance vile, and
replace box or two which she had knock
ed off from the window SILL before came
down, driving her catship before me, with
the lamp In one hand and an apronful of
butternuts in the other. Through the
open keeping room door streamed a raw of
rudy light into the Cimmerian darkness
of the hall. stopped abruptly. Surely I
had closed that door when came out. re-
Numbering a certain trick it had of slam
ming to and fro in windy weather like
this. And at the same time a curious con-
seriousness of some human presence near bv
crept over me like an unseen magnetic cur
rent.
Nor was 1t false premonition As
stretched my neck to peep cautiously into
the room, / saw seated before the fire "a
gentleman-a youngish gentleman, pale,
black haired, and, as thought, rather I'M
settled of aspect. And decidedly wet
and mud despatched gentleman, whose
raiment steamed in the glorious blaze and
crackle of the pine logs, as he sat there
holding out his hands to the genial
warmth.
How had he gained an entrance? Had I
carelessly neglected to bolt the big door
after Mrs. Gludge's departure9 Yes, l
must have done so, and that was proof of
how utterly unfit / was to be left by my
self. For q second stood there quailing
and quaking, my heart humping like a
triphammer, cold sweat breaking out
upon my forehead, before / decided what
to do.
L had never seen a bank burglar, to be
sure, but j was pretty certain this white
handed ger tlemaD could not belong to that
race. And l did not think he acted like
any other scoundrel who was fleeing from
the rigors of the law. He must be the
English GENTLEMAN, gone wrong in his
head, who had escaped" from Stephen
sons.
l was alone in the house with a maniac;
and at the idea my heart beat more vio-
lently than ever and the cold drops grew
colder on my brow.
With a sudden instinct decided that
there was nothing for it but flight. The
worst featu re of the case was that l could
not get out of the house (be it remembered
that Peter had taken away the key of the
back kitchen door in his pocket without
passing directly through the room where
the escaped lunatic sat basking before the
fire. This, however, must be faced; there
was no remedy for it, and with one blind
rush l precipitated myself through the
room, tumtling over the cat and scattering
a shower Of butternuts as | went, and
darted head long through the door, with an
involuntary shrek that might have rent
the ceiling if ever ceilings were rent in
that way except in the pages of romance.
+ Directly into the arms of-Jack, my own
brother Jack, who was coming in from the
van with a light valise in one hand and q
dripping carriage robe in the other.
"Halloor bawled Jack, staggering under
the blow OF my very unexpected appear
ance. "Why-what the-I declare If it
isn't Ruthyp
"Oh. Jacll oh. Jackp' screamed, clutch
ing at him like the drowning man at the
proverbial straw.
"Where are all the folkss What has be-
come Of the stable keys' What have you
done with Carletoni" he demanded. But
/ paid no heed to his interrogatories.
Come, Jack" / cried; come quickly!
The escaped lunatic! He's right there in
the keeping rooml Oh, Jack, / do hope
you've got your revolverp'
WHAT" reared Jack. can escaped
lunatics Where the Deuce has he come
from? Has he hurt Carleton?"
He made spring toward the keeping
room, in whose door stood the tall, pale
man, straining his eyes out into the night.
"Where il he?" shouted Jack.
"Where's who?" said the escaped luna
tic in a pleasant, slightly drawing voice.
at wasn't hei 1t was shell And she
cleared the floor in a single bound, and
Oh, I'm sure beg thousand pardonsf'-
Ii Cd of me nlaaaa
what is the matter?
In second my mental vision became as
clear as crystal. saw it all, and l envied
Priscilla, the cat, because / could not van
ish under the china cupboard as she did.
and be gonel could only blush and hang
my head, and stammer out incoherent
apologies amid the laughter OF Jack and
the polite apologies Of the friend whom he
had unexpectedly brought from Montreal
with him, a nd whose coming had been an
nounced, as it seemed, by the very letter