The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-04-28


slighter impression, thus far the eff
feet had been confined to her; but the
third-for only to q third fright could
! attribute her scream OF terror-had
brought her father and myself from
our rooms. Instantly, somethinglike
the truth flashed upon my mind.
TO bring me from my room was the
very object with which the attack up,
on Edith had been made.
Unriddling the mystery with this
key,I assumed that the thief had
watched me close the door upon Van
Hoeck and return to my room; that,
after allowing me sufficient time to get
into bed, but not to fall into sound
sleep, he had made the attack upon
Edith, opening her door beforehand to
provide aspeedy means of escape, and
to allow her cry to be more distinctly
heard; that, having succeeded in terri
flying her, he had sped down the stairs
in the left block, passed through the
library and dining and ascend
ed by the stairs in the right block
about the same time that | might be
supposed to have reached Edith S
room, and that, reckoning upon my
keeping the Great Hesper under my
pillow, and leaving it there in my
alarm upon Edith's account, he had
expected to have possessed himself OF
our treasure. If what / thus assum-
ed was the fact, then indeed this plan
might have succeeded but for
Van Hoeck' S prudent insistance upon
my strapping the diamond to my
wrist.
AS / thus explained what had hap
pened, a more startling reflection oc-
Cured to my mind. The thief had
been disappointed in not finding the
diamond beneath my pillow, but he
yet might not have relinquished the
hope of getting it.
He might not have left the room.
Hemight be hidden there at that very
moment!
What was more easy, being in the
room, than to conceal himself in it.?
The curtain that moved the oriel, the
great chest, the settle, the press, were
all suggestive of that course. The fell
low might be under the very bed Twas
lying upon.
The movement / had seen in the
curtain, the sound similar to tie draw
ing of blade from it's sheath-which
might we'll be caused by the move
ment of the heavy valance of the bed,
strengthened the suspicion. Was he
lying there waiting for the sound of
my heavy breathing to assure him
that | slept?
There was scarcely the necessity to
wait for that;for what resistance could
!, lying upon my back there, make
against foe springing out of the dark
upon me?
l thought of the clasp-knife Van
Hoeck had given me, and, stretching
out my hand, felt for it where / had
stuck it,-between the mattress and
the bedstead. I could not find it.
Pushing the curtain SO that the light
from the latnpfell upon the edge of the
bedstead, l assured myself that it was
not where had left it. It must have
slipped through-or been drawn out.
The latter supposition explained
the sound and movement had heard
and seen. Yet it might have made
that sound in slipping through Its
fall upon the floor deadened by the
carpet, or it's point sticking in the
boards; but fancied the horn handle
was too wide to allow of it's slipping
through.
To satisfy myself at once upon this
point, l leaped out of bed, resolved to
strike q match and look under the
valance. Istood for q moment stu
pefed; the box ofvestas was gone from
the table, where / was certain l had
laid them.
They must have been taken whilst
l lay screened by the bed curtains.
/ glanced over my shoulder.
The folds of the curtain against the
bed were not the same as when / push
ed them back to the wall; one fold
stood out at an angle; and as, slowly
turning around, Hooked more closely,
I saw against the dark oak panel of
the wall about the mid-height of a
man, and protruding but an inch or
so from the edge of the curtain, the
bright point of a knife, blade.
Now, indeed, there was no longer
any doubt. The man who had come
to rob was there to murder me. Had
I stopped but another moment on the
bed, he might have knitted me.
What was l to do? I had him,
standing there behind the curtain, at
a certain advantage. -
Should l spring upon him and
strange him against the wall in the
folds of the curtain?
1t was not sure victory for me,
and q partial one might, in the end,
be fatal. The thick stuff would pre-
vent my getting a firm grip of him,
and his right hand, the one that held
the knife, was free. My chance was
too small, the danger too great, to
justify that attack, though the
muscles of my arms and fingers were
strung up to make the tempting effort.
Keeping my eye upon the curtain, I
drew back to the foot OF the bed. To
get to the door, l must cross the
room, and inevitably be seen by the
murderous rascal as he stood there on
the inner side of the bed curtain; and,
arrived at the door, Unjust turn the key
twice, and the handle as we'll, before
he overlook me. On the other hand,
to disengage himself from the folds of
the curtain, and recover the start I
had of him.
The chances were pretty equal, and
I determined to save myself by flight
rather than risk the fatal result of
the unequal encounter.
l made my way noiselessly, in a
straight line down the room, until /
got opposite the door; then l made a
rush for it, across the open space. /
got to the door, and, with furious
haste, groped about for the key. 1t
was gonel
l grasped the handle, in thehopeth
/ might be able to tear the lock off;
the screw had been taken out, and
the knob slid off the spindle in my
hand. was lost.
1t astonishes me, now, to think
with what celebrity and adroitness
these precautions against my escape
had been made.
The man had not rushed after me;
there was no desperate pursuit OF
that kind; he knew / was trapped.
Only, as | turned my eyes back to the
place where he stood. I nerceivad that