The Dickinson press., 1892-05-21
THE GREAT RBSPER.
TALE OF A BIG DIAMOND.
How an Immense Gem Was Lost,
Recovered, II Lost Again.
CHAPTER Y.

Recovered, and Lost Again,
CHAPTER IN.
What happened in Edith's room
that night | did not learn until the
next morning; but | will give her &C.
count in this place, in order to pre-.
serve the sequence OF events.
True to her resolve, she had lett the
window open and the blind down, ex-
actly as OF the preceding nights. 1t
was her habit to lock the door,
and, that she did not omit
to do SO ON this occa,
sion, she was convinced 10y the fact
that she had found some difficulty in
turning the key, and had afterward
tried the handle, to know if the bolt
was shot. She lett the lamp burning
on the table screened from her by the
lace curtains OF the bed. 1t was hall
past eleven when she lay down, and
She felt so little fear that she fell
asleep almost Immediately.
A pillow slipping from beneath her
head awoke her, she believed. Her
first consciousness was that her head
felt uncomfortably low. She put her
hand out to find ii she had Slipped to
the edge OF the bed; but no, her posi-
ton was unchanged.
Then it struck her that she had left
n light on the table; it was now out,
and all was dark.
She wondered ii this was a trick OF
Imagination. Was she awake or
asleep? She touched her eyes to be
sure they were open. Then it occur
ed to her that she might have been
asleep for q long while. There was
nothing extraordinary in Il lamp 60
ing out, or her head slipping from the
pillow. Saying this to herself, she
felt for the pillows.
TO her establishment, shefoundthat
both were gone.
1t was droll. She felt inclined to
laugh, thinking how she must have
tossed about in her sleep to knock
both pillows out. But the bedclothes
We're perfectly smooth, the bed on
each side OF her even and soft and
yielding. That vas strange!
al must have done all the tossing
with my head" she said to herself,
still tickled by the oddity OF thething.
One thing was certain,-sh could
not sleep in comfort with nothing but
Il bolster under her head.
She leaned out, and felt upon the
floor as far as she could reach to the
right. The pillows had not Slipped
out on that side. Then, putting her
shoulder against the wall, she felt
down on the left. There WAS nothing
there. What did it all mean? Decid-
eddy this must be Il new freak OF her
imagination.
She was not yet thoroughly
frightened. The spirit who could
steal her pillows must have
some IL OF humor; it was pre-
ferable to drumming ON the window
panes, and glaring through the blind
at her. Hearing and sight had been
tried, and now her sense OF touch was
to be tested.
But though she tried to make light
OF the affair, she felt that something
terrible underlay it's comic aspect,
and a little shiver ran through her at
the thought OF getting up and striking
q light. 1t was so much easier to be
courageous in the daylight than in
such darkness as this.
After all, perhaps the pillows had
slid out OF bed in a natural way, and
lay just a little beyond her reach.
But rather than stretch her arm out
again in the dark, she preferred to put
up with the bolster doubled.
She doubled the bolster, and gave it
q pat; then she put up q lock OF hair
that had come down, and told herself
not to be stupid about a little thing
like that; and, wondering whether she
should dare tell OF this incident in the
morning, she dropped on her elbow,
and laydown her head,-down, down,
down, till it touched the bed.
"What was this?:" she asked herself,
starting up in a fright. She felt from
side to side; now the bolster was gone;
there was nothing there but the bed.
But this pantomime trick was no
longer comic. She felt the
tears OF fright springing to her eyes,
and something rising in her throat.
Cold fear chilled her to the bone.
Was she in reality awake?" The
striking OF the clock in the belfry as
SuICu llCL vi lllCtt.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong,
ding-dong it lightly chimed; and then
the hour was tolled out slowly, sonor.
ously solemn:
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
But, if this was not hallucination,
what was it? The work OF actual
hands? What then? Ii they had no
more direful intention than to play q
trick OF this kind, they were not to be
feared. 1t was not terrific; it was
merely childish mischief, and this re-
Election suggested that, after all, 1t
might only be Lola who was trying
to brighten her. And Just for one mo-
ment, as she leaned back o~nherelbow,
she fancied she saw something like
those luminous eyes inthe midst OF the
darkness. and close to her,-there!
there, above her, toward the side Of
the bed.
sis it you, Lola?" she asked, but
in a voice so faint, for she was sick
with fright, that she herself could
hardly hear the words she spoke.
1t was a fancy. OF the eyes were
turned away. Yet, still leaning upon
her elbow, that quivered under her,
she strained her eyes to penetrate the
darkness.
Not long, perhaps. though it SEEM
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