The Progress., 1892-08-06

papa coming; wait till after breakfast
and then you shall know"
We were standing at the gate of the
courtyard. breathing the fresh morning
air. She left me and returned to the
house, whence Mr.. Dirchmore almost
Immediately issued and s;;luted me with
more than his usual cOrdiality. | won
d d2red what his behavior would have
been had he known of the transactions
of the past night or of what WAS i'll store
for us during the day. He began to talk
about Kohlstein, and related several
anecdotes of the bandits by whom it was
said formerly to have been inhabited.
Il have been mp there more than
once" he remarked, land the traces OF
their occupation are still visible. re-
member one feature that particularly
impressed me-a narrow cleft or chasm
of considerable depth, into which the
OLD fellows are said to have thrown their
prisoners when they became refractory.
"Wolld the fall kill them
Il should say not; the bottom seemc1
full of chopped brushwood and other
such rubbish. But no human being
could have got ont unaided, and proba-
bly, a day or two's lonely sojourn there
would bring the most resolute malcon-
tent to terms. 1t would be n ghastly
fate to fall i'll there nowadays, and have
ones skeleton fished out again the fol-
lCwing year perhaps. and Il sensational
paragraph in the newspapers. You
young folks must pick your steps care
fully today"
"Forcwarncd is forearmed" rejOined
|, with a short laugh Further conver-
sation was cut short by Il summons to
breakfast. On this occasion Slurl wait
ed at table, and observed him with
more than usual attention and tolera-
ton, as one with whom | was soon TO
try desperate conclusions. He WAS GER
tainly villainOus looking character:
but he appeared to be, for reasons best
known to himself, Ill excellent spirits
this mOrning-a circumstance which
stirred up I'm unwilling kind of cOmpas-
sion within me. rejecting whata speedy
and final end was going to he pat to all
his possibilities of enjoyment. Vile
though his life had been. it was the
only one he had.
Kate likewise had the semblance of
unusual gayety, but could see that it
was either feigned or the result of nerv-
ous excitement. And my judgment was
justified when after breakfast she over
took me us | was on the way mp stairs to
my room to make my final preparations.
and said, i'll n voice unsteady with emo
ton:
Tom, dear, you asked me why you
might not leave yOur diamonds with
Christina. You do not know what
danger you were in last night! On my
way back to my room heard two peo-
pie talking together. and they mentioned
your name, SO | stopped and listened.
One said, The bolt is all right; had
better go in and risk it; he'll be certain
to be asleep by this time! And then the
other said: He has his revolver: leave ii
to me: he believes he can trust me. To-
morrow. when he goes out, III get him
to leave them with me for safetyr and
then they both laughed. Ny darling.
this house is den of thievesI'
"Were the persons you heard-who
were they"
Christina and that creature she calls
her father. Hush! There she comes.
She must not see us together" and in n
moment Kate had glidol away. | went
Oh up the stairs with heavy heart. |
would almost rather not have heard this
last revelation. My confidence in my
penetration had received IL humiliating
Shock. To think that Christmas inno-
cent face and modest. maidenly air con-
cealed the heart of thief, or. worse
still, of IL decoy duck, was blow to my
vanity rs well as to my faith in human
nature. How artful she had been when
| fancied her most ingenious and kind.
And then it all ut once flashed upon
me-what if Heinrich Rudolph himself
were in the plot? What if he had written
them to be Oh the outlook for me, and
what if Slurk. being secretly in league
with him. had contrived to get the
Birchmores and me along with them
into this house, intending to divide tho
spoil with Herr Rudolph and Christina?
Many signs seemed to point to this as
true deduction from the circumstances.