The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-01-20

there but che rooms should always be
In order BY 10 o'clock or half an hour
after She was dressed and had left
them and It was late in the afternoon.
Miss Blenkinsop's step was natural
" noiseless. for the pile of the
'Jacquerie'' carpets was deep and
soft She advanced slowly at first
without any thought OF cautiousness.
Then Miss Blenkinsop suddenly stood
perfectly still upon the doorsill as her
astonlshed eyes saw a Chinaman
STOPPING over drawer in her dress
ing-table. There were the brass
buttons. the loops OF braid. the dark
blue blouse with its labyr1nthine
pockets so convenient for thief and
the long. slnuous sweep of pigtaiL
1t did not take Miss Blenklnsop long
to make up her mind; she felt in
some way that there was a Judgment
on her for having given away to that
contraband thing. desire for sensa-
ton. Bitterly" would she have
cursed her folly" except that she
was not bitter or cursing person.
She was only aware of distinct repul-
sion for what was in store for her.
She had a vague idea if she sprang
to the door and shut it suddenly, VIC.
lently. the thief would get up the
chimney or let himself out of the
window. as the robbers did in plays
and if she did it at all she wanted to
do it we'll. If she called for help out
OF this most disagreeable of situations
he would shoot down the tangle of
halls and vanish before she could be
answered and what was infinitely
worse than all if she gave the alarm.
she might have to go into the police
court. 1t was melodramatic and
hOrrid.
All at once Miss Blenkinsop made
up her mind. She had never .crept
stealthily'' before in her life she had
never ambushed anybody she had
never done conspicuous or dreadful
things but she must do this.
She inwardly than ked heaven that
she still had her gloves on as she
reached in after the queue of the
kneeiing Chinaman. Then she picked
it up deity. softly purled it out
towards her and slammed-yes
slammed door upon it. turning
the key in the lock- and gave little
hysterical laugh and wondered why
her cheeks were so hot.
There was mufled s9uirming
sound on the other side of the door,
Perhaps it would be just as we'll
if you kept still. said Miss Blenkin-
sop. please don't say you don't
sabe for you do. you know"
An angry voice cried through the
panels: ''Letee glo!"
Il can't really" said Miss Blen.
kinsop.
II took all the presence of mind
Miss Blenkinsop could summon to her
aid to hold the greasy half-yar6 of
braid in her hands. She was afraid
to let go for fear it would slip into
the room. where she had no doubt
the baffled Chinaman was pulling
with all his might So to make it
more secure. tore of one of her bon.
net-strings and wound it around the
knot and knob. admlring her own in.
genuity with complacence.
Nov can think. she said.
Thinking was not such an easy mat
ter with an oily celestial and a pre-
dicament confronting her. The awful
consequences of her successful cap
ture now began to present themselves
for the trst time. Her first feeling
had been one of righteous indigna alton
to punish the offender. but she began
to consider the cost to herself of such
a step. She would be the heroine OF
the headlines Of to-morrow's issue of
the paper to say nothing of being
the victim Of endless chat. though no
one had ever yet been found who
chatfed Miss Blenkinsop. Could she
who had never been ridiculous or
conspicuous in her life! She fairly
wrung her gloved hands together in
an agony of indecision. Oh. why
had it ever happened? Why had
she given way to an impulse and
gotten herself into this mess?
1T must have been common
streak in me. SOMEWHERE she muir.
INJURED. / suppose l wanted to do
something heroic or great or some
thing!" sarcastically. Il wanted to
do what was right anyway"
There was bell just outside the
door--extremely easy to ring it and
have crowd there in minute. A.
crowd! Miss Blenkinsop shivered.
After all. how did she know that the
Chinaman had really had time to
take anything! He would certainly
not confide in her if he had Then.
too prisons were not the most de-
lightful places in the world. and even
Chinaman might have an esthetic
aversion of them. Poor fellow. she
would like to be spared the pain of
knowing that she had been the cause
| of making a wretch-Of course. he
was a wretch-more unhappy than
he already was Not to mention the
relief it would be to herself to be rid
of the responsibility of bringing the
creature to Justice which was always
hard on the nerves.
Miss Blenkinsop unwound the rib
bon. united the knot OF hair and
opened the door.
! You might as we'll go I suppose.
I shouldn't know what to do with you
anyway" she said. languidly with a
look. on her face at once apologetic
aud affectedly Indifferent.
The Chinaman did not pause to re-
mark the nice shades of meaning on
her countenance. but picked up his
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