Connecticut western news., 1894-01-04
TRACKED.

The 25th of March, 182-, was mark. ed by thaw succeeding severe frost of three weeks duration. At Lenham Court, a mansion situated 15 miles or so from London, on the west side, great inconvenience and some damage had been caused by the bursting of water pipe during the day. In special, one room was rendered so damp that its usual occupant, Spencer-Lady Brown Salter's lady's maid-was compelled to change her sleeping place. h. stead of sharing one of the housemaids' beds, she chose, with her ladyship's permission, to make up bed for her self in the small room, or large cup board, situated at the end of the corri- dor which runs through the whole breadth of Lenham Court on the first story. It was a room used to store trunks and boxes in, and Spencer placed some of these as a foundation for her couch. Many of these trunks had made the voyage to India and back, for Colo nel Sir William Brown-Salter had dis tinguished himself not little in John Company's servlce. There had been much extra work for all the servants at Lenham Court that day, and it was late before Spencer retired to her cupboard.
 On getting into her bed she found her novel couch by no means so com- fortable as it looked. It had to be re- arranged, but on extinguishing her can dle second time she found herself as far from sleep as ever. While she twist ed and turned she heard the stable clock strike 3, and immediately after ward she became conscious of a subdued sound outside her door. Remembering the jokes at her expense at the supper table about the size of her bed cham Der, it occurred to Spencer that her fellow servants might be going to play her trick, to indulge in some practical joke. So she slid from her uneasy couch, and removing the key from the lock she had locked herself in on coming to bed-she applied her eye to the key hole. The door, as we have said, faced directly the whole length of the corri- dor. About two yards from her stood man, but not one of her fellow serv- ants. He held lighted candle in one hand, shading it with the other so as to cast the light now here, now there. His face was concealed by mask of black crape, and he was listening in- tently. A breathless minute or two passed, and as if by magic there were either two or three other men in the cor ridor, all masked in crape, behind which | their eyes shone in the candle gleams. They went and came and consulted, noiseless as so many specters. In and out of the rooms, locking doors softly | behind them, now ascending to the third story, now descending to the | basement; now the one holding and shadowing the candle was left alone | again.
 Spencer drew back from the keyhole a moment, trying to think if there was anything she could do. Sir William 's | room gave on to the corridor. He must be murdered, thought poor Spencer, or surely she would have heard some sound, for he often sat late reading, and it was round his door that the thieves were clustered. He was a passionate man and powerful, beloved by his serv- ants for his bounty, though feared on account of his temper. Surely he would have made fight for it, if he had not been taken at some cruel disadvantage. | What could she do? The alarm bell, even if she could muster courage to try to get to it, was quite at the other end of the house. Applying her eye once more to the keyhole, she was terri. fed to find not only darkness, but ir the darkness some one breathing close to the door. Then the handle softly brushed her cheek as it was turned ,an6 lock and hinges were strained by the si
 lent pressure brought to bear upon then to such degree that instinctively she drew back, expecting the door to bt forced in upon her. The door creakeG as the pressure relaxed, and just the1 the stable clock struck 8.
 As the minutes passed and silence wa. unbroken, Spencer gathered courage tt look from her spying place. The watch
 man stood alone, candle in hand, in his former place. She became stiff ant cold at her post. Nothing moved tha
 she could hear or see, except that tn, man trimmed his candle now and the1 with his fingers and turned his hea( watchfully from side to side, his eye
 gleaming behind his mask, and seeming now and again to fix themselves on he
 lurking place. At low whistle iron the basement, he and his light vanished together Taking the precaution to sto]
 up the keyhole, Spencer struck steel an'
 flint till she obtained light, then hud
 dled on few clothes, inserted the key
 turned it, stood one minute outside, il
 silence and darkness, then snatching ul
 her candle made a rush for the onl.
 open door in the corridor-it was he ! masters. Hound hand and foot to chair an,
 gagged was Sir William. The room
 was in the widest confusion-boxes
 caskets, chests all turned upside down
 and their contents scattered indiscrim , inately on the floor. Her ladyship wa
 in bed, bound and gagged too. Wit
 nimble fingers Spencer set to work t free her master. No sooner was tn , accomplished than, speeches. an ! foaming at the mouth, Sir Willial l staggered out of the room, and to h. r dismay she heard him descend u 2 stairs. Having released her mistres : the lady's maid next hurried to u e rooms of her fellow servants, on all 2 whom the keys had been turned aft they had been threatened with instai
 death if they uttered a sound. Th'
 were soon released, and the men ser
 ants descended in body to the grou, floor in aearoh of their m aster, He