Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-05-24
lost bewildering speculations in her

| anu Uue young WOu1dn VINO n1O GakGI
upon herself the bold and masculine tasl
of following the somber Dye kept a.
close as she dared to her unconscious
victim lest some significant circumstance
| should escape her observation. But M
| significant circumstance occurred.
The carriage and the man went OIL
steadily, without any further intercourse
or interchange Of any possible signs,
| through the network of city streets &c
some definite destination.
''This can see very clearly" thought
Ellen. 'tBut why, if this woman is Sc
afraid of attracting observation, did she
not send this man about by another road
and drive on at natural pace? People
must think it strange to see her walking
her horse in the midst of a heavy snow
storm. Evidently she mistrusts him.
Evidently he fears her. This is a most
inexplicab1e affair -
The carriage at last turned into a
broad avenue lined with elegant houses
It was, in truth, one of the most aristo-
cratic streets of the city, and the house
before which the vehicle eventually
stopped was not eclipsed by any of its
neighbors.
MI. Dye had already mounted the long
fight of brownstone steps, had opened
the outer door and gone in out of sight
of anybody in the street 1t was not to
be supposed that he had entered the
house, however, for all Of these resi-
dences were protected by double doors,
separated by vestibule Mr.. Dye, in all
probability, was waiting i'll the inner
space for his fashionable patrons to come
up and admit him. Almost at the mo-
ment the carriage wheels grated against
the curbstones in front of the house a
serving man came up out of door I'M
derneath the steps, and after helping the
ladies out got into the empty seat and
drove away.
Miss Maxey tried not to have it so,
but fate brought it about that she came
to the brownstone steps at the very mo-
ment when these women were about to
ascend them. She put as much space Of
idewalk between herself and them as
The conveniently could, but none the
less she felt herself observed and knew,
though she kept her own eyes straight
ahead, that the elder woman at least
was looking at her. Her sharp ear de-
;ected whisper a moment afterward,
md she fancied that the possessor Of
the half remembered face was calling
her companions attention to her. Per-
haps the woman had recognized her and
remembered to have seen her in the
luiet street where they met Mr.. Dye.
Ellen was aware of a slight trembling
while she was undergoing this inspec-
hon. But it was only a momentary af-
fair. She went ON quickly. The women
passed up the steps, shaking their gar
ments, and the door closed after them
with slam.
The snow fell in binding whirling
eddies. From minute specks the flakes
had become large and feathery. 1t was
to see far i'll any direction.
What was to be done?
Having reached this point, must Ell
len Maxey turn about and go home? No,
not yet. She would wait little while
still-wait and see Mr.. Dye come out
again. Yes, but where? She could not
stand there in the street. She did not
like to walk up and down before the
house. Where?
Then an interesting fact reached her
through the whirl and the maze of the
falling snow. There was q glaring pla-
card i'll the window of the house imme-
diately adjoining that in which her in
terest conferred. No window curtains
made background for this card, and
big black letters announced that the
premises We're for sale.
The further fact that she had seen the
footman come out of an area door be-
meath the steps when the carriage stop
ped was all that she needed to induce
an inspiration. The houses along here
were extremely uniform. There was
similar door closing beneath the steps of
the unoccupied house. A plain wooden
door sat in the solid masonry and opened
by simple latch.
Miss Maxey descended q short flight
of steps, approached this door and tried
1t. To her intense satisfaction it yielded
to her touch She pus- it open and
went in. Not very comfortable place,
to be sure. Dark, cold disagreeable,
this little space beneath the steps, hardly
fit for a tramp to sleep in!
Miss Maxey turned the knob of the
door leading from this area into the
house. The door was fast. What matter,
then, if it were cold and dark? She was
at least secure from observation, and if
she had ransacked the whole neighbor-
hood in search of convenient location
from which to have watched the adjoin-
ing front steps she could not have Sc
cured better than the one upon which
she had thus accidentally stumbled. She
left the entrance slightly Enclosed that
she might look out and sat down upon
the wooden step with her back against
the inner door.
The time passed, and the snow fell. 1t
fell so thickly that it muffled the sounds
of footsteps in the street above. People
came and went. 1t grew dark A boy
with patent torch lighted the lamp in
front of the brownstone steps. Miss Max
ey's limbs were cramped and cold 1t
seemed as though the minutes lengthen-
ed themselves to hours, the hours grew
to be days, and still there was no ap-
pearance of the forlorn hat and the
threadbare coat upon the neighboring
threshold. The carts rumbled in the
street. The man who had gone with the
horses came back. The snow fell on, and
still no Dye.
IF Miss Maxey's brain had not been so
busy with exciting speculation and dar-
ing plans for the future, if she had not
had so fascinating problem to deal
with in trying to locate the face of that
elder woman who drove somewhere in
her own uneventful past, the time would
doubtless have seemed so long that she
would scarcely have had the courage to
wait, but it takes some obstacles to
break the endurance of such girl as
this
It had grown quite dark. The snow
had ceased The light which had been a
sort of luminous whirl in front of the
steps burned out, clearly
nd clio icrl4 tod