Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-13

eOAA eAO aABO
would hear me. Possibly Sir Ed
mund was yet awake, but l thought
OF Edith. and besides knew that be-
fore assistance could come. be fore
the door could DO burst, all would be
over.
Probably my foe was already APP
preaching mo; my cry would be the
signal for him 80 spring upon me-
No, my only chance OF escape was
in maintaining silence, and keeping
him in ignorance OF my position. If
accident brought us into contact, I
trusted to my physical strength and
good luck to DO match for him and
his knife in the subsequent struggle.
The diamond buckled to my wrist
might serve me in the fight; | might
stun the fellow with it If fortune
only favored my arm.
1t was duel between us, and any
way. / would sell my life dearly.
With this resolve l drew away
from the door toward that part of
the room where, as l fancied, the
carved press stood l Kept my
arms free, my body crouched to-
gether, and every muscle tense and
ready.
backed few feet from the door,
and then l stopped, as the reflection
crossed my mind that | might be
backing toward my adversary! Then
/ reg retted that / had left the door,
where at least / might have stood
safe from rear attack.
y | could hear nothing but the thr b.
bing of the blood IN my temples and
the quick tic-tac, tic tao, tic-tac, tic
tao, tic-tac of my watch behind me,
yet | knew that the murderer must
be moving.
He had his work to do, and must
have made up his mind how to do it
before putting out the light. l cou Id
see nothing, and the silence and
darkness were horrible, wi tn the
possibility OF his falling upon me
from behind. Yet how was to
guard against that attack, not know
ing where he was? Possibly his
visual power was stronger than
mine.
knew by the ticking OF my watch
that the bee was somewhere behind
me, and that | ought TO be facing the
oriel; and as l strained my eyes to
catch any rays of light that might
exist, | fancied | detected a dim gray
seam in the blackness before me
| possibly the curtains masking the
oriel were slightly parted.
AS | continued to stare in that
direction, became convinced that
! this was the fact, and slight though
/ the assurance was, it gave me some
feeling of security; in that direction
! l might know of my foes approach.
And, sure enough, at that very
moment the gray soam was blocked
out
He was there, between mo and the
oriel My first impulse vas to end
the terrible suspense, and spring
forward upon him; out prudenc c
checked me.
He might be close to me, or he
might be close to the oriel-it was
impossible to tell merely by the alb.
sencc of q faint light If in spring
ing forward. l fell short OF him, it
would be all over with mo. My
force expended in tho spring, he
would have me at his mercy, and q
short death was the only kind OF
mercy l had to expect Again, what
feeble light there was must fall upon
me. as faced It--an advantage for
him, terrible peril for me.
l resolved to back toward the wall
at the upper end of the room. and
guided still by the ticking OF my
watch, drew back with the stealthy
caution OF cat
Suddenly l saw tho gray scam OF
light again. Had he gone to the
right or left? | knew not Quickly
l stretched my foot out behind me;
felt something. and for the instant
thought l had touched the fellow.
but, Us turning about l CROPPED my
hand forward, / encountered tho cold
woodwork OF the bedstead. 1t was
one OF tho carved pillars. / drew
myself up, and put my back against
it Now, at least, that dreaded stab
in the back was less probable.
/ am not a coward, yet / own that
the terror OF the following minutes
thrills me now as look back upon
it The impenetrable darkness, the
silonce rendered only more intense
by contact with the perpetual tic.
tao, tic-tac, tic-tac, tlc-tac. tlc-tac oil
the watch behind me, were made
terrific by the awful uncertainty oil
my position.
stood there waiting for the attack,
until, the suspense growing intoler.
able. I felt that / must end it by
shouting aloud to Brace, aud pre-
cipitating the final struggle.
Il will walt five minutes longer,
and no more" said to myself, re.
solving to calculate the space fairly,
and with duo allowance for false i'm.
pressions. / calculated that two
minutes had passed, when l fancied
/ heard the bed creak behind me.
Was this one of tho false impressions
l had promised myself to guard
against, or was tho sound caused by
Al.