The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-16

i'll the day after left home, and, she be-
ing confined to her bed, | was dependent
on my aunt's maid for services in my
dressing, etc In order to tighten this
woman's duties which were heavy, as my
cousins also frequently required her aid
as hair dresser and seamstress, l looked
after my clothes and waited on myself as
much as possible, performing such acts of
my toilet as could.
1T thus happened that one night, after
returning from a reception at the house
of a foreign consul, disrobed myself of
my trained evening dress, and, slipping
on loose sack, sat down to brush my
hair before retiring. MY seat was just in
front of large glass above my dresser,
or what was then called a bureau, on
which l had placed the jewelry I had
worn-the diamonds have spoken of.
las l piled the brush my eyes natur-
ally fell on this mirror. which reflected
the room behind me, and as / continued
to look l saw evolving itself apparently
from empty air the figure of man He
was well dressed, even stylishly, and
was after a fashion handsome, but
deathly pale, and his eyes glittered few
erishly.
He crept nearer and nearer to me,
seeming to look only at the dia-
| monds loosely strewn upon the mar
BILE before me, but his right nand
| was UuEuSI luOO MS DI6dSb, ana.
as he stood over me, he suddenly
| jerked it out and raised high above
me a small Spanish dagger the hilt
! of which was of dead gold or
! Etruscan gold, as it is called. This was
set with rubies, which l noticed with
| that peculiar attention TO trihes so often
displayed in moments OF danger Up to
this point had been too terrified to call
| out or even TO move. not even turning my
! head to look behind me, but watching the
movements of the assassin as they were
/ reflected in the mirror But as he
! brought down his hand with swift muir
| derous motion to strike me from my chair
with single blow the spell that had
! held me snapped. and sprang TO my feet
with shrek Of terror and rushed to the
door.
Gwen as ran wondered at not en-
countering the man, but though ! could
| not remember afterward of seeing him at
all did not stay, but unlocking the door,
| flung il open, still screaming as fast as
| the sounds could issue from my lips 1t
| happened that two OF my young men
cousins had fingered later than the rest
| of the family at the entertainment re-
! coming up the main staircase, close to my
room Rushing TO these l threw myself
into the arms Of the nearest. Christopher,
shrieking: The man! oh. the mani
The two young men hurried TO my
room and looked about, but could see no
| one The windows were all fastened,
and as had myself just come out OF the
single door TO the apartment and from
which no one else could have slipped
without our seeing them, the only chance
was for the burglar TO have concealed
! himself in the room.
"By this time the rest Of the household
! was aroused, and not only my room but
the entire place was thoroughly searched.
! The three windows of the room were pro-
! vided with heavy, old-fashioned shutters,
! two of them opening on the street, an un.
/ broken descent of over forty feet, while
! the other had not been Enclosed for
years, for it looked almost into one
! in the next house, which was also
/ seen to be tightly secured. The house
! itself was occupied by respectable
] family in straitened circumstances. II,
| therefore. seemed an !mpossibility for a
man TO have entered the room unseen by
! me, and TO have made his escape in the
/ few seconds IL took my cousins 70 reach
/ the SPOT where ! had seen him. So IL
was that / had fallen asleep in my chair
/ and my vision had been the result of my
! late supper of minced chicken and cham
/ payne and, though I was still shivering
| from my fright / allowed myself TO be
almost persuaded that this was the
! truth.
\ by the next night had so thoroughly