The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-09-18

The air itself was heavy. like thS air OF :
bakehouse. i had to gasp for my meath
there was q choking sensation In my
throat which nearly made me faint.
Sinking fumes, like the fumss OF stale
| opium, hlled all the corridors and seemed
to exude from the rooms. staggered
under the power OF them, and had TO bite
my lips to prevent myself coughing.
30 far as furniture went, there was
little that could see In the passage.
A heavy carpet was soft to the feet,
| and thick curatins, made Of some soYt
stun, were hung over the openings TO
the doors Yet what appeared more curl
GUS than anything was the queer silence
in the place. While / stood there, hals-
choking for my breath, and half. hidden
behind one OF the thickest Of the cur
tains, didn't hear 80 much a. the creak
OF door or the fall of foot. The house
might have been . dead-houss with
spectres for tenants.
You may ask me, fairly enough, what
had meant to do when crossed the gap
and forced my way into this queer place.
can only answer that / know no more
than the dead. What I did was done on
impulse. 1t was only when / stood in
the passage and heard my heart beating
like machine that i began to think
what fool had made Of myself. And /
must have stood there five minutes afraid
TO go on, afraid to go back, when all of
IA
door opened not two yards away, and out
walked Sir Nicolas Steele and q little
Frenchman. They We're talking togeth
angrily; and they went straight down the
passage and turned the corner where the
light was.
Though the door of the room from
which they had come had only been open
for moment, had seen a sight strange
enough TO have upset a stronger man
than me. In great Eastern-like room,
all lit up with queer colored lanterns, and
having fountain OF water splashing in
the middle OF II. some 20 men were lying
on little beds. Most of them looked to me
to be dead with sleep, but one was raw
ing. with his face buried in his pillow,
while another seemed to be crawling on
his hands and knees to the water which
dubbed under the dome. The door was
only open second, as i say, but the
view behind ii gave me a shiver, and the
shiver was still on me when, treading
like cat, followed my master down
the passage and came within q yard of
him at the corner of 1t.
was now near ny the light, but cur
talns, hung crosswiso in the passage, hid
me well enough. j could see from my
place that Sir Nicolas was arguing with
The Frenchman at the top OF a little
night OF IRON stairs. " hen they had
talked for about a minute the Ffenchee
pointed to a door at the bottom Of the
night, and my master made step down
ward as though TO reach the door. But
MS loot was hardly on the stairs when
something happened which sent me as
stin as corpse, and drew from me a cry
which might have come from a madman.
The stairs which had seen a minute be-
lore 1 saw no longer. They had swung
away under my masters touch, and with
another cry joined to mine he went head
long down TO black hole below.
WHAT happened in the next few tY,inutaa
can hardly tell. l remember, perfectly,
that the Frenchman stood for q minute
giaring at me, and Kissing words bet ween
his tech. Then he pressed a knob on
the ratings at his side, and the staircase
swung back into its place again.
So astonished was / to see what he did
that never thought of the danger to my
self; and before i knew where / was he
he'd gripped me-. and we went rolling
over and over on the floor together |
strong man as am, 1 don't think that |
we ever been 30 near to death as / was |
that night. Now up. now down. with |
The cold sweat on my forehead. and the /
devils fingers tearing the flesh out OF my
neck. 1 halloaed to Jim TO help me and |
fought the Frenchman through. When
had done with him at last was covered
with blood-but il was Jim who pulled |
me to my feet, Jim and Michael Grey,
who stood, half dressed, and half-drunk,
With two gendarmes in the passage.
The noise and din which followed this
business Is not TO be described by any
nan like me. While 1 stood half blinded,
md with roaring sounds in my ears, gen.
iarmes ,.r seemed to be filing all the Maison
Or. But had wits enough about me
o think of what might be, and the first
words spoke were to Jim.
"Get Grey out, " said l. "and take him
n cab to the Hotel de Lille. Wen lose
ne reward II you don't. Tell him his
ather s there. I'm after Sir Nicolas.n
us he here?' he asked, as he went to
o what bid him.
God knows whether he Is alive or
cad, said i, and with that i halloaed
the gendarmes and showed them the
staircase. Five minutes after
e were down in filthy cellar In the bot
,m OF the house. standing over the mo-
onless body OF my master. But his
roans told us that he lived and when
ghts were brought we knew to what he
wed his life. He had fallen on the dead
ody OF another victim of the Maison
Or.
Well, that's the story OF the phantom
aircsse, though there are some things
IT you might like to know. How did
r Nicolas Steele come to the shop, for
ey'd got Grey into the house. which ,
as one OF the largest and one of the I
west dens in Paris, they'd kept him
unk with the drug, in the hope that
I'd add money to what they'd robbed
IN of. On the day Jim and / set out I
T the cabaret, Grey had sent a messen- ,
II down to the Hotel de Lille to get ,
me OF his traps and things. Sir Nico-
) came across this messenger and bribed
e whole tale out of him. After that he
out want TO lose a minute tracing the
an, and he went straight off to Mont
srtre, leaving word at the police station .
what he'o done. The police had long II
Ell watching the shop and when they a
ard that an Englishman was going
ere they sent gendarmes after him and
cky, too, for this story would not have
gu written. /
How Sir Stco!sf was so foolish as TO r.
,nd betwHen IS and the chance OF a re-
'rd, only learned when Inc came e.
nsciousness, niRe days after We took
IN on the dead mans body in the c.I.
: And didn't | begin TO he afraid OF
2 whole thing said nc; "sure. the G
lice were watching rae night and day
Il ] was murderer. Reward. or no A
aHA Al