Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-03-23

u know something else I'm n great
deal more afraid Of" responds the gal
liant captain meaningly.
"Me!' she asks innocently, but GER
tainly coquettishly. "Oh, Captain Ring
wood'-in a tone of mock injury
you o upon me in the light Of an
ogress, or q witch, or something equal
~ dreadful. Well, rs | have the name
OF 1t, may as well have the gain Of it.
and SOL command son Ia attend me
TO the haunted chamber"
You order-I obey" saws the cap
tain. Call and | follow-I follow. |
though diet" After which quotation
he accompanies her toward the house
IN the wake Of Dora and Sir Adrian.
who has been pressed by the clever
widow into her service.
Florence and Arthur Dynecourt fol-
low them. Arthur talking gayly, as
though determined to ignore the fact
that be is thoroughly unwelcome TO his
companion: Florence. with head erect
and naughty footsteps and ewes care
fully ayerted.
Past the hall. through the corridor. |
up the staircase. through the galleries.
along more corridors they 20. laughing
and talking eagerly, until they come at
last to an old and apparently much dis
uHcl part Oh the mouse.
Iraverslng more corridors. upon
which dust lies thickly. they come at
last To "a small iron-bouud door that
blocks the end of one passage.
Now we really begin to get near it.n
says sir Adrian enc0uragingly, turning
as he always does. when opportunity
offers, to address himself solely to Flor
eDce.
Don't YOU feel creepy-creepyy" asks
Ethel Nilliers, with a s~muthered laugh. !
looking up at Captain Ringwood.
Then Sir Adrian pushes open the
door. revealing a steep flight of stone
steps that leads upward to another
door above. This door, like the lower
one, is bound with iron.
This is the tower" explains Sir Adj
rian. still acting as cicerone to the
small party, who look with interest
around them. Mrs. Talbot. affecting
nervousness, clings closely TO Sir Adj
RAN 5 arm. Indeed she IS debating i'm
her own mind whether it would be eff
fective or otherwise to subside into a
graceful swoon within his arms. "Yon-
der Is the door of the chamber" con
Times Sir Adrian. Come let MS 90 up
Ia it,"
They all ascend the last flight of
stone stairs: and presently their host
IL - WV NAt'is NltAA IINftIN W tlltll 1
whatever mystery may lie beyond. He
enters first. and they all follow him,
but as If suddenly reeollecting some
important point. he turns, and calls
loudly 10 Captain RingwOod not TO let
the door shut behind him.
"Inere is a peculiar spring i'm the
lock-" he explains a moment later:
and, if the door slammed To. we should
ind 1t impossible to open it from the
inside, and might remain here prison
ers forever unless the household came
to the rescue
oh, Captain Ringwood. pray be
careful" cries Dora falteringly. "Or
very lives depend upon Your atten-
ton
Miss Nilliers. do come here and help
me to remember my duty" saws Capt.
Ringwood. planting his back against
the open door lest by any means it !
should shut.
The chamber Is round. and has. in
stead of windows. three narrow aper-
lures III the walls, through which can
ht obtained a glimpse of the sky. but of
nothing else. These apertures are Just
large enough To admit a mans hand.
he Is without furniture of any
description. and on the boards the dark
stains of blood are distinctly visible.
"D%ynecourt. tell them a story or
two calls ont Ringwood to Sir Adj
rian. They won't believe it is verita-
bly, haunted unless YOU call up a ghost
to brighten them"
BIT they all protest in a body that
that they do not wish to hear any ghost
stories, so Sir Adrian laughingly refu-
scs TO comply with Ringwood's request.
Are we far from the other parts of
the house:' asks Florence at length.
who has been examining some writing
OH the walls.
so far that, if You were immured
here, no cry, however loud. could pene-
trate the distance" replies Sir Adrian.
You are as thoroughly fre,a
the habitable parts of the castle as if
YOU were III the next county,
How interesting observes Dora,
with a little shipper.
The servants are So afraid of this
room that they would not venture here
even by daylight Sir Adrian goes on.
You can see how the dust of years is
on it. One might be slowly starved to
death here without ones friends being
q bit the wiser"
He laughs rs he says this, but, long
afterwards, his words come back TO his
listeners memories. filling their breasts
With itITOI anu utSpdlI.
Il wonder YOU don't have this dam
gerous lock removed" says Capt. Ring
wood. 1T is a regular trap. Some day
you'll be SCSry for it,"
Prophetic words.
Yes: | wish it We're removed" re-
spends Florence, with a strange quick
shiver.
Sir Adrian laughs.
why, that is one of the old towers
| greatest charms" he says. 1T belongs
to the dark ages, and suggests all sorts
of horrible possibilities. This room
would be nothing without its myster-
ious lock"
At this moment Dora's eyes turn
slowly toward Arthur Dynecourt. She
herself hardly knows why. at this par
ticular time. she should look at him,
Yet she feels that some unaccountable
fascination is compelling her gaze to
encounter his. Their eyes meet. AS
they do so, Dora shudders and turns
deadly pale. There is that in Arthur |
Dynecourt's dark and sullen eyes that
strikes her cold with terror and vague
f~orebodings of evil. 1t is a wicked look
that ov~erspreads the mans face-a
cruel, impiacable look that seems to
freeze her as she gaZes at him spell |
bound. Slowly, eve while she watches
him, she sees him turn his glance from
her 10 Sir Adrian in "a meaning man.
ner, as though to let her know that the
vile thought that is working in his
brain and is betraying itself on his face
is intended for him, not her. And yet,
with this too, he gives her silently To
understand that. ii she shows any
treachery toward him, he will not leave
il unrewarded.
Cowed, frightened, trembling at
what she knows not, Dora staggers
backward, and, laying "A hand upon
| the wall beside her, tries To regain self !
possession. The Others are all talking
together, she is therefore unobServed.
| She stands, still painting and pallid,
trying to collect her thoughts.
Only n thing ZONES clearly to her,
filling her with loathing Of herself and
an unnamed dread-it is that, by her
own double-dealing and f~alseness to-
ward Florence. size has seemed to enter
into a compact with this man to be a
companion in whatever crime he may
decide upon. His very look seems to
implicate her, 10 drag her down with
him 10 his level. She feels herself
chained to him-his partner in a vile
conspiracy. And what further adds to
the horror OF the situation is the knOwl-
edge that she knows herself to be blind
H. - 80 xIt.A. ,1.... L.. $500.