Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-29


II this was so in the city generally, a,
the secretarys residence. whittier many OF
the prisoners were brought for examination
as soon as they were taken, the excitement
was at its height; the eQuare outside, then
unenclcsed. wac occupied all night by sue
cessive groups Of eightsecrs or OF persons
more nearly interested In the event. one
consequence Of this was that with all this
astir without. my case attracted less notice
within; and unheeded and almost forgotten,
which perhaps was the better for me, wac
left in peace, to sleep of the shock and
fright l had experienced; Of which the Sc
verify may be gauged By the fact that the
afternoon OF the next day was well ad-
vanced before l awoke, and finding myself
in bed in a strange room, with cold broth
and little wine standing on a stool at my
elbow, sat up and looked around me II
amaZemeut. The steep slope OF the ceiling
towards the window, and the heavy iattened
caves which projected over the latter, soon
apprised me that | lay under the leads Of
a great house; but this was the extent OF my
knowledge. However. my stomach pres
emily called for food, and | took IL; and
my head ceasing to swim began to recall
what had happened to me; and rising and
going to the window | recognized the great
and fashionable square on which my window
looked At that and the thoughts OF what
| had gone through and the danger l had
escaped | fell to quaking again. and tor
moment the dizziness returned But pres
tOllN lue CuetTlul aspect VI Nlt lNNlAi AA'uN''
aiding me | recovered myself and dressing
and finishing the food, prepared to de-
scend.
No need to say that wondered much at
all saw, and particularly at the handsome
aud stately proportions OF the staircase
which | descended without seeing any per
son until | reached the landing on the first
floor. Here looking timtdly over the bal
ustrade, | discovered that the buzz ana
hum of voices which | had heard as soon as
I my from
low which appeared TO be paved with heads
First, and nearest to where | stood, were
clustered on the lowest steps OF the staircase
number OF persons whom took to be serV-
ants and who, standing as II in the boxes
of theater were taken up with staring al
what went on on the floor below them, and
particularly at a row OF eight or nine men
who. seated on chairs along one side OF the
hall seemed to be in the charge of mes
senger and some tip-staves, and to be pris-
oners awaiting examination. Between these
last and the stairs, occupying the floor or
the hall, and both moving and standing still,
were a crowd OF persons OF condition; the
greater part to all appearance clients OF the
duke or officers and persons who, having the
entree had stepped in out of curiosity to
see the sight
However. had no eyes for these, for with
beating heart | recognized among the de-
jeCted prisoners seated along the wall four
whom | knew-King Keyes Cassel and Fer
guson himself, and l had anything but a
mind to stay to be recognized in my turn.
| was in the act of Withdrawing, therefore,
as quickly as l could when l saw with
kind of shock that the prisoner at the end
of the row, the one nearest to me and
| farthest from the door, a girl. 1t
scarcely needed a second glance to tell me
| that the girl was Mary. The light at that
inner extremity of the hall was waning, and
| her face, always pale, and now in shadow,
wore an aspect of gray and weary depres-
sion that natural as it was under the cir
| cumstances, went to my heart and Impressed
| me deeply in proportion as | had always
| found her hard and sef-reliant. But, moved
az | was, l dared not linger, since to linger
| might be to be observed. With a light foot
therefore, | carried out my first intention
and drawing back undiscovered sneaked VI
the staircase to my ROOM
My cue in the circumstances was clear
Plainly it was to lie close and keep quie
and shun observation until the crisis wa.
past, then by every means in my power
saving always the becoming an evidence II
court, which too dangerous-to deserve
the dukes favor, and, as to the pledge
had given to Smith, to be guided by tn
future.
Such a line of conduct was immensely fav
ored by the illness to which | had so for
tunately succumbed. Once back in my bed
had only to lie there and affect weakness
and in a day or two | might hope tina
things would be so far advanced that m.
share in them and knowledge of them woult
go for little, and /, on the ground of tn
personal favor l had done his grace nigh
keep his favor. yet run no risk
\ In fact, nothing could seem more simple
than such line of conduct, on which th
western daylight that still fingered in th
room, giving my retreat a most cheerful
aspect, | felt l had every reason to hut
| myself. After the mseries and dangers o
the past week was indeed well off Here
in the remote top floor OF my lords grea
house in the square, l was as safe as
could be anywhere in the world, and knew
it.
But so contrary is human nature ant
so little subject to the dictates of tn,
soundest sense, that | had not lain in my
bed five minutes, congratulating myself or
my safety, before the girl and the wrctched
ness had read in her face began to trouble
me. 1t was not to be denied that she hat
gone some way towards saving my life-i
she had not actually saved it; and had
kind of feeling for her on that account
True, things were greatly altered since we
had agreed to go to Romford together e.
nuptias facere. had got no patron then
nor such prospects as | now had, thes'
troubles once overpast. But for all that 4
troubled me to think Of her as had seer
her, pale and downcast, and by and by
found myself again at the door OF my room
with my hand on the latch. Thence l cam,
back. shivering and ashamed and callinl
myself and doubtless rightly, a fool ant
tried, by watching the crowd in the square
but tmidly since even at that height | fan
cvied | might be recognized. With so littl
success in the end however, that present.!
| was stealing down the stairs again.
| knew that it wae impossible could pas
down the main staircase and through tn
servants unobserved, but ! took ii that il
such house there must be a back stairs
and coming to the first floor I turned craft
down the main corridor leading to the hear
of the house and pretty quickly found tina
staircase, which was good as dark, an
crept down it, etill meeting no one, a thin
that surprised me until | stood in the lon
passage on the ground floor correspondn
with the corridor above, and found tha
the door which from its position shou
cut II off from the front hall, was fastened
TantaliZed by the murmur of voices in tn
hall, and my proximity | tried the loc
twice but the second effort only confrme
the result OF the first, was letting dow
the latch as soft as | could, hoping that
ehould not be detected, when the door wa
sharply flung open in my face. all the nois
and heat OF the hall burst on me, and 4
the opening appeared stout, angry man
who gared at me as II he would eat me.
What are you doing here?" he cried
when twice have told you" There b
stopped seeing who II was, and "Hallo!
he continued. in different and more civil
tone sit Is you, is II? Are you better?"
Afterwards learned that he was Mr.. Mar
tin my lords house steward, but at tn
time | knew him only for some one in au
L oil