The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-27
THE WOMAN IN GRAY
NOW THE MYSTERY or Il THEFT
WAS EXPLAINED.

There were times when it seemed as
though It must have been d .iream. Yet
he knew it wasn't; for there were sew
eral attendant circumstances so decid-
edly substantial in their nature andpro-
ductive of such far-reaching results
that they precluded all possibility of
the incident being a mere Pigment of the
Imagination and placed it undeniably
in the category of actual occurrences.
In the first place, he used very forcible
language at the time: in fact he swore,
and as that was something he never
did except upon extreme proVocat!on,
those occasions when he expressed nm
self with undue emphasis were always
distinctly remembered. Then, he still
had the veil to remind him that his
visitor was no mere phantasm OF the
brain. He snatched it from her head
just as she disappeared through the
doorway. 1t was a long gray veil of
finest gauze, which had been carelessly
wound round her head and shoulders in
the fashion of Spanish mantilla. he
made a grab al her as she ran past him
but she eluded his grasp and his fingers
the very tips of which were fairly itch
ing with the anger that ran riot in the
veins of his whole body closed down en-
nothing but one corner of the Veil
which had become unfastened and tiut-
tered out behind her. He chung to that
tenaciously and gave a vicious pull at
the silken web in the hope that it might
act in the capacity of moose and bring
her halt, but it had not been arranged
with view to strangulation, and a
moment later he found himself alone
in the room with the fllmy piece of gray
silk in his hand and the door closed be-
tween him and the intruder.
He quickly regained his presence of
mind and hurried out into the hall She
was not there. of course; he had hardly
been credulous enough to expect that.
His pursuit was brought to temporary
standstill by her sudden disappearance.
There We're a dozen do>cs on either side
of the hallway, any one of which she
might have passed through, but which
was the right one he had no means of
ascertaining, unless he unceremoniously
made a raid upon each room in turn; a
proceeding that would, in probability
be looked upon with high disfavor by
the occupants, who would justitiably
urge strenuous objections against being
aroused in the middle Of the night by a
young man who was on a still hunt for
robbers. He went to the proprietor of
the hotel and explained the case to
HIM
II came in from Harvey about ten
minutes ago" he said, land found my
door slightly ajar. The light was burn
ing above my writing table and wo-
man was busily engaged in rummaging
through my manuscripts, BY George,
that's something l won't stand. She
is in the house now, and l want you to
find her. It's a pretty how ye'do if a
man can't go away for a few hours
| without somebody unlocking his door
and playing the mischief with his pa
| pers I don't know whether anything
has been taken or not, but if I find that
| even a piece of paper an inch square is
missing I'll have somebody suffer fol
| it or my names not George Danbury."
The proprietor was greatly perturbec
and mildly expressed the hope that h
wouldn't be the unluckly individual OF
whom the young mans vengeance
| would be wreaked.
| ITS very strange" he said. There
| are but two keys that will unlock the
| door. You have one Of them and the
other is il thn possession of trusted
| emp.cye of the house What Kind of {
| looking woman was she?"
she wasn't your trusted employe,
returned Mr. Danbury testify. "Sh'
turned out the light as quick as winl
and slipped out before | could say Jacl
Robinson. I caught onlXsa glimpse of ei
and cannot possibly give any infor
nation in regard to her personal appear
ance. All I know is, she was dressed il
| gray from head to foot. I could SCI
that much. I managed to get the veil
Here it is Did you ever see anybod!
around here wearing anything lik'
this?"
The proprietor took the veil and afte
looking at it obviously for a minute O
so he candidly admitted that he wa
not very well versed in women's wear
ing apparel and that he~couldn't TAX
it upon himself to say whether or no
| it belonged to one of the feminine
guests then stopping ut his hostelry Fl
| obligingly agreed to find out about ii
| however and with that George Dan
| bury had to be content for the night.
He went back to his room and exam
ned the papers that were piled up neat
ly on his desk. 1t appeared at first Il
| though nothing had been disturbed, bu
| upon closer investigation he cam
| across the other circumstance whicl
ever afterward plainly contradicted tn
theory that he had been dreaming o
the woman in gray.
George Danhury had gone to the lake
side town for little rest and recreation
| which he had clearly earned by tw
years continuous hard work. But eve
then his literary instincts We're eve
uppermost and after he had been Their
a v eek he began to devote a portion n
each day to the delineation of the vari
Gus types of human nature as he foun
them at the hotels and on the beach
The atmosphere surrounding the littl
village was said to contain tonic fror
which each visitor would derive som
benefit, and for George Danbury
seemed to be pregnant with inspiration
Neverbefore had be written so we'll an
it seemed as if the vacation that was t
have been devoted exclusively to pleas
ure was about to be turned into sea
son for the sowing of seeds of though
and literary gems that would yield hir
a harvest of fame before many month
should elapse. He sent several of hi