The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-06

be seen In one corner had been so late
ly lifted that 1t had hardly sunk back
Into Its place. I found 1t, If the express
sion may be used of a horizontal OBJ
ject, slightly ajar and needing but the
slightest pull to make 1t spring up
right and remain so by means Of some
mechanical contrivance I will not at
tempt to describe.
The hole thus disclosed was filled
with the little staircase up which had
partly mounted in my daring eXplora-
tons Of the day before. 1t was dark
now, darker than 1t was then but
felt must descend by 1t, for plainly to
be heard now through the crack in the
closet door, which seemed to have a
knack Of standing partly open, I could
hear the heavy tread Of the six bear
ers as they entered the parlor below
still carrying their burden, concerning
the destination of which I was so anX-
ious to gain clew.
That it could be here I knew to be
too improbable for consideration. Yet
If they took up their stand in this
room, 1t was for a purpose. and what
that purpose was l was determined to
know. The noise their feet made on
the bare boards Of the floor and the
few words 1 now heard uttered in Will
l1am'S stolid tones and Lucetta'S mus
ical treble assured me that my own
light steps In the SofteSt Of felt slip
pers would no more be heard than my
dark gown of quiet wool would be
seen through the narrow slit through
which 1 was preparing to peer. Yet it
took no small degree of what my
father used to call pluck for me to
put foot on this winding staircase and
descend almost as it were in the midst
of what I must regard as the last
wicked act of a most cOWardly and
brutal murder.
I did it, however. and after short
but grim communion with my own
heart, which would persist in beating
somewhat nOisily, | leaned forward
with all the precaution possible and let
my gaze traverse the chamber in which
I had previously seen such horrors as
should have prepared me for this last
and greatest one.
In moment l understood the whole.
A long square hole in the floor, lately
sawed, provided an opening through
which the plain plank coffin, Of which
| now caught sight, was to be lowered
into the cellar and the grave which
had doubtless been dug there The
ropes in the hands of the six persons.
in whose identity 1 had made no mis-
take, was proof enough of their inten-
ton. and, satisfied as I now was of
the means and mode of the interment
which had been such a boundless mys-
terry to me, l Shrank a step upward.
fearing lest my indignation and the
horror [ could not now but feel for
Althea's children would betray me into
some exclamation which might lead to
my discovery and a similar fate
one other short glance, in which I
saw them all ranged around the dark
opening, and I was UP out of their
reach, Lucetta's face and Lucetta's one
sob as the ropes began to creak being
the one memory Which followed me the
most persistentiy She, at least, was
overwhelmed with remorse for a deed
she was perhaps only answera BILE for
in that she failed to make known to
the world her brothers madness and
the horrible crimes to which it gave
rise.
l took one other look around his room
bafore I fled to my own, or rather, to
the one in which I had taken refuge
While my own was under lock and key
That / spent the nett two hours on my
knees no one can wonder When my
own door was unlocked, as it was be-
fore the day broke, I fastened in there
and lay my head with all its unhappy
knowledge on my pillow. But 1 did not
sleep. The oldest thing of all this was
that never once thought of giving d
sing'a note from the whistle which
would have brought the police into that
abode of crime. Perhaps it was a wise