The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-01-19
THE LOST LATCH KEY

1 AAAN LIZ ~ LII vi 1AL1 Il Z.
Love in the Metropolis and the Lovers 5
Adventure in a Vestibnle Between
Two Locked Doors.
Ii wss considerably nearer > than it
was o'clock when Huntington reach
ed Twenty-first street and went up the
stone steps of No. II. Political stuff
had been coming in heavily all day,
and, as the boys at the Office said, "Mr.
Bryan was still speaking" so the full
force, literary men and all had been
kept busy till the paper went to press.
Now and then Huntington liked thing
of that kind. The work and the hustle,
the stir and anxiety of ''rush night"
seemed to stimulate him. 1t remind
ed him of old times when he was glad
enough to be in the rush or to any
kind Of assignment. Those were the
things that had helped him to what
he was, and he liked to be reminded of
them.
But it chanced that just that particu-
lar night of ali others he hadn't want
ed to stay at the Office and sift tele-
grams and write heads. What he had
wanted to do was to go TO the fremont
Ford's ball out on Fifty-seventh street.
Huntington had gotten beyond the
point of denying even to himself that
he wanted to go to the Tremont-Ford's
simply and solely because Helen Ire
yor would be there, and because he
should see her dancing though he might
not dance with her himself. In fact, he
had reached the pointof believing that
the only person in the world worth see
ing was Helen Trevor, the only thing
worth caring for was her love.
Huntington had believed this for a
much longer time than he knew, but
he had not realized it with the full
strength of conviction till two months
ago, when he had learned from Helen
herself that the thing he most cared for
was the thing he could never possess.
He was thinking of this as he had
never ceased to think of it for one mo-
ment since he realized it, with pain and
longing, and wishing he might have
seen her that night with the fresh color
on her cheeks and the sweet light in
her eyes; wishing he might have heard
the soft rustic of her silken gown and
caught a whiff of the rose she was
wearing in her smooth, big-coiled hair.
Whose roses was she wearing, Hunt
ingtOn wondered as he pushed his latch
key in the outer door. Perhaps it was
that that made him push the door shut
again with considerably more force
than was necessary; perhaps it was that
that made him give the knob a wrench
with his strong, firm hand as the bolt
slipped home. There was another click
beside the clicking Of the bolt, and
when Huntington drew his hand
away the knob came with it. The
fierce wrench had been too much for
the rusty screws.
"Confound people who won't keep
their houses in repair" he said Grossly,
as he tossed the knob dextrOusly
through the narrow pane in the tran
som overhead. He listened to hear the
bolt strike the cobble-stones in the
street without, and, from sharp little
jingle that accompanied the thud Of
the heavy knob, realized that he had
thrown his latch-key along with it.
''ConfOuud me for an idiot, - he said,
laughing at the predicament be had
placed himself in.
1t was not exactly a laughing matter,
though, TO be caught at that hour Of
the night between the inner and the
outer doors of a quiet boarding house,
and with no means Of opening either.
Having no iatch-key, of course it was
impossible for him to open the inner
door, and with no latch-knOb on the
outside door it was equally inn
possible for him to open that and ring
the bell, or better still, go to hotel for
the rest Of the night.
With thought Of mans one re-
source in a case of emergency, Hunt
ington felt in his trousers pocket for
his knife only TO remember that one of
the new men at the Office had borrow
ed il and forgotten TO return it. He
got out his ring of keys and jingled
them impotently, knowing it was inn
possible for any one Of them to find a
purchase in the thin slit Of the latch
lock. This reminded him of his en-
velope-opener, and he tried its slim
silver blade in the keyhOle, but it went
all the way through meeting no resist
ance. Clearly that, too, was failure.
He waited awhile hoping something
would turn up; that some longer be
lated boarder might come in, or that
he should hear someone stirring with
in. Neither was very likely to occur,
he reflected, and he felt it would have
been next TO impossible 10 make him
self heard, even il he had been willing
TO arouse the inmates by pounding
with his knuckles on the door. The
sleeping rooms were all up stairs, and
nothing short of an explosion could
arouse the servants in the basement.
The boy had been known to sleep
through the ringing Of the door bell on
more than one occasion, though the
gong sounded directly over his head
Clearly Huntington realized that there
was nothing for him to do but remain
a prisoner in the vestibule till the ser
wants opened the doors in the morn