The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-20
Photo b. Haas Bros.

cross its threshold at the least alarm
mat this would come l felt positive.
FOR Hannah in leaving my room had
taken pains to say, in unconscious imi-
tation of what Miss Knollys had re-
marked the night before:
Don't let any queer sounds you may
hear disturb you. Miss Butterworth.
Ihere's nothing to hurt you in this
house; nothing at ALL" An admonition
Which L am sure that her young mis-
tresses, after that had passed between
us this day, would not have allowed
her to utter If they had been made
| acquainted with her intention.
But though in state of high expec-
tatlon and listening as 1 supposed,
with every faculty alert the sounds I
apprehended delayed so long that I be-
gan after an hour or two unaccount-
ably to nod in my chair, and before I
knew 1t I was asleep, with the whistle
In my hand and my feet pressed against
the panels of the door [ had set nv
self. to guard. How deep that sleep was
or how long I can only judge from the
state of emotion in which | found NV
self when [ suddenly awoke [ was sit
ting there still, but my usually calm
frame was in violent tremble and I
found it difficult to stir, much more
10 speak. Some one or something was
at my door.
An instant and my powerful nature
would have asserted itself, but before
this could happen-Hannah having
confessed to me afterWard that she
had put a few harmless grains of NOR
Prime into my tea-the stealthy stem
drew nearer and | heard the quiet. al
most noiseless, insertion of key into
the lock and the quick turn which
made me a prisoner.
This, with the indignation it caused.
brought me quickly to myself. So the
door had key after ALL and this was
the use it was reserved for Rising
quickly to my feet, I shouted out the
names of Loreen, Lucetta and William,
but received no other response than the
rapid withdrawal Of feet down the cor
ridor. Then l felt for the whistle.
which had somehow slipped from my
hand, but failed to find it in the dark
| ness, nor when l went to search fer
the matches to relight the candle I
had left standing ION a table nearby
could l by any means succeed in light
Ing one, so that | found myself shut
up in my room, with no means of com
municating with the world outside and
with no light to render the situation
tolerable. This was having the tables
turned upon me with q, vengeance and
in way for which I could not ac-
count. [ could understand why thew
had locked me in the room and Whv
they had not needed my cry of indig-
nation and appeal, but I could not COM
prehend how my whistle came to be
gone nor why the matches which were
plentiful enough in the safe refused
one and all to perform their duty
On these points / must be satisfied
before [ proceeded to invent some wav
out Of my difficulties. So, dropping on
my knees by the chair in which I had
been sitting, I began a quiet search
for the petty object upon which. new
n
but all chances of success in an rn-
| dertaking which was every moment
growing more serious. I did not find
it, but / did find where it had gone. In
the floor near the door my hand en-
countered after awhile a hole which
had been covered up by rug, which
l distinctly remembered having push
ed aside with my feet when I took nv
seat there. It was not large. but it
was deep, so deep that my hand failed
! to reach to the bottom of it, and into
this hole by some freak of chance
have noticed in my short but eventful
life that chance, or rather let me call
it Providence, for there can be no such
thing as chance, frequently seems to
lend itself to the cause we are fighting
against-had slipped the small whistle
/ had so indiscreetly taken into my
hand. The mystery of the matches
was less easy Of solution; so I let 1t go
after moment of indecisive thought
and bent my energies once again to
listen, when suddenly and without the
least warning there rose from some
where in the house a cry so wild and
unearthly that / started up appalled,,
and for moment could not tell wheth-
err this was some fearful dream [ was
laboring under or still more fearful
reality.
A rushing of feet in the distance and
an involuntary murmur of voices soon
satisfied me, however on this score,
and drawing upon energy 1 pos
sessed again I listened fer a renewal Of
the cry which was yet curdling my
blood But none came, and presently
all was as still as if no sound had
arisen to disturb the midnight, though
every fiber IN my body tcld me that the
event ] had feared; he event of which
| hardly dare mention the character
even to myseife-had taken place, and