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

Ondiy, that Re was not a reader merely.
foi there were instruments n the cases
heapCd up On the la! les & b ut me, and
i'll enc cOrner-I felt a little sick but
perseVer6d in scar ching out the corners
"a glass case with certain no no in it
Which l took care to note, bat VIII ch il
is not necessary fer II e to Cesc: ibe An
other conner was blocked up by a cl. set
Which stood out in the room in way
to convince me it had been hui IN aft
er the room was otherwise finished. AS
L crossed over to examine the door,
which did not appear to me to be quite
closed, | noticed on the floor al my feet
huge discoloration, This was the
worst thing l had seen yet, and while
L did not feel quite justified in giving
1t name L could not but feel some re-
greet for the worm-eaten rags OF the
drawing room, which. after all, are
more comfortable thi gs 10 have UNDER
1cot than bare boards with such sug-
geStiVe marks upon them as these
The door to the closet was, as [ had
expected, slightly ajar, fact for which
l was profoundly grateful, for, set it
down to breeding or a natural recogni-
ton of others rights, l would have
found it most difficult to turn the knob
OF a closet door inspection of which
had not been offered me-
But finding it open L gave it just a
q
surprlse-much more than the sight of
skeleton would have been-that the
whole interior was taken up by a small
circular staircase such as you find in
public libraries where the books are
piled up in tiers. 1t stretched from the
floor where l stood to the ceiling. and
dark as 1t was l thought l detected the
outlines of trap door by means of
Which communication was established
a
convinced of this, [ asked what detec
tive would do in my place The an
SWer came readily enough Mount
the stairs and feel for yourself whether
there is lock there" But my deli
cacy-or shall [ acknowledge it for
once?-an instinct Of timidity seemed
10 restrain me, till a remembrance of
Mr.. Gryce's sarcastic look which I had
seen honoring lesser occasions than
these came to nerve me, and I put foot
Oh the stairs which had last been trod
by whom shall l say? William? Let
US hope by William, and William only.
Being tall, l had to mount but a few
steps before reaching the ceiling.
Pausing for breath, for the air was
close ana the stairs steep, 1 reached up
and felt for the hinge or clasp I had
every reason to expect to encounter. T
found the latter almost at once, and.
SATISFIED now that nothing but a board
separated me from the room above. I
tried that board with my finger and
was astonished to feel it yield. AS this
was discovery wholly unexpected 7
drew pack and asked myself if it would
be wise to pursue it to the point Of rails
ing this door, and had hardly settled
the question with myself when the
sound OF voice raised in a soothing
murmur revealed the fact that the
room above was not empty and that
l would be committing the greatest In
discretion in thus tampering with a
means or entrance possibly under the
very eye Of the person speaking.
If the voice I had heard had been
all that had come to my ears I might
nave Ventured after a moment Of hest
tatlon to brave the displeasure of Miss
Knollys by a venture which WouId
nave at once satisfied me as to the
correctness of the suspicious which
were congealing my very blood as 1
stood there, but another voice-the
heavy and threatening voice of Will
ham-had broken into this murmur.
and I knew that if 1 so much as awak-
ened in him the least suspicion of nv
whereabouts l would have to dread an
anger that might not know where to
stop.
I therefore rested from further A.
forts in this direction, and fearing he
might bethink him of some errand
which would bring him to the trap door
himself [ began retreat which I only
made slow from my desire not to make
any noise. [ succeeded as well as if
my feet had been shod in velvet and
my dress had been made of wool in
stead of a rustling silk, and when once
again I found myself planted in the
center of the flower parlor. the closet
door closed and no evidence left appa.r-
ent of where I had been or what I had
heard, I drew deep breath of relief
that was but a symbol of my devout
thanlfulness.
did not mean to remain much long
er in this SPOT of evil suggestions. but
spying the corner Of a book which T
had not VI seen protruding from un-
der a cushion of one of the lounges I
had curiosity to see if it were similar
to the rest, ard quickly drawing it out
1 took one look at it,
| need not tell what it was, but af-
ter a hasty glance here and there