Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-26

ates OF any kind to make her sleep? and
| glared at the woman as sternly as tht
| limited use Of my right eye would admit
| Her wits were logged with sleep and stirred
| slowly, but after staring duly at me for {
moment she frightened vsibly, evidently
| fired with the hope OF answering me and get
| ting rid of me. Yes, SIR" she answered
| eagerly, "she do sometimes use a powder
an It's often an often I've told her she
hadn't orter; but-she's that stubborn and
set, you'd hardly believe It, when she gets a
| notion"
"She has some left? Bring them" said
| sterply. II shall sift this matter to the bot
TOM
Upwards of dozen, l should say, sir,
and with step heavy with sleep she moved
away, returning after a few moments with
a small green box in her hand. These are
'um," she said. giving vent to a mighty
yawn which had been convulsing her since
she started from her sleep.
You look all used up" 1 said, fastening
professional eye upon her. You need
something to brace you up. Have you moth
ing in there that you can take, a little wine
now or even drop of straight whisky?"
All, I had not been mistaken. Her eyes
lighted greedily, and then were overcast
with helpless resentment 81 haven't a
drop of nothing" she said sullenly. "Mr.
Brown is not OF the thoughtful kind and
makes no reckoning of the wear and tear
OF being broke of ones sleep as a stddy
thing. Them that goes to bed regular" she
added, morosely, can little estimate the
needs of them that must set awake in their
hours of rest"
THAT is very true" remarked austerely.
I n n
tonight. can't have you wearing out sud-
denly Just when l may need you. Wait
here for moment" and, highly gratified
with my clever trick, l took the box of
powders and hurried back to my room.
where, after pouring out liberal glass OF
wine. l stood debating what next. On the
box l read, miss Brandon. One powder
every hour until relieved" So my young
friends name was Brandon. Until relieved"
that meant, of course, until she should fall
asleep. But surely If one powder was pre-
scribed for so dainty an invalid, at least
double that dose should be allowed for the
great robust creature l had just left and,
hastily shaking in the contents OF two of
the folded papers rushed back into the
hall where my victim was awaiting me.
With what pleasure and self -congratula-
tion did | watch her drain the glass to its
uttermost dregs! Then we separated she
going her way to fall asleep, as l told
myself, inside of the next five minutes, AMI
mine, to gloat in secret over the easy
victory had won. Five minutes / waited
in restless inaction and then felt tempted
to go and view my work. But there was
no hurry, and taking a chair by the fire
had determined to wait patiently for an
other five, when the sound of shuffling steps
A..I ,,,rI,N to
feet in vague alarm.
Had my fraud been discovered? Had DR..
come back to life and followed me? My
hand flew to my pocket, where 1t grasped
small penknife, my sole weapon, when the
door opened and in walked Mrs. Hoskins in
a state of feverish excitement.
She was carrying a box in her hand.
blue one this time, and she flung it down
before me with most disrespectful display
of i'll temper. "Them's the sleeping pow
ders,' she snapped, laying her hand upon
her head with a reeling motion while / stared
at her in lively horror "But how is one
to tell, with wrtin worse than them as
can't lay claim to be no scholards? Lor'
help me- them spirits went straight to my
head" she went on. (which is rightly your
hand, sir?" snatching vacantly into the air
beside me. "You look to have dozent."
What had done? In the name of mercy
of what had l given a double dose to the
poor creature? Wildly turned over in my
mind all possible poisons and their anti
dotes; milk, oil, whites Of eggs, all danced
before me. Women, sometimes. i had
heard, took dreadful things for their COM
plexions Was there to be second corpse
on my hands that night? And yet, once
more, it had not been my fault.
Rushing at the totterng woman, I got her
into chair, gazing at her as l did in such
an agony of fear lest she drop dead in my
grasp. that she took the alarm herself, and
making certain that death was near, turned