The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1899-10-26
DURING THE NIGHT.
A ledger Wakes and Smells Gas.
Nobody In the House and a
General Mystery.
BY NEIL WYNN WILLIAMS.

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have an affinity for awkward pre-
dicaments, and to submit to what is
popularity known as an experience
is If not exactly my daily lot In life,
my very frequent fate For the one
that | am about to describe paid half
a crown. The sensations that that half
crown brought to me were in excess of
what l had anticipated and strained
every nerve in my body. Yet am not
a fool, and no one is in his own estima-
ton.
Twas a November day; the time. 9
o'clock in the evening | was in Lon
don street and had just viewed to my
satisfaction a bow window in which
was hung up card with Apartments
to Let" printed upon 1t. With the
knowledge that ! wanted bed for the
what could be more natural and with
in the ordinary lot of man than to as
cend the flight of steps that lay before
me, knock, ring, enter and secure a bed
for half a crown, paid in advance? To
my mind there was such a plethora Of
vulgar incident In this that ! remem-
Der the transaction but dimly. That
was received by landlady (she was
middle aged. think and escorted by
her to a comfortable bedroom on the
second floor, that / was left there with
pen and ink, that~1 called for some
writing paper and was waited upon by
father for some, that when she had
brought 1t to me | wrote several let
tiers and afterward went to bed-all
this Is fixed vaguely In my memory by
its similitude to many another night
that | have passed under hired roof.
into memory again with the lugubrious
sound of a prolonged howl-a dogs.
1t was dark, so dark that the cur
tanned window of my room offered but
the faintest suggestion Of the fog
swathed light without Again and
gloom around me were intensified to
my semiconsciousness by the howl
without dying down to a whisper, to
extinction. A nervous feeling took
possession of me. and, fed upon The
darkness, | sat up in bed and drew a
long breath to free myself of its incu-
bus. What was there foul with the
night that 1t came so heavily to my
lungs? For the moment | was pug
zled, but only for the moment. and
then, half sulfocated, l. CALCULATED 1T
is gas There is an escape of gas"
With a wave of my arm ! threw the
bedclothes to one side and with an ca
ger leg placed foot to the floor. Then
stood up and hesitated Should |
ring, should | call? NO" | muttered
to myself as | reflected that 1t was
more than probable that the servant
my room. Besides, the escape was
perhaps In my room. A step and a
grope would tell me. felt cautiously.
No. the tap was as it should be!
Then thought Iapsed into instinct,
and action supervened crept quietly
to the door and, turning the key In its
lock with the caution of thief and
drawing the door into the blackness of
my room, faced the blackness that
vaster lay outside it. Gently. gently,
with a hand touching a cold wall. |
crept onward and to my left. My fin
gers were caught by projection. They
passed it by and sank into hollow
twas a door | turned the handle and
whispered gently but distinctly through
the now half opened door: ITS !, Mr..
Snpe, the lodger. Don't strike match.
There's an escape of gas. The house is
full Of it. Are you there? Do you
hear? There's an escape of gas
No answer, but again the dog howl
ed. and again felt nervousness
come over me as | entered the room to
feel for the bed and found it-empty
In and out OF the walled blackness. to
another room and another empty
Then up the stairs, to right and left
and back again nobody.