Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-19

that kept privately testing the sharpness
of his yellow fangs on the legs of my trou-
| sers?
You may suppose that l did not remain
suspiciously silent nor show myself Of
fensively curious as | noted all these little
facts. No. Again my private theatricals
came to my aid. In the days gone by
l had been so accustomed to carrying on
long monologues within three feet of the
stage villain and keeping accurate watch
of the cue at which he was to lay me un-
conscious at his feet, while to the audience
I appeared perfectly blind to his existence,
that at that trying time / was enabled to
make all my observations and silently kick
the ugly brute who had marked me as sus-
picious, without drawing down upon my
head anything like doubtful scrutiny from
the black, restless eyes Of my mysterious
entertainer.
He gave me his name as Brown" which
was SO glaringly commonplace that l
privately rejected it, and could only be
thankful that in his preoccupation, he paid
no heed to mine. / seemed to be medical
man to him and nothing else When /
could make no further excuse for delay we
went out through windy passage and
began mounting some stairs; scandalous
stairs they were too crooked and steep,
and sc badly lighted l came near raking
down my companion in general crash be-
fore / grew accustomed to the semi i-dark-
ness. He bore with me patiently, how
ever. 1--WE are dreadfuly primitive here"
he said lightly but as yet electricity has
only climbed the mountain in its natural
state"
AS he spoke we reached an upper hall
where everything was in total darkness, and
when l paused, half expecting the cold
muzze of a revolver to be clapped against
my head, he took me gently by the arm and
led me like some shambling dotard down its
winding length, nor seemed to notice how
dragged my feet cautiously along the car
peted way and dug In my heels at each fresh
turn, so full was / of remembered tales of
yawning pits into which victims such as
were made to fall Some of these pits had
been lined with naked blades, and ] seemed
TO feel their sharp edges spearing at my
joints. 1t was with gasp Of relief paused
with my guide at the extreme end of the
passage, where, after clicking sound which
| could have sworn was the turning OF
key in the lock, he swung door open be-
fore me and | was gently pushed into the
apartment of my patient.
While / was downstairs in the presence
of my dark-browed companion and his evil
looking animal. with the combatiye thrill OF
suspected danger tingllng through my veins,
/ wouldn't have imagined that / could ever
feel the skulking criminal / did when / at
length realized that | was actually standing
In the apartment of some suffering woman
In no licensed character, with no power to
alleviate her sufferings. merely there as
frivolous adventurer, though, II may be con-
ceded, an unfortunate one. Amy male rela-
tive would have been justified, could | have
been unmasked, in then and there pitching
me bodily from the window. Indeed. at that
moment think / should have blessed the
ayenging foot which should have removed
me from the scene OF my confusion. and
yet had any one searched my heart as |
dragged my heels heavily behind me across
the threshold he would have found 1t SO