Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-03-19

tho morrow. and there W1s ! creep
iness IN seeing myself 10 well provided
for BY invisible hands. Though ]
searched the long, low chamber. !
could discover no outlet, save only
into the room where / had conversed
with Mr.. Smith, and the bathroom;
yet there was no sign of the individual
who lighted the candles. arranged the
clothing and set the water flowing in
to the big porcelain-lined bath.
He might have come In before I had
been admitted to the house, but I did
not see how he had gone out again, and
in my efforts to satisfy my curiosity,
so long denied in many ways, / applied
myself at last to the door of a large
wardrobe. At first it resisted my hand
in such a way as to raise the suspicion
that someone was hiding within; but
presently it flew open, and nothing was
there save an article Of apparel
which somehow it surprised me to
come upon in this house-neither
more nor less than a woman's frock,
made of some soft, clinging stuff.
l could hardly have explained why,
but the thing caught my attention and
held my eyes with a peculiar sense of
attraction. 1t was daintily, even
coquettishly made, and, vague as was
my knowledge of feminine fripperies. ]
knew enough to gain an impression
that it was of the latest mode. The
color was a delicate greyish blue, and
there was essentially a look OF youth
and girlishness about it. l dimly
thought, as l continued to stare in a
half-guilty way, that this frock would
not have suited Marjorie T~essett's dig
nified beauty; but it would have been
impossible on any save a pretty girl.
The fashion in which the garment
was made seemed to call up a person
atty, and so also did the faint yet un-
mistakable fragrance of roses which
still fingered in its folds.
There had only been one woman
(since my mother died) who had
graved more than a ~1eeting impression
on my life-Marjorie Tessett; and l
had other matters than girls or their
froeks to keep my mind full at pres
emit. Still, some impulse bade me pick
up a jewel-embroidered sash, and hold
il to my face, inhaling the sweet scent
which brought up a vision of a coun-
try garden in June.
AS l did so, the gown fell from the
hook on which it had been suspended,
subsiding in a quantity pathetic little
heap of prettishness on the wardrobe
floor, and giving to my eyes a revela-
ton which it's folds had cunningly hid
den.
$50 that's it, is it?" l involuntarily
exclaimed aloud; for where the dress
lad lately hung at the back of the
wardrobe, had espied a tiny knob,
much resembling the button OF an cleo
trio bell.
| went deliberate into the bath room
at this juncture, and turned off the hot
water, which had filled the bath hall
full and was sending forth a cloud OF
steam. This done | returned to the
wardrobe; and, certain that the knob
set into the wood must turn out to be
something very different from a bell,
gently pressed it.
My supposition was instantly proved
correct, for the entire back of the big
old-fashloned piece of furniture slid
away. l was looking into another bed
room, in which evidently each smallest
sound from mine could be easily over-
heard.
There was a ruddy glow CT fire on
the hearth, which afforded the sole
illumination, but there were no con-
cealed corners or angles, and, unless in
hiding, there was no occupant.
1t was easy enough to see now how
my valet had effected his escape, but
obviously this means Of communica-
ton had not been provided wholly TO,
such emergencies; and as it was al
least somewhat unusual in English
houses, old or new, the door between
the two rooms gave me food for reiec-
ton.
Not satisfied with having discovered
what l had sought q was not deferred
by the allurement of that waiting bath
a pleasure from which | had been cut
off since the Embankment and the Parl
had served me for lodgings), | deter