The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-11-24
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borhood Of Vienna when he told me OF
his design to take me to England.
IT want you to go to a university
jack" he said, land I have a friend
who will give you q little extra polish
and then you ought to hold your own
fairly WE'LL" and though I was some
what upset at the prospect of giving
up q companionship that had become
so dear to me, I saw the wisdom OF
the step he contemplated.
When we reached London u move-
ments were, to me at least very curl
as. My father took a house Bays
water way, and partly furnished it
that is to say, he made n DOR down
stairs very comfortable, and that we
used for a sitting room, and another,
up stairs. was converted into a double
bedded sleeping apartment. The rest
of the house-and it was a fairly large
one-was left empty. We took all of
our meals out of the place, sometimes
at M restaurant, sometimes at anoth-
er, and we never entered the house we
euphemistically called home" until
after dark.
He left me for several hours during
the day to do the sights of London by
himself, and it never entered my mind
to question him as to his movements.
An old dame came to do the necessary
homework, but we rarely saw her, for
she nearly always put In an appear
ance after we had gone out, and left
before we returned.
One evening-it was April, and the
nights were very chilly-as we sat by
the fire, my father began to unfold his
plans. but. suddenly remembering that
he had some important letters to write.
he put off telling me what he was
about to say. and it was so late when
he finished his correspondence that I
went to bed. I had passed through the
fairyland of dreams and was we'll into
my first sleep, when I was rouse by
tn etouch of a. hand. My father was
standing beside me.
Jack he whispered, "wake up!"
] stretched myself and stared at him,
and as my faculties returned it was
clear to me that he was greatly agi-
tated. I had seen him on the deck OF
a laundering boat apparently as un-
moved as though he was treading the
street; and I had seen him, when we
We're captured in Italy, throwing dice
with a brigand chief, stalking his life
and a sum of money against my re-
lease, and winning as composedly as
though he had been playing for mar
bles; I had seen him take to the wa
ter in a boiling, raging surf, when no
other man dare follow, n bring a
child to shore; and, remembering these
incidents, it came as a shock to me to
recognize n tremor in his whisper that,
had I not known him so we'll, might
have made me suppose that he was In
terror of some great danger.
stand mc??" y
Eyes, pater," I said, and his manner
brushed away the last lingering cob
webs of slumber. Eyes, I'm wide
awake"
"Get some clothes on, then. and come
with me. Don't make a sound. There's
something wrong going on down stairs.
Take that heavy stick yonder. I've
got my revolver. Garry the light, and
shade it with YOU hand. and show it
when I give the signal"
AS we reached the head Of the stairs
there came TO me through the stiffness
of the empty house a faint noise as OF
someone slipping along the wall, and
this slight sound. added to our cau-
tious method of procedure, SO foreign
to the holiness Of my fathers nature.
set my heart beating and my hand
shaking. a
Slowly we descended, and when we
reached the door of our living room
my father gave the signal. and, as he
gently pushed his way in, I showed the
light. Everything was as we had left
it. The curtains were drawn, the bolt
of the farther DOR was shot, h arm
chairs were on either side of the fire
place. and his pipe lay on the table.
M~otioning to me to follow, him, he
went back along the passage, and
paused before the door of an empty
ROOM. I could see him making ready
with the revolver, and as he signed to
me to show the light, he turned the
handle quickly with his left hand, and,
finging back the door, a.ushed in.
I was close at his heels. There was
not q single article Of furniture in the
room. from which one looked out
through a French window on to q
lawn terminated by q wall that separ-
ated 1t from the street. There was
nothing to prevent us seeing the man
who was propped III in the further
corner, and who had evidently slipped
down into a sitting posture, his head
bent forward and b!s arms hanging
Imply beside him. with his banda
trailing on the floor The window was
pen and the first thing my father did
was to close It and fasten the catch.
Then he turned to the man and lifted
his head, and It was plain, eyen'to my
inexperienced eyes, that we were look
ing upon the face Of n who had done
with the things Of this world. The
man was m~iddle-aged and in evening
dress.
Suddenly my father let the head fall
forward again, and. changing the re-
ySvolver to his left hand, he snatched
something from the door; but. quick
as his mOvemeN was. I saw what he
picked up. It was small card, such
as children play with. and the face. In
stead Of being white war Jet black,
with the exceptionsof 4 red pip "a the
center. sa5s S S$a 81 ssss8ass%8 II
-Four other cards he found lying
close beside the mans rightahard s. ana
sof these j. noticed two-namely. M
other biack-faced Wit the Sace q
diansnsonds and the eight sof clubs on q
red field, hut what the other two were
shAd 10 opportunity sseiaH n or
theysssNsreaso small iiat,heahadsn0sd az
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