The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1901-08-02
WHEN FEAR REIGNED


~ OSI before lue CIVIL war DrOhe
al out, |, with my cousin, was i'll
" New York. We had many friends
in the city, but being both of an indie
pendent turn of character, we preferred
living by ourselves. so we looked about
for boarding house. The one we hit
upon was situated in the best part of
Fourteenth street, and was a fine
brown stone building, with a most pre-
tentious portico, and "A flight of some
twelve steps up TO the entrance door
Now, to understand what follows, it Is
necessary the reader should know the
position of the room we engaged.
AS you entered the hall, the reception
parlor, as it was called, lay on your
fight hand. and was a very fine room;
at the end of it were two doors which
elid back and led into the room which
we were to occupy. These said doors
Were ground glass half way down, with
flowers on it, but so thick as to exclude
any view of what was passing i'll the
other room, unless you pressed your
face against the glass, and then it
would he but an imperfect vision. Our
apartment was large, and had three
windows. two only halfway down, but
the third a French one, opening on to
the wooden balcony that ran along the
back of the house, with flight of steps
down to n piece of ground. Our room
had also another entrance, door lead
ing into little lobby, very convenient
for putting our trunks. dresses. etc, in;
this had again another door into the
hall
The dining-room was situated in the
basement, on a level with the kitchens,
as were also the servants bedrooms,
three in number The house was sew
eral stories high, and either by chance,
or because the purses of the other
boarders were, like our own, not too
heavy, two or three floors above us
were at present unoccupied, and the
other boarders slept on the top of the
house. Thus we were cut off from
the rest of the community by a lot
Of empty rooms; this did not trouble
us, and all went on well for some
weeks, but in the middle of November,
when the season was mt its dreariest,
our landlady. who had not the best of
tempers. fell out with her servants,
and they one and all left her at days
notice. Now, as everybody knows, do
mestics in New York are rather diff
cult to obtain, so the reader can i'm
agine the dismay of the mistress of the
house. For two days we managed in
some way or other; but the boarders
grumbled. and the merchant said he
must leave unless he got his meals
properly; so. driven to her wits end,
Mrs. Andrews engaged three servants
who applied for her place.
They had only just landed, they said,
to account for their having no charac-
tiers, and, with the fear of losing her
boarders. it would not do to be too par
ticular, and the women, who, by the
way were all friends. entered on their
duties. My cousin and myself pos
sessed several articles of fine iewelry;
these things | saw the new hOusemaid
the day after her arrival. when tidying
mp our room, examining very infinitely.
did not think much of it at the time
putting it down to curiosity This
girls name was Margaret, and | must
say more unprepossesSing-lo looking
person | have seldom seen; not that
she was ugly. but there was a cum
ming light i'm her gray eyes, which she
never raised to give you IA fair honest
look, and an evil expression i'm her face
that would have gone against her in
any court of justice; but it was nothing
10 me. and. beyond remarking to my
cousin Bertha that the girl was not
pleasant-lOoking, dismissed her from
my mind.
The third day after the advent of the
new domestics we went to spend the
day with some friends who lived at
Brooklyn there the conversation turn
ed on the number of burglaries, nearly
always attended with murder, that had
lately taken place in New York, said
TO be committed by a gang of ruffians
who wore light linen masks, and who
had managed to elude justice. This
description made a great impression
on me; the idea of waking and seeing
g white mask bending over one haunt