The suburban citizen., 1901-05-11

most dreadful cramp, brought on
through lying still for so long ia tire
same attitude And 1 hardl. dared TO
move in any way to ease myself for
fear Of waking the loathsome creature.
AT length pale line of light appeared
on the wall opposite 70 me, and as It
gradually increased in brilliancy and
dimensions / was able to distinguish
first various objects about the room,
and then the hideous thing on the be
At first, Of course, it was only an in
| distinct mass, but as the light grew
and it became more clearly visible the
horrible truth was forced upon me. 1
had been attempting to steel myself
for the revelation, and was expecting
l might see wolf, a baboon, or even
a bear, but in my widest imaglnings l
had never dreamed Of the possibility
of this! Merciful heavensl what should
what could 40?
The shock Of the awful discovery
overcame me completely 1 was pc
fectly paralyzed with fear, and every
other sense was numbed for the time
| being. 1 lay thus in p half-falnting
condition. until the sound - oh, how
unspeakably welcome!-of the key in
| the lock reused me to action. l spraDg
from the bed, and, rushing from the
room, almost knocking over the maid
rs | did so, dragged the doorto, scream
ing, "LoclI it! on, lock it," and fell in
sensible at her feet.
The rest Of this narrative I did not
learn till somc months afterward The
| maid, dreadfully alarmed, instinctiYely
did rs told her, and then ran for help.
l was carried to the house, where 1
received the prompt care and attention
OF a doctor who was numbered among
the guests
He said that l must have received a
very severe shock; Of what nature he
was, of course unable to say. He ex-
pressed grave fears as to what the ef'
feet might be on my brain, and or
| dered that l was to kept absolutely
quiet, and on no account to be cues
toned in any way.
Thus all chance of finding out the
| cause from me was elfectually put a
stop to. The only way that remained
was to interrogate the servant. She
was sent for, and eagerly detailed the
! little that she knew, with the result
that it was resolved to go and examine
the room. Colonel Chudleigh, accom-
! panied by several Of the other gentle
men. Immediately set of for the pur-
pose. AS they were crossing the lawn
they observed two men in uniform
searching among the shrubs and
bushes.
On catching sight Of the Colonel they
\ Immediately came forward and ex'
\ planned that they were looking for a
! dangerous lunatic who had escaped
from the Elmersfeld asylum two days
before. They had been beating the
whole countryside, but their efforts
| had so far been fruiuess. They had
thought 1t just possible he might have
entered these grounds and concealed
himself somewhere, but as they mad
found no trace of him such was evil
IDENTIFY not the case. At this point one
OF the gentlemen suddenly exclaimed,
Look in the summer-house" The
whole party hurried thither, the door
was unfastened, and sure enough tie
dangerous maniac was found there!
He was secured after a desperate
struggle, in which he succeeded in
woundlng one OF the keepers with a
knife chow and from whence procured
remains mystery, but he was ulti-
mately safely taken back to the asy-
lum.
In course of time I got better, but 1t
was years before l quite recovered
from the horrors Of the night l spent
locked up with what proved to be a
homicidal maniac.-Tho Wide World
! Magazine.