The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-10

odAy " use bi1CIiis DIS lllC AlSnl NIB III
attract passers-by, and if possible Kit
ty wished no one but her parents to
know of her adventure.
AS she neared the schoolhouse the
street lamps became less frequent, and
when she finally reached the door she
found herself in almost utter dark
ness.
With a quickly beating heart. but
with an undaunted resolution, she felt
for the keyhole, and put the big key in
the lock. 1t turned with a grating
sound, and Kitty pushed open the
heavy door. The hall was black as a
dungeon, but, by cropping around, she
found the banister, and so made her
way upstairs.
The schoolhouse was a large build
ing. of which the high school occu-
pied the top floor, and in the darkness,
feeling for the walls and hanisters,
Kitty climbed four fights of stairs.
But with each fight her heart sank
lower, and her courage seemed to be
ebbing away. The silence and the dark
were very oppressive and it seemed to
Kitty that she could hear her own
heart beating with loud thumps.
AS she neared the top of the last
flight the great front door, which she
had left open, suddenly closed with a
bang. The echoes reverberated through
the empty buildings. and Kitty chung
to the banister, shivering with nerv-
Gus dread.
Kitty attempted to light one of her
matches and take a look about her.
But the match went out almost as soon
as she struck it; and, too, it cast such
awsome, wavering shadows that the
darkness was preferable. So, still feel
ing her way. Kitty stumbled into her
classroom. Counting the desks as she
went along, she came at last to her
own, and, having opened it, felt around
for her arithmetic. She lighted another
match to make sure that this time she
had the right book. Again the tiny
light made ghostly shadows, and ev-
erything in the room looked queer and
distorted. The match dropped from
Kitty's trembling fingers to the floor,
and in her excitement lest 1t should
set the place on fire, she let her desk
cover fall with another of those re-
sounding, re-echoing slams that no
one can appreciate who has not heard
them under similar circumstances.
BY this time Kitty was desperately
frightened, though she herself could
not have told what she was afraid of.
Grasping her precious arithmetic, she
started, with but one idea in her mind
to get down stairs and out of that
awful school building as quickly as
possible.
She CROPPED carefully for the newell
post, for going down stairs was some
what more dangerous than coming up.
Safely started, however, she almost
ran down each separate fight, and
reached the ground floor, only to find
the front door had a spring lock, which
had fastened itself when the door blew
shut, or had been shut by some per-
son.
But the little girls heart sank with
in her when she realized that she was
locked in the school building.
She thought of the key but, alas. she
had stupidity left it in the outside of
the door, But, anyway" she thought
to herself, 81 don't believe = key is
necessary on the inside. 1t isn't to our
front door at home. You only have TO
pull back a tiny brass knob"
The thought of home made a lump
rise in poor Kitty's throat, and the
tears began to come as she fumt led
vainly about the lock of the door. You
see, she was only IA, and girl, at that,
and as John HOLSTER had said girls
couldn't expect to do as well as boys.
But at last something gave way, and
the latch went up, and Kitty felt the
outdoor air again on her face.
The night was as black as ink, but
she didn't mind that now that she was
released from her prison, and carefully
locking the door and putting the key
safely in her pocket, she started off to-
ward home.
The church clock struck just as she
reached her own door, and Kitty could
scarcely believe she had made her
whole trip in less than an hour. 1t
seemed as if she had spent whole
night IN the schoolhouse. Ellen had
not noticed her absence, supposing her
all the time in the library, and witt,
her usual determination, Kitty sat
down to study hard during the hour
that remained of her precious even
ing.
At 10 oclock she went to bed, and
next morning, by being an early bird,
she fini she'd Partial Payments by
school time.
AS you know by the title of this
story, Kitty did win the prize, and, as
you may imagine, she and her mother
had a most delightful trip to the Pan
American Exposition.
But she never told anyone of her
night session at school, except her par
ents.
They expressed grave disapproval
and exacted a promise that such
thing should never occur again. Kitty
willingly promised. for she was very
sure she'G never mistake one book for
another again.
And isn't it queer" she said to her
mother, that I should have beaten
John Holiister just by that one exam
pie in Partial Payments?"