, 1902-11-28
IN THE DARK

a little house TO Wnich hau iahen
q heir. and. after breakfast, / took
nv KEYS to the family attorney. AS l
was about to leave the office, the head
clerk called me to his desk and said:
ssTbere is also some money coming to
YOU from your uncle's estate. Six
thousand francs. Here 1t is.""
The surprise was most agreeable to
me. 1 took the blue bills and slipped
them into my pocket-book without
counting them. Because of this delay,
I had to hurry to get to the station In
time. Fortunately, the train was late.
1t pulled In just as I stepped on the
platform. Seeing an empty comparti
ment, as.'I supposed, | hurriedly enter
ed II. y
Az I sat down, l saw that l was not
alone. A lady sat in the right-haHd
corner Of the seat facing me. Il drew
back as far as possible in the left7hand
r not because of suspicion, as I
had already, forgotten my windfall,
but in order to stretch out and reflect
at my ease.
The lady was young, beautiful. and
elegant. A dark-blue traveling-dress
OF a correct cut set off her slender,
graceful figure. Masses of golden hair
rippled back under a dark-blue felt
hat, trimmed with q band of ribbon
and a quill. A dainty patent-leather
shoe was visible below the hem of her
skirt. A watch with some coquettish
trinkets hung from her belt. while a
bangled bracelet on her left wrist in
dicated a pretty feminine vanity. A
gold-handled umbrella, In it's sheath,
leaned against a portiere near her.
From my observation, | gained an
impression of sober luxury, a trife En-
glish In its rigor. A newspaper lay on
b lady'aJapa and she was reading It,
with such perfect unconsciousness of
my surveillance that | could not even
see the color of her eyes.
After we had left the Maisons Laftte
read over some letters which I had
merely glanced at in the morning. l
put my hand In my pocket to get them,
and l felt the pocket-book. A feeling
OF pleasure came over me at the re-
membrance of my bequest, and could
not resist a childish desire to handle
my little fortune. / took the bills from
my purse and, In the perfect security
of the closed compartment, / counted
them without the slightest suspicion of
being watched. The six thousand
francs were there. l folded the money
up, put 1t back into the pocket-book.
bnd. with my usual heedlessness, aid
The purse down beside me with the
letters l was going to read. l
took these up, one by one, read them,
and tossed them back on the seat.
i was soon made aware, by the vi
bration OF the coach, that we had
reached the Asnieres Bridge. The
young woman folded up her newspa-
per, and, without glancing In my di-
r~ection, began slowly and composediy
to unlace the glove on her right hand.
Finally she drew 1t off. We We're
about to reach our destination. 1t was
not the time for removing ones gloves.
Still the act did not impress me at the
time. l merely admired the slim, ner-
vous hand, with its tapering fingers.
The girl clasped and u~nclapsed them
with marvellous agility, as If they were.
numb from their bondage. The shadow
of the great wall Of the Batignolles
soon fell upon u car, and l noticed
that the lantern was not lighted. A
moment afterward, with a confused
rumbling of wheels and rails, we en-
tered the tunnel. !
Soon / fancied / heard-the. sound
was barely p~erceptible in the general
~fracas-a slight rustling among the pa
pers at my side. Careless as l usually
am, it lis a wonder that the sound at
tracted my attention, and still more
of one that l thought of my pocket
book. BY some intuition, however, |
did so.
Not Intentionally, but with an In
stinctive, rough gesture, of which l
should have been ashamed in the day
light, l forcibly threw both my hands
over the scattered papers and pressed
them down with all my might. Then.
with a start, l felt something o
under the pile, like an animal In a trap
trying to escape by twisting, turning
and pulling. 1 bore down all the hard
er. Just Their the train whistle shrek
ed out. The speed slackened and we
came to a standstill in the blackness OF
the tunnel, For a moment L expert
enced a veritable nightmare. With q
rustling and tearing of papers, the
struggle continued silently but fierce,
-4~a 4. 8 -
g.
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