The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1902-02-01

him. SO far as the body Is concerned.
perhaps I needn't torch 1t, o I might
leave it to Cornelius. He has no nerves,
that fellow; he'd as soon bury 1t as to
bury a dead cat. Well, that can wait;
the first thing is to frighten this Mr..
George Reeks."
The mention Of that name started him
of uron another train of thought, while
he walked quickly toward Camden
Town; another disturbing thing which
might, or might not, be helping to beat
out q path to The gallows for him.
George Reeks! Yes; that was the
fellow who went to the funeral with
him: I wonder who he was? There is
! a net drawing about me somewhere.
and yet I can't put my hand upon a
single tangible strand of 1t to break It
down. / am surrounded by unknown
terrors; everywhere voices seem TO
whisper warnings and threats. And the
worst threat Of all is that the servant
is still u~naccounted for.@@s The master
I've got-dead as twenty door-nails;
the servant is lying in wait for me
somewhere, I know. And yet--how
should he suspect me?"
He began to be comforted by that
thought, to take heart from the fact
that, after all. the only two witnesses
Of the murder were safe-Cornelius
Viewers, because. for his own sake, he
could be relied upon absolutely: Miles
Probyn, for the simple reason that he
was dead. And so, telling himself that
his fears were but idle fancies, after
all, he came, in the small hours of the
morning, to No. 2, Little Pond Street,
Camden Town.
That night Mrs. Reeks had resortel
to stratagem; that Is to say, she had
waited, with what patience she pos
sessed,- until the hour grew so late that
1t was evident Mr.. Reeks was about to
repeat his performance Of the previous
right; then the lady, carefully extin-
gushing the lights, went to bed.
But not to sleep; she knew better
than that. Instead, she muffled herself
up in bed clothes and sat up in the bed
in darkness. listening intently to every
sound in the street. After some two
hours Of waiting she heard the sound
VI W1lCClSS ,JAlO q rVSA1AV1G 0hoPPNN
door. Mrs. Reeks got out of bed and
aside the blind and peered down into
the. darkness.
What she saw was sufficient, 1t mus.
be admitted, to startle her. In the first
place, out Of the cab got Mr.. George
Reeks; following him came the muf-
fed figure OF a female. Mrs. Reeks
gasred and caught at the window frame
for support. She saw her husband, at
ter q momentary glance upwards at the
dark windows, pass in at the little gar
den gate, followed by his companion;
then che heard the cautious turning OF
The key in the lock and the opening OF
the front door. Moving as softly as her
somewhat heavy weight would permit
across the room above, Mrs. Reeks
passed out on the landing and peered
over into the hall. There she saw Mr.
Reeks, with q c%autionary finger on his
lips, drawing the female toward the
sitting room. Crossing Gown q stair or
two, Mrs. Reeks found she could hea.
exactly what was said.
This way, my chilli" whispered the
little man, drawing Olive into the room.
Don't be frightened: I'll have Q light
for you In a moment: and I see there's
still a morsel of fire."
Mrs. Reeks had thoughts Of pinching
herself t see IL she were really awake,
and to determine whthr OF not this was
som hiGeous nightmare, n whether
1t really was the voice Of ti1at hitherto
devoted husband Of hers she heard be-
low. The voice wa replied to by the
quiet tones Of the young girl-Mrs.
Reeks went down two steps more in
order not to. miss anything: you arc
very kind to me. / will wait here UNI
til. he sends for me-"
81 don't think you will" muttered
Mrs. Reeks, shaking her head in the
darkness. st may have q word or two
to say about that!!"
After a few moments Mr.. Reeks pre-
pared to come up; assured himself. by
an anxious question, that his guest was
comfortable; and emerged Into the
.hall-shutting the door behind him.
Mrs. Reeks scuttled back to bed, drew
the bedclothes about her, and resolutey
closed her eyes.
The guilty little man came In and
stood for a momeht or two beside the
bed, looking anxi,usly and intently In
to the face Of the apparently sleeping
woman. Mrs. Reeks essayed q gentle
enore, as naturally as she could under
the trying circumstances. Mr.. Reeks
sheaved a sigh Of relief and began to
prepare for bed. In less than ten min-
utes he was sound asleep. utterly worn
out with all that he. had passed
through. Mrs. Reeks, having assured
herself that he was not easily awak-
nyod olarrod n,,f NJ he'd haatflv threw