The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-02-06

son that the room was unoccupied-
know that ! was in bed. The person
ed-siightly from a crouching posi-
non in the chair above which slowed
the top OF headdress of SOM sort
When the figure had Strengthened itself
up, il appeared to be one OF the wom-
enfolk of the house, and evidently an
/ Cll one, from the feeble way she NOV
I'd. Pressing both hands on the chair
| arms. she slowly shaldly got on her
| feet, and ! could see what a shrnnken,
/ crippled thing it was. ! began 70 feel
uncomfortable. You must not think
me specially cowardly or "Chustmas-
Numboy when tell you ihat I
/ thought of the picture wrongsI,a up in
/ the ready-cash ancestor gallery.
steading itself By holding on % the
chair with it's gnarled old hngere. the
thing, with curious low wheeze ike
cross between churchyard cough and
an asthma risen from the dead, turned
s!owl" CAD 1t seemed half an aour-
turned round!
A log fell from the FIRE and sputterel
/ unattended on the earth. Outside the
wind moaned most lonesomely.
lay as still as a corpse. was liter
ally smothering, for J hardly day'd to
breathe. / was conscious Of on.y one
ldea. to be there as silent as death in
The hope that it would not see me in
the bed. 1t saw me-and came
Here some one inadvertently drop
ped pin. It was Afterwards ma ntain-
ed that it fell with a crash like a
crowbar.
With little six-inch steps it came,
cue foot always advanced, the other
stepping up then the first ad -anced
again, ana so on / dashed at the ned
curtains next the fire, tore them from
their fastenings and closed them, and
teld them closed Something paved
Tor an opening. but with all my
4 strength / held the heavy cloth fast
Then tip-tap, tip-tap. ] heard the thing
Robbie round toward the side OF the
ed. / clutched the curtains there with
one hand, and dragged them across
Then | crouchcd on my knees in the
bed, my arms painfully outstro.ched
my fingers crampiug with the desper-
fte strain / was putting on them. The
tip-tap, tip-tap, ceased at the side Of
the bed, and again I felt the paving
TOR the opening which | was a. ding
cosed It caught my clenched knuck-
les ] could feel the clasp outside the
curtain
As the paving passed up above my
giosp 10 whore the curtains must yield,
/ dropped my right-hand grip al the
lotion of the bed and caught on At the
side with both hands Then in between
my two handgrasps two long, brown
fngers-or hooks slipped ! could
see them in the hrelight which now
flic1ered through the Open curtains at
the bottom of the bed Then two more
hooked in the opposite way, and l felt
P n pun on Ahc NhAAdiho eAlhuENi luah
my own. / could not hold them closed.
They parted slowly, slowly; and there,
right between my hands, within foot
of my face, that other-the mummy
face-loOked in-nearer-
IL was ~ o'clock in the day before
Hudsons doctor got me round. Al
though my legs aud arms still seemed
70 belong TO somebody else or at least,
have their own opinion as 20 hov they
should act caught am afternoon traiG
10 town Dick wanted me TO stay and
lie would have another room prepared,
and sit up with me until my absurd
nervous attack wore OF He had
noticed. he said. that ] was .ooking
rundown when ! arrived, which was
funny, as / was four pounds over my
TOP weight AZ the railway station the