Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-01-30
him. So far As the body is concerned,

him. So, far as the body is concerned.
perhaps I needn't to"ch it. or might
leave it to Cornelius. He has no nerves,
that fellow: he'd as soon bury it as to
bury dead cat. Well. that can wait:
the first thing is to brighten this Mr..
George Reeks."
The mention of that name started him
of iron another train of thought while
ne walked quickly toward Camden
Town: another disturbing thing which
might. or might not. be helping to beat
out 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 l can't put my hand upon a
single tangible strand of 1t to break 1t
down. I am surrounded by unknown
terrors; every where voices seem to
whisper warnings and threats. And the
worst threat of all is that the servant
is still unaccounted for. 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
all, he came, III the small hours Of the
morning, to No. 2, Little Pond Street,
Camden Town.
That night Mrs. Reeks had resorted
to stratagem; that Is to say, she had
waited. with what patience she pos
sessed until the hour grew so late that
it 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 muff1ed 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
of wheels. and a vehicle stopped at the
| door. Mrs. Reeks got out of bed and
tiptoed to the window, softly drew
aside the blind and peered down into
the darkness.
What she saw was sufficient, it mus
be admitted, to startle her. In the first
place, out of the cab got Mr.. George
Reeks; following him came the muf-
fled figure of a female. Mrs. Reeks
gasred and caught at the window frame
| for support. She saw her husband. af-
| ter a momentary glance upwards at the
| Ozark windows, pass in at the little gar
| den gate, followed by his companion;
Their she heard the cautious turning of
The key in the lo:k 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 peerad
over into the hall. There she saw Mr..
Reeks, with a cautionary finger on his
lips, drawing the female toward the
sitting room. Crae:oing Gown stair or
two, Mrs. Reeks found she could hear
exactly what was said.
This way, my chill,' whispered the
little man, drawing Olive into the room.
Don't be frightened: I'll have light
for you iii moment; and 1 see there's
still a morsel Of fire."
Mrs. Recks had thoughts of pinching
herself to see if she were really awake,
and to determine whthr OF not this was
som bideous nightmare, and whether
it really was the voice Of that hitherto
devoted husband of hers she heard be-
low. The voice was replied to by the
quiet tones Of the young girl-Mrs.
Reeks went down two steps more in
order not to miss anything: You ar,
very kind to me. I will wait here I'M
til he sends for me-"
IT don't think you will" muttered
Mrs. Reeks, shaking her head in the
darkness. II may have a word or two
to say about that"
After q 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 moment or two beside the
bed, looking anxi )usly and intently in
to the face Of the apparently sleeping
woman. Mrs. Reeks essayed a gentle
snore, as naturally as she could under
the trying circumstances. Mr.. Reeks
heaved 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
herself that he was not easily awak-
ened, slipped out of bed, hastily threw
on some garments, and started to go
down stairs.
Halfway down she stopped, listening,
as she had heard the it'll iron gate at
the front of the garden creak on it's
hinges. More than that, there was
cautious footstep coming up the path.
She went down the remainder Of the
| stairs at orse, utterly ignoring the door
of the sitting room, passed on to the
door in front Of the house, and stood
| there, trembling and listening.
| There was mt the least doubt that
| someone was outside; she could hear
| the shutting Of feet on the top step.
and, in the silence. heavy breathing.
On a sudden impulse, although she
could scarcely have defined what the
| impulse was, she opened the door
| quickly, and faced the man who stood
| just outside.
Then, to her establishment, the man
stepped in. coolly, thrust her aside and
| closed the door, Standing there in the