Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-07-25

none OF Its instructive reliance upOl
others which leads it so often f
neglect its own resources. Till l say
good reason to summon the police
should not summon them, n premature
alarm being in their eyes, as knew
from my many talks with Mr.. Gryce
the one thing suggestive Of timid ant
inexperienced mind,
Hannah had brought me deliciou,
cup of tea at 10, the influence of which
was to make me very drowsy at III, but
shook the weakness off and began my
night watch i'll Il state of stern com
posture which | verify believe would
have awakened Mr.. Grycc admiration
had it been consonant with the proprie-
ties for him to have seen it. Indeed the
very seriousness of the occasion was
such that | could not have trembled if
! would, every nerve and faculty being
strained to its utmost to make the
most Of every sound which might arise
in the now silent and discreetly dark
ened house.
The precaution which | took the night
before of pushing my bed against the
door of my room l omitted being anx-
ious to find myself i'll ii position to cross
its threshold at the least alarm. That
/ this would come l felt positive, for Han
nah i'll leaving my room had taken pains
to say, i'll unconscious imitation Of what
Miss Knollys had remarked the night
before:
Don't let any queer sounds you may
hear disturb you, Miss Butterworth.
There's nothing to hurt you i'll this
house; nothing at all. " An admOnition
which l am sure that her young mis-
tresses, after all that had passed between
us this day. would not have allowed her
to utter if they had been made acquaint-
ed with her intention.
But though in state Of high expec-
tation and listening, as l supposed, with
every faculty alert, the sounds l appre-
hended delayed so long that began aft
er an hour or two unaccountably to nod
in my chair, and before | knew it was
asleep, with the whistle i'll my hand
and my feet pressed against the panels
of the door | had set myself to guard.
How deep that sleep was or how long |
can only judge from the state of emo
tion in which l found myself when !
suddenly woke. was sitting there still,
but my usually calm frame was i'll vi
client tremble and found it difficult to
STIR much more to speak. Some one or
something was at my door.
Ar instant and my powerful nature
would have asserted itself, but before
this could happen-Hannah having con
fessed to me afterward that she had put
a few harmless grains of morphine into
my tea--tho stealthy step drew nearer
and l heard the quiet, almost noiseless,
insertion Of key into the lock and the
quick turn which made me prisoner.
This, with the indignation it caused, .
brought me quickly TO myself. So the .
door had key after ALL and this was the .
use it was reserved for. Rising quickly
to my feet, / shouted ont the names Of
Loreen, Lucetta and William, but re-
ceiyed no other response than the rapid
of feet down the corridor
Then / felt for the whistle, which had
somehow slipped from my hand, but
failed to find it in the darkness, nor
when l went to search for the matches
to relight the candle had left standing
on table near by could / by any means
succeed in lighting one, so that l found
myself shut up in my room, with no
means of communicating with the world
outside and with no light to render the
tolerable. This was having the
tables turned upon me with vengeance
and in q way for which could not ac-
count. / could understand why they
mad locked me in the room and why
they had not needed my cry of indigna-
ion and appeal but | could not com
Drehend how my whistle came to be
gone nor why the matches which Were
plentiful enough in the safe refused one
md all to perform their duty.
On these points / must be satisfied ,
before I proceeded to invent some way :,
nut Of my difficulties. So, dropping on !
ny knees by the chair in which | had ,
,een sitting, l began quiet search for ,
he petty object upon which, neverthe- !
ess, hung not my safety perhaps, but all !
hances of success i'll an undertaking
which was every moment growing more I
erious. did not find it, but | did ind .
where it had gone. In the floor near the I
.oor my hand encountered after awhile |
hole which had been covered up by a
ug, which / distinctly remembered =
aving pushed aside with my feet when
took my seat there. 1t was not large Z
ut it was deep, so deep that my hand Z,
allied to reach to the bottom of it, and @
nto this hole by some freak Of chance 4
i have noticed in my short but event 7
I'll life that chance, or rather let me q
all it Providence, for there can be 10 !
UGH thing as chance, frequently seems 8
D lend itself to the cause we are fight +
az against-had slipped the small whis- /,
lie | had So indiscreetly taken into my
and. The mystery of the matches was I
ass easy of solution; so let it go after f
moment of indecisive thought and n
ent my energies once again to listen,
7hen suddenly and without the least n
-arning there rose from somewhere in
lie house cry so wild and unearthly 8,
1at l started up appalled,, and for a i,
loment could not tell whether this was h
,me fearful dream l was laboring I'M
er or still more fearful reality. |,
A rushing of feet in the distance and
4 involuntary murmur of voices soon :,
ltisfied me, however, on this score, and :.
rawing upon every energy l possessed -
gain l listened for renewal of the y.
l.. 4. x-oA .NrNl