Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-14

time Tor being opngeo 10 trouble him with foreign money and pleading his recent arrival for excuse. And the man, grumbling with even greater fervor and looking contemptuously from the money in his hand to the Saratoga trunk and back again from the one to the other, at last consented to with draw.
 For nearly two days the dead body had been packed into SiIas' box, and as soon as he was alone the unfortu- nate New Englander nosed all the cracks and openings with the most pas sionate attention. But the weather was cool, and the trunk still managed to contain his shocking secret.
 He took a chair beside 1t and buried his face in his hands and his mind in the most profound reflection. If he were not speedily relieved, no question but he must be speedily discovered. Alone in strange city, without friends ton failed him, he was indubitably lost New Englander. He reflected pa thetica1ly over his ambitious designs for the future. He should not now be- come the hero and spokesman of his native place of Bangor, Me; he should not, as he had fondly anticipated, move on from office to office, from honor to honor; he might as we'll divest himself at once of all hope of being acclaimed president of the United States and leaving behind a statue in the worst possible style of art to adorn the capi- tol at Washington. Here he was, chain ed to a dead Englishman doubled up inside Saratoga trunk, whom he must get rid of or perish from the rolls of na tional glory!
 I should be afraid to chronicle the language employed by this young man to the doctor, to the murdered man, to Mime. Zephyrine, to the boots of the hotel, to the princes servants and, in q word, to all who had been ever so re- motely connected with his horrible mis- fortune. He slunk down to dinner about o'clock at night, but the yellow coffee room appalled, him, the eyes of the other diners seemed to rest on him with suspicion, and his mind remained upstairs with the Saratoga trunk. When the waiter came to offer him cheese, his nerves were already so much on edge that he leaned half way out of his chair and upset the remain der of a pint of ale upon the table cloth.
 The fellow offered to show him to the smoking room when he had done, and, although he would have much preferred to return at once to his peril ous treasure, he had not the courage to refuse and was shown downstairs to the black, gaslit cellar which formed, and possibly still forms, the divan of the Craven hotel.
 Two very sad betting men were playing billiards, attended by moist, consumptive marker, and for the mo- ment Silas imagined that these were the only occupants of the apartment. But at the next glance his eye fell upon a person smoking in the farthest cor ner, with lowered eyes and most re- spectab1e and modest aspect. He knew at once that he had seen the face be- fore, and in spite of the entire change of clothes recognized the man whom
 
 entrance to Box court and who had helped him to carry the trunk to and from the carriage. The New England CT simply turned and ran, nor did he pause until he had locked and bolted himself in his bedroom.
 There all night long, prey to the most terrible imaginations, he watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh. The suggestion of the boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired him with all manner of new terrors if he so much as dared to close an eye, and the presence in the smoking room, and under an obvious disguise, of the loiter- CT from Box court convinced him that he was once more the center of obscure machinations.
 Midnight had sounded some time when, impelled by uneasy suspicious, Silas opened his bedroom door and peered into the passage. 1t was dlmly illuminated by single jet of gas, and some distance off he perceived a man sleeping on the floor in the costume of a hotel servant. Silas drew near the man on tiptoe. He lay partly on |. DdCK, pdTLly OH HIS SiO0, anu HIS FlgnL forearm concealed his face from rec ognition. Suddenly, while the Ameri- can was still bending over him, the sleeper removed his arm and opened his eyes, and Silas found himself once more face to face with the loiterer of Box court.
 Good night, sir," said the man pleasantly.
 But Silas was too profoundly moved to find an answer and regained his room in silence.
 Toward morning, worn out by appre- hension, he fell asleep on his chair, with his head forward on the trunk. In spite of so constrained an attitude and such a grisly pillow his slumber was sound and prolonged, and he was only awakened at late hour by q sharp tapping at the door.
 He hurried to open and found the boots without. r You " are the gentleman who called yesterday at Box court ?' he asked. E Silas, with a shiver, admitted that he had done so.