The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-02-07

- Up, maybe because OF her oppor.
~ ~,e was the only one 10 sus-
pect n4gtdy breathing behind the
curtain. None of the ever-changng
occupants OF Areher's tenement had
time to pose as the students of the
psychological. There was ripple OF
dull excitement as the dark, sct-lipped
young man from nowhere, carrying
small trunk and n puzzling air OF
refinement, was seen going conscious.
~ up the common staircase; but il
fixed out the first time he was heard
10 drop his voice when the landlords
agent called. Down on his luck ask,
ing for n few days grace, sympa-
thetic chord was struck at once
After that only one person troubled
about him and his fugitive ways, and
that was Gyp, the delicate, deformed
girl in the lowest room, who was paid
to keep the stair and landings re-
spectacle, and who was at the beck
and call OF anyone in the tenement
wanting an odd job done cheaply.
lie bad the sky parlor, so high up
that the invalid who rented IL before
him had been known TO pause for
breath on the staircase 20 times. Gyp,
with the keen intelligence OF her kind,
was bound To note what a farcical
amount of furniture had been carried
up, and how solemn the scent of cook
ing found its way through the door
chinks. She knew his name must be
Frank Meredith. because letters a
rarity in the tenement -came fire.
quently for him. They were mostly
in long envelopes, and once or twice,
when she carried them up, she had
been struck by the twitch of his lips
as he took them and hastily closed
his door again. Strangest of all, he
was man who could live without
work and without friends. Regularly,
at dusk, he went out for about an
hour; for the rest Of the day he fol-
lowed the lead of the invalid and sat
alone in the quiet room. Doing
swhat? Heaven alone had an mixing.
'Twice Il week she washed the stair
case down; and she often paused over
that top landing and wrung out her
flannel half dozen times unneces-
sarily, in hopes of hearing something.
Once he had opened his door softly
and caught her at it.
oh ] beg your pardon!" he wills
pered. Fancy that language! II
wondered what the scrubbing noise
was"
Gyp didn't scrub that bit again.
Finally her feelings took the form of
vast wonder and pity; because,
with her womans intuition, she di-
vined many little things that only n
woman would notice. He was not
mad; he was not criminal in hid
ing-his face told that. lie could
only be a man with mystery.
One night she saw him step sharply
out as usual. AS it happened, she
was lust about TO run on one of her
own furtive errands. Gyp had no
notion Of weighing impulses. She
followed him at little distance. lie
Put two or three long envelopes care
fully into the pillar box and then
vanished through n doorway. IL was
branch OF the public library, and
no place for Gyp. There were two
hushed rooms. She ventured uncer-
tninly in. Ostcnsibly cngrossed by n
medical directory. she watched
through the glass partition. lie had
turned TO certain corner of news
paper and was staring as If fasci-
mated. Just as he made To tear him-
self away the lights blazed up discon-
certingly. Both noticed something
she that he was two shades whittier
than usual, and he that she had been
watching him. lie flicked back the
sheets and walked out, with pink
spot on either cheek. Again the nm
pulse was open TO criticism, but a
minute or SO later she found herself
scanning that printed corner. Her
lips began 60 work as they always
did when she read. There IL was
something that helped TO solve the
mystery, and at the same time thick
COED u;
III Frank Meredith will only com
4 incatc with known addresses he
!. lfh learn that bygones are bygones
the fullest sense. Ethel heart
broken"
That next morning, as she set her
rail steadily down on the top land
/. ing, his door clicked; he looked out.
Ut .Npde her jump. She had been
- 7 the face Of Ethel" in her
yoapsdds, and her lip curlcd.
II hope as you didn't think -"
she begS and stopped. glowing with
strange confusion. Ten TO one he
had forgotten all about e.
whats that?" he asked. abscntly.
In her trepidation she stopped the
water all around his feet. She was
used 10 men who would have nailed
down her clumsincss with an oath;
but this one only stepped back.
II was going to say all along" she