Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-01-16

the family attorney. As / was about
TO leave the office the head clerk called
me to his desk and said: 1here is also
some money coming to you from your
uncle's estate. Six Thousand francs.
Here 1t IT,
fne surprise was most AGREEABLE to me.
! took the blue bills and slipped them
into my pocketbook without counting
them. Because OF this delay I had to
huriy 70 get 10 the station IN time For
tunaley the train was late ii pulled
in just as ! stepped ON The platform.
Seeing am empty compartment, as 1 sup
posed, hnrredly entered it,
As ] sat down ] saw that I was not
alone lady sat in the rlght-hand cor
ner OF The seat facing me. / drew back
as FAR as possible IN the leit-hand coruec,
not because of suspicion, as | had already 1
forgotten my windiall, but In order to
stretch cut and reflect at my ease
The lady was young. beautiful and ele
CANT. A dark-bue travelling dress of
correct cut set OIL her slender, graceful /
figure Masses of golden hair iippled /
back under a dark-hue felt hat, trimmed /
with band OF ribbon and a quilt A |
dainty patentleather shoe was visible /
below the hem of her skirt watch |
with some coquettish trinkets hung from
her belt. while a BANGED bracelet ON her
lett wrist indicated pretty feminine
vanity god-handled umbrella, in its
sheath. leaned against a portiere near by
From my observation ! gained an impress
sion of sober luxury, a tribe English IN
its rigor A newspaper lay on the lady
hap, and sae was reading it with such
perfect unconseousness OF my surveil
lance that I could not even see the color
! of her eyes.
After we had left the Maisons LATTE
station the thought occurred to me TO
/ read over some letters which | had mere
4 ly glanced at in the morning put my
| hand in my pocket to get them. and
| felt the pocketbook A feeling of pleasure
came over me at the remembrance Of
| my bequest, and / could not resist
childish desire to handle my little for
! tune l took the bills from my purse
and, in the perfect security of the closed
! compartment, ] counted them without
! the slightest suspicion Of being watched
! The 5000 francs were there folded
| the money up, put 1t back into my pocket
book and, with my usual heedlessness
| laid the purse down beside me with tie
letters ! was going to read now took
] these mp. one by one, read them and
tossed them back on the seat
was soon made aware, by the vibra-
ton Of the coach, that we had reached
the Asnieres bridge. The young woman
folded up her newspaper and, without
glancing in my direction, began slowly
and composedly to unlace the glove on
her right hand. Finally she drew it of.
We were about to reach our destination.
| 1t was not the time for removing one
gloves Still the act did not impress
me at the time. ] merely admired TIC
slim, nervous hand, with its iapering fin
gers. The girl clasped and unclasped thef
with marvellous agility, as il they were
numb from their bondage The shadow
of the great wall OF the Batgnoiles soon
fell upon our car, and noticed that the
lantern was not lighted. A moment after
ward, with a confused rumbliug OF wheels
and rails, we entered the tunnel
Soon ! faneied | heard-the sound was
barely perceptible in the general fracas-
a slight rusting among the papers at MY
side. Careless as | usually am, it is
wonder that the sound attracted my at
tention. and still more of one that
thought OF my pocketbook. BY some in
tuition, however, | did so.
Not Intentionally but with an in
stinctive, rough gesture, of which l
/
light. | forcibly threw both my hands
over the scattered papers and pressed
them down with all my might. Then with
start, I felt something move under the
pile. like an animal in a trap trying TO
escape by twisting, turning and pulling
/ bore down all the harder lust then
the train whistle shrieked out The speel
slackened and we came to a standstill in
the backness of the tunnel For a mo-
ment l experienced a veritabe nightmare.
With a rustling and tearing of papers the
struggle continued, silently but fercely.
After having wriggled and turned des-
perately in every direction, like stran-
eled reptile, the hand, crushed under my
palms, las quiet saw nothing, heard
nothing, not even a breath. | knew, how
ever, that my companion was on the
ert, noting my every movement Suf-
,cated by emotion and wearied by the
tension on my nerves, ! waited for the
daylight for deliverance.
After a period Of time. very short. prob
ably. but the length Of which ! could not
estimate, the train began to move slow
~. My relief at this was so great that
my whole being involuntarily relaxed from
its tension This was evidently expected.
for the hand again tried to free Itself,
strong, steady pulling. / felt it slipping
along, little by little, under the papers.
/ impFudentiy raised my palm a bit to ger
fresh hold. When ] again bore down
elasped only my pocketbook The hand
had escaped, ] knew not when nor how.
I hastily opened the purse, felt that it,
contents were there, then put it into ms
vest pocket and stupidity crossed my arm,
over IT,
At last a gray light penetrated into tho
compartment. followed by the bright lghi
Of day. Ny FIRST glance was at the lad,
opposite She sat in exactly the samt
place, with the same air of naughty in
difference Nothing about her toilet wds
disarranged in the least Not a fold ol
her dress seemed to have been moved
She locked pale, however, and her eyes
were oent on her right hand, as she
slowly laced up her glove, IL truly seemed
5 as if I were waking from a dream.
} The train stopped and the platform was
on my side. The lady rose dropping tho
D paper from her lap, took her umbrella
and with a perfectly composed and polite
"Pardon me, sir, passed in front Of me
Feeling stupid and duped, / put our
my arm 10 detain her. But she was a.
p ready sn the steps and noticing my ges.
3 ture, she turned half round and for The
first time ! saw her eyes
They were as blue as the sky and linn.
= Did and beautiful in expression, They
gazed at me with so much surprise and
caudOr that was disarmei completeiy
..I la Hnr ro nunolqsfnd Had % ro4