The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-02-06
IN THE DARK.
A Strange Adventure in a
Railway Compartment.

lily attorney. As | was about TO leay
the office the head clerk called me
his desk and said: "There is also som
money coming TO you from your uncle
estate. Six thousand francs. Here
is"
The surprise was most agreeable {
me. / took the blue bills and sllppe
them into my pockctbOOk withOu
counting them. Because Of this della
l had to hurry TO get to the station il
time. Fortunately. the train was late
1t pulled in just as | stepped on tn
platform. Seeing an empty compart
ment, as i supposed, / hurriedly en-
tered II.
AS | sat down I saw that ! was no
alone. A lady sat in the right hant
corner of the seat facing me. / drew
back as far as possible In the left-hant
corner not because of suspicion as
had already forgotten my windfall
but in order To stretch out and re Zee
at my ease.
The lady was young, beautiful and
elegant A dark blue travelling dress OF
correct cut set Off her slender, grace
full figure. Masses of golden hair rip
pied back under n dark blue felt hat
trimmed with n band of ribbon and n
quill. A dainty patcnt-lcathcr shoe
was visible below the hem of her skirt
A watch with some coqucttish trinket
hung from her belt, while bangled
bracelet on her left wrist indicated n
,f,,l. II A
handled umbrella, In It's sheath, leaned
against portiere near her. From my
observations | gained an impression
of sober luxury. n trihe English In its
rigor. A newspaper lay on the lady's
lap, and she was reading 1t with such
perfect unconsciousness of my sur
veillance that l could not even see the
color of her eyes.
After we had left the Mais0ns LATTE
station the thought occurred to me to
read over some letters which | had
merely 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 re-
membrance OF my bequest, and could
not resist childish desire to handle
my little fortune. 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 6OOO
francs were there. folded the money
up, put 1t back into the pocketbook,
and, with my usual heedlessness laid
the purse down beside me with the
letters was going to read. now took
these up, one by one. read them, and
tossed them back on the seat
was soon made aware. hy the vihra-
tion of the coach. that we had reached
the Asnieres Bridge. The young
woman folded up her newspaper and.
without glancing in my direction be-
gan slowly and composcdly to unlace
the glove on her right hand. Finally
she drew ii off. We were about to
reach our destination. 1t was not the
time for removing ones gloves. Still
the act did not impress me at the time
L merely admired the slim. nervous
hand, with its tapcring fingers. The
girl clasped and unclaspcd them with
marvellous agility. as If they were
numb from their bondage The
shadow of the great wall of the Batig-
nolles soon fell upon our ear. and |
noticed that the lantern was not light
ed. A moment afterward. with a con.
FUSED rumbling of wheels and rails,
We entered the tunnel.
Soon | fancied | heard-the sound
was barely perceptible in the general
fracas-a slight rustllng among the
papers at my side. Careless as | usual.
ly am, 1t Is a wonder that the sound
attracted my attention. and still more
of one that l thought of my pocket.
book. BY some intuition, however, |
did so.
Not intentionally, but with an in
stinctiye. rough gesture of which
should have been ashamed In the day
light, l forcibly threw both my hands
over the scattered papers and pressed
them down with all my might. The l,
with start, l felt something move
under the pile. like an animal in a
trap trying to escape by twisting, turn.
ing and pulling. l bore down all the
harder. Just then the train whistle
shrieked out. The speed slackened and
we came to standstill in the black.
ness Of the tunnel. For moment |
experienced n veritable nightmare.
With a rustling and tearing of papers
the struggle continued, silently but
fercely.
After having wriggled and turned
desperately in every direction. like a
strangled reptile, the hand crushed
under my palms. lay quiet. saw
nothing, heard nothing-not even a
breath. / knew. however. that my
companion was on the alert, noting
my every movement. Suffocated by
emotion and wcaried by the tension OF
my nerves, I waited for the daylight
for dcliverance.
After a period OF time. very short.
probably. but the length of which |
could not estimate. the train began TO
move slowly. My relief at this was so
great that my whole being lnvoluntar.
lily relaxed from its tension. This was
evidently expected. for the hand again
tried to free itself, not by violent Jerks
this time, but by a. strong. steady pull.
ing. felt It slipping along. little by
little. under the papers. I imprudently
raised my palm a bit to get a fresh
hold. When I again bore down |
clasped only my pocketbook. The
hand had escaped. knew not when
nor how.
haatflv onaaad tl.o norso totx A..