The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-11-24
CHAPTER XIV.

In sleepleSS, mental agony. Clara was
undoubtedly in the same house with me,
exposed to heaven knows what sufferings
and prosecutions; and yet. for any hope
Of seeing or succoring her, l might as
well have been hundreds of miles away.
| At last, unable to lie there any longer,
/ rose and dressed myself. A fire was
still smoldering in the huge CRATE, and a
night light was burning upon the table.
The nurse, by her hard. regular breath
| ing. seemed to be in a deep sleep, and
moved about cautiously. Her face was
turned to the open side of the sofa. 1
crept behind it and inserted my trem-
bling hand beneath the pillow, feeling
| further and further until my fingers
touched a hard substance-it was the
ward key. Little by little l drew it
away-she still sleeping profoundly
| fitted it noiselessly in the lock, turned ii,
and the next moment found myself in a
large, dark hall. at the foot of an i'm
mensely wide staircase.
| | closed the door softly behind me-
| A long window, that stretched upwards
from the first landing, admitted suffi-
cient light to guide me, and. with a
noiseless step, 1 crept up the stairs. At
the top of the first fight was a long
corridor, on each side of which. as far
as / could see, for the further end was
lost in obscurity, was line of doors.
Now came my difficulty; the slightest
error would not only defeat my present
object, but consign me to a stricter sur
VIGILANCE than ever, and perhaps bring
| about Clara's removal to some spot to
which | could obtain no clue. Suppose
L II. -, H. yx,I.< -
chamber door? / shuddered at the
thought.
l stood for some moments at the head
of the corridor, irresolute what to do
| listening eagerly for the slightest sound
that might guide me. But the silence
was deathlike. Down the corridor
moved noiselessly. Through the crew
ices of the third door came faint streaks
of light and faint muffled sounds. either
means or a low. monotonous singing
the walls and loors were so thick, that
it was difficult to distinguish which.
/ listened more eagerly, until l fan
cied l could distinguish Clara's voice
l paused for a moment. and then. with
my heart beating in my throat. tapped
gently. Breathlessly | waited for sew
eral seconds. No answer. Then l tap
ped second time little louder. A
sound of moving, and then a soft. ;rem-
ulous voice. that thrilled my very soul,
asked family, ''Who is there?"
| could doubt no longer The key
was in the lock outside. l tried turn
ed it-opened the door-met her whom
l sought-heard low cry of astonish-
ment. and my darling was in my arms
AT that moment l fancied that heard
a sound like the click of a lock in the
corridor. l suddenly turned, disengaged
myself from her arms, and looked out.
All seemed precisely as | had left it
no light. no object no sound; it must
have been fancy. l gently drew the
key from the outside, and, reversing it,
locked the door from within. We were
alone-no one could surprise us now
To her eager questions, how had dis
covered her, | scarcely knew what TO
answer; for, the first excitement of our
meeting over, l repented that l had ever
sought it. Could l have freed her from
her enemies then. and then only, would
it have been justiiable? AS it was,
was feeding my own hopeless passion,
and engaging more and more closely the
affections of supplemented girl, be-
meath the very roof that sheltered the
| implacable woman who claimed as her
husband. Oh, all this was weak, GRIM
inally weak; and l felt it so. and yet
had not the courage to end IL honestly
After a while / asked her what hap
pened upon the fatal night that we lost
her-how she came to be separated from
us.
She told me that rush of people had
suddenly impelled her forward, and that
b. the time she could turn her head to
look round, she found that she had been
l.arried out of sight Of Mrs. Wilson.
At that moment a young man. evident
~ the same who had delivered Montgom-
ery's message to me, touched her upon
the shoulder, and said that was wait
ing for her in a cab a little way down
the street.
He was hurrying me along all the
time he was speaking" she went on !;
"and | was too bewildered by my situa-
ton to offer the slightest resistance
There was a long line of cabs and car
riages; the one he pointed out as ours
was the last of all. anu stood up an un-
frequented side street He opened the
door and pushed me in; at the same
moment a strange man jumped in past
me, the deer was slammed. the windows
raised, and the horses were of ct full
speed. before could recover my breath"
| From her description, | discovered
| that this man who accompanied her
was Montgomery.
Il am such poor. nerveless crea-
| ture-so utterly destitute of all pres
ence of mind-that l could only crouch
| in corner and sob with terror"
| After a drive, which seemed to her
excited fancy to endure for hours, they
stopped before a tall iron gate. which.
latter time, was opened from within.
They drove over a long. winding walk
at the end Of which was a large. gloomy
| looking house. before which the vehicle
stopped Then. assisted by Montgomery.
she was suffered to alight. A female
servant conducted her to the apartment
| in which found her.
"She was very kind to me-" Clara
went on. "and assured me over and over
| again that no harm would be done to
me-that / was among friends. and
Whatever l liked to ask for l should
have, but that she could not permit me to
leave that room. But no entreaty could
wiring from her who her employer was.
have been here now nearly fortnight
Everything have expressed wish for
| has been given me, and | was growing
quite reconciled to my position. for
can be content in any place where am
| treated kindly; but this evening. just as
was watching the great red sun sink
behind the trees. I heard my door open.
and upon looking round l saw