Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-09-14

"But 1t had to be done, and went at
/ it in regular order till came to lit
tie narrow one opening on the turret
stair This gave me my bearings.
Sears room adjoined the staircase.
There was no difficulty in spotting the
exact door now and, merely stopping
to close the opening had made to this
little staircase, crossed to this door
and flung it open. l had been right in
my calculations. 1t was the stewards
room, and / made at once for the
desk"
"And you found?"-
mostly locked drawers. But key
on my bunch opened some of these and
my knife the rest. Here are the speci
mems of his handwriting which / col
lected. l doubt If you will get much
out. of them. I saw nothing compro-
missing in the whole room, but then
hadn't time to go through his trunks,
and one of them looked very interest
ing-old as the hills and
You hadn't time? Why hadn't you
time? What happened to cut 1t
shortT
"Well, sir, I'll tell you" The tone
in which this was said reused me If 1t
did not the inspector. Il had just
come from the desk which had disap-
pointed me, and was casting a look
about the room. which was as bare as
my hand Of everything like ornament
II might almost say comfort-when
heard noise which was not that Of
swishing rain or even gusty wind
these had not been absent from my
ears for moment. l didn't like that
noise; it had sneakish sound, and
shut my light off in a hurry. After
that crept hastily out of the room,
for don't like setup in trap.
ut was darker than ever now in the
hall. or SO it seemed, and as backed
away | came upon jog in the wall
behind which / crept. For the sound
had heard was no fancy. Some one
else besides myself was in the house,
and that some one was coming up the
little turret stair, striking matches as
he approached. Who could 1t be? A
detective from the district attorneys
office? hardly thought So He would
have been provided with something
better than matches to light his way.
A burglar2 No. not on the third floor
Of house as rich as this. Some fell
low on the force. then, who had seen
me come in and, by some trick Of his
own, had managed to follow me?
would see. Meantime kept my place
behind the jog and watched, not
knowing which way the intruder
would go.
whoever he was, he was evidently
astonished to see the turret door ajar.
for he lit another match as he threw
1t open and, though / failed to get
glimpse of his figure, succeeded in
getting very good one of his shadow.
1t was one to arouse a detectives in
stinct at once. / did not say to myself,
this is the man / want, but did say,
this is nobody from headquarters, and
I steadied myself for whatever might
turn up.
"The first thing that happened was
the sudden going out of the match
which had made this shadow visible.
The intruder did not light another. l
heard him move across the floor with
the rapid step of one who knows his
way well, and the next minute a gas
Jet fiared up In the stewards room,
and knew that the man the whole
force was looking for had trapped him
self.
"You will agree that it was not my
duty to take him then and there with
out seeing what he was after. He was
! thought to be in the eastern states or
south or west, and he was here. But
why here? That is what / knew you
would want to know, and 1t was just
what wanted to know myself. So
kept my place. which was good enough,
and just listened. for could not see.
"What was his errand? What did he
want in this empty house at midnight?
Papers first and then clothes. l heard
| him at his desk, l heard him In the
closet and afterward pottering In the
old trunk | had been so anxious to
look into myself. He must have
no time before heard him throwing
| out the contents in Wild search for
something he wanted in great hurry
He found 1t sooner than you would be-
lieye and began throwing the things
back, when something happened. Elk
/ pectedly or Unexpectedly, his eye fell
on some object which reused all his
passions, and ne broke into loud excia-
nations ending In groans. Finally he
fell to kissing this object with fervor
suggesting rage and rage suggesting
tenderness carried to the point of ag-
ony. l have never heard the like. My
curiosity was so aroused that was on
| the point Of risking everything for a
look, when he gave a sudden snarl and
| cried out loud enough for me to hear:
Kiss what I've hated? That Is as bad
as to kill what I've loved Those were
the words. am sure he said kiss, and
| am e11ra no said kiIt