Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-11
CHAPTER XVIII.

Frances Gambler waited until complete
quiet reigned over the house. Then she
noiselessly opened her door and peered up
and down the darkened hallway.
A sudden thought came to her as she
stood there in the silence, and slipping
! back to her room she took first hot-water
hypodermic syringe from it's neat little
morocco case. Miss Annie SeabroOke. she
decided, had been making melancholy use
of her knowledge of drugs. That enlight-
=. ened young lady was obviously addicted to
the use of morphine. for beside the syringe
case Frances found a little bottle bearing
She removed the serew-top from the
graduated barrel and in its place adjust
ed the glistening little hollow needle. Then
she carefully filled the graduated tube with
the syringe in her pocket handkerchief.
thrust 1t into the bosom of her bodice.
Many things lay ahead Of her. and before
the night was out even TINS might be OF
USE She devoutly hoped not, yet the pres
ent moment, she warned herself. was no
time for hesitations and compunctious half
measures.
The hot-water bottle she carried openly in
her hand, as she once more softly opened
the door and crept out into the half-fighted
hallway.
They had given her room on the third
floor concession, she imagined. to the es-
tablished dignity Of her profession. Most of
the servants slept on the fourth floor. 1t
had. accordingly. been by way of the front
stairs that the bibulous English butler, with
more than one sidelOng blink of admiration
had brought her up to her quarters for the
night.
She felt that she would like to find the
back stairway. the stairway by which the
household servants came and went
She moved forward SOFTLY listening a Sec
ond at doorways as she passed. It crept
throag h her mind at that moment, incon-
gruously enough. how like her own future
!! lay this silent and unknown house, with
its dark ENHANCEMENT of possibilities, its
network Of unknown dangers and surprises
its staid and UNDERTAKING doors behind
which SO much or 80 little might anywhere
dwell.
Then she suddenly stood transfixed pant
ing little. For the sound Of approaching
footsteps fell on her startled ear.
for she had no knowledge Of where or into
what she might fee. To hesitate longer
would be equally fatal Instant action only
could save her.
on her left. and stepped inside.
"Is It you, Adolph?" a whispered voice
asked quietly, out Of the gloom. It was a
woman's voice-she must have been young
voice that was neither startled nor un-
happy.
She stood, then. In one Of the servants
rooms She pictured to herself the different
faces she had seen below stairs though in
none of them could she remember any sign
or hint of what she had now stumbled upon.
But the pregnancy OF that muhied question
gave her q flashing consciousness OF the
wheels within even those inner wheels in
the dark and complicated mills Of life.
'HsaDssh!' said the intruder softly. az
she quickly swung to the door, padding It
with her hand.
i She stood there, waiting until the steps
passed by. They were brisk basiness-like
steps, those Of woman. mingled with the
tinki1ng Of chain OF Keys She surnised
that It was the housekeeper, on her last
rounds for the night.
She realised the peril ce another minute In