Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-04-29
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CHAPTER VII.
A Misplaced Joke.
read it over and over again until
the letters fairly danced before my
eyes, and then I suddenly awoke to
the Importance Of finding, IL possible,
how 1t had been placed in my bed
The window was open, to be surer,
and had been open all night. but 1t
was too far from the ground to have
been reached without ladder, and
q later inspection Of the ground be-
meath showed conclusively that no lad
der had been placed under 1t. More
over, the little tendrils Of ivy that
waved In the breeze al around the
sash were absolutely uninjured. which
could not have been the case II an
entrance to the room had been effect
ed In this way.
The door was securely locked and
bolted on the inside, as I had left it
the night before, and . most thor
ough search disclosed no other door
opening into the room. and no pos
sible place OF conceaiment for any
thing Of the bulk Of man.
The thought Of . concealed opening
In the ceiling over the bed naturally
suggested itself to my mind, but moth
ing of the sort existed and moments
examination with towel on the, end
OF walking stick showed layer OF
dust which evidently had not been dis
turbed for years.
In short the presence Of the envel-
ope on my bed seemed to be shrouded
in mystery Of the most impenetrable
kind; but even 1t was exceeded in
Its incomprehensibility by the aston
fishing contents OF the note.
MY love for Florence Carney was, I
had thought, secret buried deep in
my own breast. Surely | had never told
it in all the years that had cherished
1t so fondly, and. on one occasion at
least, I had denied it fatty. Yet 1t was
mentioned here, in as matter-of-fact Q
way as II our engagement had been
formally announced and our wedding
day named.
turned the matter over and over
in my mind, as strolled slowly along
in the winding road that led to Hos
kins' hotel. but was no nearer q So
luton of the problem when finished
my breakfast than / had been when j
left the house. There were number
Of letters for me at the post office, but
/ had no interest In them. and. stuff
ing them unread into my pocket,
wandered back to Carney-C Croft, still
bordering deeply.
Unlocking the door, / returned at
once to my room and again made q
careful search for any possible, means
Of ingress after the door was closed
and secured for the night. While the
lock might have been turned from the
outside with master key, there was
still the bolt to hold 1t, and that this
could not have been slipped by any
other hand than mine was absolutely
sure. Moreover, there was no hidden
mechanism connected with the bolt,
which was q simple, commonplace af-
fair, bearing the name OF Z well-known
maker and evidently attached to the
door after the house was completed
Giving up in despair, for the pres
emit, at least, descended to the
ground door again, intending to make
minute inspection Of the house and
grounds, when q faint odor Of cigar
smoke attracted my notice, and saw
that the library door was ajar.
Tiptoeing forward, l peered through
the opening and beheld, to my amaze
ment, q familiar figure seated comfort
ably in one of the large leather chairs
with his feet resting lazily on an
other in all the assurance Of appar-
ent proprietorship At the same In
slant he turned his head slightly in
my direction and. uncertain as to
whether he had seen me or not, re-
treated rapidly and noiselessly up the
stairs to my room, where locked my
self in and tried to smother my an
ger and view the situation logically.
While the manner in which the
note had reached me was still as much
Of a mystery as ever, its contents, at
least, were explained, and my fury
knew no bounds at the wholly unwar-
ranted impertinence of this sorry at
tempt at practical joke.
To me the matter was so sacred, so
precious, SO entirely my own, that my
rage at the frivolity of this contempt
ible Jest drove from my mind all
thought Of wonder that a man who,
had every reason to believe, was
miles away, should be, at this very
moment, under the same roof with
me.
sat down and gazed out OF the win
dow across the river to the heavily
wooded hills in the distance, and
made an almost superhuman effort to
control myself Finally opened tho
letters that had come by the morn
ing's mail and began to read them In
perfunctory way. The second was
from my secretary. and, as perused
it, suddenly awoke from my apathy
and read with interest:
1.-TWO letters came this morning
from Mr.. Carney, one postmarked Lon
don and the ether Paris. forward
them, with other papers, under sepa-
e.