Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-08-26

It's my opinion all this running around
and getting jolted cut of a rut has
stirred up that torpid liver Of yours
'It's not myself I'm thinking about" "
she said. goaded into speech. Maybe
my liver was torpid, and maybe 1t
wasn't; but know this: I've got some
| feelings left, and to see you standing
at the foot Of that staircase shoottn'
through the door--I'll never be the
same woman again"
for change" I said. And in came
Eliza, fanked by Rosie and Mary
Anne.
Her story, broken with sobs and cor
rections from the other two was this:
AT two o'clock (two-f1fteen, Rosie In
sisted) she had gone upstairs to get a
picture from her room to show Mary
Anne CA picture of lady, Mary
Anne interposed.) She went up the
servants staircase and along the cor
ridor to her room, which lay between
the trunk room and the unfinished
ball room. She heard a sound as she
went down the corridor, like some one
moving furniture, but she was not ncr-
vous. She thought 1t might be men
examining the house after the fire the
night before, but she looked In the
trunk room and saw nobody.
She went into her room quietly. The
noise had ceased, and everything was
quiet. Then she sat down on the side
| or her bed, and feeling faint-she was
subject to spells-t"I told you that
when came. didn't /, Roster" "Yes'm,
indeed she did!'9-she put her head
down on her pillow and
''Took nap. All right" / said. go
on
When came to, Miss lines, sure
| as I'm sittin' here, thought I'd die.
Somethin' hit me on the face, and
set up, sudden. And then I seen the
plaster droppin from little hole in
the wall. And the first thing l knew,
an iron bar that long fully two yards
by her measure) Shot through that
hole and tumbled on the bed. If I'd
been still sleeping" Granting" cor.
rected Rosie) "I'd "a been hit on the
head and killed."
Il wisht you'd heard her scream, "
put in Mary Anne. And her face as
white as a pillow slip when she tum-
bled down the stairs
mo doubt there IS some natural ex-
PLANTATION for it, Eliza" I said. you
may have dreamed it, in your 'fainting
attack. But if it is true the metal rod
and the hole In the wall will show it, .
Eliza looked a bit sheepish.
THE holes there all right, Miss
Innes," she said. But the bar was
gone when Mary Anne and Rosie went
up to pack my trunk"
THAT wasn't all" Lidy's voice came
funerelly from corner. Eliza said
that from the hole in the wall burn
| ing eye looked down at her."
1.-THE wall must be at least six
inches thick" I said with asperity.
UNLESS the person who drilled The
hole carried his eyes on the end of a
stick, Eliza couldn't possibly have
seen them"
But the fact remained, and a visit to
4 Eliza's room proved it. / might jeer
4 all | wished: some one had drilled a
4 hole in the unfinished wall of the ball
room, passing between the bricks of
| the partition, and shooting through the
unresisting plaster of Eliza's room
with such force as to send the rod fly
| ing on to her bed. l had gone up
stairs alone, and | confess the thing
puzzled me. two or three places in
the wall small apertures had been
made, none of them of any depth. Not
the least mysterious thing was the dis
appearance of the iron implement
that had been used.
/ l remembered story read once
about an inpish dwarf that lived in
4 the spaces between the double walls
of an ancient castle. l wondered
vaguely if my original idea of a secret
4 entrance to hidden chamber could
! be right, after all, and if we were hous
ling some erratic guest, who played
lpranks on us in the dark, and destroy
ed the walls that he might listen, hid
den safely away, to our amazed investi
cations
Mary Anne and Eliza left that after
noon. but Rosie decided to stay. Il
was about five o'clock when the hack
came from the station to get them
4 and. to my amazement, 1T had an occu
4 pant. Matthew Geist, the driver, ask
ed for me, and explained his erranc
4 with pride.
1--WE brought you a cook, Miss In
nes," he said. when the message
/ came to come up for two girls ant
4 their trunks. / supposed there wa:
something doing, and as this here
l.woman had been looking for work il
the village, l thought Id bring he
along"
i Already l had acquired the true
suburbanite ability to take servants OF
4 faith; no longer demanded writer
and unimpeachable references.
. Rachel lines. have learned not t
mind if the cook sits down comfortably
in my sitting room when she is takin
the orders for the day, and am CRATE
fui if the silver is not cleaned witt
securing soap. And so that day | mere
ly told Liddy to send the new applican
in. When she came, however. l coul
hardly restrain a gasp of surprise.
was the woman with the pitted face.
She stood somewhat awkwardly jus
inside the door, and she had an air Q
self-confdence that was inspiring. Yes
she could cook: was not fancy cool
} but could make good soups and des
t,1r