Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-09-09

| an. as to be able to confuse the iden-
| slant. What though they did resemble
| each other in form and feature? The
| likeness went no deeper; below the
| surface, and rising through 1t with
| every word and look and gesture, lay
worldwide gulf of difference in
| every shade of thought, feeling, and
| instinct.
She herself could never again be de-
ceived-no, never! Not for second
could she mistake the one for the
other. =. What were they saying?
The turmoil of her Indignation sub
sided as she listened, breathlessly, to
Maitland's story of his adventures;
and the joy that leaped in her for his
frank mendacity in suppressing every
| incident that involved her, was all but
overpowering. She could have wept
for sheer happiness; and at later
| time she would but not now, when
everything depended on her maintain
! ing the very silence Of death. .
How dared they doubt him? The
| insolents! The crude british insol-
ence of them! Her anger ragged high
| again and as swiftly was
quenched, extinguished in twinkling
| by terror born of her excitement and
a bare suggestion thrown out by
! Hickey.
%. explainin' how a crook like
| Anisty made three tries in one day
to steal some jewels and didn't get
'em. Where were they, all this timer"
Maitlands cool retort was lost upon
her. What matter? If they disbe-
| lieved him, persisted in calling him
Anisty, in natural course they would
undertake to search the fiat. And if
she were found. Oh, she must
spare him that! She had given him
| cause for suffering enough She must
get away, and that instantly. before
. From distance, tomorrow
morning-to-night evcn-by telegraph,
she could communicate with him. .
At this juncture O'Hagan entered
with his parcel. The rustic of the
paper as he brushed against the door
jamb was in itself hint to a mind
keyed to the highest pitch of excite
ment and seeking way of escape
from a position conceived to be peril
| Gus. In a trice the girl had turned
and sped, lightfooted, to the door open
ing on the private hall.
Here, hating for brief reconnais-
sance, she determined that her plan
was feasible, if hazardous. She ran
the risk of encountering some one
ascending the stairs from the ground
floor; but if she were cautious and
| quick she could turn back in time. On
| the other hand, the men whom she
most feared were thoroughly occupied
| with their differences, dead to all save
| that which was happening within the
rooms four walls. A curtain hung
| perhaps a third Of the way across the
| study door, tempering the light in the
| hall; and the broad shoulders of the
| cabby INSTRUCTED the remainder of the
| opening.
1t was a chance. She poised herself
| on tiptoe. half undecided, and-the
| rustling of paper as O'Hagan opened
the parcel afforded her an opportunity
to escape, by drowning the noise of
| her movements.
For two eternal seconds she was
edging stealthily down toward the
| outer door; then, in no time at all.
| found herself on the landing and
! confronted by fresh complication,
| one unforeseen: how to leave the
| house without being observed
stopped. and perhaps detained until
| too late? There would be men at the
door, beyond doubt; possibly police
stationed there to arrest all persons
attempting to leave.
No time for weighing chances. The
choice of two alternatives lay before
her: either to return to the alcove
or to seek safety in the darkness OF
the upper floOrs-untenanted, as she
| had been at pains to determine. The
| latter seemed by far the better, the
less dangerous, course 10 pursue. And
at once she took it.
There was no light on the first
floor landing-it having presumably
been extinguished by the janitor early
in the evening Only feeble twilight
obtained there, in part a reflected glow
from the entrance hall, partly thin anC
diffused rays escaping from Maitland'E
study. So it was that the first few
steps upward took the girl into dark
ness so close and unrelieved as tt
seem almost palpable.
At the turn of the staircase she
paused, holding the rail and resting
for an instant, the while she listened
ere ascending at a more sedate pace
to haven of safety more complete II
that it would be more remote from
the battle-ground below.
And, resting so, was suddenly chilled
through and through with fear, shee
, childish dread of the intangible ant
unknown terrors that lurked in thu
blackness above her. 1t was as il
rendered representative by strain ant
excitement, the quivering filaments o
her subconsciousness, like spiritua
tentacles feeling ahead of her, ha,
encountered and recoiled from shap'
of evil, specter of horror obscene an,
, 1~ q ~~M 80