Washington telegraph., 1909-09-10

again md as sWlItly was
quenched, ext kguished in a twinkling
by terror b of her excitement and
bare sugg ion thrown out by
Q. ex ainin' how a crook like
Anisty made. ehree tries in one day
to steal SOM jewels and didn't get
em. Where ERE they, all this timer
Maitlands fpol retort was lost upon
her. What matter? If they disbe'
lieved him, persisted in calling him
Anisty, in nQural course they would
undertake tHseareh the fiat. And if
she were fos d Oh, she must
spare him tffat! She had given him
cause for suffering enough. She must
get away, and that instantly, before
From a distance, tomorrow
morning-tb.night, evenly telegraph,
she could communicate with him.
At this jancture O'Hagan entered
with his parcel. The rustic of the
paper as he brushed against the door
jamb was Il itself a hint to a mind
keyed to the highest pitch of excite
ment and seeking q way of escape
from position conceived to be peril
GUS. In trice the girl had turned
and sped, lightfooted, to the door open
ing on the private hall.
Here, halting 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
hoor; but il she were cautious and
quick she could turn back in time. On
the other ssfSnd the men whom she
most fealfd were thoroughly occupied
with thei6 differences, dead to all save
that whi6 was happening within the
rooms four walls. A curtain hung
perhaps third of the way across the
study door, tempering the light in the
hall; and the broad shoulders of the
cabby obstructed the remainder of the
opening.
1t was 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 t9kesk safety in the darkness of
llz E6s a pains to determine. : The
latei eemed by far the better, the
less dan ygerous, course to pursue And
at once fhe 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 reflected glow
from the entrance hall, partly thin and
diffused rays escaping from Maitland's
study. So it was that the first few
steps upward took the girl into dark
ness so close and unrelieved as to
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 more sedate pace
to haven of safety more complete in
that it would be more remote from
the battle-ground below.
And resting so, was suddenly chilled
through and through with fear, sheer
childish dread of the intangible and
unknown terrors that lurked in the
blackness above her. 1t was as If,
rendered supersensitive by strain and
excitement, the quivering filaments of
her subconsciousness like spiritual
tentacles feeling ahead OF her, mad
encountered and recoiled from shape
of evil, specter of horror obscene and
malign, crouching, ready to spring,
there, in the shadow of night
And her breath was smothered in
her throat and her heart smote SO
madly against the frail walls OF It's
cage that they seemed like to burst,
while she stood transfixed, frozen In
inaction, limbs stiffening, roots OF her
hair stirring, fingers gripping the ban
lister rail until they panied her; and
with eyes that stared wide into the
black heart of nothingness, until the
night seemed pricked with evanescen'
periods of dim fire, peopled with mon
strous and terrible shadows closing
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