Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-08-12

the black japanned tin box which had
proved obdurate yesterday She had
come prepared to break its lock this
time, If need be; Maitland's careless
ness spared her the necessity.
She lifted it out of a lower drawer,
and put it in her lap. The smallest
key fitted the lock at the first attempt.
The lid came up and
Perhaps it is not altogether discred-
liable that one should temporarily for
get ones compunctions in the long-de-
ferred moment of triumph. The girl
uttered little cry of joy.
-Crash!-the front door downstairs
had been slammed.
She was on her feet in a breath,
faint with fear. Yet not so overcome
that she forgot her errand, her sue
cess. AS she stood up she dropped
the dispatch box back into the drawer,
without a sound, and, opening her
handbag, stuffed something into it.
No time to do more; dull rumble
of masculine voices was distinctly,
frightfully aud BILE in the stiffness of
the house; wees Of men conversins
together in the inner vestibule. One
laughed, and the laugh seemed to
penetrate her bosom like knife. Then
both strobe across the thing and began
to ascend, as was clearly told her by
footsteps sounding deadened on the
padded carpet.
OF ha tnrpad IN ha
student lamp and with a quick twirl
and upward jerk of the chimney catch
extinguished the flame. A reek of
smoke Immediately began to foul the
close, hot air; and she knew that it
would betray her, but was helpless to
stop it. Besides, she was caught,
trapped, damned beyond redemption
unless-unless it were not Maitland,
after all, but one of the other tenants,
Unexpectedly returned and bound for
another fiat
Futile hope. Upon the landing by
the door the footsteps ceased; and a
key grated in the wards of the lock-
Blind with terror, her sole thought
an instructive impulse to hide and so
avert discovery until the last possible
instant. and on the bare chance of
something happening to save her, the
girl caught up her skirts and fed like
a hunted shadow through the alcove,
through the bed chamber, thence down
the hall toward the dining room and
kitchen Offices.
The outer door was being opened
ere she had reached the hiding place
she had in mind-the trunk closet
from which, she remembered remark
ing, a window opened upon fire.
escape. 1t was barely possible, q
fighting chance.
She closed The door, grateful that
its latch slipped silently into place,
and fairly flung herself upon the win
dow, painfully bruising her soft hands
in vain endeavor to raise the sash. II
stuck obstinately, would not yield.
Too late, she remembered that she
had forgotten to draw the catch
fatal oversight! A sob of terror
choked in her throat. Already foot
steps were hurrying down the hall;
line of light frightened underneath
the door; voices, eXcitedly keyed,
banded question and comment, an I'M
mistakable Irish brogue minging with
a clear enunciation which she had but
too great reason to remember. The
pair had passed into the next room.
She could hear O'Hagan announcing:
mo wan here, sor."
"Then it's the dining room, or the
trunk closet. Come along!"
One last, frantic attempt! But the
window catch, rusted with long dis
use, stuck Painting, sick with fear,
the girl leaped away and crushed her
self into corner, crouching on the
floor behind a heavy box. her dark
cloak drawn up to shield her head.
And the door opened.
A flood of radiance from the re-
lighted student lamp fell athwart the
floor. The girl lay close and still, hold
ing her breath.