The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-11-24
THECRCULAR STAIRCASE

planning, if I were not discovered,
who would have my things. | knew
Liddy would want my heliotrope pop
lin, and she's a fright in lavender.
Once or twice l heard mice in the par
titions, and so | sat on the table, with
my feet on the chair. l imagined
could hear the search going on
through the house, and once some
one came into the trunkroom; l could
distinctly hear footsteps
I'm the chimney! In the chimney"
1 called with all my might, and was
rewarded by piercing Shrek from
Liddy and the slam of the trunkroom
door.
felt easier after that, although the
room was oppressively hot and
eneryating. had no doubt the search
for me would now come in the right
direction, and after a little, dropped
into a doze. How long l slept l do
not know.
1t must have been several hours,
for I had been tired from a busy day,
and I walked stiff from my awkward
position. l could not remember
where | was for a few minutes, and
my head felt heavy and congested.
Gradually l reused to my surround
ings, and to the fact that in spite of
ventilators, the air was bad and grow
ing worse. l was breathing long,
gasping respirations, and my face was
damp and clammy. l must have been
there a long time, and the searchers
were probably hunting outside the
house, dredging the creek, or beating
the woodland l knew that another
hour or two would find me uncon-
scious, and with my inability to cry
out would go my only chance Of res
cue 1t was the combination of bad air
and heat, probably, for some made
quate ventilation was coming through
the pipes. l tried to retain my con-
seriousness by walking the length of
the room and back, over and over, but
l had not the strength to keep it up,
so l sat down on the table again, my
back against the wall.
The house was very still Once my
straining ears seemed to catch a foot
fall beneath me, possibly in my own
room. l CROPPED for the chair from
the table, and pounded with it frantic
ally on the floor But nothing hap
pened; l realized bitterly that if the
sound was heard at all, no doubt it
was classed with the other rappings
that had so alarmed us recently.
And them heard sounds from be-
low me, in the house. There was a
peculiar throbbing, vibrating noise
that l felt rather than heard much
like the pulsing beat of fire engines in
the city. For one awful moment
thought the house was on fire, and
every drop of blood in my body gath
cred around my heart; then knew. It
was the engine of the automobile, and
Halsey had come back. Hope sprang
up afresh. Halsey's clear head and
Gertrude's intuition might do what
Liddy's hysteria and three detectives
had failed in.
After time I thought l had been
right. There was certainly something
SUNS Ou uON II DtlOh uOOlS were
slamming, people were hurrying
through the halls, and certain high
notes of excited voices penetrated to
me shrilly. l hoped they were coming
closer, but after a time the sounds
died away below, and l was left to the
silence and heat, to the weight of the
darkness, to the oppression of walls
that seemed to close in on me and
stife me
The first warning l had was a
stealthy fumbling at the lock OF the
manteldoor With my mouth open
to scream, I stopped. Perhaps the sit
uation had rendered me acute. per
haps 1t was instructive Whatever it
was, l sat without moving, and some
one outside, in absolute stiffness, ran
his fingers over the carving of the