The Nevada County picayune., 1910-05-13
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CHAPTER II.
A Link CuH-Button.

dOWn, leaving me staring at the WiE- l dow in petrified amazement. Liddy | began to moan under her breath, and in my excitement reached down and shook her.
 Stop it." 1 whispered its only woman-maybe a maid of the Arm strongs'. Get up and help me find the door" She groaned again Very we'll" I said, then I'll have to leave you here. I'm going"
 She moved at that, and, holding to my sleeve, we felt our way, with nu merous collisions, to the billiard-room and from there to the drawing-room The lights came on then, and, with the long French windows unshuttered I had creepy feeling that each one sheltered peering face. In fact, in the light of what happened afterward, 1 am pretty certain we were under surveillance during the entire ghostly evening. We hurried over the rest of the loclSing-up and got upstairs as quickly as we could. I left the lights all on. and our footsteps echoed ca. vernously. Liddy had a stiff neck the next morning, from looking back over her shoulder, and she refused to go to bed.
 Let me stay in your dressing room, Miss Rachel" she begged If you don't I'll sit in the hall outside the door. I'm not going to be murdered with my eyes shut
 It was II o'clock when I finally pre- pared for bed. In spite of my assump- tion of indifference, locked the door into the nall, and finding the tran. som did not catch, I put chair eau tiously before the door-it was not necessary to rouse Liddy-and climb ing up put on the ledge of the tran som a small dressing mirror, so that any movement of the frame would send it crashing down. Then, secure in my precautions 1 went to bed.
 I did not go to sleep at once. Liddy disturbed me just as I was growing drowsy, by coming in and peering un- der the bed She was afraid to speak, however, because of her previous snubbing, and went back, stopping in the doorway to sigh dismally.
 Somewhere downstairs clock with a chime sang away the hours eleven-thirty, forty five, twelve. And then the lights went out to stay. The Casanova Electric Company shuts up shop and goes home to bed at mid night when one has a party, 1 be- lieve it is customary to fee the com pany, which will drink hot coffee and keep awake a couple of hours longer But the lights were gone for good that night Liddy had gone to sleep. as I knew she would. She was very unreliable person: always awake and ready to talk when she wasn't wanted and dozing off to sleep when she was | called her once or twice, the only re- suit being an explosive snore that threatened her very windpipe-then got up and lighted bedroom candle.
 My bedroom and dressing room were above the big living room on the first floor. On the second floor | long corridor rfu the length of the house, with rooms opening from both sides. In the wings were small cor riders crossing the main one-the plan was simplicity itself. And just as I got back into bed. l heard sound from the east wing. apparently, that made me stop, frozen. with one bedroom slipper half off. and listen. It | was rattling metallic sound. and 1t reverberated along the empty halls like the crash of doom. It was for all | the world as if something heavy, per. haps a piece of steel, had rolled clat | tering and dangling down the hard | wood stairs leading to the cardroom
 In the silence that followed Liddy stirred and snored again. I was ex. asperated; first she kept me awake by silly alarms, then when she was needed she slept like Joe Jefferson, or ! Rip-they are always the same to me. I went in and aroused her, and give her credit for being wide awake the minute l spoke.
 Get up," l said, If you don't want to be murdered in your bed"
 Where? How" she yelled vocifer- ously. and jumped up.
 There's somebody in the house" l said. Get up. We'll have to go to the telephone
 Not out in the hall!" she gasped; "Oh, Miss Rachel, not out in the hall," trying to hold me back. But am large woman and Liddy is small. We got to the door, somehow, and Liddy held a brass andiron. which 1t was all she could do to lift, let alone brain anybody with. I listened, and, hearing nothing. opened the door little and peered into the hall. It was a black void, full of terrible sugges- tion. and my candle only emphasized the gloom. Liddy squealed and drew me back again, and as the door slammed, the mirror l had put on the transom came down and hit her on the head. That completed our de- moralization. It was some time before