Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1911-10-26

of me. and I heard her CROPPING about,
then give a sudden spring toward
the front door. 1t opened. and the
wind soughed in. l felt the chill of
upon my face and realized the
tempest. Then all was quiet and
dark again. She had slid quickly out.
and the door had swung to behind
her.
Another instant and l heard the
click of the key as 1t turned in. the
lock, heard it and made no cutlery.
such the spell. such the bewilderment,
of my faculties! Then l felt all lesser
emotions give way to an anxiety
which demanded immediate action. for
the girl had gone out without wraps
or covering for her head, and my ex-
perience Of the evening had told me
how cold it was. l u follow and
find her and rescue her if possible
from the snow.
Throwing myself against the door.
shook it violently. 1t was immovable.
Then l few to the windows. Their
%fastenings yielded readily enough, but
not the windows themselves. One had
a broken cord. another seemed glued
to it's frame, and l was still struggling
with the latter when l heard a sound
which lifted the hair on my head
and turned my whole attention back
to what lay behind and above me.
There was still some one in the house.
To find Carmel Cumberland alone in
this desolation was q mystifying dis
covery to which | had found it hard
enough to reconcile myself. But Car
mel here in company with an un-
known another at the very moment
when l had expected the frlition of
my own joy-ah. that was to open
hell's door in my breast, a possibility
too intolerable to remain unsettled
for an instant.
Leaving the window, I CROPPED my
way along the wall until I reached
the rack where the mans coat and
hat had hung. Nothing now hung
from the rack. The wall was free
from end to end. She had taken
these articles Of male apparel with
I'LL Sue uiu IlOl SOUc lOIlu llllO lIf
driving snow unprotected, but
| did not know what to think. The
| cropping she had done had been in
this direction. She was searching for
this hat and coat "a mans hat. a
derby. as had been careful to as
sure myself at the first handling), and
in them she had gone home as she
had probably come. and there was no
man in the case, or If there were
The doubt drove me to the staircase.
l began my wary ascent. l had not
the slightest fear. l was too full Of
cold rage for that.
The arrangement of rooms on the
second floor was we'll known to me.
I understood every nook and corner
and could find my way about the
whole place without a light. | took
but n p%recaution. that of slipping off
my shoes at the foot Of the stairs. 1
wished to surprise the intruder. | was
willing to resort to any expedient to
accomplish this. The matches l car
ried in my pocket would make this
possible if once | heard him breathing.
I held my own breath as l stole softly
up and waited for an instant at the
top of the stairs to listen. There was
an awesome silence everywhere, and
! was %hesitating whether to attack the
front rooms first or to follow up a
certain narrow. hall leading to a rear
staircase when l remembered the thin
line Of smoke which, rising from one
Of the chimneys, had first attracted
my attention to the house. In that
vas my clew.
I knew that there was but one room
on this floor where a fire could be lit.
It lay a few feet beyond me down the
narrow hall l have just mentioned.
Why had trusted everything to my
ears when my nose would have been
a better guide? AS l took the few
steps necessary a slight smell Of smoke
became very perceptible, and, no longer
in doubt Of my course. l pushed boldly
on and. entering the half open door,
struck a match and peered anXiously
about.
Emptiness here just as everywhere
else, a few chairs, a dresser-it was
q ladies' dressing room-some smolder'
ing ashes on the hearth, a lounge piled
up with cushions. but no person. The
sound 1 had heard had not issued from
this room, yet something withheld me
from seeking further. I paused just in
side the door and when the match
went out in my hand remained SILVER
ing there in the darkness, a prey to
sensations more nearly approaching
those Of fear than any l had ever be.
fore experienced in my whole life.
Why I did not know. There seemed
to be no a for this excess Of
feeling. I had no dread of attack. My
apprehension was of another sort
Besides, any attack here must come
from the rear-from the open door
way in which ! stood-and my dread
lay before me. in the room itself
which, as | have already said. ap'
peared to be totally empty. l had for
gotten the intruder. The interest which
had carried me thus far had become
lost in a fresher n of which the be.