The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-08-17

L wv AENMHt&H MISREPRESENTATION
Indeed. my teeth were chattering as
l CROPPED my way to the light, turned it
on, n looked at my watch. 1t was
nearly l O'Clock. TIE night was clear
and pleasant, with a faint breeze
stirring. There was no moon, but the
stars We're shining so brightly shat one
looked for it instinctively.
! knew it was not use to return to
ped untfa my nerves were quistef, and,
indeed. that vision had banished all
desire for sleep; SO ! filled my pipe.
lshted IT, drew up a chair and sat
Gown by the open window. The street
below was deserted; and for an in
slant | found my self wondering that
II was hot thronged with people, reused
py the scream which had awakened
me. e I remembered that there
mad beer no scream, that I had simply
dreamed it.
But I had only to close my eyes to
see again that lighted window and the
shadows on the blind. 1t seemed even
clearer to me than 1t had been in the
dream. / could see every detail Of the
struggle, and 1 opened my eyes
SO that / might escape the
END Ihere was something supernatural
ahaIt it, had never afean1sd aFdTsan1
like that before-a dream which, wax
ing, ! could rehearse at pleasure. Per-
maps 1t was moi wholly a vision; per-
haps it had some foundation in real
ay,soine teiepfiathic origin. / had read
OF such things, sceptically; but some
OF the phenomena of thought trans
ference had, / knew, been accepted, re-
uctantly enough, even by the scien-
tifc world.
Was it not possible that Marcia
lawrence had been lured to the King
don cottage or taken there against her
Will? Who could say how tina old
injury done the E%ndicotts would
flower and fruit? Who could say what
hatred, what desire for vengeance,
ranked in the hearts of the Kingdoms?
l remembered how the face of the
face of the maid had darkened with
malice, how her eyes had blazed with
Internal JOY, as she stood there in the
door of the library, thinking herself
unseen. Her sister I knew nothing of,
but If they resembled each other as
\ sisters usually do, could well believe
them capable Of any cruelty. Was it
not possible that Marcia Lawrence
was In their hands? Was it not pos
sihle that my dream possessed a basis
OF reality? l a been thinking of her
all the evening; I had gone to sleep
WITH the problem OF her disappearance
still on my mind; I had been studying
her photograph was, in a word, in
spiritual touch with her. spoons to
any suggestion emanating from her
we We're tuned to the same pitch. Such,
L fanc1ed, was the explanation OF the
ipf'Ai WHICH d ltlG JdlIllSl WOllQ
give. She had sent that cry into the
night, and 1, being en- rapport with
her, had heard it-had witnessed the
tragedy which called it forth. Perhaps
the struggle was not vet ended. per-
haps. even at this moment
| sprang to my feet, hurried into nv
clothes. caught up my hat, opened
my door and ran noiselessly down the
stair. ] would solve this problem to-
night, If it could be solved. / had
been wrong in turning away from the
Kingdom cottage the evening before; ]
should. at least, have made an effort
to discover if Marcia Lawrence were
really there. But it had not occurred
to me then that she could be in any
danger. | a thought too much of
what Curtiss would wish me to do:
toc little of what the necessities Of
the case required. Well. / would not
make that mistake q second time.
AS l look hack upon my frame of
mind at that moment and consider the
impulse which sent me forth from
my room at that hour of the night.
l realize how overwrought l was. At
distance, in cold blood, it seems an
absurd thing to have done: yet. I'M
der the same conditions, / should no
doubt behave again in much the same
way. And even admitting it's absurd
lty, / am not prepared to say, in Wow
of the event, that there was not back
of it some instinct worth following.
There are forces in nature not yet ex-
planned or recognized, and l am still
inclined to think that it was one of
these which drew me forth upon that
midnight errand.
In a very fever of Impotence, I hur-
ried along the street. under the trees.
meeting no one except a patrolman.
heard him stop, as 1 passed him. and
knew that he was looking back after
me. but l kept on without pausing,
l a MI hoo ri . hi,,, - ff,o1I,,f r 4 /, - -. - r..
In a minute more I reached the Law
renee place. n stopped in the
shadow of a tree for a look around.
The house doomed through Il dark
ness grim and gloomy, with no light
showing anywhere. / leaned the fence.
my way forward through the grove
toward the path which led to the
cottage.
Beneath the trees. the darkness was
absolute and ] could go forward but
slowly; yet, starting from the library
steps, l found the path without Off
ficulty, and felt my way cautiously
along it. until / came to the hedge
which marked the limits of the Ktng-
don place ! examined the house with
care. but there was fronting me no
lighted window upon which a tragedy
could be pictured. Indeed. I saw no
vestige of a light inc was about to
conclude that my midnight pilgrim
age had been in vain. when INV eve
was caught by a ain glimmer near
the ground. AT first, I was not sure
it was a light at all; then I decided
that it was "a reflection of some sort,
or perhaps a phosphorescent glow. But
as / stared at it, with eyes contracted,
1t suddenly took shape in the dark
ness, and I saw that the light pro-
ceeded from a small ventilator set in
1 the foundation or the mouse.
Trembling with excitement, l softly
opened the gate and entered the
grounds. Here, with nothing be-
tween me and the stars, ! suddenly
found myself in what seemed a
v%eritable blaze of light. l was
seized with panic lest j be seen and
scurried into the shadow of the house,
then dropped beside the ventilator and
examined 1t.
1t was of the ordinary type--a plate
of iron some six or eight inches square,
perforated with holes perhaps half an
inch in diameter, and set in the founda-
ton about six inches from the ground.
l ppfied an eye to one of the holes
and endeavored to see what lay beyond.
For a me 1 saw absolutely moth
ing; then | perceived in front of me
a stretch of clay, which ended abruptly