The Springfield herald., 1912-06-07

for 1t? Not IL l know it; brandy. I
like that!"
Then leave the room," exclaimed
| imperatively; and with that she went
off. banging the door behind her, and
was alone with the man and his
jewels. thirk 1t was the strangest
situation l have ever known. Some
thousands of pounds worth of gems
lay scattered upon the coverlet, upon
the sheets, and even upon the carpet.
| Ladd himself lay like the figure upon
tomb, white and motionless: there
was only the light of common paraf-
fin lamp; and three parts of the room
lay in darkness. My first thought was
for the mans life, and remembering
that l had flask in my pocket.
forced brandy between his clenched
teeth, and laid him fiat upon his back.
In few moments there was a per-
ceptible. though very quick beat OF
his pulse. and after that. when he had
taken more of the spirit. he opened
his eyes. and endeavored to raise him
self; but l forbade him roughly, and
gathering up his gems bundled them
In the greater safe, and turned the
key upon them. He however. watched
me with glazing eyes, scarce being
able. for lack of strength. to utter
word: but he motioned for me to give
him the key. and this he placed under
the pillow of his bed, and fell present
ly into a gentle sleep. which was OF
good omen. should mention that
1t was now full dark outside, and. as
I adjudged, about the hour Of ten.
had got the mans jewels into his safe
for him, and he was sleeping; but
where the bewitching little hussy
was did not know; or what was the
value of the old mans fears about his
nephew. 1t was clear to me, however,
that he had been robbed, probably
by the Immediate agency of the girl
who acted as his servant: and 1t was
equally obvious that had no alterna-
tive but to stay by him, even If pros
pect of probable business in the future
had not moved me to do so. An In
spection of his room by the Pickering
light of the lamp disclosed to me
small dressing-room leading from 1t.
this containing sofa land when had
quite assured myself that my patient,
as chose to regard him, slept easily,
and that his pulse was no longer inter
mittent nor faint, took my boots off
and lay down upon the hard horsehair
antiquity which was to serve me for
a bed. Strange to say, in half an hour
I fell into dreamless sleep, for was
heavy with fatigue, and had walked
many hours upon the Kennett's bank;
but when l awoke, the room was ut
terly dark, and the screams of dying
man rang in my ears.
In moments of emergency ones in
dividuality asserts itself in curious
actions. l am somewhat stolid, and
poor subject for panics, and I re-
member on this particular occasion,
that my first act was to draw on my
boots with deliberation. and even to
turn in the tags carefully before l
struck a match, and got sight of
the scene which I remember so we'll
though many months have passed
since its happening. When had
light, I found Ladd standing by the
door of his safe, which was open, but
there was a deep crimson stain upon
his shirt. and he no longer had the
voice to scream. In fact, he was
dying then; and presently he fell
prone with deep gasp, and l knew
that he was dead. In the same in
slant black shadow, as of man,
passed between me and the flicker
of the light; and as the match went
out the door of the chamber swung
upon its hinges, and the assassin
passed from the room.
Now, Ladd had scarce fallen before
was in the dark passage, listening
with great tension of the ear for a
sound of the hiding mans footstep.
But the place was as still as the
grave; and then there came upon me
the horrid thought that the fellow
lurked with me about the rooms
door, and presently would serve
me as he had served the other.
Cold with fear at the possibil-
ity, I struck match, and advanced
along the passage. using half box
of lucifers in the attempt. At the
corner 1 came suddenly upon cram
ny; and as the light died away.
two cleaning eyes shot up glances
to mine, and man sprang out fash
me, and fleeing like the wind towards
the southern wing-the unfinished
one. So swift did he go that I saw
nothing of his face. and 1t seemed
scarce a moment before l heard a
door open, and another great cry, fol-
lowed by a splashing of water and ut
ter silence.
This second cry took. I think, what
little nerve had left; and while the
echo of 1t was still in the passages
my last match went out The place
was now black with unbroken dark
ness; every step that l took appeared
to reach mysterious stairs and to send
me staggering; but at last sudden
patch of moonlight from corner en-
couraged me to go on, and l reached
the spot where the man had disap-
peared At that point a door creaked
and banged upon its hinges, but the
white light coming through it saved
me from the fate of him who had
gone before. 1t showed me at a
glance that the door was built in a
eide of the unfinished wall of the