The Springfield herald., 1912-05-17

| catacomb. j had scarce realized the
| whole trick, or the predicament sheer
| folly had placed me in when } was
| plunged into the abyss OF utter dark
ness. shut as 1t were into the coffin
that had been prepared for me. A
| frightful panic hideous terror, an In
| describable anger. came upon me from
| the very first moment OF that fearful
trial.
When the first great terror had
passed, ana mental struggle had
| left me with some sense, J leaned
| against the steel door and thought
| again OF my fate. / had little science,
yet knew that the hours OF any man.
shut In an air-tight chamber such as
that room of steel was. could be few.
had heard that asphyxiation was a
peaceful death, and think ! could have
had courage to face 1t II q little light
had been given me.
II could have reasoned sanely
should have seen that my hope was
all bound up in Abel and the detective
in the house. Klein, and the invalid.
and the girl--they had been gone long
since, unless others had put hands
upon them. My own servant, knew,
would seek for me first; but even II
he came to the safe, how would he
open it, how cut through these inches
of steel before death had ended 1t all?
1t was even possible that the door of
the strong room was a concealed door
and so afterwards / proved 1t to be.
In that case, how would they know
even of my necessity? These tortur-
ing reflections threw at last a glimmer
of necessary activity upon my despair.
I raised my voice, though / had then
the strangest sensation in my veins,
and my heart was pumping audibly;
and for many minutes I shouted with
all my strength. Once I thought that
heard, even through the door, some
sound from the other room; yet when
/ cried louder, and beat again upon the
steel. there was no signal. ] remained
unheeded; my voice gradually failed
me; / could cry no longer, but began
to sink almost into a coma.
How long this coma lasted 1 can
not tell. l was reused from it, after
hideous dream of waiting, by sounds
of knocking upon some wall near me;
again, and beat again upon the door
of steel. Yet, 1 knew that was not
heard, for the sound of the blows grew
fainter and were passing away and
life, which had come near again,
seemed to pass with them. Then was
my supreme moment of misery. yet
one giving an inspiration which
brought me here to write this record.
Recoiling from the door as the knocks
without grew fainter, l struck my back
against the iron wall, and my pistol.
which had forgotten, pressed into my
flesh. Regardless of all thought of
consequence, of the path of the bullet,
or the effect upon me of the sitting
smoke, | fired three rounds from the
revolver into the room-and instant
ly was breathing the densest smoke.
Then sudden faintness took me;
and recollect only that fell forward
into world of light, and there slept.
1.-THE joke, was, seeing you living,
Mr.. Sutton, that Abel swallowed the
wine that butler gave him, and was
made as insensibly drunk as a man
who takes stage chloroform. / knew
all along that the butler was the one
to watch; and while l never thought
they'd do you michief in the room
believing they meant to work after
midnight-my men in the grounds
clapped the bracelets on the lank chap
up by the woods there, and he had the
diamond on him."
"And the colonel and his daughter
and the invalid?' asked, raising my
self in the bed Of an upper chamber
of the Woodfields, on the foot of
which sat my old friend, the detective
of Hyde Park.
Got clear away by back staircase
we'd never heard of, through cellar
and a passage to the lower grounds!
They knocked old Jimmy, the local
policeman, on the head by the spinney,
and all they left him was a bump as
big an an orange. The girl must have
had liking for you. One of my men
nearly took her as she jumped into
dog-cart; but she threw the keys in
his face, and he brought them here.
I knew nothing about this room, and
shouldn't have done except for the
ring of your revolver; but the last
Lord Aberly built it to take his IA
nous collection of rubies and emer-
aids, and that lag Klein evidently
heard of it, and leased the place fur
nished on that account
How do you know that he was a
swindler?"
81 heard Of him in New York, when
l was there last winter He was want
ed for the great mail robbery near
St Louis. A clever scoundrel, too;
deceived heap of folk by forged let
ters of introduction, and the banks
by leaving big deposits with them.
He must be worth a pretty pile; but
l don't doubt he came over here from
America on purpose to steal your dia-
monds. He was out at the Cape mine
months ago, and got to hear all about
the White Creek stone. Teen he must
have known that Herbert Klein, his
supposed brother, and a real rich man
of Valparaiso, was away yachting in
the Pacific; and so he claimed him,
and traded on his undoubted couple of
million. A clever forger, and the
other two of them nealy as smart. 1t
was lucky for you that one of the
grooms here had heard of mysteri.