River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-07-10
CHAPTER XVIII.
What Am / to DO Now7

NSnat am ] 10 10 tNOWl
Early morning saw Sweetwater
peertng into the depths of his closet
The hole was hardly visible This
meant that the book he had pushed
across It from the other side had not
been removed
Hr Brotherson's bed was in re-
Tote corner from the loop-hole made
By Sweetwater; but in the stiffness
how pervading the whole building. the
latter could hear his even breathing
very distinctly. He was in deep
sleep
The young detectives moment had
come.
Taking from his breast small box
be placed it on shelf close against
the partition IN instant of quiet
listening, then he touched spring
in the sido Of the box and laid his ear,
in haste. to his loop-hole
! strain Of well-knoWn music broke
softly from the box and sent it's vi
bFatiors through the wall
Il Was answered instantly by a stir
within; then, as the noble air con
tinued. awakening memories Of that
fatal instant when 1t crashed through
the corridors Of the Hotel Clermont.
drowning Miss ChalloneT's cry if not
the sound OF her fall, word burst
from the sleeping mans lips which
carried it's own message to the listen
Ing detective.
Il Was Edith! Miss Challoner's
first name, and the tone bespoke q
shaken soul.
sWeetwater, gasplng with excite
moat. caught the box from the shelf
md siienced it, It had done it's work
Rnd it was no part of Sweetwaters
plan to have this strain located. or
even to be thought real. But it's echo
eth fingered in Brotherson's other
wise unconscious ears. for another
Edith" escaped his lips, followed by
Il smothered but forceful utterance Of
these words You know prom
Used you"
Promised her what? He cid not say.
Would he have done so had the music
lasted a trihe longer? Would he yet
complete his sentence? Sweetwater
trembled with Cagerness and listened
breathlessly for the next sound. Broth
erson YVES awake He was tossing in
his bed Now he has Ieaped TO the
floor. Sweetwater hears him groan.
then comes another silence, broken
at last By the sound Of his body fall.
ing back upon the bed and the
troubled ejaculation of Good God "
wrurS from lips no torture could have
forced into complaint under any day
time conditions.
Sweetwater continued to listen. but
he had heard I'll, and after some few
minutes longer Of fluitless waiting. he
withdrew from lis post. The episode
was over.
Was be satisfied. Sweetwater
imagined the scene-saw he figure of
Broiherson hesitating al the top 81
the stairs-saw hers advancing from
the writing-room. with startled and
uplifted hand-heard the music-the
crash of that great finale-and decid-
ed. without hesitation, that the words
he had just heard were indeed the
thoughts of that moment Edith
you know l promised YOU" What
had he promised? What she received
was death! Had this been in his
mind? Would this have been the ter.
animation OF the sentence had he wax
ened less soon to consciousness and
caution?
Sweetwater CARED to believe it.
Gould it be? Was it he who was
dreaming now, or was the event OF
the night mere farce of his own
imagining? AIR. Brotherson was
whistling in his room, gaily and with
ever increasing verve, and the tune
which filled the whole floor with
music was the same grand finale from
William Tell which had seemed tc
work such magic in the night AS
Sweetwater caught the mellow but In
different notes sounding from those
lips of brass, he dragged forth the
music-box he held hidden in bis coat
pocket, and finging it on the foel
stamped upon it.
The man is too strong for me-" he
cried. His heart is granite; he
meets my every move. What am tt
&c row?"