The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-21


3 The colonel, who received his his suos,
On the first floor, made langb;n,
a apoloeles and seemed delighted al tn,
uppoltuhity Of explaining the arrange
ihents which he had invented IN secnr.
.nc safety of his hangings. His wifi,
ntoou by him, looking charmingl,
young and pretty, fair-baired, pale anC
s;;nuous, with u sad and gentle expires
SION, the expression of resignation aftsr
fate 'n4 4eaIoned ny
Mhen all the guests had come the
ehrdeh gates and the hall doors wer,
cioSeq' Then everybody filed into the
middle gallery, which was reached
5Snrough two steel doors, while its win.
uoMs, WIN their huge shutters, were
pro1ected by iron bars. This was where
ths twelve tapestries were kept.
ihey were matchless works OF art
and, taking their inspiration from the
famous Bayeux tapestry, attributed Ia
queen Matilda they represented the
story OF the Norman conquest. They
had been ordered in the fourteenth
century by the descendant OF a man~at.
arms In William the Conqueror train
were executed by Jchan Gossct, ia,
NOUS oIous arras weaver, and wero dis
covered, 800 years later, in tho old
breton manor house On hearing OF
this the colonel had struck q bargain
1or hity thousand francs. They were
worth ten times the money.
but the nnest of the twelve hang
! lngs composing the set, the most un-
| common because the subject had NOT
4een treated by Queen Matilda, was
the one which Arsene Lupin had stolen
| ana winch had been so fortunately re-
covered. 1t portrayed Edith Swan
neck on the battlefield OF Hastings.
| seeking O.
OF her sweetheart Harold, last Of the
Saxon kings.
me guests were lost in enthusiasm
over this tapestry. over the un-
sophisticated beauty of the design, over
the faded colors, over the Gfe.Eke
grouping of the figures and the pitiful
sadness of the scene. Poor Edith
ewan-neck stood dropping like an over
weighted hly. Her white gown re-
Yeaied the lines of her languid figure.
Her long,. tapering hands were out
stretched in gesture Of terror and
entreaty; And nothing could be more
mournful than her profile, over which
nckered the most detected and de-
spairlng Of smiles.
"a narrowing smile" remarked one
of the critics, to whom tho others
listened with Difference. ga charm
ing smile, besides; and it reminds me.
colonel, OF the smile OF Nine. Spar
miento.'
And seeing that the observation
seemed to meet with approval, he en-
larged upon his idea:
There are other points Of re.
semblance that struck me at once, such
as the very graceful curve of the neck
and the delicacy of the hands :.
and also something about the figure,
about the general attitude, -
What you say is so true said the
colonel, THAT / confess that it was
this likeness that decided me to buy
the hangings. And there was another
reason, which was that, by really
curious chance. my wife s name happens
to be Edith. / have called her Edith
Swan-neck ever since And the
colonel added, with laugh. II hope
that the coincidence Will stop at this !
and that my dear Edith will never have
to 90 in search of her true loves body, |
like her prototype.
He laughed as ne uttered those words, !
but his laugh met with no echo; and |
we find the same impression of awiS.
ward silence in all the accounts Of the |
evening that appeared during the next
few days. The people standing near |
him did not know what to say. One |
of them tried to Jest:
"Your name ism t Harold. colonelfD
"No thank you,' he declared, with |
continued merriment NO, that's not |
my name; nor am in the least like
the Saxon king"
All have since agreed in stating that
at that moment, as the colonel finished |
speaking, the first alarm rang from the
right or the middle win
dow; opinions differ on this point
rang short and shrilI on a single note.
The peal of the alarm bell was fol-
lowed by an exclamation of terror
uttered by Nine. Sparmiento, who
caught hold of her husbands arm. He
cried:
q What's the matters What does
this meant
The guests stood motionless, with
their eyes staring at the windows. The
colonel repeated;
"What does it mean7 l don't un-
derstand, No one but myself knows
where the bell is fixed. :"
And at that moment-here again the
evidence is unanimous-at that moment
came sudden. absolute darkness, fol-
lowed Immediately by the maddening
din of all the bells and all the gongs
every room and at every window.
For few seconds a stupid disorder,
an insane terror, reigned Tho women
The men banged with their
fists Oh the closed doors They hustled
and fought People fell to the floor and
were trampled under foot. 1t was like
A panic-stricken crowd, scared by
flames or by a bursting
she'll And above the uproar rose the
colonel 8 voice, shouting:
t'SileDce. Don't move!
is over there, in the corner.
Wait bit Here.
He had pushed his way through his
guests and reached corner Of the gal
fery; and all at once the electric light
blazed up again, while the pande-
monium of bells stopped.
Then. in the sudden light, strange
sight met the eyes. Two ladies had
tainted. Nine. Sparmiento, hanging to
her husband Is arm, with her knees drag
ging on the floor, and livid in the face,
appeared half dead. The uIeu, pale,
with their neckties awry, looked as if
tboy had all been in the wars.
'sThe tapestries are therel' cried
someone.
There was great surprise, as though
the disappearance of those hangings