Charlevoix county herald., 1914-06-13

The easels with their canvasses
resting against them lcomed dis
mally in shadowy shapes, ghostlike.
He could see underlined outlines upon
them, suggestive of human presence
and he had not the least doubt
that there were human presences
near him in one or two of the three
adjoining rooms, for there was
dressing room for models, a bedroom
for the artist, and a useless kitchen
attached to the studio.
He had gone there after the
money; but it was not of the money
he thought while he stood so still lis
tening. Insane jealousy excited him
more than cupidity in that interval.
Presently he glided forward to "a
door and passed into the dressing
room. The flash-light which he had
to employ then searched the length
and breadth of it and revealed only
an array of hooks heavy with cos
tunes, some chairs, a table, and
couch upon which he recognized the
robes and cloud-drapery that Jess
had worn while posing as Juno.
He stiffened for an instant when
he saw that, then returned to the
studio and stepped across the un-
guarded threshold of the bedroom.
This time he held a weapon in his
right hand, the light in his left one.
But the room was as deserted as
that of the other one, and there was
no unusual sign of recent tenantry
save a pair of long kid gloves upon
the dresser, which he picked up and
smelled of and recognized as the
property of Jess.
Scowling, he thrust them into one
of his pockets. He could not know
that Jess had not been inside the
studio since she came away from it
after posing for the artists Juno.
Instantly he became the burglar
again-and he knew the trade. He
snapped on the electric lights as he
worked, knowing that there would
be little or no danger that it would
be noticed from the street below.
Within few moments there was
not a nook or Granny, depository or
hiding-place, within that room that
he had not searched with a thor
oughness that might well have
amazed the owner.
He returned to the dressingroom,
and served it's interior in the same
manner. He sought the little kit
chen, and, figuratively, turned it
wrong side out. He returned to the
studio-room and searched there,
overturning vases or peering into
them looking beneath cushions or
prodding them with a long needle,
half rolling the rugs to seek under
them. emptying portfolios, opening
the covers of books and holding
them upside down for things
TO fall from them if things
were there to fall, peeking into
the clocks, and under the brio
a-brac, and behind pictures, and into
every conceivable place where
package that meaured 7as by 1-16
nv 5-16 inches might have been con-
tanned, rolled or fiat.
Desks, tables, chairs, touches did
not escape him-and he picked up
and laid aside to carry away with
him many articles of value. But he
did not find what he sought.
Thus far he had paid no attention
to the easels. They had suggested
no premise, and he haG barely
noticed them. There were five in
the room, three with the fronts to-
ward the wall, and he seized the
one within his reach and wheeled it
around. They were pedestal easels,
with one drawer in the base Of each
of them.
His own likeness confronted him,
and for a moment he was panic
stricken. Then he dashed his fist
through it, and tore it from the
stretcher, and stamped upon it.
The second easel disclosed coun-
terpart of himself as he appeared
at that moment in his Shannon
makeup, and he staggered away
from it, afraid. And then he
turned about and fled from the
studio, slamming the door after him,
and leaving all the electric lights
aglow II the room behind him.