The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-02-17
CHAPTER XIV.
The Time o. Night.

The Time O. Night.
Not illpleaeed to be left to his own
devices (whose proposed character
Digby would never have approved had
he 30 much a. suspected them) Alan
none the less deferred action until
after midnight.
And espionage was all he feared
save and except always, Of course. fail
ure to ind his Rose.
Il was about one In the morning
when he arrived inconspicuously (but
not 30 much 30 40 to seem deserving
Of police surveillance) in the neigh.
borhood Of tho Riverside drive home Of
his mortal enemy, . grim white house
that lowered, stark and tall, upon .
corner.
His preliminary reconnoisance pro-
vided little more than comfortless ex.
ercise. Huge, still, its wall bathed in
the milk and ink Of moonlight and
shadow, all its Window dark but
| one-and that one, In the topmost tier
showed only feeble glimmer. 30 slight
| that Alan almost overlooked it
But once discovered, It focused upon
itself his thoughts with power little
less than hypnotic.
He believed with small doubt that
Rose was . prisoner within those
walls; that Judith must have con.
veyed her there with all speed.
And, this being the presumptive case,
that small, high window Of the light
might we'll be hers.
Directly across the street from the
Trine residence. on the opposite cor.
ner, Q colossal apartment structure
stood half.fnished, stonework to its
second story, gaunt iron skeleton rear.
ing above.
To his infinite disgust. Alan found
the guardian very wide awake. very
much ON the job: no chance here to
steal unseen into the building.
This in itself might have been
deemed . suspicious circumstance:
not for nothing does an honest night
Waterman 20 deny the laws Of nature
and the tenets Of his craft. But Allan
merely praised the man while cursinl
the very fact Of his existence; and. &C
costing. overcame with bank.notei
what seemed an uncommonly stubborn
reluctance, and got his way.
He could not know that another
skulked behind barrier Of lime bar
rels and overheard all that passed and
when Alan had ducked smartly into
the unfinished building. rose and stole
after him with footsteps as noiselesa
as . cats and face that had the saw
agery Of q tigers when 1t was tran
: silently revealed in q shaft Of moon
light.
At length Alan gained the gridiror
Of Orders on a plane with the lighted
window across the way, and crep
along one Of these. gingerly on hi
hands and knees. until he came to III
end and might. II he cared to. lool
down q hundred feet to the sidewalks
That view, however. did not tempt
he kept his eyes level; and was re
warded with bare glimpse Of pref
tily-papered wall. framed in the lace o
half.drawn curtains.
And of sudden-whether through
fortuity, or instinct. or the psyche
logical attraction Of his steadfast con
centration-the tenant Of the room
came to the window and stood Their
for little, looking pensively out. alto
!. gether unconscious Of the watcher Il
his aerial coign.
Again q horrible uncertainty hal
assed him. Was the woman RIOS
or Judith That she was one Of thes
!. he could plainly see. But which? Dare
he assume his hopes fulfilled?
With difficulty he detached hi
hungry vision from her. and DRAWN
from his pocket a small notebook, tor
I out blank page. placed this fat o
the girder. found a pencil. and wit
the assistance Of ray or two q
: moonlight scrawled . message Of .
J. most stenographic brevity.
When he looked up from this tasl
she had vanished
Sitting mp. astrile the girder.
took his watch-A cheap AFFAIR he ha
picked mp when reclothing himself
= the garments Of civilized society, {
!" Providence, that mornine-opened u