Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-04-20

/ Lanyard, whose training had taught
/ him how to listen, had early learned
/ that the nocturnal hush of one louise
/ is to be differentiated from that Of an
other as readily as the respiration OF
! two sleepers may be Disseminated. He
knew that every house had its singu-
lar cadence. its own gentle movement
of muted but harmonious sounds
wherein the Introduction of alien
sounds produced instant discord.
! Now, in the muted voice of this vast
mansion. he had detected little fut-
ter of discordance, sounding a note of
| stealth-such a note as no move of his
own since entering had evoked.
And while Lanyard stood at alert at
tention the sound was repeated from
point less distant This new intruder
was moving through the salons to the
| library.
In two swift strides Lanyard left the
shelter OF the screen and ensconced
himself in the recess of one of the tall
windows, behind it's heavy velvet hang
! ings.
That movement could have been
timed no more precisely had it been
rehearsed. He was barely in hiding
when a shape of shadow slipped into
the library, paused beside the massive
! desk and raked the room with pow
erful 1ash-lamp.
| It's initial glare struck full and
dazzlingly into Lanyard's eyes as he
peered through a narrow opening in
the portiere.
| When at length his vision cleared
the other was kneeling in turn before
| the safe-or, rather, rising from
| kneeling position there, for more light
! was needed, and this one, lacking the
| patience of his studious caution,
turned back to the desk, seized the
electric reading lamp and transferred
it to the floor between the safe and the
screen.
But even before she had put down
the lamp Lanyard had recognized the
| woman; before the swift flood of light
| followed the dull click of the switch
he knew that she was Lucy Shannon.
| He felt dazed, half-stunned, suffocat-
ed-much as he had felt with Greggs'
fingers tightening on his windpipe that
week-oId night at Troyons.
For an instant he experienced real
| difficulty about breathing and was
conscious of a sickish throbbing in his
| temples, while the pounding in his
/ bosom was as the tolling of a great
] 10 OF IN
who has been struck a heavy blow
In one breath he swore it could not
and knew it must, be she.
| The light, gushing from the opaque
hood, made the safe door a glare, and
was thrown back into her intent young
face. Even so, he would have recog-
nized the sharp silhouette cut by her
1.-THE, sweet body against the glow, the
poise of her head, the carriage of her
| shoulders, the gracious bosom round
| ing her tailored coat
She was all in black, even to her
glOved hands-nO trace of white or any
color showing on her person but the
fair curve Of her cheek below the
mask and the red of her lips. And if
that were not enough, the intelligence
with which she attacked the combina-
complish his purpose and be out of the
house with almost inconceivable swift
ness, he didn't even trouble to explore
the household beyond a swift and
casual survey of the adjoining salons.
The clock in the reception hall
chimed the three-Quarters as he en-
scOnced himself between screen and
safe and grasped the combination
Knob.
But he did not turn it. That mellow
music died out slowly and left him
ton and the confident, businesslike
precision that distinguished her every
action proved her an apt pupil in that
| business
His thoughts were all weltering in
misery and confusion. He knew what
this encounter meant, appreciated that
it explained many things he would
have thought questionable had not the
strength of his infatuatiOn forbade him
! to consider them at all; but in the pain
and anguish of that moment he could
entertain but one thought, which pos
sessed him altOgether-the thought
| that she must somehow be saved from
! the crime she contemplated.
But while he delayed, shrinking from
! the necessity Of discovering himself
| to her, it was made clear that she had
become sensitive to his presence.
He had made no sound since she en-
! tered, had not even stirred; but some
how she had OWNED that someone was
there, in the recess of the window,
watching her
In the act of opening the safe
working the combination from that
very sheet of paper on which he had
made memoranda of its sequence-he
saw her pause, freeze to a pose of at
! tention, then turn to stare directly at
the pOrtiere behind which he was con-
cealed. And through an eternal Sec
| Ond he watched her kneeling there, so
still that she seemed not even to
breathe, her gaze fixed and level, wait
MA