The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-11-02
The Sword of
Dan1ocles
By ALAN HINSDALE

| was sleeping uneasily. First
dreamed that | was looking down from
a great height and was dizzy. Then
] was conscious of tossing about half
awake In bed. Next was wandering
but where | knew not.
"Begone, What do you mean by
coming here at this timer"
The words and a sudden light Hash
ed In my eyes awakened me. | was
standing In my pajamas in the roolI
Of the sister of my chum. Allan TwOm-
bly,, whose guest l was.
had walked in my sleep before, but
my somnambulistlc adventures. from
one Of which l had barely escaped
with my life, troubled me, and ! was
20 sensitive about them that kept
them to myself.
And here was the most unfortunate
Of all Of them. Better that had been
awakened fitting over the peak Of
roof high in the air than In this fash
ion, which, unless understood, would
cover me with disgrace And, to make
matters worse, instead Of then and
there giving the cause Of my intrusion
! skunk out of the room without
word.
Returning to my chamber, l threw
myself on my bed and moaned. This
breach of hospitality, this apparently
dishonorable act, must be revealed in
the morning. l pictured myself dis
missed from the house by Allan. his
friendly bearing toward me turned to
anger. His sister, Gwendolin, whose
room l had entered in the middle Of
the night, | did not expect to meet.
She would doubtless avoid me as she
would a serpent.
Give as an excuse that | was SOM
nambulist? Who would believe such
a statement. Nor could prove 1t. No
one except myself knew that l had
walked In my sleep. Once had awak-
ened to find myself standing before a
mirror crying That was several years
before this, when l was boy. Again
had suddenly found myself at dawn
sitting on a gutter, my legs dangling
over, forty feet from the ground.
was near a dOrmer window and man.
aged to get back through It to my
room. But neither Of these exploits
had mentioned to any one. The only
person l had cared to tell was my
mother, and feared that IL she knew
/ was executing such acrObatic per-
formances 1t would worry her terribly.
If there is one thing young man is
ignorant of. it is young woman. A
good woman Is the last person in the
world to charge man with insulting
her. If had explained to Gwen why
] entered her room she would have be-
lieved me. There was no danger of
her telling how, hearing a sound, she
had turned on an electric light and ex-
posed me standing in the middle Of the
room. Had ! been ten years older ]
would have known this, for there was
no nobler girl living than Gwen Twom-
bly,, and she would naturally have
shrunk from furnishing me and bring
ing me and her brother into antago-
nism, to say nothing of the rest of the
family.
But as lay tossing on my bed | pre-
sumcd that the morning would bring
disgrace for me Should | leave be-
fore any of the family had arisen or
stand and take my medicine? OF the
two courses | chose the latter as more
suited TO my nature Knowing that |
was innocent of n guilty intention. |
could bear the lashing in store for me.
whereas If ! skunk away like eur |
could never face any of the family
again
When ] went downstairs in the
morning ! knew not just where the
blow would fall The CHEEKY Good
morning, old mani! of Allan stung me
for | knew that my episode of the
night before had not yet been revealed
10 him. Then came greeting from his
father, his mother and the others.
They had not yet been informed that
they were entertaining a villain un-
awares.
When we sat down at the table
Gwen was not present.
where's Gwen?" asked the father
II think she has oversight" replied
her mother.
Both the question and the reply were
like sticking knife between my ribs.
1t was evident that Gwen was going
TO let me get away without giving me
lashing, and if she intended to tell
on me would not do so before l had
gone. Thank heaven, this would spare
me the scene ] had anticipated. Be
sides, there was a hope that she would
keep the secret, though 1t was not t.
be expected that | would dare enter
the Twombly home again.
Shortly before we rose from tn,
breakfast table Gwen came In.
Good morning. papa Good morn
lug. mamma. Good morning, Mr.. vii
Hams. Good morning, AL" Her goo,
morning to Mr. Williams, who was an,
Is myself, was as CHEEKY and eve
more kindly than to any of the rest
oh, that they could all be extir
guished that | might fall at her fee
and worship her.
One by one the others left the tab,
finally leaving me and Gwen alone.
Why have you not slain me?'