The Holly chieftain., 1917-01-26

crystal. His first coherent thougr
was one OF those best left unspoken.
unwritten. He had entered. pictur'ng
in his mind a familiar scene. six famii-
lar faces; and this instead! 1t would
have hypnctized anyone.
A blockhead! sheep! To have
allowed himself to be trussed up this
way, without q single struggle. with
out a word! A fine detectives! he
strained at his hands. and then at bis
ankles. but desisted when the chair
threatened to t0pple over. On ne
floor he would be absolutely helpless
So he sat there in the dark. mounting
at his handkerchief and trying to get
his teeth into 1t.
The man had a freshly skinned
knuckle. He woald remember tnat
when the police came. He would
never be able to recall the voice. 90
erectuaily muftied behind the curtain
OF the mask. In evening dress. TOO
and wore 1t to the manner born: here
in little old New York. And then u
came upon him with the dazzlement
of sunrise The mysterious burglar
Of the newspapers!
He began to swear again; cultural
sounds which started in his throat and
ended. bassoonlike. In his nose. Dash
the door-boy, to have given him the
wrong floor! Somewhere up above
or down below they were waiting tor
him; the cards were purrtng. the
chips clicking musically against one
another. Deuces wild. II you held Q
king and queen of any suit. together
with three deuces. you could call It -four
queens. or four kings. or a royal. Just
ar you pleased. Open on anything:
no weary waiting for Jacks or better:
something doing every minute. III
never occurred to him that the bur
glar had already saved him about
fifty dollarsD
And when the occupants OF this
room returned they would doubtless
and with reason. hand him over 10 the
police. and the deuce wild. indeed!
would be to pay Moreover. he woule
never hear the last Of 1t. He. who hac
never left himself open to ridicuie
would be the laughing-stock OF the
town.
Numbness crept into his arms ant
legs. He could not shift the handker
chief a solitary inch. not a fraction o.
an inch. Occasionally he heard sounds
the lift-door closing. someone going ~
or down the stairs. the rattle OF Tar
of elevated train. the honk of an auto
horn in the street below. Beautiful
situation for J. Mortimer Forbes. ia
nous illustrator! Hours and hours ant
hours passed: at least so 1t seemed
to him. OF course 1t was just his lucl
to strike place where the people
kept ungodly hours. He would not b
able to work for days. The gold thread
of the stole cut like a razor's edge
The beggar might have left the light
on. so that he could have found som'
amusement in staring at the furnish
ings and specializing as to the taste o
the absent ones. But to sit in pur'
darkness tfor the blinds we're down
his nerves all awrack from listening
and waiting. his lungs aching for thu
want of a deep breathSit was al
mighty unpleasant.
Thank heaven! Someone was turn
ing key in the lock. They had CONF
at last. He suddenly found himsel
blinking into the light. Over thu
threshold came an elderly man and ,
young woman.
Good heavens!" cried the younl
J woman.
Forbes said nothing, but his eye
threatened to fall out of his head
For the young woman was no less ,
person than she of the copper-beecl
hair; and her face was as sad an,
beautiful as Bellini's Madonna" II
that rickety old church by the side o
that smelly old canal in Venice!
CTO BE CONTINUED3