Evening star., 1918-07-07
CHAPTER I.
sL.et Some One Speak,"

struck. and the few visitors
stil lingering among the curi-
osities Of the great museum
were suddenly startled by tho sight Of
ono Of the attendants running down tho
broad central staircase. loudly shout
ing:
"Close the doorsi Let no one outi
An accident has occurred, and no
body's to leave the building
There was but one person near
either Of the doors. and as he CHANGED
to be a man closely connected with
the museum, being. in fact, one of its
most active directors, he Immediately
turned about and in obedience to q
gesture made by the attendant, ran
up the marble steps. followed by some
dozen others. N'-
At the top they all turned, a. by COM
mon consent. toward the left-hand
gallery, where in the section marked
H. tableau greeted them which few
OF them will.eyer forget.
say "tableau" because the few per-
pieturs ns S0nGe5nsG sbsosn,a5 n 1t stood as In
silent as the dead. Sense. il not feel
Ing was benumbed In them an. IA In
another moment it was benumbed in
the breasts OF these new arrivals,
Tragedy was there In its most terri
pathos was given BY the victim-a
Jou az and pretty girl lying face up-
ward on the tesseilated floor with an
arrow IN her breast and death stamp
g g 9nmistakahly ON every feature.
the woman they. saw kneeling over
her-a remarkable woman, no longer
young, but OF presence to hold the
attention. even II tho circumstances
had @ been Of . far less tragic nature.
had made no movement to Withdraw
II. and her eyes, hxed upon space,
showed depths Of horror hardly to be
explained even by the suddenness and
Of 1he .a ct sas as ust Sesa
made the unhappy witness.
The director, whose name was Rob-
crts. thought as he paused on the
edge OF the crowd that he had never
Ssa .psa 20 deep sns
greatly moved by It, he was about to
seek some explanation Of . scene to
which appearances gave so little clue.
when the tall but stooping figure Of
himself relieved from q task whose
seriousness he had no difficulty in
measuring.
TO those who knew william Jewett
well, 1t was evident that he had been
cupied his thoughts and for the mo-
ment somewhat bewildered his under
standing. Bur as he was cohscten-
sious man and quite capabls OF taking
tho lead when once reused to- the
erts felt a certain interest in watch
Ing the slow awakening Of this self
absorbed man to the awful circum,
stances which in one instant had
cloudcd the museum In an atmosphere
When the. full realisation came.
which was not till way had heen
made for him to the side Of the strick.
en- woman crouchfng over the dead
chile, the energy OF which translorm- an aan
ter to his usually bent and inconspic-
uous figure was all IL not more than
the ANXIOUS director expected.
Finding that his attempts to meet
The The oasp rs any
her quietly. and in sympathetic tones
Inquired whose child this was and
how 50 dreadful thing had hap
pened.
even look his way. with q rapid
glance into the faces about him. end
Ing in one Of deep compassion d.
fected toward herself. he>repeated his
sill no response-still that heavy
silence, that absolute immobility Of
face and limb. II her faculty Of hear
ing was dulled. possibly she would
yield TO that Of touch. STOPPING, he
laid his hand on her arm.
lost their fixed stare and took on a
more human light. A shudder shook
her frame. and gazing down into the
countenance Of the young girl lying
at her feet, she broke into means Of
such fathomless despair as wrung the
! 1t was scene to test the nerve Of
any man. To one Of the curator's
sympathetic temperament 1t was we'll
nigh unendurable: Turning to those
nearest. he begged for an explanation
Of What they saw sP before e. then: nh1a 70 .e,,
me. Let that some one speak"
At this the quietest and least con-
spicuous person present, q young man
heavily specialized and of STUDENT
Ike Il;s appearance advanced a step and
. II was the first person to come in
here after this poor young lady fell.
was looking at coins just beyond the
partition there, when heard q gasptng
cry. had not heard her fall fear
search for an especial coin I had been
told should find here-but did hear
the cry she gave and, startled by the
sound, left the section where i was
and entered this one, only to see Just
what you are seeing now"
The curator pointed at the two
IThia7 woa The one woman kneeling
over the other with her hand on the
arrow"
A change took place in the curator's