The Jasper news., 1919-12-18
CHAPTER X.
-lO
A Prisoner,

A Prisoner.
Alone at last !" That was my first
feeling as ! sank into my easy chair to
coll2ct my thoughts-alone with a mil
lion dollars worth of dlamonds-alone
ON the sixth floor with monsieur oc-
cupylng lawfully the fiat directly I'M
der mine! And what was ! to do?
Obviously, the first thing was to
hide them, and since they'd been safe
once In the hyacinths wasn't going to
tempt fate by changing the place. So
i put my fresh bunch in water, pOked
the diamonds among the stems and
threw the old bunch away.
Soon done-but my real problem lay
in barricadng myself so that mon
sieur could not get in again. Remem.
ber, he had the use of the same fire
escape and dumb-water shaft, to say
nothing Of the hall stairs-he could
come and go as he pleased.
The dumb-waiter counted out be-
cause could easily wire up the catch
and make It impossible for anyone to
open the door from the shaft side
without actually breaking the door off
its hinges-a most unlikely thing for
monsieur to attempt.
Fortunately, kept kit of tools in
the house-1'm not one of your help
less women who cant drive n nail or
sink screw-and my next act was to
take the small chainbol that had been
on the front door and put ii on the
hallside of the kitchen door. Then
changed the keys on this and the bath.
room doors to the hall side. From the
fire escape, monsieur could enter only
those two rooms, and with their doors
locked-and one -bolted-on him,
he would have to break them off their
hinges to get at me that way.
The bathroom window didn't give
me much concern. The sash was stuck
fast by the last painting and / couldn't
raise it myself the glass was too thick
to be cut readily and | didn't believe
monsieur would advertise himself to
the neighborhood by breaking it. But
] drove couple of nails above the
sash just for luck and then gave my
attention to the kitchen window.
Since he'd gone out that way, he'd
very likely try ii to come back by. The
glass was thin-he could cut 1t out
easily: he could even smash 1t and
come through so quickly that nobody
would see him. But all right, monsieur
thought |, I'm going to give you your
moneys worth--Ill make you stand
on the fire escape long enough for the
nelghbors to get a good look at you.
| had a couple of rolls of picture
wire and ! tackled this across the sash
not across the frame, because
didn't want to find myself wired In
while he was wired out. The wire
made considerable network, almost
impossible to get through without q
pair Of wire nippers, and | doubted
very much If he'd be carrying sucl
things in his pocket; and when hat
nailed down the sash, as have said, II
the bathroom ! felt secure In my re
treat. There was now no way for {
man to get in while | was in-unless
that Is, he came down from the roo
on q rope to one of the other windows
j thought Of that and got ready tC
knock him off will n broom or throw
pepper in his eyes If he tried that tricl
on me. And at last | felt was saf,
so long as i stayed In, of coursel
All the time I'd been working. m.
mind had pounded out duly the ques
tlon, "What had / better do next :?
and the only answer seemed to be
must get help from some one-1 hat
passed the point where could play
lone hand in the game and save tn
diamonds. ! had tried to telephon
several times without getting an an
swer which AT the moment didn't as
tonish me. II provoked me, though
Tint 1 could not order something from
the grocer and the butcher for my din
ner. ! 60 out to dinner. but tonight
even had I been so minded, I dare
not leave the fiat.
Outside the drizzle had settled to