The Jasper news., 1919-12-18
By JANE BUNKER


that somebody would call. Though Of
course George would say was out
he was paid for that by monsieur.
In this manner of living-afraid to
go out and being unable to communi-
cate even with the grocer-two days
wore @ way; to be exact, from Tues
day night to Friday morning. And
they were enlivened by some interest,"
ing experiences. On the second night
was awakened by the sound Of a
latchkey working at my front door. /
tiptoed into the hall and listened. J
can't say was frightened. The chain
bolt was on and the only way 1t could
be got of was by first shutting the
door tight-vhich meant 1t could not
be worked back with wire. had
seen to that when the locksmith put
II In.
Nothing came Of this attempt to HI
a key to my new lock, and got COM
monsieur regarded the fire escape us
much too public for his performances.
had given George my letters to
mail on Wednesday morning, but as
Thursday wore away and Billy didn't
come / saw what was In for--l was
to be starved into leaving the fiat. !
was already weak for want of food /;
suppose my belief In Imminent star
walton had something to do with II.
but as matter Of fact had had noiii-
ing that could be called square meal
since Monday night at the restaurant.
and ! hadn't eaten much then--1 was
too excited over my encounter with
monsieur. Oh, how | wished I'd eaten
that egg Mrs. Jimmson boiled for me-
1t might have saved my life! Yes, |
was weak with hunger, and by Sunday
night there would not be II mouthful
In the house to eat 1t was now Thurs
day evening.
That night monsieur picked the new
Yale lock on the front door!
How long he'd been working at It
before | woke up l can't say, and
might never have known 1t at all IL he
hadn't accidentally dropped his bunch
Of keys on the tiled floor. Their
tlnkling awoke me. knew on the In
stant what 1t was and lay perfectly
still while I felt him listening for a
sound from me 10 show that l. was
awake. should say i lay there If
teen minutes before he went on with
his Job.
Softly crept out Of bed. tlptoed
through the hall and placed myself
back of the door where he could not
see me should he get 1t open.
We stood thus possibly five minutes
his work lighted by the hall gas Jet
l In total darkness, while keys slid
into the lock. slid out and clicked
against the bunch he had In his hand
1t was large bunch, judging from the
sound.
The sixth key did It.. The Yale lock
turned once-twice. He withdrew the
key and I heard him taking It off the
ring and dropping the bunch into his
pocket. He put the key once more In
the lock and tried again TO make sure
1t was not TIL then that he unlocked
the lower lock-the one he kept me
prisoner with. He'd never once glver
me the chance to pop out on him til
he was ready to pop in on mel
And now he was ready. The Ike.
turned-the door handle turned. A
strip Of light showed over his heat
and slowly wldened. The chainbol
slid and slid, almost noiselessly, alonl
its socket. Then 1t stopped.
think he hadn't noticed It at first
he had turned the gas low and as h,
stood he cut off the light. When th,
door suddenly stopped he moved asid,
to see what was hampering him.
saw the glitter of the brass chain. Fl,
saw 1t too. Then darkness again, ant
! felt rather than saw his fingers COM
through the crack and feel the chain
Next came the whole hand an,
worked at the chain-but the farthe
he pushed II back the tighter close,
the door. 1t was meant to be tina
way, but he didn't yet know II
He barred his arm and thrust
through the crack and felt along tn
slot to the hole in the end. This wa
my chance to give him one with tn
hairbrush-but l didn't. Truth to tel
was too paralyzed with excitement
had my chance and let II 20.
did nothing-said nothing-scarce
ly breathed the whole time he wa
there. And to this day I don't kno,
II could have bettered the sltuatlo
by doing anything but what l did
nothing.
He wasted very little time on tn
chain. 1t took him not more tina
two minutes to learn that he couldn
get the bolt out at the end Of tn