The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1920-02-05

u
as to do Il could and did. how
ever. give George my letters to mail.
One thing was now clear to meas
long as | stayed In the fiat ] was COM
paratively safe-l must make my main
play that Billy had got my letter or
that somebody would call. Though OF
course George would say was out
he was paid for that by monsieur.
In this manner of living--afrald to
go out and being unable TO communi-
cate even with the grocer--two days
wore away; to be exact. from Tues
day night to Friday morning. And
they were enlivenod by scme interest
/ was awakened by the sound of n
latchkey working at my front door. ]
tiptoed into The hall and listened.
can't say | was frightened. The chain
bolt was on and the only way II could
be got off was by first shutting the
door tight-whlch meant II could not
be worked back with Il wire. had
seen to that when the locksmith put
IL in.
Nothing came of this attempt to fit
n key to my new lock, ana got com
fort out of the thought that K proved
monsieur regarded the fire escape as
much too public for his performances
had given George my letters IL
mail on Wednesday morning, but as
Thursday wore away and Billy didn't
come I saw what | was I'm for-I was
to be starved into leaving the fiat.
was already weak for want OF food I:
i suppose my belief In imminent star
walton had something to do with 1t.
but as n matter of fact l had had moth
ing that could be called square meal
since Monday night at the restaurant.
and I hadn't eaten much then-I was
too excited over my encounter with
monsieur. Oh. how l wished I'd eaten
that egg Mrs. Jimmson boiled for me-
1t might have saved my lifel Yes.
night there would not be a 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 II
before l woke up / can't say. and
might never have known It at all II he
hadn't accidentally dropped his bunch
Of keys on the tiled floor. Their
tinkling awoke me. knew on the In
stant what 1t was and lay perfectly
still while l felt him listening for n
sound from me TO show that was
awake. / should say / lay there fif-
his Job.
Softly crept out OF bed. i tiptoed
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 II. The Yale lock
turned once-twice. He withdrew the
key and heard him taking It off the
''hS anu hioppihS tDt INTO HIS
pocket. He put the key once more In
the lock and tried again to make sure.
1t was not till then that he unlocked
the lower lock-the one he kept me
prisoner with. He'd never once given
me the chance to pop out on him till
he was ready to pop in on mel
And now he was ready. The key
turned-the door handle turned. A.
strip OF light showed over his head
and slowly wdened. The chain.bolt
slid and slid. almost noiselessy, along
Its socket. Then 1t stopped.
think he hadn't noticed 1t at first
he had turned the gas low and as he
stood he cut Off the light. When the
door suddenly stopped he moved aside
to see what was hampering him.
saw the glitter of the brass chain. He
saw II too. Then darkness again, and
i felt rather than saw his fingers come
through the crack and feel the chain.
Next came the whole hand and
worked at the chain--but the farther
he pushed II back the tighter closed
the door. II was meant to be that
way, but he didn't yet know I'll
He barred his arm and thrust II
through the crack and felt along the
slot to the hole In the end This was
my chance to give him ons With the
I didn't. Truth to tell.
was too paralyzed with excitement.
had my chance and let 1t go.
j did nothing-said nothing--scarce-
~ breathed the whole time he was
there. And to this day don't know
II could have bettered the situation |
by doing anything but what did
nothing
He wasted very little time on the
chain. 1t took him not more than
two minutes to learn that he couldn't |
get the bolt out at the end OF the
slot without first shutting the door
which meant 1t couldn't be got out ex-
cept from tn, inside. He withdrew
his hand. There was dead pause In