The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1922-12-26
CHAPTER V

This screiiu scclAc. W come from
the room v..lerc We ~naI nearu \oices.
With common impulse Sinclair and l
l. LJ>,l .s.-. .eu uv".. .ie ha.I oniy 20
find ouselves met by a dozen wild in
Ierrogat / .oils irU.n uc.lilIu as many
4uickly- opened dols.
,sGlipertlne .Govr was reached first.
In Il stood 4 short, slight figure,
wfappeu In h:.stiiy-donned snawl
1'he white face looked into ours as
we stopped and we recognized little
Miss Lane.
>"What has happened" she gasped.
."It must nave ucen an awful cry to
waken everybody SO"
Where is Gllbertine?" demanded
Sinclair, ..
Sac drew herself up with sudden
dignity. .r-|
5:"ln;bed," she replied. 1T Was she
Nho told me that somebody had
shrieked. I didn't, wake"
Sinclair uttered a sigh of the
greatest: relief that ever burst from
! mans .overcharged breast.
,."Tell her we will find out what it
means" he replied.
: By this time Mr.. and Mrs. Arm
strong were aroused.
Let US ,hasten," whispered Sim
clair. "Our eyes must be the first to
see what lies behind that partly-open-
ed door:
IL shivered.. The door he had desig-
mated was Dorothy's.
Sinclair reached it first and pusher
it open. Dorothy was not in the little
chamber. With an impulsive gesture
Sinclair pointed to the bed--it had
not been lain in. The communicat-
inx room, = in which Mrs. Lansing
slept. was also lighted, but silent as
the one in which we stood. Mrs. Lam
sinx was not the woman to sleep
through = disturbance. Where was she
pheu! Mad SIZE followed her niece
from the room? l was for retreating
and hunting the house over for Dor
athy. But Sinclair drew me across the
threshold Of the silent room.
Well it was for US that we entered
there. together: On the bed lay form
awful, CHASTITY and unspeakably re-
putaive. Ine head was surrounded
With the, gray hairs of age and the
eyes, .wl1ict, seemed to stare into ours,
we're CLASSY J: This glassiness told the
tsle Of the: rooms grim silence. It
wyss death we looked on; not the
death we had anticipated.
AS a realization Of the awful truth
came. upon me, l stumbled against
the 'bedpost, loking on with almost
blind eyes as Sinclair bent over the
rapidly whitening face. And was
ztill, ,stantling there when Mr. ARM
strong and all the others came pour
iug m. Il did not reall . waken to my
surroundings till some one near me
"'"Apoplexy!"
= Then began to look about ME and
peer into faces crowding up on ev-
cry side, for the cnly one which could
give me back my self-possession.
But l beheld no Dorothy, and was
therefore but little astonished when
heard the cry go up:
"Whcre is Dorothy?" Where was
she when her. aunt died?'
:. Alas, there was no one there to
answer and the looks of those about
which hitherto had expressed little
save awe and fright, turned to won
DEF, and more than one person left
the room as if to look for her. l did
not jain them, Not did Sinclair stir
foot, For whom was he waiting? Gill
bertine or Dorothy? Gilbertine, no
doubt, for he visibly frightened as her
figure presently appeared clad in neg
ligee..'
O.. She had evidently been told what
had occurred for she asked no ques-
tions, only leaned in still horror
against the door-post with her eyes
fixed on the room within. Sinclair,
advancing, held out his arm. She gave
no. sign of seeing it. Then he spoke.
This seemed to arouse her, for she
gave him grateful look, though she
did not take the arm
: "There will be no wedding tomor-
row. fell from her lips in self-com-
auning murmur.>
=. Only few minutes had passed
since they had started to find Dorothy
but it seemed, an, age to me. Where
was she hidden? Would she be found
hnddled but alive in some far-off
chamber? Or, was another and more
dreadful tragedy awaiting us? I
Wondered that i could not join the
search. She is coming! l can hear
them speaking to her. Gilbertine
moves from the door, and a young
nan and woman enter with Dorothy
between them a. VIZ T..
= But what Dorothy! She looked
and She moved like one who is done
With life, yet fears that few remain
ins moments left her. Instinctively
We, fell back before her; instructive
II we. followed her with our eyes as,
reeling a little at the door, she cast
a.look of inconceiveable shrinking
first at her own bed, then at the group
Of Older. people watching her with Sc
fious looks from the room beyond.
. noted that she was still clad in her
evening dress of gray.
b.