Shoshone journal., 1924-03-28

/ the Gorgam Trust there was no ,r-sire
now but one-escape from this gloomy
house, from this sinister fortune. nj
| once.
"I'n try ii, anyhow" she said 10 her
self toward morning. For she could
appreciate already how difficult escape
would be, though up to then she had
merely made small tests Of the pos
sibillty Of 1t.
That night she made her first at.
tempt at going-an attempt doubly IN
| successful. The thought had come 70
her to try that door-the entrance
| through which the strange visitor had
twice appeared She had indeed no
exact knowledge Of where 1t led, but
It must certainly end outside some
where-evidently upon the side street
| She had not tried 1t before, having
| the feeling that she was being more
and more closely watched; but now,
this night, she must.
She stood in the dark silence of the
great room all black, but for two old
blue patches of high windows she
could see behind her. The handle Of
the door moved, the door opened and
she felt instinctively, as one will. that
she was at the head of flight OF
stairs-which Of course was what she
had expected.
1t was even more solidly black be
fore her. The air was cold and damp.
Stretching out her hand to guide her
self, she found a wall of stone and
then a stone hand-railing. So far, so
good. She drew back her left hand
from the door, IL swung-evdently by
a spring-and clicked behind her.
Turning again she tried the knob 1t
did not move. The door, she soon saw,
was of the common type, which opens
by the knob on the inner side but only
by key from without.
The ward of the Gorgdm Trust gave
a little cry at this. She was nat
urally neither an aggressive nor ad-
venturous creature. However, there
was but one thing now to be done for
anyone-to 90 wherever this staircase
led her. She found the stair-rail again
and walked down the polished stone
steps, This required time-and eau
ton; but after a while it was not so
difficult. II was evidently a bare
spiral staircase inclosed in stone, very
much, the girl recalled, like the In
closed brick fire escape in the school
she had attended as a child.
She found herself at last at the bot
rr~ ut
IDENTIFY opened upon the street She
tried it, II would not open. She tried |
again-and again-and again. The !
door would not open-except by key. |
And when she found this to be GER
tain the girl hurried back. as much as |
she could hurry in that blackness, to
the upper door. in a sort of panic |
haste. She tried the door again. 1t 1
would not open. She shook it to make
sure. She was sure now, and she /
stopped - understanding thoroughly |
what she had feared before. She was
trapped in that blind passageway, that
stone fire escape-whateve il was
And she would be held there ignomini-
ously until some one found her.
She sat down in the dark upon the
stair considering the situation, got up
and shook the door again with a fool
ish desperation. There was no doubt
of it; she was trapped They would
find her there in the morning-when-
ever the thought of this place occurred
TO their minds.
But then all at once, when she was
resigning herself TO this. she heard,
she thought, the sound of steps be
yond the door, and a fumbling hand.
And suddenly the interior of the
smooth stone spiral below her sprang
out into vivid whiteness under a
strong electric light.
The door opened. Madam" said
the severe-faced woman who acted as
her personal maid-speaking. she
thought. in a voice in which anxiety
ard satisfaction mingled-'would bet
.er go back to bed"
A strange sensation came over the
yirl as she heard her. II was as if she
elt a great cold hand upon her shOul-
ier-the impersonal. inhuman touch
If the GOrgam Trust arresting her.
aking her back TO her luxurious
)rison-to await one of the two dis
lsters which was now TO come upon
Ter.