Evening star., 1925-01-11

| to have screamed before. The maid
would know she had left the bath
! room some minutes ago. Was she
going to her room? Suddenly she
remembered that she had told the
| chambermaid that she was not to be
disturbed until she rang the. next
morning. That was something. No
| body would be going to her room
to find out that she was not there.
x X x
A n abrupt and desperate plan form
1 ed in her mind. 1t was already
| getting on to 1 o'clock. The man
was probably a commercial traveller
or business man. He would probably
get up about or o'clock, dress
quickly and go out. She would hide
under his bed until he went Men
don't look under their beds, although
She made a religious practice of
doing 50 herself. When he went he
would be sure to open the door all
right. The handle would be lying on
the floor as though it had dropped
off in the NIGHT. He would probably
ring for the chambermaid or open
it with a penknife. Men were so
clever at those things. When he had
gone she would creep out and steal
back to her room, and then there
would be no necessity to give any
explanation to any one. But heav-
ems, What an experience Once un-
der the white frill of that bed she
would be safe till the morning. In
daylight nothing seemed so terrify-
ing.
With feline precaution she went
down on her hands and knees and
crept toward the bed. What a lucky
thing there was that broad white
frill! She lifted it at the foot of
the bed and crept under. There was
just sufficient depth to take her slim
body. The floor was fortunately car
peted all over, but it seemed very
close and dusty. suppose she cough
ed or sneezed! Anything might hap
pen. OF course, it would be much
more difficult to explain her presence
under the bed than to explain her
presence just inside the door. She
held her breath in suspense. No
sound came from above, but under
this frill it was difficult to hear any
thing. 1t was almost more nerve
racking than bearing everything
listening for signs and portents.
This temporary escape in any case
would give her time to regard the
predicament detachedly Up to the
present she had not been able to Wis
ualiZe the full significance of her ac-
tion. She had in truth lost her head.
She had been like a wild animal, con-
sumed with the sole idea of escape.
At present she was not altogether
uncomfortable, only stuffy and-very.
very frightened. But she had to face
six or seven or eight hours of it
perhaps even then discovery in the
end! There was no solution. She
began to wish she had screamed or
awakened the man. She saw now
hat ha h1 aCt
and most polite thing to do; but she
had allowed ten minutes or a quarter
of an hour to elapse from the moment
when the chamberma1d would know
that she had left the bathroom. They
would want an explanation. Why
hadn't she screamed before?
"Of course / shan't sleep" she kept
on thinking, Il shan't be able to.
In any case it will be safer not to
sleep. I must be on the watch"
Now that she had made up her mind
to see the thing through in this man
ner she felt a little calmer She al
most smiled as she reflected that
there would certainly be something to
tell the dear dean when she wrote
to him tomorrow. How would he
take it? OF course, he =wouldz=be-
lieve it-he had never doubted sin
gle word that she uttered in her life,
posterous. In Easingstoke it would
be almost impossible to envisage such
an experience. She, Millicent Brace
girdle, spending a night under a
strange mans bed in a foreign no
tel, What would those women think
Fanny Shields and that garrulous old
Mrs. Rusbridger? Perhaps-yes, per-
haps 1t would be advisable to tell the
dear dean to let the story go no
further
oh, it was stuffy! She felt a great
desire to cough She mustn't do
that.
This was the first night in her
lifes experience that she had not
said her prayers on retiring. The
situation was certainly very peculiar
exceptional, one might call 1t. And
yet after all, what was to prevent
her saying her prayers? So little
Miss Bracegirdle murmured her pray
ers under the strange mans bed.
without uttering a sound she went
through her usual prayers in her
heart. At the end she added fervent-
ly:
please, God, protect me from the
dangers and perils of this night"
Then she lay silent and inert,
strangely soothed by the effort of
praying.
X Xxx X
IT began to get very uncomfortable,
l. stuffy, but at the same time
draughty, and the floor was getting
harder every minute. She changed
her position stealthily and controlled
her desire to cough. Her heart was
beating rapidly. over and over
again recurred the vivid impression
of every little incident and argument
that had occurred to her from the mo-
ment she left the bathroom. This