Year: 1873

the burden hanging upon them, and the kline
angel that sealed their weary eyes brough
temporary relief from anxiety and sorrow
The hardened and unprincipled, Indifferent tt
the suffering of others, and guided only BY
self.interest slumbered undisturbed by th'
voice of conscience or the sting of remorse
But the guilty, tortured man to whom bite
repentance for the past came all too late-wa
there rest, was there relief for him All no
vainly did he court slumber, vainly did h'
close his aching eyes, and try to Danish th'
agonizing thoughts that assailed his weary
brain. Retribution had come upon him, ant
he felt helpless to escape from the just conse
quences of his early crime. 1t was true, h'
might devise means by which to ward off still
for time, the final blow, the publicity O
shame but in the hands of so unscrupulou
a wretch as he who now held his terrible Sc
cret in his keeping, and welded his power
over him, he could never again feel safe from
betrayal. There was thenecessity, too, for i'm
mediate action, and he revolved many per
picking schemes in his mind, by which h'
might escape temporarily from the meshe'
that we're closing fatally around him, bu
none seemed to answer the desired end; ane
he tossed on his uneasy couch through the
long, long hours of the night, as though il
were bed of thorns, and nest of scorpion:
his pillow. Truly, the sting of scorpion il
easier to bear than that of guilty conscience


Another there was, to whom soothing sleeE
that night was equally stranger. The i'll
fated prisoner in the so-called Haunted
Room" sought her couch, indeed, as usual bu
she, too, was revolving strange thoughts ane
plans, with cunning newly awakened in hel
darkened mind. Taught by experience, how
ever, she feigned profound slumber until he1
guardian, imagining all safe, had extinguish
ed the lamp and retired for the night in the
adjoining chamber:


Eleven o'clock struck. All was quiet ev
cry noise in the household had ceased /; every
light was put out, giving place to darkness
and silence, unbroken and profound.


Then the quarters chimed, as it seemed te
the impatient listener, with an interminable
length Of time between.


Finally the hour of midnight struck, rever
berating clear and loud through the wide hall
and echoing through the most distant apart
ment, from the warning tongue of the huge
old clock. that stood on its lofty pedestal like
sentinel at his post.


ree-four-fve.-six
eight-nine- en-eleven-twelve.


Noiselessly the maniac rose from her pillow
and crept with stealthy tread to the door thai
opened into her keepers room. With hel
ear at the keyhole she listened, scarcely
breathing, to try and catch the slghtes
sound; but no movement was audible, anc
she retired at length apparently satisfied thai
she had nothing to fear.


The moonlight struggled into her chamber
through the apertures in her closed shutters
affordng dim and imperfect guide to hel
movements. Cropping in her bed she drew
from between the two mattresses match boz
and small end of candle, wrapped together
in small scrap Of paper.


Then she pulled all the bed clothes off, one
by one, and piled them up against the door.


Her own clothes, which lay in heap on a
chair, she then added to the pile.


"That's for the last, she muttered; 81 must
make my own way safe FIRST"


She then approached the window, the shut
ters of which were nailed up, and further Sc
cured by wooden bars placed across on the in
side, at short distance apart. The shutters
were old and dry, and had shrunk in many
places, but we're still strong enough to defy
any effort of hands as slight as hers, even
had the new bars not presented an addi
tional impeachment.


The sash was fastened down by nail, but
as this had been put in with no particular
care it was easily removed. The sash, ITSELF
was light, and slid up and down without noise


Very cautiously, and with many an anxious
pause, Bertha managed to raise the sash, SC
as to leave no barrier between herself and
the shutters, except the bars, which were far
enough apart for her hand to pass throug h.


She now drew out match from her box
and inserted it in one of the cracks in the
shutter, pushing the sulphurous end outside
as far as it would go without tumblng through
Whenever she could find crack sufficiently
large, she repeated this performance, until
there were about half a dozen matches thus
disposed Of.


The next thing was to strike light with.
out making any noise. She was apparently
aware of the difficulty of accomplishing this,
for she hesitated long time before making
the venture.


At last, crouching down in the corner of the
room which was farthest off from the door,
she commenced scraping match very gently
against the floor, and after several efforts sue.
ceeded in igniting it.


She then lit the candle-end, placing it
where the light was efectually screened from
observation.


Her object now was to light the matches
she had stuck through the shutters, but this
was work of difficulty, for as soon as the
tiny fame kindled at the inner end had reached
the part inserted in the crack, it went imme-
diately out, not having sufficient power to
penetrate through the aperture.


She was troubled by this unforeseen obsta-
Gle, and seemed perplexed to. know how to
overcome it.


With infinite patience she proceeded, after
some consideration to repeat the experiment
countless number of times, until finally,