Darke Darrell, the Boy Detective — page 57: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

48 DARKE DARRELL. the door. ‘‘I’m in peril. Will it pay me to face it. Pshaw! Darke Darrell is no coward.” ‘The foot of the back stairs reached, Leotine placed the lamp upon one of the steps, then softly pushed open the — door which led into the kitchen. | The gas was lit, but the room was thick with shadows. Leotine softly removed her shoes. Then her hand wan- — dered to her bosom, where the Spanish dirk was concealed. ‘““No, Darke,” she thought, ‘‘ I’ll not forget that you are — a guest here. I’m glad you declined the dirk. Tim Jor- dan will have to kill me first. Heis talking to Aunt Car-_ lina in the dining-room. JI’ll listen to the sweet things he may have to say about me.” ) She noiselessly glided across the kitchen through the — shadows. The room which Darke had entered was small and cozy, the ceiling dome-shaped and frescoed. The bed looked clean and inviting; the carpets were bright; the furniture — was excellent, to a certain extent. Opposite the door was a window, on one side of the room a toilet-stand, on the other side a wardrobe, seemingly built into the wall. Darke looked into the wardrobe and found it empty; next he examined the fastening of the window. ‘“Oh, that belt!” he thought. ‘‘I am justified in look- ing at that. I was afraid Leotine would demand it before I had an opportunity to examine it.” ) He drew the belt from his pocket, soon discovering how to open it. A disappointed look came into his face. The belt contained a few genuine bank-bills, a railroad bond, a plain gold ring, a lock of hair, and some papers of no apparent value. ‘Nothing mysterious after all,” Darke thought. ‘‘ But what is this? It OB mean more than one just makes out of it.” comicbooks:com