Might and Main Library. Number 56, 1907-03-16 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

x ae AND He would coe. them. : 3 : Going back to the window, he leona out and caliwht hold of the Virginia sien on which covered that part of the house. With silence and caution, he climbed through the window, trusting to the strong vine to hold him. It was ten feet between his: window and the one in his father’s library. That distance he had to traverse by means of the Once, as he caught hold of a branch, he found it give way, the whole of the rootlets being ‘torn from the wall, He gasped with nervous fear, but. quickly recovered, and, with more caution, testing the branches before he trusted his weight on them, he went on his way. — Ten minutes—a foot a minute—elapsed before he was able to place his hand on the fess ath any Then he rested. His feet were firmly planted o on the creeping vine. When he had recovered his breath and his presence: of mind, he ascended a few steps, so that his head would be above the sill. * Just as he raised himself, the window was opened, and a man’s hand struck ‘out, catching Vernon a- fearful blow on the head, and colder: him to fall, stunned, to the _ ground below. . Then the window was again closed. | : ~ . Some time elapsed before Vernon recovered from the ‘effect of his fall and the blow he had received. vine. When he regained consciousness, he tried to reach the door, but the task was a difficult one. sore he could scarcely walk, “Lawk a mussy, if it isn’t the young master!” exclaimed Dinah, when she opened the door and saw Vernon. “Sure, an’ you haven’t been out all night, - have ‘you, : “now! ?” asked the domestic, curious, as most of her class are. _ “Dinah, help me in; I am stiff and sore.’ -—“Tawk a mussy! what have you been up to?” _ “Send Mrs. Martin here at once.” - “Mrs. Martin is in her room yet. It isn’t the tikes of her that would.be getting up at six o’clock. No; lady housekeepers think themselves our betters; but they are a sts, after all.” ‘ Dinah, having got rid of her diatribe against “lady house- keepers,” waddled away as fast as her two hundred and ee pounds of flesh would allow. Mrs. Martin was the housekeeper, and, because she ‘was ae was so stiff and a well-educated lady, and did not associate with the do- ; _mestics, ‘was not liked. They called her “stuck up,” and insinuated that she was “too proud for her position.” Jt was true, Mrs. Martin was in her room, but she was dressed, and when Dinah told her that Master Craig had been out all night, and up to some lark, coming home all wounded and bruised, the good lady hurried to the kitchen to. see Vernon, who was a great favorite with her. Vernon told his story, and the good tee looked shocked. bi “Burglars !” she muttered. beam stire of it.? “Tried to suffocate you?” “Yes, Mrs. Martin.” “Are you stire you were not dreaming?” “How can we ask such a question? Am I not bruised* with the fall?’ eg " “Ves. 9? , “Won't you go to the library The burglars may be _ there yet.” ‘That was not the best way to induce the lady to go. _ Had she been sure that they were there, she would not “have gone; but Vernon’s story seemed so improbable that after a slight hesitation she started up- “stairs to he private library. aa @ wonder what has come over the be hia though, | MAIN LIBRARY. as she fieced the library, and found: everything just as she had seem it the day before. “No one has been here, so he must have been dreaming, Now for the young master’s room.’ ‘ There, again, everything was in order. The bed had been slept in, and there. were signs that Vernon had been there. True, there was av strange “el of something Buta but no brazier, nor any signs of there having been one. Mrs. Martin examined the room closely, and found evi- dences that Vernon had dressed very hurriedly, for his » socks were on a chair, and he had omitted to net on his undershirt. “T see it all,” she said, shaking her head as an indication of her sharp. and shrewd wisdom. “The poor boy has been > so troubled that his head is a trifle: muddled; he walked | in his sleep, and fell out of the window—that iis it.” ) When she returned to the kitchen, Vernon looked at her face to see if he could read her thoughts; but either he was. not versed in the art of mind-reading, or she had acquired the way of hiding her thoughts. “Master Vernon, can you come up to my room? i “Yes, ma’am.’ When they reached the housekeeper’s parlor, she looked. at him and smiled. “Excuse me for laughing; it might have been serious; but —-have you any socks on?” \“No, Mrs. Martin.” : “Nor undershirt ?” : “No; I was in too great a hurry’ to notice dress.” “Do, you know what I think: eae. £6 rs hg “Nothing has been dishithad: in the tiara the key. of your lock is on the inside, and there is no brazier of Sau); deting charcoal.” “You think, then———’” : “That you dreamed it, and, being homens excited, youn dressed in your sleep and climbed out of the window.” “I think not. I have read quite a number of anecdotes about sleep-walking, and they all say that bes somnambulist never forgets anything.” | | “you are the exception.” “Supposing your idea is dou will you tell me ae 4S got this bruise on my cheek? I think it was. from a bur- glar’s blow.” ~ Mrs. Martin looked at Vernon’s face, and her own cheeks” were crimsoned, for she saw distinetly the marks. of a a) Fw man’s knuckles on his face, and she well knew that in no. other way, save by a blow, could such a bruise be caused. “I do not understand. Nothing has been touched, and yet there is something mysterious,” “Tt is mysterious. “James.” “And you are sure overrun e:: was all right then 2” “Of course.” oi don’ t know what to make be it. room.’ “Mr.——” and she paused. “I see. I am not to look at his papers. doubts me?” “IT did not say so. It was not the lawyer, but ‘Mr. Vernon, | who claims to be the next heir, and he asked me to be. sure that you did not search among the papers.” “And you will obey him? You prefer to welcome the coming and are willing to speed the parting owner? Well, well, I suppose you are right.” Mrs. Martin felt sorry for the boy, and, as he hobbled | along to his own room, stiff and bruised, she sighed: “It was cruel; I never thought Mr. Craig could have done it. To bring up the boy as his own, and then for it. I will look at father’s to be found out that he is only a waif—a foundling.” And ‘it..did> look ‘cruel. There was a mystery ,about it. which puzzled every one. who knew Vernon Craig, for no : So Zeutgard Who locked up the house last night ae a |