The Argosy, Vol. 83 No. 1 — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

HAMPTON OF man in the house!” declared the other, with sudden spirit. “You have a man staying here; he was here last night, and I believe that he’s here now. I’ve got to see him. It’s a private matter—devilish pri- vate! That’s why I didn’t come in at the gate and knock’on your door. I got over the fence, and made such a racket that it stirred up those infernal chickens.” “Like the geese of Rome,” Jerry re- marked. “Well, you’ve had a good deal of trouble for nothing; I am the only man here. I wonder,” he added, deciding to put a suspicion to a test, “if you and I haven’t met before—possibly to-night?” “T am a Stranger in the city,” the man replied coldly; ‘I haven’t met any one since I came here.”’ Jerry had one hand in a pocket of his coat and he found a box of matches there. While he talked he got a match out of the box. “T didn’t mean that we met in a social way,” he explained; “the man I am try- ing to identify you with I met in anything but a social way—yes, he was notably un- social.”’ As he uttered the last word he whipped his hand from his pocket and the match flared in the stranger’s face. He saw a white countenance, a slightly gray beard—a man of about fifty, as Eu- genia Delroy had described the object of her anxiety. A sharp cry, a quick puff from the man’s lips, and the match was out. A foot was driven with force into Jerry’s stomach, and he doubled up. He fell, but rolled over swiftly and struggled to regain his feet. A hard ob- ject cracked upon his head, and he fell prone and lay without stirring. CHAPTER XIII. MYSTERY DEEPENS. HEN Jerry Hampton regained the power of thought and motion there was gray light all around him. He was lying in dewy grass, the morning was THE HEIGHTS. 47 cloudy and chill, and his sensations were much like those often linked with the “cold, gray dawn.” His head was throbbing painfully, and his hand, applied tenderly to it, discovered a mound-like welt along the left side of the scalp. Fortunately, it was not time for the grandmother to be up and about, so he Staggered to his feet and made all haste to the house, to conceal from her, if pos- sible, all traces of the misadventure. The ache in his head almost blinded him and he was still dazed, but recollec- tions of what had occurred quickly brought anxiety and alarm. The man had been intent, it seemed, upon gaining access to the house, so it was to be supposed that he had made the best of his. opportunity. The main room on the first floor an- swered Jerry’s query at a glance; the drawers and the cabinet portion of the old secretary had been ransacked; letters, papers and matters of all sorts lay strewn about the floor; books had been pulled from the shelves and dropped; the man had spared no pains to create a scene of disorder. Without pushing his investigation fur- ther, Jerry frantically gathered the things together and replaced them as well as he could in his haste, then tiptoed up-stairs to the old lady’s room. Her door, habitu- ally closed, was ajar, and he knew that the intruder had omitted no room in his raid. Jerry looked in, and his relief was pro- found when he saw her sleeping quietly— proof enough that she had not been dis- turbed. His own room was next, and it was in much the same condition as the one down- stairs. The dresser drawers had been pulled out and left on the floor, and a thoroughgoing search had been made for —something! He put the room to rights hurriedly, lest his grandmother should stop at his door on arising, then applied cold water . to his head and brushed his hair in a manner to conceal the memento of the CORMICLOOKS (C@)