Beadle's Dime Library No. 27 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

20 oe on — a With an effort, recovering somewhat from his as- tonishment, Campbell walked into the room. In the little kitchen a cat would have found ita difficult matter to have found concealment, let alone ahuman. In the inner room it was the same, and in the dark bedroom, which led from the kitchen, in the bed or under | , were the only places where a man could hide. John Blaine was neither beneath the bed nor on it; under it was but enipty space, and the smooth surface of the bed-covering showed no outline of a human form concealed beneath. The policeman had remained outside as before, but as the door had been left open, he could easily notice the manner of the searcher; and great was his won- der thereat, for Campbell seemed like a man in a dream. Now and then he would stare at the gir', with a vacant expression upon his face, and pass his hand over his forehead in a strange, mechanical sort of Eg ** Blamed if he don’t look jist like a loonatic!"’ the officer observed, sagely, to himself. The search was ended, and Campbell stood in the center of the room looking around him with a pecu- liar, dreamy look upon his face as though he expect- ed to see John Blaine pop out from some vacant cor- bey tee e jack-in-a-box. Then suddenly he turned é girl, ‘ y beg your pardon, miss; what’s your name?” he asked. ‘‘Mary Martin, sir,’ she answered, astonished at the question. CHAPTER XXXITII. AN UNACCOUNTABLE ACTION, * Comm along. Cap!” cried the officer, impatiently; “we're losing ime.” Another long look Sempbell ave at the face of the irl, much to her astonishment and dismay, and then e turned abruptly upon his heel and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, “What's the matter, old man?’ demanded the ponveniap decidedly astonished at the strange be- avior of the Virginian; ‘you ain’t gitting looney, are ye?’ **T can’t understand it!’’ the colonel muttered, his thoughts evidently far away. ““Can’t understand what? how this chap has got away, eh?’’ the officer questioned. ‘‘It’s plain enough to me. He either didn’t come up-stairs at all, or else the key was in the door which leads to the roof, and he jist went out, took the key with him, and locked the door on the outside; then he ran over the roofs and went down to the street through some other house. It’s an old dodge. I’ve seen a chap play it right in the daytime with two or three officers smack at his heels, and git away, too.” “No, it’s not that,” the Virginian muttered, his mind returning slowly from the dreamland in which it had been Vapconae “It’s the face of that girl in there,’’ and Campbell pointed to the room which he had just left. ‘What of it?’ asked the officer, in wonder. “She's a pretty girl and a ladylike girl, too, but I rg see anything in her face for to knock a man all of a heap.” ‘*T don’t understand it myself,’ the colonel said, slowly. ‘It has made a wonderful impression upon me, The face seems so familiar, and yet I can’t re- member that I ever saw one like it before.” The policeman looked at the Virginian for a mo- ment in wonder, and then muttered something in an undertone about ‘‘a first-class subject for a first- class ‘loonatic’ asylum.”” Then he advanced briskl toward the door at the head of the stairs and rapped. The door was opened by Mrs. Murphy, the mother of the Pay, in person. The officer explained his busi- ness, an (ampbell roceeded to search the rooms. There were pay . Murphy and Chocolate, who was tending the baby, in the apartments; the rest of the family had gone off to attend a ‘‘ wake.” The sagacious officer expected to again see Camp- bell struck “all of a heap,” as he would have ex- pressed it, at the sight of Chocolate, for he had got an idea in his h hat his companion was slightly cracked in the upper story, and that the fresh, inno- cent face of a young girl developed his madness. But the officer was disappointed. Neate a ae searching glance, Campbell paid no attention to the young girl. Within three minutes the search was concluded, and no trace of John Blaine was discovered. | And as Campbell closed the door behind him and stood on the landing, apparently in deep thought, he cast an earnest glance at the door of Mary’s room, as if he wished again to behold the face that had affect- ed him so strangely. The policeman, who was half-way down-stairs noticed the hesitation of his companion, and stopped in wonder to observe him. ‘‘ Blessed if he ain't at it again!’ he muttered. But Campbell conquered the ing PY and slowly followed the officer down-s using every now and then to cast a glance behind , as though he was half inclined to go back. The policeman kept his eye upon him and became more and more convinced that his suspicion was cor- rect as regarded the lunacy of the searcher after John Blaine. Then suddenly across the mind of the worthy officer flashed the oo ey that = the statement of Campbell that he had chased the es- ca convict into the tenement-house was but the delusion of a madman. And the officer swore like a ap to himself when he reflected that he had wasted half an hour or more in the search. “T wonder if I hadn’t ought to ‘take him in?” ” muttered the policeman, dubiously, as he stood on the sidewalk, and surveyed Campbell, who was de- scending the steps. But out in the cold night air, in the face lit up by the flickering glare of the gaslight, the policeman could detect no trace of madness. The Virginian was himself again. “Tam Folly mee I've put you to all this trouble,” Campbell said. ‘It is a wonder how this man has contrived to elude us, Iam of the opinion, though, that the boy was mistaken, and that he did not go up-stairs at all.” “He might have got off by way of the roof, you know,” suggested the officer. 6 aon ie x” “Well, I’m sorry we didn’t nab him,” the officer observed, reflectively. ‘‘I should have liked to have ed in that leetle five hundred reward that is of- for him; but better luck next time, We can’t Beadle’s Dime Library. ‘keno’ every lick, you know. I'll jist tell the rounds- man "bout the affair, and he'll warn all the officers on post near to cig their eyes open for this chap. silo '¢ we'll get ‘fore morning now; good- n Pil he officer moved off; and from that time until he was relieved from his beat, he found plenty of occu- pation in arguing with himself whether the Virginian was a sane man or a “Joonatic.”’ And Campbell, in front of the tenement-house, gazed up at the lighted windows, as though with his piercing eyes he would tear from the dark bricks and the transparent glass the secret of John Blaine’s almost miraculous escape. For full twenty minutes the colonel remained mo- tionless as a statue, his brain in a whirl of conflict- ing thoughts. en suddenly he seemed to recover his senses. “Much good it willdo me to stand staring here, like a fool, up at this building,” he muttered, sav- agely. ‘Oh, what an idiot I was that I didn’t jump upon him in the street! I took a fiendish pleasure in following so cldse upon his track and thinking of the agony that he must endure in his fruitless efforts to elude me. But at last he did the trick and threw me off the scent. By this time he is probably a mile or so away, and laughing in his sleeve at his success in getting the best of me. I had the bird right in my hand and yet did not grasp him. I'll know bet- ter next time, But now, what shall I do to hit upon his track again?” Then Campbell turned and walked up the street, meditating deeply. ‘‘He will not at- tempt to go back to the house in Madison avenue, now that he knows that his retreat there is discov- ered. He will handy try to leave the city, for he will surely guess that this night’s work will render the police doubly vigilant. There’s only one thing for me to do: watch that Irishman; he is in commu- nication with Blaine, and will lead me to him again, jose as he does this time. And now the first thing or me to do is to go down to the Central Office an give all the ag ae of my chase to-night.” And jumping into a street-car at the corner, Camp- bell rode at once down-town. Some twenty minutes after the rooms of Mrs. Murphy had been searched by the amateur detective, Chocolate pen. ies the baby to Mrs. Murphy, bid her Roce alghs, and proceeded to her own apartments. stor} astonishment she found that the door was ocked. She rapped, and after a moment or so she could hear ty t Hy footsteps as she came to the door, but the girl did not open it, but spoke: **Who isit?”’ **Me—Chocolate,’”’ replied the second Mary, em- phatically, if not with a due regard for Lindley Mur- ray. Then there was a delay of a minute or so, at which Chocolate wondered greatly, and Mary un- locked the door and opened it. As Chocolate entered the little kitchen she was astonished at Mary’s appearance. Her face was deadly pale, and she was trembling in every limb, evidently under the influence of some great excite- ment. “Why ig what is the matter with you, and why did yoti lock the door?” ““I—I was frightened,’ Mary stammered, in a low voice, evidently speaking only with a t effort. The explanation was reasonable, and Chocolate did not wonder now that the girl had locked the door. She came close up to the trembling girl and placed her arm around her waist. “Just think of an escaped convict co right here in the house; we might all be murdered,”’ she said. ‘‘Why, how you’re trembling, Mary, I’ve got a bottle of hartshorn in the eae et of my black dress in the bedroom; I'll get it.”’ Chocolate advanced toward the dark room, but woe a cry of alarm, Mary flung herself before the oor. ‘*No, no, you must not enter here!” she exclaimed, wildly. CHAPTER XXXIV. GUESSING THE TRUTH. CHOCOLATE was thunderstruck; she looked at ay. in utter astonishment. The girl stood with her bac — the bedroom door, her arms outstretched as though she feared that Chocolate would attempt to enter the room in spite of her warning. see ay face was deadly pale, and she was trem- be n every limb like an aspen leaf. * Why ea what is the matter with you?” Cho- CON paket, thine th girl replied, hurriedly, and “No , no ,”’ the re u , an with trembling accents. Wigs ““Why don’t you want me to go in that room?” and, as she asked the Nae ocolate advanced a step as though she intended to force her way in. Mary’s features became convulsed; the tears came from her dark eyes and streamed down the pallid cheeks, as with a trembling voice she answered: “Oh, Chocolate, don’t ask me why; but if you ever loved me, please keep away. I have a reason or I would not ask.” Chocolate’s sharp cyne looked searchingly for a moment into the ta face of the girl, who, un- der the influence of the gaze, drooped her head like a guilty creature, and the dark eyes hid themselves under the white lids. A minute the pone stood motionless and looked searchingly at ry, whose wildly-heavin bosom and streaming eyes betrayed the a 8 which was so terrible. en Chocolate turned sud- denly around, and retreating, sat down by the table. But though Chocolate sat down quietly by the table and seemed to have give up all idea of entering the little bedchamber, still Mary stood by the door, A horrible suspicion had begun to creep over Cho- colate’s mind, and though she vainly strove to drive it away, the effort was useless, and it grew stronger ang a masy.t king f her station at the door of n 00 rom he the Hittla hearooin into the face of the girl seated by the table, saw the suspicion written on Chocolate’s face. “Oh, I know that you think that I am ereing ely!’’ she cried, impulsively, ‘‘and I can no tell yon why I act so.’ Be Als de teak abercniy von ced tal bend OesGa no she only droo er on hav osoaik and the tears Raritan get hy - “You need not say a single word, Mary; I know the reason why you do not wish me to go into the room,”’ and Chocolate spoke quite severely, and both her occa and manner told that she considered herself aggrieved. ary started in alarm, and with outstretched hands she advanced a step toward the girl as though to im- plore her mercy. Then Chocolate gazed just a moment into the — face, noticed the imploring eyes and the trembling lips, and her heart melted. “T think that you have acted real mean, Mary!’” she cried, apache “IT never kept any secret eu ou. You ht have told me that you had a over that you didn’t wish any one to see and I would- n't have said any thing against it; then there would- n’t have been any need to hide him away in your bed- room as if he was a thief.” Mary recoiled astif she had been stricken in the face, and she gazed at the girl with parted lips and a strange, wild light in her eyes. And as Chocolate looked at her, she began to be- lieve that Mary was,losing her senses. Then, with a great effort, the girl seemed to recov- er herself. ‘‘ What are you saying?” she exclaimed. ‘* What you can’t deny,” replied Chocolate, firmly. *T’m not blind, Mary, and you needn't think that T am. I know the reason why you do not wish me to enter that room is that some one is concealed there, and that some one is your lover,” Again Mary’s head sunk in confusion, and low a words which came slowly from her tremb- ng lips. Ry ds, I will not deny any thing that you have said; and you can reproach me as much as you please; bas it a ; ‘ ia ‘“*T haven’t got any right to say an against ou!”’ Chocolate cried, eurunty, Y Sevont that think hat you might have told me something about it, and I don’t think that you have acted quite right with somebody else either, but that’s none of my busi- ness.”’ A convulsive shudder shook Mary’sform. She un- derstood only too well to whom Chocolate referred. “Well, Is’pose you want me to go out, don’t you?”’ the girl asked, finding that Ma id not speak. She silently nodded her head reply. ‘**T don’t see why there is any need of making such a mystery about it,” Chocolate said, rising. Mary only sighed, but did not speak. ‘*T s’pose that there’s some good reason, eh?” Again the girl nodded her head. “Well, 'll go and see Mrs. Murph ain. I be- lieve that that baby likes me better than it does its own mother. Is’pose I can come back when T hear him go down-stairs?”’ and Chocolate made a face at Mary as she asked the question. ‘““Yes,’’ Mary replied, evidently paying but little attention to the question though. As Chocolate laid her hand upon the door-knob a sudden thought occurred to Mary, and hurriedly she passed her arm around Chocolate’s neck and whis- pered in the girl’s ear. “You must not tell anybody of what you have guessed!" she exclaimed, earnestly. re ops some one being in that room?” “ es,’ ““Why of course not! What a great goose you must think I am.” = - “Promise me that you will not breathe a single wore of it to any living soul until I give you eave. Re wondered greatly at the anxiety of the “Of course not!’ Chocolate replied, promptly. “Don't you suppose that I can keep a secret? I’m sure that no one ever thought that I was a tattle- e. “Yes, yes, I know that!” exclaimed, evident- y in deep distress of mind. “I did not mean to say at you were, but if you only knew how anxious I wa at noone should know any thing about the matter.”’ “*T don’t see why you should be worried about it,"’ Chocolate replied, oe at the agitation of the other. ‘I’m sure that it’s no one’s business whether ou have a gentleman come to see youor not. But, ary, I do feel real hurt that you didn’t tell mesome thing about it. I’m sure that 1 wouldn’t keep any thing from you.”’ ‘*Don’t speak about that!’’ Mary cried. ‘I would have told Bi if I could.” sae d he want it kept secret?’ Chocolate que- ‘““Oh, if you love me, don’t ask me anything moro about it af all!” the girl beseeched. “I must not speak, even to explain my own actions.” “Never mind, dear; don’t worry;’ and Chocolate kissed the pale cheek of the other caressingly. ‘‘I won't bother you any more,” but, as she spoke, a sudden thought came to her. ‘I would like to ask you we one question, , and you needn't an- swer t i you don’t want to.’ Then the girl dropped her voice to a whisper. “M dear, do you think that you have acted just right with Mr. Rowies ‘; .: A convulsive shudder passed a sag over Mary's slight form, and then she hid her face on Chocolate’s bosom, and the tears came fast and free. ‘Don’t cry, dear,” whispered Chocolate, soothing- ly 2S OO ’t help asking the question. But I t that you ought not to have to say to Mr. Stewart at all. It will only make both of you suffer.” “How could I tell that he would come? I have not seen him for as the girl murmured, be- tween her sobs. “I thought A ise 9 that he was dead. I told Mr. Stewart, too, that I could not be his wife when I saw that he was really in earnest. I could not help loving him; it was in my heart and I was not strong enough to crush it. I knew that our love was a , and that when I woke from it it would tear my heart terribly, but I could not help m b m the broken sentences, separated by so Chocolate guessed the girl’s secret. ini It was the old, sad story, that the warns us of, ‘“‘ Better be off with the old love before you are on with the new,” and so Chocolate w Mary’s ears, but the girl only replied with a sob, Chocolate pressed a little soft kiss on Mary’s pale lips and then left the room, CONMIE DOOLKSaEO) ————— ee