| Show 4 I THE WAYS j YS f WOMEN J y f t SKETCH Lx J 4 F ETCH B Zoe Zoc Anderson Norris c 1 T WAS the middle gt of 41 the night Bight and IT past There was an a l awful scream There was the sound of a ri dull sicken sickening sickening ing lug thud as if a body had fallen faUe Then silence silencer I r sprang up In the dark and listened What I heard was the voices of If the two girls in the room next to tomine tomine tomine mine They seemed to be crying Perhaps someone was trying to kill them Perhaps taken with sudden fury they were trying tr ing to kill each other Ordinarily OrdInarily Ordinarily they were exceedingly affectionate for sisters but anything might happen j in the middle of the night I threw on a kimono rushed to my door unlocked It ran into the hall hail and knocked at their door Who ho are you Ou they questioned In sepulchral tones muffled with fear and the little one added in a hoarse whisper w sper Are you a burglar Not that anybody an body knows of oC I replied It is I J It is I J and I revealed my name They carefully opened the door wide enough to disclose two disheveled heads and four brightened blue eyes extraordinarily extraordinarily distended for that time tune of night What ht wart it In they the gasped Leaving the girls I went to the banisters and looked over I saw a procession vari varl variously variously and alarmingly clad dad forming at the She foot of the stairs Most of them were w re women omen They were headed by a woman t the landlady tall and and large larg Sh s approached and passed As Ast t she passed I heard her say This is where we need ne the help of a I man num and I 1 thought that in spite of her br sloe and strength and height her voice had bad a tremble in it it indicative of fright At the same samo moment there came down from the upper region a tall man s ly b clad in a bath robe of fantastic stripes S corded tightly about his wearing apparel of the night I am here re be he said and as he strode along with the wavering siota swathed In garments of oC every possible hue and variety ghostly in the halt half light from the gas in the hail it seemed to me the a 8 very manly thing indeed for aim to say in that protecting tone of or voice coke O of J f I 1 1 re j a Its jh man a in n ih t room third wt h l floor whispered a voice olce from from below belo He Iii grabbed his hia Daughter held her in the air airas airas airas as high as he could could and let lot her falL That was the tho thud we heard hoard It was a crazy thing to do I ventured What was the matter with him himI I tI think he le must have had a or two too many came from another voice olae high up this time Then he got mad at her about something No matter how bow mad he got at her ho he had no right fight to kill her objected another Had he heA heA heA A head hood bobbed over the banister His wife ife naturally took up for her daughter said the voice olce belonging longing to it then he ran at her with the scissors and tried to put her eyes out It was then then that ne e girl screamed bloody murder declared a 8 third and rand roused the house houseAs houseAs houseAS As a matter of fact came a still sUllo small voice in a tiny whisper whisper the ge general eral opinion Is that he was trying his level best to kill them both warned a chorus of voices and hushing we listened A gruff voice held forth angrily in ex ox explanation explanation Throughout this explanation e were sprinkled words which In expurgated e expurgated pur gated editions are arl either rendered by a adash adash adash dash or left out altogether These words were supplemented 5 now and again by the tones of the landlady firm determined clean Presently a door opened open d and steps came along the upper hall hail They descended and the crowd made way They Th y were the steps stops of or the Ute disturber of ot the peace and those of or Sirs Lars Roth Be fore her walked this disturber rb r a thick short man with a square face faca and mur derous blue eyes Three feet back of or the two stalked the tallman taU man of the bathrobe who had said I 1 am here The three moved down the steps along the lower hall hail and a few moments more saw the tho closing of the Ut front door on the thick short man and the locking of it I with the others gathered around the landlady ly What was the matter we begged to know He was angry wIth them both poUl both about something or other she 1 I t make mak what At A afrate rate he liE was avid Y to m thE best d Jl to n m it t an untimely earl ena to ta their existence s S Go to vow ow all aU of ot you iou and go bO to ta bee bed ea On the following fallowing morning the wife offs and daughter aughter appeared at atthe the breakfast table as is ordinarily Their lr lids were red but the tranquil resignation of their look and manner somehow left the impression that tha t the experience of th the night before had no not been an unusual one ip their eventful his histories hIstories histories tories Time passed The e affair blew over oer I Iwas It t was forgotten almost t tAfter After some two weeks we ks or three however rumors commenced vaguely to circulate in regard to a strange roomer who arrived arrive d late and left early Belated boarders met him on the stair Those who rose betimes encountered him himat himat hi hiat m at the door or standing on the pavement t immediately outside with wIt the tha air of hav hay having havIng ing lag just arrived though in the depths of o f their inner consciousness they the were quite quit convinced that he had only just left lett At length there came reports to the effect that his voice had been heard ing lag from the room occupied by the wit wife and daughter who had so narrowly es escaped escaped escaped being massacred on the eventful night right of the scream and the dull dun sicken ing In thud Collecting together we e the doors and held a private consultation Describe him commanded one of the th girls of nobody in lar He is short and broad and thick be began began b gan gas one ane with a large square face and a I murderous blue eyes ey that glitter The girl raised nor her own blue eyes e es to the th ceiling in an attitude of apparent cation Great heaveRs heavens above she cried Its It the Ule husband and father Would you think throwing two impetuous hands hanc ha wide apart anti ant clasping them convulsive ly that after he had tried his level best i ito to kill them they would smuggle him beck back again Did you ever she queried further for f her question had bad received no reply rep hear of or such a thing in n all the e days o of your life The man of the bathrobe was standing by t the mantelpiece matel smoking a cigarette Though he wore the clothing common to t the ordinary o citizen dUz he still stilt went t by bj t the name DUine of the man of the ba ba baYes Tes Yes he answered m tn y ana ui many i h 4 time me I have heard beard of It over again Then flipping the ash from ills his cigarette he be added in explanation Its the way of women |
