Rushing to the window, I tore
down with one sweep of my arm both coat and shawl, and with a start
discovered that the window still possessed its draperies in the shape
of a pair of discolored and tattered curtains tied with ribbons that
must once have been brilliant and cheery of color.
Nor was this the only sign in the room of a bygone presence that had
possessed a taste for something beyond the mere necessities of life.
On the grim coarsely papered wall hung more than one picture; cut
from pictorial newspapers to be sure, but each and every one, if I may
be called a judge of such matters, possessing some quality of
expression to commend it to a certain order of taste. They were all
strong pictures. Vivid faces of men and women in daring positions; a
hunter holding back a jaguar from his throat; a soldier protecting
his comrade from the stroke; and most striking of all, a woman lissome
as she was powerful, starting aghast and horror stricken from--what?
I could not tell; a rough hand had stripped the remainder of the
picture from the wall.
A bit of candle and a half sheet of a newspaper lay on the floor. I
picked up the paper. It was a Rutland Herald and bore the date of two
days before. As I read I realized what I had done. If these daring
robbers were not at this very moment in the house, they had been
there, and that within two or three days.
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