AN HOUR OF TERROR.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 200, 23 April 1887, Page 3

AN HOUR OF TERROR.

Wni'.x he had been t hoi o one week the boax*ding-house keeper -aid that he was one of the nicest, quielc-t youn«j men that she had ever had in her house. He had no complaints to make at ihe table, and he loft hife room so slick and clean that the chambermaid had suspicions that he was a woman in disguise. At the end of a month, rather than have him go, the landlady would have agreed to pm chase porterhouse steak once a week, and to leplace (he old iiiginhis room with a new one costing 1 iifty cents. The other night, however, her enthusiasm received a &et-back. One of the boarders came downstair and rcpoi ted that he had heard groans and .sighs and eui.ses fiom the quiet boarder's room. Three or four people tip-toed up, and after a bit they plainly caught his words : " Ouch ! Hang it ! Condemn it to Halifax, but it's killing me by inches ''' Then it was realised that the quiet man had some gieat sorrow on hib mind, and it was suspected that he was contemplating suicide. " Ooh !" he called out, "great hea\ens, but how I siifler i Why was I such a fool b» follow that villain's advice ?" He had probably taken poison, or was trying to diive a darning-needle to his heart. The "landlady thought of the coroner's inquest, the item in the papers and the question,-, the repoiter.s would ask, and she grew frantic. a "Hey, Smith -Mr Smith — you. Smith ! she called as she rapped on the door, " but what on earth i.s the matter ?" " Nothing '"' came the solemn answer, but as she put her ear to the keyhole she heard soft groans, and a whispeied voice saying :— " It's got to be done at any cost ! " Mr Smith," she continued, " don't you dare to commit suicide in my house ! if you do I'll have you sent to gaol for a year ! It wasn't flix months ago that a woman tried to poison herself in that very room, and I haven't got over the fright yet. Say you !" " Well," came the faint reply. " Have you taken poison ?" " No." There was an interval of silence while she put her ear to the keyhole, and pretty soon she heard the boarder gallop up and down and hiss between his clenched teeth : " Great Scots ! but what mortal man was ever called upon to suffer as I do ?" " Say !" she whispered as she turned to the boarders, " this door has got to be broken down without delay. That ungrateful man has taken rough-on-rats, and is determined to die on a bed which cost me over $20 last fall, saying nothing of a second-hand carpet which I traded a sewing machine for. Mr Green, kick open the door."

"If Green i8 there I'll let him in," announced Smith, and he opened a crevice just large enough to squeeze in. Then came a whispered consultation, followed by shouts of pain and terror, and Green came to the door with an object in his hand, and calmly said - " Ladies and gentlemen, it was simply a case of pulling off a porous plaster which he had worn tor six weeks. Please forgive him, for he'll never do so again."