The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1932-12-22, Page 6THURSDAY, DECEMBER .22,. 1932 THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE
Ohe Jfouse of breams
CL .
*
Orue
a!
CHAPTER XXX - murdering her ladyship—and
room door’s locked!”'The two men loitered to discuse Tjie man aini,cst babbled out
the points of a couple of young span- ,VQr(jg jn extremity of fear.
I “Theiels rollicking together on the grass, |
but Jean, eager to .see Claire, sniil-{ q'Ucker.”
ingly declined to wait for them, and,. ,<Mr
speeding on ahead, she mounted
short flight of steps leading to
Member of The Canadian Weekly
Newspaper Association
10c. per line,
50c. Legal ad-
8c. per line, in
one verse 50c,
each,
Office
Office
Closed
Professional Cards
CARLING & MORLEY
BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS, &c
LOANS, INVESTMENTS
INSURANCE
Office: Carling Block, Main Street.
EXETER, ONT.
At *Lucan Monday and Thursday
W QJtnieB-Aiiworair
Established 1&73 and 1887
Published every Thursday morning
. at Exeter, Ontario \
SUBSCRIPTION—$2,00 per yeaT In
advance.
RATES—Earni or Real Estate fo»
sale 50c. each insertion for tint
four insertions, .25 c, each subset
qpent insertion. Miscellaneous ar
ticles, To Rent, Wanted, Lost, or
Found 10c. per line of six words.
Reading notices
Card of Thanks
vertising 12 and
Memoriam, with
extra verses 25c,the u?v bonds was cut, dropped forward
in a dead faint into the former’s
the arms,
i A second procession wended its
Nick bearing the
“‘J.. _ Li' his
they’ve arms while Jean and a kindly-faced
■ housemaid followed.
“Her ladyship’s maid is out, miss”
“But perhaps
terrace door . , . Quick, way upstairs, 1
—Jean gasped out the order slight, unconscious figure, in
i.xx. Brennan’ls there . , .
i broken in the glass . . .” the-1 NOt waitiUg to hear the end ofterrace from the lower level of th® , the sentence Tucker bolted out *cf volunteered the girl.
lawns.
Facing her, as she reached the top
most step was a glass door, giving
entrance to Claire’s own particular
sanctum, which usually, in summer,
stood wide open to admit the soft,
warm ail* «
breathed out from a border of old- ______ ___ _ ____
fashioned flowers, sweet prim andt0 run aiyOtiier yar^
quaint, which encircled the base of; But )ier was working with
the house. abnormal calrity and swiftness. This
But today the door was shut and|Wag her ^Oing—hers! If she had
forbidding-looking, and Jean exper-1 not dissuaded Nick that day when
ienced a sudden sense of misgiving j jle jia^ prcpOsed taking Claire away
Supposing Claire chanced to be outj^^^ mm> aij this would never have;
just when she had arrived brimming j, happened . . . Claire would J
over with the hundred little femin-; jjeen s;1£e—safej But she had in-]
ine confidences that were to have terfered, clinging to her belief that
formed part of the “heart to heart j n3 rea] g.oo^ ever came by doing
talk! It would be too aggravating! ;iwrOng, and now her creed had fail-
Her eaged glance flew ahead,. jier utterly. Nick's resistance- of
searching the room's interior, clear-] temptation was culminating in a
ly visible through the wide glass, ghastly tragedy that might have;
panel of the door. Then, T ~
startled cry, s'
clapped against her lips to £
the involuntary exclamation of dis
may and terror that had leapt to
them.
The afternoon
in upon a picture
ror—a nightmare
could only have
macabre imagination of a madman.
In the middle of the room Claire
sat bound to a high-backed chair,
secured by cords which cut cruelly
across her slender body. Her face
had assumed a curious ashen shade,
and her eyes w’ere fixed in a numb
ed look of fascinated horror upon
the tall, angular form of her hus
band, which pranced in front of her
jerkily, like a marionette, while he
threatened her with a .revolver, his
thin lips, smiling cruelly, drawn
back from his teeth like those of a
snarling animal.
He was addressing her in a queer,
high-pitched tones that
thing inhuman about
echoing, empty souna
longer controlled by
brain.
“And you needn’t
that Mr. Brennan
whelmed with g
demise. He won’t—-te-he-he!”—he
gave a foolish, cackling laugh—“he
won’t have "time to miss you much!
I’ll attend to that—'I’ll attend to
that! There’ll be a second bullet
for your dear friend, Mr. Brennan.”
. . Crack! The sharp report
of a revolver shattered the summer
silence as Jean sprang forward and
wrenched at the handle of the door.
But it refused to yield. It had been
locked upon the inside!
Then, as the smoke cleared, away,
she saw that Claire was unhurt. Sir
Ardian had deliberately fired above
her head and was now rocking his
long, lean body to and fro in a prox-
ysm of horrible, noiseless mirth. Evi
dently he purposed to amuse himself
by inflicting the torture of suspence
upon his victim before he actually
murdered her, for Latimer had been t ing frbm the exertion of the recent
at one time an expert revolver shot,' struggle. “Get a rope of some sort!”
and, even drug-ridden as he had, Jean -turned the key and tore
■since become, he could not well have open the door leading into the hall,
missed his helpless target by acci* The little flock of servants gathered
dent. | outside it overflowed into the room,
Claire’s head had fallen back, but frightened and excitedly inquisitive,
no merciful obliyion of unconscious
ness had come to her relief,
mouth was a little open and the
breath came in short, quick gasps
between her grey lips. Her face away from the main body and ran
looked like a mask, set in a blank frantically in search of the requir-
stupor of horror. | ed cord, glad to be of use, and very
The sound of the shot brought soon Sir Adrian, bound as humanely
Blaise and Nick racing
side,
door sufficed them.
“God in heaven! He’s gone mad!*
Nick’s voice was quiclc with fear for
the woman he
“Get Tucker
Blaise swift
her as hd and
sent Jean flying along the tetrace aS
fast as feet winged with unutterable
tefroj* could carry her. As she ran,
&he heard the crash of splintering
glass as the two men she had left
behind -smashed iu the panel of the
lacked door, and, almost, simultan
eously, Sir Adrian’s pistol barked
again—another shot, and then a
third in quick Succession,
The sound seemed to wring every
nerve in her body. Blaise . , . had
that mndffian shot him?
With sobbing breath she rushed
blindly on into the house, and met
the butler, running too, white faced
and horror-stricken.
“My Rod, miss! Sir Adrian’s
the hall and along the terrace, while i can help?"
Jean leaned up against the doorway, Jean smiled at her, the- frank,
drawing long, shuddering breaths i friendly smile that always won for
that seemed actually to tear their < way through her throat and yet*
. brought no relief to the agonized j and the fragrant scents ttmdding^ of her heart. For the*
■.moment she was physically unable
GLADMAN & STANBURY
BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS, &o.
Money to Loan, Investments Made
Insurance
Safe-deposit VaulLfor use of our
Clients without charge
EXETER LONDON ' HENSALJL
her the eager, willing service of man
and maid alike.
“I’m sure you can,” she said
gently. “As soon as we can bring
her ladyship around, you shall help
me undress her and put her to bed.”
In a few minutes Claire recovered
consciousness, but she was horribly
shaken and distraught, crying and
clinging to Jean or to the housemaid
—'who was almost crying, too, out
of sympathy—like a child frighten-
have' ed of the dark.
Jean, understanding just what was
needed, shepherded Nick to the door
of the room, where he lingered un
happily, his anxious gaze still fixed
on the .slender, shrinking figure on
the couch.
■ =------ --•=—•> —.........o............“Don’t worry, Nick,” she^said re-™* JJ,been avoided. To Jean it seemed in assuringly. “She’ll be all right; it’s
, ...... —............. — — ------- --- Uiily reaction. But I know whatstine faning in rujns about her. ' She wants—she wants a real mother-
with apprehension, she al- person. Go down and ring up Lady
the Anne, will you, and ask her to come
and, over in the car as, quickly, as she
can.’
Nick nodded; the idea commend-
_His “pale golden
she halted, her hand ^iat moment as if her world was only c<F Titacs + n c?Hf1£ a - » . < :
sunshine slanted
of grotesque hor-
coneeption that
sprung from the
Of
a
had some
th eml—Ithe
a voice no
reasoning
worry about
will be
;rief at your early
;—-te-he-he! ”—■]
over-
Sick
most reeled out again into
l mocking |sunnner sunlight,
running as fast as the convulsive
throbbing of her heart would let ___ _____,
her, regained the far end of the ter-'ed itse'f to him. "
race and peered through the door narcissus,” so nearly oroKen, would
that led into Claire’s room.
It’s great panes were shattered.
Jagged teeth and spikes of glass
stuck out from the wooden frame-!
work, while here and there, depen-1 when Lady Anne arrived and quiet
dent from them, were bits of cloth ly and efficiently took command of
torn from the men’s coats as they affairs. And there was sore need
had scrambled tlirouga. for her unruffled poise and capabil-
Within the rnom Jean could dis-*ity throughout the night that fob
cern a confused hurly-burly of sway- lowed,
ing, writhing
Nick and the butler strugglin'
overpower Sir
fighting "them with all the cunning
and the amazing strength of mad
ness. From beyond came the clam
our of people battering uselessly at
the door, the shrill, excited voices
of the frightened servants who had
collected in the hall outside the
room.
For a few seconds Jean __ - — -
in doubt—wondered widly wheth- strong cords with which ;Sir Adrian’s1 world in which he had been able to
er Sir Adrian would succeed ‘ ~ .
breaking away from his capt-ors.1 ______________
Then she saw Nick’s, foot shoot out oughly exhausted him, and he lay,
propped- up with pillows, apparently
in a state of stupor, breathing very
feebly.
“Heart,” the doctor told Tormar-
in after hevhad made a swift exam
ination.
that Sir Adrian might go out at any
moment. His
impaired, and, of course, he’s drug
ged for yea.rs.
little, but if, as I think is highly
t probable, there’s any recurrence "of
I the brain disturbance—<wfiy, he’ll
no't live -through a second paroxysm.
The heart won’t stand it.”
Tormarin endeavoured to look ap
propriately shocked. But the doc
tor was a man and an honest one,
and not even professional etiquette
prevented his adding, with a jerk of
his head in the direction of
bedroom:
“It would be a merciful
ance for tjiat pool* little
be safe indeed with the kind, com
forting arms of his mother about
her.
JIt was an intense relief to Jean
IfiyuTesi—Bllaise and j
_ g to
Adrian, who was
'Claire, nervous and utterly un
strung, slept but little, waking con
stantly with a cry of terror as in
imagination she. relived the ordeal
of the afternoon, while in the big
bedroom across the landing, where
her husband lay, the grim shadow
of death itself was drawing momen
tarily closer.
By the time the d-octoi' had arriv-
• ed in answer to the summons sent,
was there seemed small need for the
j :L — w ,, - — — . - —
1D, limbs- were bound. The wild fury
of the afternoon’s struggle had thor-
suddenly like the piston-rod of an
engine, and Sir Adrian staggered |
and came crashing down to his
knees. The other two closed in up
on him swiftly, and a minute later
he was lying prone on his back with
the three men holding him down by
main force-.
With difficulty avoiding the pro
truding pieces of glass, Jean stepped
into the room. Her first thought was
for Claire, who now hung helpless
and unconscious against the bonds
that held her. But Blaise very
speedily directed her attention to
something of more urgent impor
tance for the moment. j
“Unlock that door,” he called to,
her. Quick!” He .was still pant-
!
“Get some cord, one of you,” com-
Her manded Jean authoratively. “Any
thing will do if it’s strong.”
Two' or three of the servants broke
to Jean’s as his struggles rendered possible,
One glance through the glass was borne to his own. room and laid
I .upon the bed.
< “Ring up the doctor,’.’ ordered
Blaise, as he assisted in the rather
difficult .process oh conveying Sir
Adrian upstairs. “Tell him to come
to Charnwood as quickly as he can
get here.” And another little band
of domestics flew off to carry out
his bidding. The under footman
won the race for the telephone by a
good half-yard, and, in a voice which
fairly twittered with the agitating
and amazing news he had to impart,
transmitted the message to the d°c“
tor’s pariour-maid at the other end
of the wire, adding a few pictures
que and Stimulating details concern
ing the struggle which had just tak
en place-—and which, apparently, ho
had perceived with the eye of faith
through the
locked door,
■ Meanwhile
turned their
leasing Claire, who, as the last of
loved.
at once!”
com, it and, flung at
Nick leaped forward
tvooden panels of
Nick and Jean
attention towards
the
had
re-
“I’ve known for. months
heart was already
He may recover a
Claire’s
deliver
woman
■There’s a strain of madness in' the
Latimers, you know. And’T—With
a shrug—'“naturally Sir Adrian’s
habits have accentuated it in his
own case.”
But the doctor was wrong in his
calculations. Sir Adrian’s consti
tution was stronger than he estim
ated. As Nick had once bitterly
commented to Jean, the man was
like a piece of steel wire, and two
dreadful outbreaks of maniacal fury
had to be endured before the
began to weaken,
During the course of the
paroxysm it Was all the four
could do to restrain, him from
ing from the bed and rushing out
of the room, since,' during the per
iod of quiescence which had pro
ceded the doctor’s arrival, a mistak
en feeling of humanity had dictated
the loosening’ of the cords which
bound him.
He fought ahid screamed, uttering
the most horrible imprecations, and
his evil intent towards the woman
who Was his wife was unmistakable.
With
Will,
been
In
ceeded this outbreak Sir Adrian was
again secured, as mercifully as pos
sible, from any possibility of doing
his wife a mischief, and the second
paroxysm which convulsed the bojind
wire
first
men
leap
her husband free to work his
Claire',s life would- not have
worth a moment’s purchase,
the period of coma that sue-
Dr. G. S. Atkinson, L.D.S.,D.D.S.
DENTAL SURGEON
opposite the New Post Office
Main St.. Exeter
Telephones
34w House 84)
every Wednesday (all day)
until further notice.
pr. G. F, Roulston, L.D.S.,D.D.Sj
dentist 'V
Office: Carling Block ■
EXETER, ONT.
Closed Wednesday. Afternoon „
and shackled madman was very ter
rible to witness.
Like its predecessor, this
was followed by a stupor,
which Sir Adrian appeared
dead than alive.
He was palpably weaker,
atives failing to produce any ap
preciable effect, and towards morn
ing, in those chill, small hours when
the powers of the body languish and
fail, the
spirit of
!
attack;
during
more
restor-
crazed and lialf-tormeted
Adrian Latimer quitted a
none of those things that
which has soaked up all it
simply can’t absorb any
anything. You must let
time for the past to eva-
ft
perceive
are just and pure and lovely and of
good report, but only distrust and
malice, and finally black hatred.
A fortnight had come and gone.
Sir Adrian’s body had been laid to
rest in. Coombe Eavie churchyard,
and Claire, in the simplest of wi
dow’s weeds, went about
looking rather frail and
with a fugitive light of
on her face that ;was a
rejoicing to those who -loved her.
‘ -She made no pretense at mourn
ing -the man who had turned her
life into a living hell for nearly three
years and who had stood like a gaol
er betwixt her and the happiness
which might have been hers had she
been free. But the conventions, as
well as her own feelings, dictated
that a decent interval must elapse
before she and Nicik! could be mar
ried and this would be for her a
quiet period dedicated to the read
justment of her whole attitude to
wards life.
The length of that period was the
subject of considerable discussion.
Nick protested that six months was
amply long enough to wait—too
long, indeed!—but Claire herself
seemed disposed to prolong her wi
dowhood into a year.
“It isn’t in the least because I
feel I owe it to Adrian,” she said
in answer to Nick's" protest. “I
don’t consider that I owe him any
thing at all. But I feel so battered,
Nick, so utterly tired1 and weary af
ter the perpetual struggle of the
last three years that I dbn’t want to
plunge suddenly into the new duties
of a new life'—'not .even into new
happiness. It’s difficult to make
you Understand, but I feel just like
once more
worn but
happiness
source of
a .sponge
I can and
i more of
me have
porate a bit.
But it required' the addition of a
few comnronsense observations on.
the part of Lady Anne to drive the
nail home.
“Claire is quite right, Nick,” she
told him. “She Is temporarily
worn out—mentally, physically and
spiritually spent. Her nerves have
been kept at their utmost stretch
off and on for years, and now that
release has come they’ve collapsed
like a fiddle-string when the- 'peg
that holds it taut is loosened. You
must give her time to recover, to
key herself up to normal pitch again
'At present she isn’t fit to face even
the demands that -big happiness
brings in its train.”
(To be continued)
DR. E. S. STEINER
VETERINARY SURGEON
Graduate of the Ontario Veterinary
College
DAY AND NIGHT
CALLS PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO
Office in the old McDonell Barn
Behind Jones & May’s Store
EXETER, ONT.
JOHN WARD
CHIROPRACTIC, OSTEOPATHY,
ELECTRO-THERAPY & ULTRA
VIOLET TREATMENTS
PHONE 70
, EXETERMAIN. ST.,
i
SAINTSBURY
meeting of the St. Patrick’s A.
Y. P. A. was held on December 6.
The meeting opened with hymn 783
followed by prayer. The minutes of
the last meeting were read1 and
adopted., lousiness was discussed.
The program consisted of lecture by
Gerald Godfo-olt; readings by Mar
jorie Isaac and Helen Dickens; vio
lin selections by Mr. Parsons, Utah
Wennerstraum, and Heber Davis ac
companied1 by Maurice McDonald on
the piano after which games were
played.
A
ARTHUR WEBER
-LICENSED AUCTIONEER
For Huron and Middlesex
. FARM SALES A SPECIALTY
Brices reasonable
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Phone 57-13 Dashwood
R. R. NO. 1, DASHWOOD
FRANK TAYLOR
LICENSED AUCTIONEER
For Huron and Middlesex
, FARM SALES A SPECIALTY
Prices Reasonable and Satisfacti^i
Guaranteed,
EXETER P. O. or RING 138
Who can remember the good old
days when every man, woman and
boy in Exeter knew h-ow to hitch up
a horse?
INSURANCE
LIFE, ACCIDENT & HEALTH
When Studying your future Life,
Income or Tension program, consult
ELMO RICHARDS
Representing
METROPOLITAN LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY
EXETER, BOX 277
OSCAR KLOPP
LICENSED AUCTIONEER
Honor Graduate Carey Jones’ Auc
tion School, Special Course taken
in Registered Live Stock (all breeds)
Merchandise, Real Estate, Farm
Sales, Etc. Rates in keeping with
prevailing prices. Satisfaction as
sured, write Oscar Klopp, Zurich, ot
phone 18-93, Zurich, Ont.
Suffered From Hbbdaclies
and Bad Bilious Attacks
Mrs. R. ,E. Kavanaugh, Black’s
Harbor. N.B., writes:—"For years I
Suffered from headaches and bad
bilious attacks. • ,
I tried several kinds of medicine,
but none of them seemed to do me
any good. <
, a ^find. advised me to use
Milburn’s Laxa-Livcr I3ills, and they
proved to be just the remedy I re**
quired.”
MlLBOkX^,
‘j
'isfesss
Co,
For .®al9 & a11 druS general stores; put up only by The T. Milburn
Toro ti to* Onfi<
USBORNE & HIBBERT MUTUAL
FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
Head Office, Farquhar, Ont*
President FRANK McCONNELL
Vice-Pres. ANGUS SINCLAIR
DIRECTORS
I* T, ALLISON, SAM’L NORRIS
SIMON DOW,' WM, H. COATES.
AGENTS '
JOHN ESSERY, Centralia, Agbht
for Usborne and Blddulph
ALVIN HARRIS; Munro,. Agent
for Fullarton and Logan
THOMAS SCOTT; Cromarty, Agent
fbr Hibbert
W. A. TURNBULL
Secretary-Treasurer
Box 295, Exeter, Ontario
GLADMAN & STANBURY
Solicitors. Exeter