HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1888-10-17, Page 2UNLIKE..
By M. E. BR.A.1)DON,
AVTIT.O.0 OV 11 LADY AT/Dr./WS SEORET," "WLAB'S WEIRD, .ETO,, LTD.
CHAPTER XLIII,—" LET Ma BE YOUR.
SERVANT."
Valeetine %hada did not go to the Great
Westere Hoed after he left the home
;he Liston Grove. tie we,e too deeply agitat-
ed to go ceutetly beck to his hotel, and eat a
good tupper end drluk a bottle ot wiee and
ge to bed and that, knew that sleep
was. 'impossible, unless he could tiring io
about by sheer fatigue, o.s ho had done when
he waked from the Abbey to Bideford raid
had atept the sleep of exhumed= in the.
bottom of the little galling boat His only
chemee towdeht wes be welk down the devil
of rest/eseuese thtit was in him ; so he twin-
ed his fece northward and walked to Htmp-
stead, and then etruck off towards Finchley
laad Hendon, and roamed about emong fields
end With all night, aidl ali aevea o mock,
breelifeeted at a little pabho-heuie by the
side of e camel, semen -here between Finehley-
road and Oktild'is HU. lt was a home
chiefly affected by bargemen, and noboly
took say particelar uotice of bine the bar-
row -id merely remerklog that in all pro lability
he was a swell who had been on the &bait
last night, and haci been walking about to
sober himself. He was sober enough this
morning evidoutly, and Was proof against
all the berinaid'a blaudlehments, though she
bad taken the treuble to take her hair out of
papers toroth she wended him his breakfast
eage and bacon and strong tea.
Ile had eaten nothing yesterday except
the dainty little plate ef bread arid bunter
supplied by Madge, and he was feint and
sick from the unaccustomed list.
He fell asleep by the fire in the public -
hones parleur, slept through the ent anew;
and exite of gaiters" relays of bargemen, slept
amidst the odetw of beer and the jingle of
pewter pots, dozed on till the afternoon,
and then pedd hie scare and went away. He
made Me way aoross the field a to the Edg-
ware -road, and thence to Liston Grove,
where he went i into a alopseller's Shop and
bought a complete euit of such clothes as
are worn by the lower order of working
men—an Oxford shirt, corduroy trousere,
ftt3ti4o jecket, and holenolled boots. He
changed his clothes ou the premises, and re
appeared ie. Leon Grove in corduroy and
•ftian, leaving his own things to be kept
ttIl called for. The ahopmina wondered not
a little at tide transformation.
as window -cleaners, To -night Too een take
a holiday, but on future eveaings we oan
give you some pertinanthip to do for us, let-
tere to charitable p3ople who help us.
What must we call you, by -the -bye ? You
have a seeond Christian name I ehink
" Yes. I was christened John Valex,tine
but I was alstems called by the seconcl mane,
because ray mother preferred it."
" Then here we will call you John."
She began toprepare the tea, as sho had
done ou the previous evening, and two of
the sisters came in to fetch the traya fnr
their patients. One was an elderly woman,
the other a girl of two -and -twenty, a pale
gentle looking creature, with a wistful ex-
pression in her lerve blue eyes.
Madge introduced V alentine to theta as
Mr. John, a person who in the outelde world
had been a gentleman, but who offered him-
aelf to them as a servant,
" If all the sisters approve, I think we
may keep him here and had him very use -
fol.," the said. "La the meantime he will
stay her for to -night, and he can help you
both in oerrying round the cord- ecutties
after tea."
Sister Agnes, the fair girl,. sat down to
tea wish Madge and Velennne. She had
a slightly nervous manner, and spoke rarely
but Velentine was interested in her appear
arum, and luquired her history by•and-bye.
when she had gone back to her dutiee on
the upper floor.
" Her s is a sad story. She belongs to
very ritei people, and three years iago her
Ufe 7/aS a round of gaiety. She fell in love
with an atary doctor, and her family were
all opposed to the metah, and made her
break off her ongragement. He ;went to
Egypt and was killed in the Sudan. She
heard c,f his death unexpectedly from her
partner at a dance, -and for six months
afterwards she was out of her mind. When
she recovered, nothing would iuducedher to
reeume her old life of fine clothes and par-
ties, nothing would iaduoe her to hear of
another lover. She devotes her life to
charitable work, and all the money her
father gives her is given to the poor. Ho is
very liberal bo her, although he disapprove
of her way of life. She Epends only one
clay of every week ia this hoate, but she
works for us out of doors, going about the
the streets at night, and talking to wretch-
ed women whom few girls of her age would
ohoeen to clime there, antl she bed not
denied him shelter, She had taken upou
herself he some wise the responsibility ef his
existence, since she had spoken of him to
the bistere; and now she felt Otat his pies -
'mete there would be e constaut Penne of
anxiety and neeetel disturbance. She would
leave to be perpetuelfy on herguard, forever
denying a Mem whielt was the strongeat
paseion of 1 er life, It had been in her
A
despair at resigning hire that she bad gone
upon her miselen to her mother. All that
she had done for others bad been the
off shoot of her desoking love for hien.
And uow ue offer td hintselt to her in honour,
and ehe refused him.
"11 I give wee to hi. fancy he will forget
all the paet, and hie repentance will become
a ntockery," she said to herself. "I cannot
stand in the etlace of his dead was I
cannot profit by his crime. How could
ever be at pettee remembering that it
was murder thee eet him free to be my
husband ?'
CHAPTER XLIV.—Is WERE NO BAIA( us
GILEAD t
The Coroner was a portly gentleman of
sixty-five, who had fulfilled all the duties of
geueral prectitiener in Medford and tht
surrounding villages for upwards of thirty
years, andetho had retired on a comfortable
fortune mule pettly by his profestion, and
partly dy fortuntte investments in triodes*
%etre branches a ed loops of the greet railway
system, which Led developed into important
lines. He bad bought for himself an testate
of forty odd Benet o foxoellent pasture land
between the Chad and the shoulder of the
moor, and he hitel built for himself one of
those essentially Philistine houses, of the
streaky bacon order of architecture, which
are the delight of men who make their feta
tunes in country towns. Altogether, Mr.
Mapleson was a very worthy person; and
when the office ot Ooroner became vannat
his name appeare1 at the head ot the
poll. Mr. Mapleson's study was a
a small square apartment, furnished with
red morocco -bound books of reference), a
whip rack, and a lormidable row of boots,
which imparted an odour of Day and Mir-
tia, to the atmosphor n Into this somewhat
prosaic chamber, Me, notte, otherwise Mark-
ham, the detective, w es ushered by the man.
of -all -work, alieta butler, on the morning of
the discovery ie the Abbey river; and in the
briefest phraseclogy ne teld what had hap-
pened, and his own conclusions therefrom.
"You thiak it is a case ot murder," said
M. Mthpleson, biting the end of his pen.
• "It cen be nothing else. There is a cm. -
pet rolled round the body, and fastened with
a silk handkerchief. Nothing has been
touched since the remains were Lifted out of
"It's a lark," answered. Mr. betfield, as have the courage to approach. That fragile the water; tne colours In the carpet are die
ir
he walked out of the shop. lookieg woman has penetrated the darkest tinguithable, and the string of silk round t
" Well,1 mush of that I never laid eyes alleys about Clare Market, the most danger-
is evidently a large neck handkerchief.
on a less larky lochang genet° be up to such ous streets in Ratoliff Highway, where even There co.0 be very little doubt that the body
Wan
move aa that," Bele.; eer
the yoursg aelite, the police go at the risk of their limes. She thrown into the water after dentin"
to his fellow ellopmem, as he put Mr. has never sreffered any harm, has hardly
field's clothes away. ever been inealted by a ooarse word. Site
" There's s. hely at the bottom of it, I has done more good than any other member
make no doribt, Beni:min," replied the of our sisterhood, although all have worked
other, ditinissieg the subjectwhich remark well."
was more accurate than speculative obser- "She eau take your place when you
vettons are wont to be. have gone to the other side of the world,
It was dusk when Me B dfield rang the Madge."
bell at the Folorue Hope. Madge opened Madge abook her head with a sweet,
the door and dal not reaogrise him, as he serious look, full of tenderness.
stood facing her 41ently ; with his back to " thell never leave my work, Mr. Bel.
the light. field. I heve given myself to it as much as
" What do you want, my good men ?" if I had taken a vow. 1 am very sorry for
"1 want to be your servant, as I told you you I would do much to befriend you or to
last night." be of use to you, but I have put my hand
Mr. Belfield, why are you still hanging to the plough, and I shall never take it
about here ?" cried Madge, in an agonized eatety."
tone. "This is sheer madness. Valentine got up and began to ince the
"I believe Itis next door to madness," room. fuming.
answered 'V aleutine following her int e the " It is madness," he excleime d • "a
parlour, "but it is madness that only you women's crazt. Only a woman would ever
can cure. There's no use in my going abroad think of such n thing. Are there not hos-
aclie,e, without 5 ou. I should only carry pitals for sick woolen ?"
my guilty conscience and my misery with "There are hoepitals for diseme, but
me, go where I might—Africa, Asia, the there are no hospitals for the weak and
North Pole—it would be all the name to rue. ailing, there are very few refuges for faint -
There is no place eo strauge, no rfe so wil 1 ing sinuers. There are plenty of orphanages
end full ef danger, excitement, eccupetion, or the epotleas children, but there are few
that would meke me forget, so long as 1 1 avtns for the gir:s lost in the dawn of
were alone. You have the power to comfort gittlhood. Christ loved the innocent children
me. You have the power to ley the ghost and called them to his knees; but he had
thee atante me.. you alone een ton rne inexhanetible pity for the fallen women."
that I have repented and have expiated my "50 be it. You have set the bell rolling.
sin. Yon have the faith that moves moua. You have begun the work. Others can
tains, and by your faith I may be saved. carry it on."
Leave me to myself and I shall perish invit- I will not leave it to others.
ably. Tnere is no help, no cure, but "You can continue your good work ip
through you." the Antipodes. You will find sin in the
it You are mad," she said. " "Yes., it is new weeld as well as in the old. There is
all madness. I have a good work to do hare r.o colony so recently founded that Satan
and I cannot leo void " has not helped to people it. Come, Madge,
"Let me etay here then, and work for be reasonable. Three years ago you spurn -
you. That is what I have come for; to be ad me becamse I dared to approach you as a
your drudge, your slave; to be what Calibeu seducer. You did well, and I deserved
was to Prospero. I am dres.sed for the your contempt. New I come to you in all
part, you see. You will find how handy 1 honout ; ',offer yoa ell I have to give—my
can make myself, cleaning windows arid name, my life, my fortune, such as it is. I
scrubbing flag -atones, doing worn that you amto inherit all my mother's property, and
and, the sisters cannot do, with all your I shah not be e, poor man. I come to you
willingness to tell. And in bad CaS438, when with a blemished lite, stained with one hour
a patient wants watching at night, I min do of darkest sin. But I am not altogether
my part as a wet:It-clog. Yon don't know vile. I have repented that fatal hour in
whet I coal be under your transformitg the long ogony of months. I duall. repent
power. Madge, I have no friend in the it all my lite. Only you can make that life
world but you.8 tolerable; only you wen heal my womids.
"You haat your mother:, a nearer and 139 my wife, Madge; take me with all my
dearer friend." sins.'
"No. To my mother my life ha a been a She held out her hand to him as he stop -
lie. She only hi my friend who knows my reed in his pacing to and fro' and they re-
sin and my repentance. Let me stay here, maenad for some momentssilent, with
Madge, and when I leave the country, go olasped hands, he looking down at her, his
with me as my guardirineaaagel and my eyes kindling as he looked; she was very
wife. Test the truth of my repentance, if pale and her lips slightly tremulous.
you will, before you fillet me. See how " Yeti love me, Madge," he said breath -
changed a creature 1 here become. Howell lessly ; "yon can forget all for my sake."
that is vilest in my nature has been purged . "1 am very sorry tor you," she answered
out of it by the horrer of my secret sin. softly, "bub I have done with individual
Test me to the nttermest as your servant, love. I have givemmy heart and life to my
before you accept me as your husbend," sorrowing tigers."
Madge begau to waver. He who was "Ib is a craze, Madge; I Cay again it is
pleading to her knew not how urgently her a craze."
own heart was pleading for hew fondly "You have not seen the good done—you
the loved him even in his degradation, have not seen the altered faced There are
malted with the shedding of blood. women now in happy honest homes whom
"1 believe it wool 1 he for your own gaffe we have picked up out of the gutter. If
ty to leave England inetantly," she said. you Were to see one young wife I know of,
"There 10 no knowing when danger may with her husband and her baby, you would
arise, but if yea are bent upon etetying in not believe there had ever been a stain
this home and helping re in our wodk, 1 on her life. He took her, knowing what her
will talk to the sisters and see what cen bo pest had been, 6.nd he hat oherished her as
dove. Our fortnightly committee meeting a pearl of price. Tncee are rare cases; but
will be held to morrow afternoon and meet they ere bright spots whith cheet us
of the sieters will be here. If they comma
to yaw being employed here—as a eervant
—I Lave no obi -mien. There is re I We.
room on this floor rbt the end of the passage,
Which you might have as a bedroom, it is
email and rather dark, but ib is dry and ivell
vent:late d."
"Give me any acu, Any °e)1," said Valeta.
tine. "Da eon think I care how lam lod-
ged. I want to be neer you, Madge. I
viantto feel the support of your presence.
That ie all I
" Yott mutt not cell me Madge. here. I
am Salter trgaret."
You shall be Sister Margaret, until you
are who ,Margaret. And now order me
About, let me begin my eleven,. Give me
areywork there is to be done.'
"1 doh% thielt there 18 aeythitig you tan
do tootight, but you shall clean all the win.
dievalownetrove, if you. like. Oar wiade
have always been an efilletion te nit. We
have done one bale bet wohlen are not good hopeleasnete of the eituatioil, no luta ghee the tommiseleni of hts crime. Atgilieg
The rerneins are not in a condition to
be identified, I conclude.'
"No. Time and the river have done
heir work of destruction only too well.
There rimy ba only means of identification,
rings and trinketa ef some kind. The re-
mains have not been touched more than was
absolutely necessary in carrying them from
the river to the dead -house, where they ere
waiting for the medical examination.
"And you are in a position to &them that
this Is the body of Mrs. Belfield 2"
"I am in a position to affirm as much,
awl I hope to be able to prove by circum-
stantial evidence that her husband murdered
her, and threw her dead body into the river
between midnight and morning on the 19 oh
of August. Bub I will not trouble you with
any farther details. The inquest, which
yon are to hold tomorrow, will, I hope, be
adjourned so as to glee time for inveetiga-
tion. edi I have done hitherto has been
done in tbe d wk. Many more details will
doubtless come to light when the fact of the
murder has been made nubile."
"Poor Ledy Belfield," sighed the Coroner.
"Do you knee that I had the honour of
attending the femily at the Abbey for thirty
years. 1 remember the preeent Lady Bel-
field when her husbind brought her home as
a bride. She was alovely woman then. She
is a lovely woman now, lovely in mind as
well as in person. Thiel business will break
her heart."
"I fear it will go hard with her."
"She adores her younger son. nave
seen her agony when he has been laid up
with some childish ailment. All her world
was he that tack bed. And to Se° hina ao-
cused of znurdwr Mr. Markham, if you are
deluded, if you have not ample justification
for the course you are taking, yon will be
much to blame. "
"My juatification will be shown at the
inquest. There must be an iequeet."
"Yes, that is inevitable. I wish, with
all my heart, Mr. Markham, yoa had never
had that river dragged,"
"Then you would have had 0,71 undated -
ea murderer in your xi:debit."
"Batter that perhaps, than that a good
women's heart should be broken."
tett
etweentw etweetwer--wee
, , •
wait himself thne, Mr, Melnotte enppoted iS Of your mother I have been thinking, Adrie
that he would have very little diffieulty in an, Owe I heard of this clismovert Rovv
putting his baud upon the Waging man, Re yrill it effeet her 1"
went atraight from the •Great Western to "How can it affeet herl 1 cannot ese--"
Scotland Yard, secured an assistant offia,d, Adrien began helplessly,
maimed a hamsom by the hour, and started "If it le found that there has been foul
upon his quest. play."
"Landau is a big place Itedway " he " VVhy foul play ?Should thio body be idea-
gsaalted,0t1' bliiIttateheLobipg4Louosn,doznafeehonullyananue:gsghreis• ,vvillatieldb:4,ht*hitoofdltriorws4Bedettleile,ift,h7 inference
own peoaltar rostropolia, whioh is generally "The people in Cladford are talking of
no bigger than a xnoderate-sised country something more terrible thee that. Thers is
Mwn. New I take it that Mr. Belfield's a rumour that circumstances point to the idea
London it bounded on the West by Tatter- of murder. Adrian, I must sprit* plainly,"
eallie, and 011 the Emit by the Criterion, en said the Vicar, with undieguised grief. "Sas-
the South by Pall Mall, and by Oxford. picion points to your brother as the murder -
on the North. we don't fled him er. It is of your mother I think. What eau
within thorie 'finite we must look for him at you or I do to help her to bear the blow?'
Liverpeel, Southampton, or Plymouth," "Nothing, I fear. She adorea Valentine.
Thio was on the way 'to the Bedmiuton, If any evil befall him, it will kill her."
where Mr. Melnotte alighted and iaterview- "You will do all you can to keep idle ru-
ed the porber. Mr. Belfield has not been mours from her, and yet to prepare her for
seem there for six months. anything that inay happentohnorrow. Where
"Nob sioce Lord St. Austell'e 'ass Poet- is your brother?"
card, lout the t4reat Ebor," said the porter, "In London, I believe."
who dated most event by the lathing Galen- "You de not even know his whereabouts ?"
dar. "No. He left here with the idea of going
From the Badminton, Ilelnotte drove lee abroad—perheps ter Africa, orSouth Americee
the Argus, hard by.
It was not hie own fancy. My mother and
Here again Mr. Belfield had not been Lwere anxioue Omit his health and !TWO+,
then for neonths, t and urged him to travel. He has not written
MoInctte drove weetward, and contrived to me sinoe he left."
to see one of the mon at Tattersall's, tlaough That fel unlucky. He ought to be here,
the yard was shut. lith
to any diffi Alloy that may &rice to -mor -
No tidinge of Mr. Belfield.
"That'll do for to -night, Redway," r. row."
Id Adrian was silent. To him, who knew all,
Melnotte, conaiderable disconcerted. " the one hope was that his brother might have
drive you back to the Yerd, andthen I'll go left the country for ever.
end dine and turn in for the night. If Mr. Well, my dear Adriap," said the Viotti,
Belfield had been knocking about town in quietly, "we must wait and see what th-
an open, eaty•geing manner, I believve I
should have heard of him at one of those
places. So I am dieposed to thiak he has
taken the alarm and is trying to get out of
the country, I hardly think he can have
got clear off yet, but I shall set the wires at
work again before I eat my chop.
Mr. Melnotte did set the wires at work
to a considerable extent, just before the
closing of the chief telegraph offiew. He
telegraphed to all the ports from which a
man seeking to escape from justice was
likely to attempt a start, and took measures
to secure attentiou for the fugitive.
He was op and about by times newatmorn-
ing, saw Mr. Belfield's tailor, took a stroll
and an early cigar in the neighbourhood of
'Hyde Perk Corner, hung about rattersall'a
for an hour, looked in at a famous spurrier's
in Piccadilly and a fashionable maker of
hunting boots in Bend -street, and before
eleven o'clock had setisfied himself that Mr.
Belfield had not been seen at the West
Bad of London eine the previous summer.
The (predation to be s.olved was what had
become of Mr. Belfield after he arrived at
Paddington,
***** .• •
In snail a 'town as Chedford, the finding
of & body in tee Abbey river and the notice
of an inmendiageitiquest at the Riug of Bells
tavern in Little George -street, were not likely
to remain unknown to the inhabitants. Be-
fore Mr. Molootte had gone far upon his
journey to Lendon, everybody in Chadfora
knew that a body wen lying in the dead•
home, and that an inquest wee to be held
upon the following af Gernoon.
Melnotte had imposed silence =Ivan the
men who dragged tee river, and yet it was
known somehow that there were appear-
ances abont the body that pointed to foul
play rather than accidental drowning, while
there were those who declered that the
niurdered corpee was that of the missing
Airs. B-Itiold.
Mr, Rockstone ws.s oue of the first:to hear
of the event which everybody in Chadford
was talkingabout. He came Jut of the
i
house of a sck perishioner, whtre all was
quiet and shadow, into the bright winter
dualight, to find a group of townspeopie
standing in front of the settler's shop in
earnest conversation. From them he heard
what had been found in the Abbey river.
His heart turned to lead as he listened.
His mind had not been free from anxiety
bout Valentine's wife. He had beep too
delicatt to question Ledy Belfield or her SODS,
but he had wondered at the prevailing ignor-
ince &Dont the runaway wife's fate. When
a woman elopes with a lover, there are
generally those who know where she has
gone, and who report and criticise her move-
ments; Int in this case no one had heard of
the fugitivet no one knew where she was
dil
hiding her ehonoured existence. And now
thim finding of the corpse in the river pointed
at fearful 2901.1 —nt the best, suicide; at the
worn, marder. He thought of Lady 33,31 -
field's agony when the talk of the town
should reach her; and it must reach her
very seen. Ia twenty-four hours every.fact
connected with the disfigured remains yonder
must be brought to light, published to the
world, diseneeed and commented upon in a
tavern parlour. Friendship and love would
be powerless to keep thet horror front her,
powerless even to blunt the edge of that
mcguish.
There was a fly crawling down the High.
street on its return from the station. The
Vicar jamped iato it and told the man to
drive to the Abbey at his sharpest pace.
He wanted to find Sir Adrian before any.
thing was known there. Andrew ushered
him into the lihra•y, where Adrian was sit-
ting at his desk surrounded with books and
papers. He looked ill and careworn, the
Vicar thought, but had too calm an ,airtto
have heard the evil news:
" My ear Reekstone, this is good of
you, exclaimed Adman, starting up and
wheellog a comfort ible arm chair towards
the hearth, for his friend, and then seating
himself opposite him. "11 is an age since
you have dropped in upon me so eerly.
Tell me all your parish 1:10Wil, and your
parish wants. If you have any,"
"I cannot talk about the parish to -day.
I have come to tell you of something terri-
ble which has come to pees, and which may
concern you and yours very nearly."
Adrian's face blenched to a ghastly pallor,
and the hand clatping the arm of his chair
trembled perceptibly.
lely God 1" he gasped, "what is it ?"
"A body has been found in the Abbey
river—an hour
"How found? Who found it ?"
"The river Wag dragged tide Morning, I
believe, at the instigatron of Colonel Dever -
ill's friend, Mr. Melnotte, who dropped hie.
watch out of o. btat a day or two ago, and
wanted to have it found. A corpsis has been
found in the deeppool, neat the cypreas
wi
alk, and there s to be an inquest to.
morrow.'
• It was some rnornehts before Adrian spoke,
and then he asked quietly—.
"Hes the body been identified
"No, it is past all recognition, excerpt by
eireurristential. eviclencie ; but there is a ruht,
our in Chadford, how setting I know not,
that it ia the body of your Eister-indaw."
Agaie .Adrian was client. He would have
given worlds to be able to speak freely, to
confess all the Worts truth to All one
stauneh friend; but loyelty to his brother re-
strained him.
°'My eister.in.laW'S fate is Wrapped in
elatleneee,h he old, aftet a very long Pethee
"1 do not underetaaid Why anyone slionlci
torinect her with this drowned eolith.
"The teatime fee Well a euspidioa Will
ootee to light at the inquest, supposia A
It was a quell ty of Lett Bolfield's charac-
ter tn evoke strong sympathy from all who
were brought in familiar contact with her.
Mr. Melnotte had a fly waibing for him at
the Coroner's door, and drove straight to
the neareat magietrate, from ivhom, after
an interview of some length. he obtained
a warrant 1or the arrest of Valentine Bel-
field on a suspicion of murder. With the
county magistrate, as with the coroner, Mel.
notte found that sympathy with Lady Bel-
field was stronger than the s,bstrect love et
justice. He only just succeeded in getting
the warrant signed ia time for him to °Mob
the next train ter Exeter.
Hi was at Peddington at dusk, and went
at once to the Great Western Hotel, where
ho enquired for Mr. Bade! i
Nothiog had been seen of that gentleman
except his luggage. That nad been brought
by a Great Western porter two evenings
before, with an intimetion that Mr. Belfield
was comiug on to the hotel soon after; but
nothing more had been heard of him. Three
large portmanteaux, a gun ease, a roll of
rugs and eoetts, and a hat -box, marked V.
le, were stacked in the hall, pending the
arrival of the Owner.
" Does Mr. Belfield usually etsy here
when he cornea to town?" asked the detem
and help us onward through many a dark tive.
" Yes, for a nightor two at a time. He
"Weil, you are retoletin 1 auppose. • Yon I
is one of otir old etietOmere," replied the
vrill go on helping strangers, and you will
ebention me to my fate,"
"1 do not abaudoe you, I will do any•
thing in nws power tc het p yen, short of
saoritming duty for your sake, 1 *hi ea you
aro very unwise to loiter here when you
ought tn be getting far away front England,
hieing your rndeutity in a strange world.
Your wife's relatiees will not be satisfied
for over without oertaia knowledge of her
fate. At investigation may be tiot on fobt
at any moment, aud the truth may be
brought to light. You shoult be out of the
Way before that eau happen.
manager.
Mr, ltielnotte was at fault. That Velem.
tine Beltield Should have brought eli that
luggage to tona04 blut then left Eegland
without it, eeetried unlikely. No purpose
could have been served by bringieg the lug.
gage unless for his nee. To bring it to
London mid abandon it at art hotel, could in
no manner assast him in hie flight, or tend
to the mystification of his putsuers. The
only etelthation seemed that hie hed left
his propertyab the hotel while he terntiined
ite a etette of utioerMinty as to his future
course. He inIght be krieckiegitheue London,
"I tell yott I do not value my lire anless 1 hesitating ati to *lather he fihOltla bend his
you Will (4hare it, I Would rather Stay here steps,
and alear wintlowe, than riot in luxuty at I That he was id hiding anywhere Was dn.
the An tipoci es, 'i • • 1 likely, lilac° he tiOniti at yet heve no more
Madge answered bathing* She felt the °auto for fear theri he had had at any time
morrow may bring forth. I think you know
that yen may count upon me to do anything
that hes within the oompits,s of my will or
my strength. Would to God I could see my
way to being useful to you and your deer
mother I shrink from eskiiag yin questions,
because I feel I am ou delicete ground; but
If—if you knew anything that could assure
me of she falsehood of theee rumours—if, for
instance, you had heard of your sister-in-law
since her supposed elopement--"
"I have heard nothing of her. Ibis bet-
ter that I should answer no questions till to-
morrow. I suppose I shell oe called at the
inquest ? '
"1 conclude ,so—if there is sufficient
ground for identifying the body with your
sister-in-law."
"Then I will keep my own counsel till I
am befere the Coroner."
Mr. Roc:ketone left Sr Adrian soon after
this, somewhat mystified by his calmness.
(To 011 C)NTIknED.)
OVERBOARD RI THE RAPIDS.
Charles A. Percy Goes Through Who Woe
gara whiripeol.
Charles A. Percy came very near reeking
a failure the other afternoon of his trip from
the Maid of the Mist lauding to Toronto
by way of the whirlpool and the Niagara
rapt& Percy got only as far Lewiston,
and had an unexpected experience which
nearly cost him his life. At 4.15 George
Chethire, H. G. Richardson, and William
Lahey thoved the bot out into the river.
It couts.inod 800 pounds of ballast, andel.
70 pound non weight was need as a drag.
Percy rowed to the centre of the stream, and
at 4:20 fastened his oara and crawled into a
hanimook in the real compartment of the
boat. At 4:26 the craft pasaed under the
cantilever and railway suspension bridges,
going very rapidly and turning around in the
eddies in a dizzy way. A few thoonds latter
it struck the firet greet wave el the rapids.
A cry of horror went up from the.speotators
on the lower bank when the craft epirn
around the waves and continued rubmeaged.
When it came to the surface it fleeted keel
uppermost for quite a distenoe. After a
terrible tossing, which lasted four minutes,
the boat was toseed into the big maelstrotn
and floated easily around. The water was
severed feet lower than usual, and the beet
grazed the rocks dangerously near threat-
ening every second to dash it to pieoes, and
end Percy's career.
Toe craft eddied in the whirlpool until
6.30, and then Dan Eltheimer and William
Adams got it in cemps.ratire/y still water,
and towed it around the point into a current
that would °awry it to the Devil's Rapids.
They narrowly escaped going along. Percy's
boat grimed rock after rock, and Was cap-
sized -repeatedly. He had gone but a little
distance !then the manhole cover was dash-
ed to pieces by coming in contact with a
rock, and the air chamber fillled with
water. Percy crawled out andclung to the
craft for dear life. When near the Devil's
Hole he becarae partly exhausted, and
could no longer hold on, as the waves throw
the boat about. Then he let go of the boat,
and swam three miles further down stream,
where at 7 30 that night Fishernawa John
Gillett picked him up more dead than alive,
He VMS rowed rapidly to Waggoner's Hotel
ab Lewiston, and was with diffieulty re-
vived. When able to speak he told the
atoll of his bottle for life. In the upper
rapids he was terribly totaled about, but the
lower ones, he said, were still more terrible.
Most of the trap was made in the dark.
"1 seemed to be in a grave of foam,"
said Percy, "and I can't tell how I escaped
wath my life. It would have been bad
enough if my boat had not been wrecked in
the breakers, but that swim in the dark
was terrible."
Soon afterward Percy said to a climes.
pendent :
"1 made this trip for the purpose of
advertising my boat. I thought It would
carry me through safely, 1 didn't expect
it to show teat the rapids were not danger-
ous, beeline° I knew they were, but I Tied
no notion that they were so bad air they are.
The waves inst knock you around until
they almost pound the breath out of you,
and thou drop you into e watery well filled
with a euffoceting spray. I thanked God
when I got to fairly clear water and the
fieherman reached me when 1 WaS hardly
able to swim another stroke. The water
was low, and its a wonder I didn't get da,sh-
ed to death. on the rocke. I can s tell you
the trip in detail, for I wee so btoy trying
pose that you. shall hitt your horses e my
Darnley (indignantly) —Well, I donttro.
to help myself that I couldn't think of wtpeuge.
much else."
' No bones are broken, but Perey's body is
11 rac e as owas os vim
di b v ed The oldest two trees in the world are orre
ON A Unit 1rRAIN.
Incidents era [alp Northward or P0410*
Stricken Itermaees,
Never, saya a gorrespondent, did man
talv3 a phastlier tide than our morrespond-
ent when he left the [Jaime depot with the
train ef yellow fever refugeeli frOra toad%
The stop in Atlanta, the serving of lunches
and the excitement of the city, seemed to
have infected the crowd, and from the time
the train pulled out of the depot it was ap-
parent that Dr. Guiterae had. lost ooptrol of
them. Men and women were nervous
to an unoontrollable degree. A half doom
stronger spirits veould orgenizo each ear
and practically take charge of it. If a Pete
&eager complained of feeling unwell there
was !natant demand for hiai to be put off
the train. In two mules this demand. would
have been enfereed by main strength but
for the determinat fon of two or thrikr hue
mane and deterroluen men. In oaef ear u.
worried was taken with a chill, whiehlit ss
few moments was succeeded by fever She
was immediately taken from one ear into
another, and the car the was ejeoied from
was barricaded and 00 000 allowed to go out
or in, This trick WILB soon discovered, and
as the rumour passed that there were eick
people on this car, a quarantine was immed-
iately- established in every other cam. The
consequence waa that before the train reach-
ed the Caroline line every cer was prootic -
ally barricaded spinet event other oar, and
there WAS querantiae all along the line.
Having been locked up for nearly two days
and migbin, without elosp, excited by the
feara of the piagne, huugry and thirsty, it is
remarkable that there were not withal
tragedies °needed on the train.
A curious and. ludieroue effect 'wee pro-
duced at almost every station. The crowd
of loafers that uthelly hang abent depots
came peering about the car windows to
investigethe the train. Upon beiog informed
that it was the yellow fever train, they fled
like sheep, and as the contagion sprout, one
could see from the car window whole villages
thudding around corners, and taking for the
woods, as the dread train moved its slow
and ghastly length along. At Westmin-
ster, or near Westmineter, S. C., four of the
passengers on the train were missin.g. It
was presumed that in some way they had
escaped from the car after the train had
pulled out, and taken their chanose by a
jump from the cars and a dash into the
Daw:rrA.: .Gaa.el.laryiterea removed all restraint upon
strange thing was done upon the
of the refugees at Hendereonville.
reaching thie poirit. There was no quaran-
tine established, tied the exouraioniste who
had be -en so carefully guarded all the way
from Florida th this point were at liberty to
go where they pleseed. There being no
quarantine against Hendersonville, and no
quarantine there, there is nothing to prevent
the 400 refugees, seven of whom are deem
with the fever, goleg where they parses.
They are soatteriug widely. -11
When the train loed of yellowafaced,
gaunt, end nervons refugees were ddruped
at lientlereonville's gates a thane was
witneesed whiela rivalled the most affectieg
scenes of war times. Men who, in the rush
at Jacksonville, hail been sepero.ted from
their families, hustled into cars and looked
up, and who ha°. made the cadre trip
without knowing whether or not tlietr
families were on board, upon being giv p
tbeir freedom rushed madly from one group
to another in the too frequently vain searcl.
for their loved ones, mail, worn out and
completely undone from loss of sleep end
nervous prostraeion, they sank to the grourid
unable to go feether, and remainea there 1
until the relief °committee which had been '
organiz el by the citizens carried them to
the hospitable homes of some of the
villagers, where they were eared for,
Mothers wita beitiee in their arms, and
children. clinging to their knees, as they
cried for food and water and a resting
place, were vsdrily eearching among the
crowd for mining husbands. Children
ware searching for parents mid parents for
ehildren. It took the whole day to get the
refugees comfortably quartered, and this
was not accomplithed until long lines of
tents had been pitched in every part of the
town.
Tliegindiier Uouutr Wav.
Now it is Inevitable that the kindliest
people living in cities should fall into a
greater reserve of meaner toward strangers
than that developed in the country, where
people know all about their neigbbors. In
a city you cannot nod to everybody you
meet on the street ; there is not time for it.
You cannot even call on those who live ih
the sense block with you. You may be liv-
ing in the next house to a professional
gambler and have no miens of ascertaining
the fact. All these thine produce il2 peo-
ple from the cities a habit oftmore guarded
ntercouree, which is certainly le,ss pleasant
than the kindlier country way, bat is not
they to lay aside. Again, the mere pos-
session of it new acciaaintenoe, as such, is it
privilege to one who habitually lives an is-
olated life, but is net thing so eager
deltred by tbose who live in a crowd ilil
the time, aud hove rather to acquire the
habit of defending therostIves against num-
bers. Indeed a great deal of what is call-
ed hospitality in thinly settled re.gions and
new communition has no eepecral unself-
ishness about it where neighors and guests
are few it is really the visitor who confers
the favor. To give the pleasure of his
compeny beoomes in that case a phrase of
some meaning.
A Little Too Much.
Dumley (to driver) --How much?
Driver—Ten dollars,
Dantley—Whmat 1 That's too much.
Driver—Itti a bong drive oat there an'
baok, sir, an' them hordes had to have oats,
00'i(dubiously) I'm Memel that nigh one
had t mu ; I e &kat actin' ri ht
badlyk d H" bat 1 4, d "I
An important eogineering enterprise now
in progress is a railroad in the Artie oirole
The Swedish end Norwegion railroad now
building from Lulea, on the Golf of B
Loffodon, ot the North Sea, is pee tlersituat-
ed within the Artie circle, end is some 1,204
miles further north than env other railroad
in Canada. An intereatieg Meteorological
foot stetted in relation to this work is that
this enowfeal is found to lei actually less
then in some mote eoutheth latituderi,
While the darkriees of the long winter sights
has been partly compensated by the light of
the Aurora. The object in view in construct.
Jog this line11 to tap the enoemotte depotsite
of iron ote in the Gellivata Mountain, the
eipproximate ektiatirition of the ote in the
'Nihon clistriet rencierittg very clectronie a
new ma of non -phosphoric) ote suitable for
steel rail making.
in Caleverax, Califernite which . is believed
to be 2,585 yeare old, and the Coprets of
Somme, to Lombardy. Italy, that is 1,911
years ski, ,el- planted. 42 yeara before Christ.
The Technical School at Bradford, Eng
land is experimenting at paintingby electric
light, which is derived from a Pilsen are
It le tai ct that cohort can )30 selected as well
lamp and peeved throtigh a ground glase globe.
as by daylight.
i Duriuq the petit vveck We haVo been lou -
log pulltts for next spriugai layers, We
' were able to mouth, in the 1. Y. Market
lerge o,nd shapely pullets for about 12 bents
{ apiece lest then our estimetecl eost of rais-
ing them from the egge, These birds ap-
' pear to be maitily Wyandotte and Plymou it
Reook grades, With a Miattite ot Li% t
1.
-rahrna and Langshan bleed. . HOW far'
' mere Cali afford to sell them for to litt1s..,1
' t see
money WO 08.0110 •