The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-11-03

and had not such strong nerves as !
used to possess. And dinner passed
over with the sort of peaceful ease that
suits the meal best. A cigar on the
lawn was quite in order afterward and
when the golden clouds began to rise in
the west, as if to meet the setting sun
in their embrace, stroll to the river
side was equally desirable. We should
probably meet our young ones, my wife
said.
And so we did. 1t was not long be-
fore merry voices were heard ringing
through the little pitch of timber
called my wood, and mingled with them
the Joyous bark of dog. Very soon
the white dress of my little daughter
began to glance among the trees, and
a dark spot could be seen careering
round in a circle like a mad creature.
Then the whole group came running
towards us, the children laden with
flowers, and the dogs hair all afying
in the wind.
"How happy You must be-" said Mrs.
Layton to my wife; "we have no child
ren, audi -,
At that moment she stopped sudden
~, and turning to my wife said, hastily,
"What pretty dog-I had once"-and
then she stopped for Bob-the same
Bob that years before was taken from
the house inFrith street-rushed toward
her, and began leaping up toward her
face as with the most eNtravagant JOY.
That was enough TO startle me, but
s. for pnh cnI1anlV
caught sight of my new friend himself,
and in quicker time than i can write
the words, had sprang at his throat
with the most savage yell that ever
heard from any animal, and literally
bore him to the ground. / take credit
to myself that l acted promptly and
with calmness. OF course there was a
mystery-what mystery, flashed across
my mind like lightning; but what l
thought and what did are two differ
ent things. What / did was to drag
the dog of, have him tied at once, and
APOLOGIZE to tho best OF my ability Tor
the strange attack, which 1 attributed,
as plausibly as i could, to some Often
siye gesture OF other accidental circum-
stance on the part of Mr.. Layton. For
tunately, though my wife knew the his
tory of the dog, no notion of the truth
occurred to her. Layton himself was
intensely agitated; his face was ghast-
" white; his wife was lost in astonish-
ment, and evidently possessed no clue
to the meaning of what had hap
pened.
Never in my life did feel so strange
ly as did all the rest of that day. To
continue all the cordial attentions
proper to ones guest while the mind is
racked with even business anxieties is
bad enough; but ROW
One thing was evident. must allay
all fears-can my reader doubt what
fears THAT Layton may have con-
ceived, and at the same time act out to
the end the part had to play in the
retributive portion of the drama. did
act it out, as will be seen and to this
day do not know whether did Alright
or no. The first thing was to arrange
n complete surveillance over Layton's
movements; and in order to effect this,
could think of no better way than to
telegraph to Peters. To do this before
night was impossible, for / felt that
Layton's eye watched me as cat
watches mouse. Nor could possibly
leave the house without exciting sus-
picion. ! managed the affair in sim
pie way, however, as luck would have
it. One of my bOys-a smart lad, who
will make q name some day greater
than his father, and in his fathers pro-
fession, tools fond of drawing. told
him i'll the evening, as we were all sit
ting around the stove, that L wanted
10 look at his last productions. He
brought his portfolio to me, aud l be-
gan to criticize its contents, and with
a pencil in hand. The work was faulty,
I told him. There were errors that
even | could detect and remedy.
"Come here to table, Charley" said
T. "and will show you what mean."
And took the book to another part of
the room. "Here," said l, "look atten-
lively at this" and wrote:
II am going to write private mes
sage to you in this drawing"
II see, father" said my bright boy,
"and | will follow your instructions"
/ wrote again:
$50 to the telegraph Office, and tele-
graph to the Broome street police sta
ton for Peters, the detective; tell him
to come directly, and with help enough
to watch this house, and arrest man or
woman leaving it tonight. Goquietly,
Charley, and take no notice"
"Oh, that's easy enough" said Charley.
II can very soon draw the lines in that
way. This picture is too bad to show
Mr.. Layton, as see now; he shall see
the others, though" and he tore it up.
The portfolio was duly admired by the
visitors, and further public criticism
made by me, and finally Master Charley,
with q demure cOuntenance, marched
out of the room with it.
We sat an hour or so, and then retired
for the night. Charley came in to wish
us bon soir, and gave me little nod,
which was what wanted. And ten
minutes afterwards the echoes in the
house had all died away, and the last
chamber door was locked.
We had, soon after purchasing our
house. built an extension at right angles
with it; just like an L the whole build
ing was. In this extension were three
rooms-a basement, used for washing
and the like, an Office or study above it,
which used, and above that O bed
room, which, on this occasion, was oc-
cupied by our eldest daughter, who had
given up her room, situated immediate
" over my own in the main building,
and the window of which opened into
the back garden, to Mr.. and Mrs. Lay
ton. To the. middle room l quietly re-
paired, telling my wife / had work to
do, and she, poor dear, little knowing
what work that was, told me she should
soon be asleep as with . kiss left her.
took n light from our bed room, and /
blew it out the instant entered my
sancturi and locked the door inside
/ hate squeaking locks-mine don't
squeak. Then I sat down by the win
dov, on the sill of which / laid piece
of ironmongery, which, small as it was,
held six lives within its power. And /
waited. %
Waited till the moon, which set that
night at twelve O'Clock, had gone down
to rise upon millions Of sleepers on the
other side of the world. Waited until
l.v.rxthiuo ahoye below around SEEM