The Shasta courier., 1870-07-02
oliage which draped a ward near bv

ioiaSc W Hlcn urdpeQ yarO near Oy.
" He is watching to see if will 90 in"
thought l, and hurried past without once
glancing at the house. How hated the
false pride which made me do so afterward.
Eearly the following week. upon entering
the Office in the morning, / was startled bv
the announcement from my uncle's lips, that
Rose Berthold was dead. / reeled as though
he had s'ruck me, and leaned heavily upon
my desk.
. How do you know ?' l asked.
My uncle knit his brow.
- Her husband has been here. He wants
the amount of her policy. He is in hurry,
take it,"
when was it ?' 60
| g A week ago. to-day Heart disease
/ It's all right, of course. He has tffe proper
certificates; two physicians that know, and
one that | never heard of But somehow I
can't make it seem so."
Instantly it flashed over me. the remem
brance of Berthold's singular change of
countenance when had met him Just week
before. Well might the mans face blanch.
and his eyes start with terror, thinking |
was going to his house, perhaps. 1t all seem
ed very plain to me at that moment.
Uncle" l said, ''Rose Berthold was
murdered. | saw her not two weeks ago,
and she was as we'll as l am this moment"
Rose Berthold?" You don't know her,"
exclaimed my uncle.
. Yes do," and then l told him all even
to my meeting Carl Berthold that morning,
when, if | had glanced towards his house.
should have doubtless beheld some signs of
deaths awful presence within there. and
might, perhaps, been surer of circumventing
this william.
My uncle was enough of my opinion to
decide to have the matter investigated
Nothing came from that investigation, bow.
ever. If my poor Rose had died unfairly
there was not the slightest discoverable proof
of the fact There was nothing more to be
done then but was not satisfied At the
bottom of my heart lurked yet the belief that
Carl Berthold was murderer. He received
his ten thousand dollars, and left for par is
unknown
Five years after, the Company with whom
| remained and arisen in favor, sent me to
England on business of Importance
Upon the steamer with myself vas Carl
Berthold. | knew him at once, though, be
did not recognize me. had changed more
than be had My hair had grown darker,
and | had heavy beard. My pulse took
quick throb at the sight of him, and still
quicker at the sight of beautiful creature
who leaned confdingly on his arm, evident
ly bride of short standing. She was dress-
ed richly, and wore on her white fingers sew
eral rings that must have been of great value.
| noticed, too, that the tiny watch at her belt
and which she frequently glanced at, was
set with briliants of the first water, if one
could judge by their glitter.
" He has secured an heiress this time" |
thought. He will scarcely need resort to
insur nee ~
l was in London several months, and oc-
cassionally saw Carl Berthold with his beau
tlful wife. One night my hotel took fire, and
was so much damaged. that bad to 20 to
another, when | discovered that was not
only IN the same building but occupying the
neAt room to Berthold. thought it a singu
lar turn OF circumstance. to say the least, the
more that that very night there was a sud-
den death in the hotel, my old rivals wife.
could not help wondering if her life was
insured.
The physicians summoned to consult con-
corning the cause of her death, did not. how
ever, pronounce it heart disease, but avowed
themselves puzzled. One of these who had
appeared more interested in the case, sought
under the influence of an nirresistabe impulse.
and In confidence told him of that other sud
den death of wife of Carl Berthold's. He
was greatly interested, and to cut tie matter
Short repetition of the medical examina-
ton resulted in the discovery that Mrs. Carl
Berthold had come to her death by the inser
tlon of some exceedingly delicate steel nstru-
ment at that point where the spinal cord
joins the brain. The cruel fatal weapon was
found, upon search, in her husbands posses
sion. 1t was a spring lancet of needeike
ineness and sharpness.
1t was not difficult to imagine how this
hend In human form might, in the very act
of caressing his beautiful victim, have sprung
his deadly weapon into that vital part. The
wound was so minute, and concealed by the
dropping hair, that it would easily escape
observation.
He confessed to enacting three other sim
liar tragedies before he was hung NY lost
Rose was the victim of one of these. [ felt
that she was in manner avenged, when
the wretch knew that had borne some.
though so small part in his detection.