The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-04-26


land arrived, the door of the room was open
ed, but the prisoner was gone.
The men who had guarded the window
had not left their post; the door was ne.
curely guarded there was no other opening
} to the room. 1t seemed as If he must have
entered the solid wall
However he was gone, The search for
him proved utterly unsuccessful, and was
, given up. Gradually he ceased to be talked
about.There were wild rumors o his having
been seen in boat pulling for ship; but
nothing very definite was known
Perhaps a year after this sudden disap-
; pearance Aununciata came back from Eng
land. She was followed by an English gem
, tleman to whom she had promised her hand,
, and finding her brother Philip much i'm
proved in mind and body, she determined tn
celebrate her marriage at his house, and en-
deavor TO break the chain of dreadful event,
which had followed one another under the
roof of the Man in Armor,'
r The marriage day of Aununciata arrived.
They deemed it proper to show their sense
of the neghborly kindness to their friends,
+, and invite the to be present Although the
fate of William hung over them like dark
cloud, yet their conviction of his crimes and
his harsh and unbrotherly conduct towards
them had blotted out the love of kindred,
: and they had got to look upon him as some-
thing mysterious and dreadful, and to try to
e forget him.
The wedding was arranged with great
, state, as became the wealth and social posi-
tion OF the parties. The planters, in their
t beautiful equipages drew up before the su
Y perb entrance OF the Man of Armor.' Tho
r negroes, in holiday costume, filled tho
| grounds. Numbers of them from the ether
4 estates, with their brght-colored dresses and
n white turbans, came on in professions bring.
d ing flowers to throw before the bride.
About 4 in the evening, as the beautiful
s,;,hf,, Irsther Pedro pronounced the mar
i'"e----and benediction.
Returning to the no"oe4-r-Ashments were
a served in the grounds. As the DrIoe and
\. her immediate friends were retiring to the
IN grand saloon rocket assembled from the re-
81. mote corner of the garden. The guests im-
10 mediately hastened thither, thinking that
"A their hospitable entertainers had provided 't
or new treat for them. The rockets drew tho
OF attention of the bridal party in the saloon,
and they all crowded to the windows, for
IA. they we're as much surprised as their guests.
no They were soon absorbed in something more
di- startling still-the sound of groans, pro.
ceeding they knew not whence, folio by
,er clanking of metal and heavy fall.
No Immediately a servant rushed in seized
Father Pedro's robe and drew him to tho
~ outside of the house. There, detacned from
IN the window, lay one of the Men in Armor,
rs. leaving a ghastly opening in the wall OF tho
IN house. A few, bolder than the rest drew
had near and discovered the horrible truth.
nod Within the Man in Armor' was the body OF
ollv William, stifled in his own ingenious con
ses. trivance. Poetic Justice could not have de-
will manded more fitting termination to such q
aw- career. The fastenings of the mouthpiec'
,icb OF the casque made to fly open at touch
had grown rusty with the dampness and ha
the resisted all efforts to open them.
tho The confession of Spaniard, shortly al
eing ter 'pprehended lot some CRIME vi o,ns ur''
supplied the deficiencies in this story. vii
d Of liam had designed this hiding place to al
the ford him refuge in that day when retrlbu
no ton should find him. 1t was suit OF a.
NOR ,paintedto match the stone etfgies whic
,our- ornamented the house, and ingeniously II
ON 70 ted to small closet in the wall of the hous
front He had used it successfully on the night
and his escape, remaining quietly in 1t while
guards were in the house, and letting hiI
most self out when they bad all gone. 1t "
nina. true that he had escaped in boat to one
1T all VIE lesser islands, where ne was hot kho"
returning sometimes in the night, and
L.. oral lNt,h hia hrn
cause ways determined 10 De reVehgeo on us o'o
: falls er and Father Pedro.
dered The wedding having come 10 ms hho
Why edge, he determined 10 use ms h,a'ns pa
rit nv on that occasion, to issue from 1t at mig
n have fall, to bury his mu rderous knife into
forged unoffending brother, and to escape the '
len. of he came. The rockets were of his inventl
nix be- and this same agent of his who revealed
and story had charge of them.
feeble while the people were gone to the chu
e care he crept to the house and shut himself in
II shall hiding place. His horrible death from
lrietOr- location had caused such cohVuisiNe 81
giles that the Man in Armor' was torn
sound its fastenngs and tell with its still pail
eech of ting inmate to the ground. 1t never wa
n As he turned, and stone was plainly fitted iu |
Pedros of it.
a min. 'Aununciats, her husband and bro
departed for England. The house has
er been inhabited since.
"'n,e'0 My friend paused and looked out upo
10 e' land we were just approaching in the
dawn.
i am the inheritor of this estate thl
70! He my relation to Annunciata's husband.
ne died died childless. Philip died young an
de old married. All this happnned fifty year
lnder the but | feel as If it were Yesterday when
Dere is the place
i'd some. After landing we stepped into ca
and drove over one Of the finest hard
growing l had seen Tor many yesrs through
A towards surpassed uxuriance of the tropical f,
After an hour we approached the y
-, so, ,o, Armor.' noble gateway command
roai, attention. My friend drove in. G
old crea- M"''" n,'sn' nave "Ho'"'" ."' p"''
IA shriets Grand Duke opened to my view. A
s,ive roce rivers wound through the garden.
tina hnt and flowers planted with much taste
-, I.st and { d the lawn. Before me arose NJ
cade. The Man in Armor' was g
William, the morning sun. Under each wind
served the characteristic efiigy, sa
d;s.oysraa One of the Men in Armor' marsh
i, secret ton some untimely resurrection, had
which have brothers in arms awaiting their tur
As we took our coffee in the on,
..o.l., saloon, and were waited upon by t
,o.alo. ,ha, old woman, who might have been s.
49, ~ .sa,, self, felt powerfully the melancho
| ~. II.