Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-01-08

and l had not a shadow of proof to ad-
vance Suspicious in such a case go
for nothing, SO l held my peace, the
more especially as Judson, our old
steward, was prepared to swear to my
fathers signature. So JEFF Lawson had
his f5 900.
"On the night of which / am going
to tell you there was large part of the
money in the house. Jeff was going to
London the next morning; and as he
meant to start early he said good bye
to us over night. and went up to his
room first, carrying the money with
him. Edith and remained in the din
ing-reom little longer, chatting on
different matters; among others of
Jef's departure, of a strange restless
mes l had observed in his manner of
late. of the possible date of his return ;
and somehow, quite unintentionally, /
let fall hint about my suspicious about
the will, and discovered that they cor
responded exactly with Edith's. At
last, when the fire had burned quite out,
and the candles were getting low in
their sockets, we went up stairs to-
gether. 1t was a wild November night,
with just such angry, impatient gusts of
wind and vagrant thunder-claps as this.
| occupied the west room; your aunt
the one adjoining; and JEFF slept in the
east room at the other end of the cor
ridor; while his mother had her apart
ments in the south wing. AS babe
Edith good night, the clock on the
stairs struck twelve, and she merrily
wished me many happy returns of the
day, for had just entered on my twen-
tieth birthday. In a few minutes more
my light was extinguished, and | was
closely wrapped up. In less than half
an hour | was asleep. Not so Aunt
Edith. She was, she told me aftcrward,
restless and nervous, two most unusual
things with her. All her efforts to sleep
were unavailing, and she gave up the
attempt at last and rising from bed sat
down by the fire to read. Twice she fan
cied she heard footsteps in the corridor,
and opened her door to listen. Your
aunt was not afraid of the White Lady,
our family ghost, nor lady anybody else,
girls. Twice she threw herself on q
couch with the intention of resting.
since slumber was out of the question;
but between the storm and the mystic
rious sounds through the house, rest
was impossible. At length, about two
O'Clock, she fancied she heard some one
moving about the room very cautiously;
and, nothing doubling that l was as
wakefUl and restless as herself, she re-
solved to come in and speak to me. A
sudden gust of wind in the corridor ex-
tinguished her candle, and she entered
my room in the dark, save for faint rays
OF moonlight which shone through the
earelessly drawn curtains.
6 As your aunt gently approached my
bed, she saw a form advancing on the
other side with uplifted hand, in which
something bright cleaned in the moon
light. Quick as thought, without a
moments hesitation, her arm was
thrown across my neck. The knife Of
m assassin descended with terrible force:
and glancing off the bone, inflicted a
long and Jagged cash in her arm. The
assassin who had not seen or heard her
approach, instantly fled, leaving his
weapon behind; and / was aroused from
my slumbers by Edith's shrieks, to find
myself bathed in her blood. Binding
my silk handkerchief round her arm
tightly, to check the bleeding, | sent a
servant-tor the whole house was
aroused by your aunt's shrieks and
the violent ringing of my bell-for the
nearest surgeon, and then proceeded to
search for some traces of the murderous
intruder. Mechanically l went first to
Jeff's room, probably because l was as
tonished at not having seen his face
among the wandering group gathered
round my door. It seemed amazing
that he should sleep so soundly through
such commOtion. The door of the east
room (Jetf's) was open, and SO was the
window; but the room was empty.
"Where was JEFF? Why had he gone
so suddenly and mysteriously? Why
the open window? | was all the more
painfully perplexed. as the most care
full examination failed to disclose any
other means of exit by which the would
be assassin could have escaped. Every
door was securely barred, every win
dow except that of the east room was
safely fastened. In the flower bed un-
derneath there were distinct tracks of
mans feet leading from the window,
none whatever leading to it.
"These things made me very un-
happy, and some suspicion of my
thoughts must have crept into my coun-
tenance, for Edith OWNED them at once.
However, she remained silent about the
appearance of the man. who had at
tempted my life, and | refrained from
questioning her. At best there could be
but a conjecture-the room was dark,
the man disguised, and your aunt fright
ened. But the knife which lay upon my
bed appealed with dumb but terrible
effect upon us both. It was my prun-
ing knife, and that very afternoon Edith
had seen me lend it to JEFF Lawson
Whether the knife had been in any
way poisoned, or whether your aunt's
wound had been badly dressed in the
first instance, do not know, but-inliam-
nation set in and for three weeks she
was dangerously i'll. For days her life
was despaired of, and it was only saved
at last at the expense of the brave right
hand that had saved me so well from Il
terrible death.
The matter made sensation. which
was something more than nine days
wonder i'll our village; but I kept my
suspicious to myself, no one else ven
tured to express any, and -Jeffrey's name
was never mixed up in the matter. In
deed it somehow got circulated that he
left Garrick the evening of the attempted
murder, and no one contradicted- it.
The object of the attack. which was
evidently robbery as well as murder,
for every drawer and desk in the room
was thoroughly ransacked, caused much
wonder and discussion. It was pretty
generally known that my allowance as
a minor was scarcely adequate to my
few simple wants.
What became of JEFF Lawson.
father ?' Jess asked with stolen glance