The Evening critic., 1881-11-24

talk, and at the same time bag n brace of
suspicious Jail birds"
The officer consented, and, quickening
our pace, VIC were soon in Shorter's lane,
on the outskirts of the town, Just off the
thoroughfare leading to Market Road bridge
and in full view of that structure which
spanncd the canal not hundred yards
away. The locality and miserable surround
ings were just as described by Frank May.
Wretchedncss and pcstilonce seemed to
have taken up an abode there. Mays house
reached, tho door was pushed open, the
officer entering first. "Why how's this "
he exclaimed, the place is empty. Mag
has gone out, perhaps, {" with grin, 4" to
take her Thanksgiving dinner with a
friend"
mo, not that" said Rolfe, who stood at
the outer door; more likely to beg break
fast, poor devil" Then suddenly "Halloo
there's Tom Harrison coming toward the
bridge, let's go and meet him, perhaps Meg
will be here when we return"
John, the officer, and /, set out to meet
Harrison. He was approaching the oppo-
site end of the bridge slowly Suddenly,
when we were midway of the structure,
there was a rustic in the bushes that over.
hung the cliff just in front of Harrison;
form emerged from their lcafy screens and
stole toward him. He raised his eyes as
thin, bony hand was laid upon his shoulder.
A woman's face looked up into his, with
strange, questioning light cleaning in the
eyes, and wild, desperate expression in the
sunken lineaments.. 1t was the face of a
hard, wrctched woman, a creature of vice
and poverty, as the coarse, scant garments
that covered her wrecked person showed.
She looked long and steadily into his eyes,
while an expression of terrible meaning
blazed from her own. They were hazel
eyes, but years around the earthly gates of
hell had blotted from them all the clear,
merry sparkle and loving truth they had
carried in their depths of yore. Still the
face must have been substantially the same,
for Harrison recognized the woman. 1t
was Mag We were astounded and paused.
Great God!" Harrison cried, "you
here; back from tho gravel" while his
knees quivered and his frame shook as
with an ague of horrible surprise.
"No from worse! Back from the hell
of infamy and the human purgatory of
vileness and degradation, to which you so
cunningly doomed me when you deserted
me and my babe years ago. Back to curse
you before you die!"
The startled man attempted to retreat
from the retributive impersonation that
stood before him; but she would not let him
pass her. In his nerveless terror he
D'lchtu W IHt Ntlg tupc VI lHt pEcClplCc Des
hind him. We refrained from interfering,
held spell-bound by the strange scene, and
stood speechless with amazcment awaiting
further developments, not dreaming how
matters would end.
The woman still held the terrified Harr.
son-immovable--an he saw to his horror,
as could we, that the wild light that
cleaned in her eyes, once so lovely, now so
frightful, could be none other than the
fire of insanity, which he had caused to burn
there. She looked at him steadily, terribly,
for full minute in silence, and then she
broke forth again:
tom Harrison, loved you once. Then
you plotted my ruin. You accomplished it,
and now it is my turn
But give mo u moment. You talk
wildly Mary, you arc not in your right
mind. I-I-will do anything-makc any
reparation you may ask!'
She scornfully interrupted him
Preparation That is not what have
followed you for many years to find you
when you again crossed this bridge. You can
never make reparation for the wrong you
have done me this side of the grave.
Thomas Harrison, when my baby died /
swore a frightful OATH which | shall keep
before die. l followed you just now with
that oath upon my lips. | am here to keep
it,"
you have come to revenge yourself by
killing me ~ shrieked the wrctchcd man,
powcrless before the raving woman, whose
wrongs had transformed her into de-
mon.
"Aye my baby cries even yet for your
blood, and it is your life that shall avenge
my wrongs y
She seized him, helpless in her maniac
grasp, and halfpushed, half threw him over
. l, al, .,,N. l,n 81 - H.
canal, forty feet below, and then tearing
her hair and screaming wildly she fell in
death-like swoon. Rolfe, the officer and
myself had rushed forward to rescue Har.
rison from the clutches of the maniac wo-
man when she became so demonstrative,
but her deadly work was accomplished
more swiftly than we could move. | hur.
red down the cliff side to Harrison's relief
but the poor fellow sank beneath the
waters just as l reached the tow-path, and
was lost to view. When / returned to my
companions they were bearing the APP
parently lifeless form of the wretched
woman toward her squallid abode. Within
an hour the news spread through the town
like wildfre, and after short search the
lifeless body of Harrison was recovered
from the canal and removed to the police.
station The mystery was clearing up,
but still there remained much undiscovered.
CHAPTER III.
Mays swOon was of short duration, and
when she recovered, the wild look had
almost entirely gone out of her face and
eyes. We spoke kindly to her, and when
she was sufficiently Gained asked If she
knew what she had done.
"Yes, have killed Thomas Harrison.
The father of my dead child" she said
take me to prison; / am avenged"
We escorted the woman to the police sta
ton, where an inquest was held The
witnesses were Rolie, the policeman and
myself. The woman was committed for u
preliminary trial before the magistrates
court that afternoon. Rolfe and / dined at
a restaurant, but the terrible event of the
morning had taken our appetites away. As
we fingered over the meal, Rolfe
formed resolve to discover