The Penn's Grove record., 1884-10-25
THE CONFESSIONS.

The little town of Coldwell-fast ris-
ing in Importance as a resort for rheu-
matte patients, who came there to battle
in the icy ferruginous waters of the
spring whence the place derived its
name--this little town had never been
so startled as on the day when a umo
was spread that Mr.. Dermerell had
killed his wife. A wife-murder is al
ways an appalling thing, which fright
ems families more than any other sort
of crime, because 1t must needs be the
outcome of those wretched domestic
troubles about which all married people
have some experience; but when the
suspected murderer is a gentleman
known and respected as Edward Der
morell was, the shock comes with al
the greater force. Those of the Cold
wellites who had no high opinion of
artists as a class, became comfortably
rooted in their antipathy against them
by this horrible affair for Dermerell
was a painter, aud a very promising
one, who had already made Coldwell
popular by the pretty landscapes of its
environs which he had exhibited in the
Academy. Many in the town had re-
garded bin in the light of a public ben.
efactor, and, as he was an artist who
paid his bills regularly and wore his
hair cut like other folks, nobody would
have thought him capable of such an
abOminable thing as destroying his
wife by; poison though the persons
above-said, who dislike artists, seemed
TO think it a natural thing enough once
the charge had gone forth against him.
Edward Dermerell was not yet in
custody he was being watched by the
police until the coroner's inquest should
be over. Detectives slept in his house,
and had taken possession of all his pa
pers he could not go out without be-
ing followed by constables, who, under
~pretenee of preventing him from being
mobbed, logged him TO see that he did
not escape. On the morning appointed
for the inquest, a crowd composed of
all the inhabitants who could leave their
shops or their work, tried to push into
the town.hall. where the coroner was
going to sit and those who could not
gain admittance loitered outside to get
a good view Of the accused when he
arrived. His offense was meanwhile
discussed with all the nausecus details
winch rumor had been able to collect,
and there vas a name which every
tongue coupled with the suspected muir
derer's-that of Lady Lexington wife
of Sir Richard Lexington, of TorwOod
Hall.
Sir Richard and Lady Lexington had
been Edward Dermerell's best patrons.
He had won his first medal by a por-
trait of the baronet's beautiful wife
and he had since been invited frequently
to Torwood, to paint pictures for the
decoration of the Hall-being treated
ON all occasions as an honored guest,
These things were notorious, and it was
also we'll known that Dermerell's wife
had never been invited to Torwood
with him. Why2 Some said it was
because she was a foreigner who could
not speak English others because she
was an invalid 4; but since her servants
had begun to tattle about the circum-
stance which had preceded her death,
everybody in Coldwell was aware that
Mr.. and Mrs. Dermerell had not lived
happily together. The tradesmen of
the town remembered the artists wife
as an eccentric dark-eyed lady, some
times dowdy in her attire, sometimes
absurdly over-dressed :, and they had
noticed this popularity i'll her, that,
when smartly arrayed, she would bag
gle owe her purchases like a fsh-fag,
whereas when she was shabbily clad
she gave her orders in a good-natured
careless style, never asking about the
cost of things, but apparently bent on
gratifying all her whlms so far as her
,,,-~a VAHl1 allow H. - An
scribed her as a scold, but they, too,
had observed that there was a strange
capriciousness in her behavior, for on
some days she would lounge about the
house in dr~essing-gown and slippers-a
languid, smiling, and childish creature,
who would recline for hours OF a sofa,
playing with her lap-dog, OF telling for
tunes to herself with cards, or else
hanging about her husbands studio and
smoking cigarettes whilst on the days
when she donned her fine dresses, she
gave herself insufferable airs, screamed
at everybody about t%rIfles, and accused
her husband of making love to Lady
Lexington. A housemaid affirmed
that Mr.. Dermerell, returning from
Torwood, had II evening been as
saulted by his wife, who beat him with
her fists and pulled out punches of his
hair, calling him all sorts of atrocious
names, 1t was admitted, however, that
Mrs. Dermerell was very attractive,
and, barring the fact that she could
hardly read or write, a person who gave
one the idea Of being a lady when she
chose to put ON company
Truth ISL said Mr.. Chiekwood, a
fussy local grocer, 1--we heard that
Madam Dermerell was a model, what
ever that may mean but ] s'pose it's
a woman who pastures, without much
clothing about her, as a Venus, a SUI
SANTA, and all that and that Mr. Der
merell married her when he was resId-
ing abroad and scarcely able to scrape
a living with his brush.'
"Anyhow he never much liked her,
said Mr.. Pencuik, a serious chemist
~ shall have to depose that he came
three times to my place to buy doses of
chloral, saying thst his lady wanted
them for sleeplessness."
"And didn't that excite your suspic-
ions 2" asked Mr.. C~hickwood, with his
head on n side, as if his friend PEN
cuik had not displayed the necessary
amount of prudence.
"Sleeplessness doesn't excite a chem
lists suspicious" answered Nj. PEN
cuik, in a tone of superiority. "You
sell lucifer matches, don't you, without
thinking that your customers are anx-
ious TO poison themselves with the phos-
phorus ?"
SAY, it depends on the dose though"
replied Mr.. Chiekwood, rebuked and
rather confused.
"Well, supposing a man buys several
small doses and then mixes them-that
would make one big dose, wouldn't
1t 20 said Mr.. Pepcuik, who, seeing an
attentive circle of listeners gather
round him, spoke sententiously. Il
aonsf GOV thaf Mr. narmarau Ala miv