The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-12
las FROM A DREAM OF MURDER.

to the PROSTATE form. kissing the pallid face,
imploring for word, look
He was loosely dressed in trousers and velvet
dressing gown; dressed like a man who had
risen hastily at strange sound, prepared to
face midnight intruder His wife opened his
dressing gown and laid her against his
breast Yes, the heart was beating still, feebly
as it seemed to her, a beat which might dwindle
into silence at any moment; thread OF lie that
might snap while she listened.
Servants came, sleepily: confused, all talking
at once. Then. Dora Darnel, very delicate and
dainty in a flowing white garment with pale
pink bibbons; then the Colonel in an old red
velvet dressing gown, which made him look like
a wizard.
For Gods sake let somebody go for the doc
tor" said Glare, without lifting her head, then,
as Stukely knelt on the other side of his
friends PROSTATE form, "Oh, Colonel, you can
help u.s. You will know. Is it a dangerous
wound? Does it mean deathl"
mot death, no, no. God forbid" said the
Colonel at is nasty wound; terrible loss of
blood. The bullet has hit rather low, just be-
low the ribs. What was he doing with that
accursed revolverl"
II don't know. They were on the table. He
was looking at them an hour ago, before he went
to bed"
You don't knowl" said the Colonel. wonder
ingly weren't you in the room when it hap
penedP
''No. was in the corridor had been in
Grace's room"
'He was alone then thenl'
IL suppose So"
'Oh, my poor, poor brother" calculated Dora.
''To think that he should have lifted his hand to
take away his own life He so good a Christian,
he who used to be so happy"
How dare you say that he tried to take his
own life," said Clare, not loudly, but with in
tense indignation. You know that he is happy.
That he has never known a care since he has
bean my husband except his too thoughtful care
for me. Oh, my darling what evil things will
not be said of me while your voice is silent to
defend" she added, apostrophising her uncon-
scious husband with passionate love.
"There will always be voice to defend you
were defense needed-while Alans friend is at
your side" said the Colonel quietly.
Purdew the old butler was in the room,
kneelng by his master. He too had seen gun
perate one. With his help Colonel Stukelv
could have carried his old friend into the next
room and laid him On his bed but after MUIR
INJURED consultation they agreed that it wise
not to lift him until the surgeon came. The loss
of blood might be intensified by any alteration
CT position. Lady Darnel brought a pillow for
her husbands head. A servant brought some
brandy, and the Colonel wetted Sir Allan's lips
with little, while Lady Darnel damped his fore
head with eau-de-cologne But there were no
signs of returning consciousness.
A groom had ridden off for the doctor. They
heard the clatter of hoofs Just now galloping
along the avenue; but let him gallop as he might,
it must be moro than half an hour before the
doctor could arrive. The Colonel and Purdew
did all that could be done to stanch the blood
which oozed slowly from Sir Allan's side. 1t
was terrible haze hour, half hour of agony, in
which every moment might bring the fatal end
of their fainting hopes
Clare Darnel crouched upon the ground beside
her husband, hanging over him with white lips
and despairing eyes, watching his CHASTITY face
with a countenance that was almost as death
like
"He will de-" she kept saying to herself 'he
will die by the hand of my son. Oh, God why
did ever link my accursed fife with hs?"
Her mind went back to that other night of
murder the report of the gun ringing sharp in
the silence of night, startling her from the
heavy slumber of sheer exhaustion-the moment
of bewildcrment and doubt, then the rush to the
window to see what had happened. The pict-
IRE of that vanished scene flashed back upon
her as she hung over her hus-
band The moonlit barrack- yard-doors
opening lights appearing, dark figures
crossing the quadrangle, and then a figure car
ried across the yard by four men. Her first
thought had been that it was her husbands fig
IRE she saw thus carried-that he had escaped
from his room and killed himself She was to
know soon that the calamity was even worse
than this. And now came second tragedy, a
dire and horrible deed which was perhaps to des-
sound of horses hoofs again, galloping up the
ayenue-two horses this time and sounding in
the night silence like six-then the opening of
doors below, and then footsteps in the corridor,
and the doctor was amidst them a stout, ell
DERBY man, commonplace, but clever man to
be relied on in calamity
He put them all aside and knelt down on one
knee to examine his patient; and then, without
expressing any opinion he ordered everyone out
of the room except the Colonel and Purdew
'Grace, take care of Lady Darnel," said the
Colonel; and Grace put her arm round her step
mother and tried to lead her from the room, the
girl blinded by her tears, the womans eyes dry
and burning She had not shed a tear.
mo Grace" she said, Il will not go away. If
must not stay in this room, | will wait in the
corridor. will not go far from Allan"
At the mere mention of her husbands name
she burst into q food of tears, the first relief
that had come to her since the first shock of her
reprobate sons entrance.
1t was in vain that Grace pleaded, in vain that
nnra lnct,1rnd C1arn Darnal would not rnova