The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-31
ia little brandy. the room is close. there is


Taking from the mantel shelf silver cup
(which contained a carefully measured and
deadly dose of oil Of almonIs) he poured q little
brandy into it. shook it together. and pressing
the cup to the lips of his stupehed guest, forced
the contents down his throat And then, one
hand clutching the back of a chair for support.
he watched his victim; watched him with staring
eyes and half parted lips, and with his guilty
heart humping at his ribs, as it 1t would pound
its way through them; he pressed his left hand
over it, as if to hold it back, while his right
hand dragged the chair as he fell back pace or
two, contemplating the dying man Then, with
a sudden effort. he tore off his coat and flung it
over the terribly upbraidiug eyes of his MUIR
dered guest
This done, he stood again apart, away from
the dread thing now half covered up in the chair;
stood, and waited, and trembled. waited and
waited, it seemed hours, though the time IN
which SO much evil had been accomplished was
very short. Presently he thought he heard a
footstep in the house; then he thought there was
listener at the door. 1t required tremendous
effort to move; but at last he crept to the door
opened 1t, and listened. The hall clock was
beating out the time in its usual way; but to
Needham the sound was ominous; it had a death
~ sound, warning sound, and it seemed to
threaten him.
He Wen. into the hall. 1t was dark. He had
purposely allowed the gas to remain unllghted
flicker OF the street lamp came IN over the
glass above the door. There was a lantern on
and returned to the library. All still, deadly
still. He heard for the first time the ticking of
the clock on the mantel-shelf He lowered the
gas IN the chandelier, as if he feared to see too
mucn when he should remove the coat from the
silent figure IN the chair He went behind it,
and lifted the covering gently bit by bit, until
the face exposed. Then he recoiled from
ii, then approached it afresh; touched ii.
listened to it. raised one of its hands, felt its
pulse listened at it's heart. All STILL no sound
only the two clocks and a distant roll of thun-
der
Pull yourself together" Kissed between
his teeth the living man, who now almost envied
the dead. Everything works for you-heaven
and hell even the night, darkness and storm"
The hall clock struck ten. He listened and
counted every stroke as the hammer fell.
mo more" he said, taking out his watch,
looking at it, and then placing it to his ear.
mo more The Fates are with me. Now to
business! What is there to fea& dead man
is nothing-dust, clay a elod, nothing Come,
John Needham, to business!"
He reached over to the spirit decanters. and
pouring into glass a large quantity Of whisky
drank it off. Then stretching himself up to his
full height, he turned up his sleeves, apostro-
phising the corpse as he did SO.
You are John Northampton Needham,
member or Parliament, banker, the ruined
financier and You must not be found dressed in
Joseph Norbury's clothes--come! 1t will not
matter to you how you are dressed it will to me.
Joseph Norbury must not go about in John
Needham's coat, wear Joseph Norbury 8
watch, nor carry Joseph Norbury's purse, nor
thing else that is his Comet"
1t seemed as if the situation, the whisky, and
the gift OF life with new name. made physl-
cally a new man of the villain. He worked at
his CHASTITY business with the energy of a giant
and the vigor of a looter on a battlefield. Once
or twice he refreshed himself from the spirit de-
canter, and wiped the Precipitation from his face.
When the changes had been made between the
living and the dead, which the living considered
sufficient, then the no less difficult work of
removing the body; but the murderer equal
to the occasion. He carried it out into the yard,
and thrust it into the brougham which he had
already dragged out of the carriage-h house for the
purpose. There was not a single detail that
he had not thought out on the lines of his
own proposed suicide He had not permitted
himself, so far, to change a single item
of his original plan except this incident of driv-
ing to Hampstead for he had argued that if his
scheme was simple and had no hitch in it, all he
had to do was to fit his substitute into the plan.
The only change was the brougham His own
IDEA had been to walk to the scene of his own
DEATH favorite resort in life, and there take
his fatal dose. The introduction of the brough-
ham had necessitated the absence of the SER
wants. These supplementary incidents had
worked out so far to his satisfaction, the most
tremendous of all of them, the discovery of the
substitute. having been in Needhams opinion
little less than miraculous
Having deposited his CHASTITY load in the
brougham, he leaned, gasping, against the coach
house; for though he had carried his load with
something. like the grip OF an expert at
such work balancing the weight of the
difficult and awkward burden so as to make
it bearable, he could hardly stand erect for some
minutes. Presently, however, he went back into
the house, straighented his ROOM washed and laid
aside the extra coffee cup, placed in his pocket
the phia. of poison, carefully removed all traces
of his visitor; then going into the hall and put
ting on Norburys light overcoat, taking his own
on his arm, and his crush-hat in his hand he re-
turned to the stables and harnessed the cob to
the brougham. Opening the gates stealthily, he
looked out. No one stirring the night dark a
steady rain falling; everything still favored the
criminal and his work He led the horse through
the gateway, put ont the lantern placed it in
side the doors, which he carefully closed; and
then mounting the box seat drove quietly through
the news and out into the Mary-le bone road.
The rain fell in a steady downpour The per-
fume OF roses and stocks from adjacent gardens
filled the dripping atmosphere; but in the imag-
nation of the solitary driver of the silent passen-
ger the gas-lamps pointed their short arms at
him. The long, glaring reflections of the lights
On the wet pavements seemed to follow him. He
drove on, nevertheless, and to his troubled
fancy the wheels of the brougham made an aw-
full noise. His horse clattered over the stones as
If with the design of calling attention to the aw-
full thing he was dragging. THAT is why they
walk the horses in hearse, and the mourn
ing coaches that follow creep along" the
driver thought, ''the noise is SO great"
He pulled the cob into walk. Yes" he
thought, ''that must be it; there is
more noise attending the removal of the dead
than the living-a kind of sympathy. as if the
stones spoke, as somebody has, think, sug-
gested. But now that his horse only walked
through the rain, he noticed that as cabmen
ratified by they turned to look at him. He had
not lighted the lamps of his brougham, so that
the light of passing vehicles seemed to fash
upon him and try to unnerve him. He there
fore urged the horse once more iato trot, and
ratified over the stones with the rest of the
traffic. He turned into the Allsopp news. and
would have gone through Clarence gate into the
park but he dared not risk having to pull up
for gates to be opened and shut SO he kept to the
road, turning into Upper Gloucester Place, now
at walking pace. now at trot, the gas-iamps
pointing at him as before, and the blood-red
glare of druggists lamp that fell sheer across
his path. making him shudder. But on he went,
round Park-road. past Primrose HILL and now
Skirtiup IFS md ix,to Hav