Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-02-05
CHAPTER XXVI.
STRANGE TURNS.

And yet this catastrophe rose out of
mistake. When the detective asked
Jem Davies to watch the lawn, he never
suspected that the clergyman was the
villain who had been concerned in that
explosion. But Davies, man of few
ideas and full of his own wrong, took
for granted, as such minds will, that
the policeman would not have spoken
to him if this had not been has affair; so
he and his fellows gathered about the
steps and watched the drawing-room.
They caught glimpse of Monckton,
but that only puzzled them. His ap-
pearance was inconsistent with the only
description they had got-in fact op-
posed to it. 1t was Grace CliffOrd's de-
nunciation, trumpet-tongued, that let
loose savage justice on the villain.
Never was woman's voice so fatal, or
so swift to slay. She would have un-
done her work. The fury she had
launched she could not recall. AS for
BARLEY, words can hardly describe his
abject terror. He crouched, he shiver-
ed, he moaned, he almost swooned; and
long after it was all over he was found
crouched in corner of the little room,
and his very reason appeared to be
shaken. Judge Lynch had passed him.
but too near. The freezing shadow of
RelrlDuUlOn chilled nm.
Colonel Clifford looked at him with
contemptu0us pity, and sent him home
With John Baker in close carriage.
Lucy Monckton was in the parlor of
the Dun Cow waiting for her master.
The detectives and some outdoor SER
wants of Clifford Hall brought short
ladder and paillasses, and something
nnNGrnd 70 lD
Lucy saw, but die not suspect the truth.
They had murmured consultation
with the landlady. During this Mark
Waddy came down, and there was some
more whispering, and soon the battered
body was taken up to Mark Waddy's
room and deposited ON his bed. The
detectives retired to consult, and Wad-
dy had to break the calamity to Mrs.
Monckton. He did this as well as he
could; but it little matters how such
blows are struck. Her agony was great,
and greater when she saw him, for she
resisted entirely all attempts to keep
her from him. She installed herself at
once as his nurse, and Mark Waddy re-
tired to garret.
A surgeon came by Colonel Clifford's
order and examined Monckton's bruis-
ed body, and shook his head. He re-
ported that there were no bones broken.
but there were probably grave internal
injuries. These, however, he could not
specify at present, since there was no
sensibility in the body; so pressure on
the injured parts elected no groans. He
prescribed egg and brandy in small
quantities, and showed Mrs. Monckton
how to administer it to a patient in that
desperate condition.
His last word was in private to Wad-
dy. IF he ever speaks again. or even
groans aloud, send for me. Otherwise
=" and he shrugged his shoulders.
Some hours afterWard Colonel Cliff
ford called as magistrate to see if the
suffer had any deposition to make But
he was mute, and his eyes fixed.
AS Colonel Clifford returned, one of
the detectives accOsted him and asked
him for warrant to arrest him.
Not in his present condition." said
Colonel Clifford, rather superciliously.
"And pray, sir, why did not you inter
fere sooner and prevent this lawless
act?"
"Well, sir, unfortunately We were on
the other side of the house."
Exactly; you had orders to be in one
place, so you must be in another. See
the consequence. The honest men have
put themselves in the wrong, and this
fellow in the right. He will die sort
of victim, with his guilt suspected only,
not proved"