Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-12-11

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John Needham prepares for his last hours.
He knew that Byles, Grant & Byles would
Dublin for the evidence Of his guilt and
that by Monday they would be in a position
to order his arrest. He foresaw the long
train of other frauds which their discovery
would bring to light, and he knew there
was no chance Of compromise.
At first he thought of fight; but fight
demanded energy, AMI he was tired, beaten,
out of hope, out of spirits. Flight would
mean pursuit, and pursuit capture; but,
above all, it meant action, energy, physical
grip and he had lost all this with his last
( move played unsuccessfully in the private
counting house of Byles, Grant & Byles.
| The expression of surprise in the face Of
Byles, senior, and the peculiar and doubt
ing remark of Grant had dropped his hopes
I down to zero. The ak was at the tree. He
knew it must fall. In short, he had hal
enough; he was played cut; AMI in this
| frame of mind he went home revolving a
plan Of suicide.
It.was hot summer day. June was just
merging into July. The London season was
waning, though to all appearance it was in
its heydey. St Paur- was booming the
! hour of four as his single-horse brougham,
which he used for CITY work, pushed its way
| through the vehicular traffic of Lu1gate
| Hill and Fleet street to wards the West end.
The ja1ed banker AMI member of parlia-
ment noted, in dreamy way, the languid
manner of the pedestrians so unusual in
London; but eighty degrees in the sha1e
was q serious tax upon street energy, At
| Charing Cross he saw two parliamentary
I colleagues walking leisurely to the house,
and in Regent street cabinet minister re-
turned his mol and inwardly thanked his
official stars that Mr.. Needham was not
! quite out of the political running, for the
government could not afford to make seri-
GUS mistakes Of any kind.
J At Piccadilly circus Mr. Needham pulled
the string at druggists, and enter
ing the store asked for speedy means Of
| death, as Romeo had asked of the apothe-
cary in Mantua. But there was nothing
picturesque in the bankers approach to the
| London drug seller; nor did he confide to
| the modern tradesman the need he had
| for the mortal drugs. 1t was very pro-
| saic request that Mr.. Needha preferred
"a large bottle of essential oil of almonds"
| He said his groom wanted it for the
horses, he presumed. The chemist sug-
gested that arsenic was the only drug he
knew of that was given to horses, and then
only in very small quantities. Il think my
| groom says it is for dressing" said Need
ham, "but shall see to that myself; my
stud groom is a very clever fellow and is
| advised by an experien ced vet" 1T is
deadly poison,n said the druggist mot
more SO than arsenic" answered Needham.
''They are both severe enough said the
druggist, 'tbut how large bottle do you
| wish forg ''About half a pint said the
| customer. The shop keeper conferred with
| some other person for few minutes. The
| customer seeing. as he thought, some hesita-
ton in regard to serving so large guam
| tity, said, "Make it up and send it to my
house-Mr. Neeiham, Portland place" The
| name and address had their due weight.
''Send it this evening. am going to Leigh
! ton Buzzard in the morning and want to
| taae it with me-"
The druggist was "a bit Of sporting
man, had ridden to hounds now AMI then,
| and had heard Of the Needham stud. He
| was, on this account, all the more impressed
with his new customer, and said the drug
should be sent at once. MARX it poison"
| said Mr.. Needham. 'Of course, SIR" said
the druggist; "5hank you, SIR" And Mr.
| Needham drove home Portland place was
| more or less en- fete with afternoon recep-
| lions, as it would be later with dinner par
ties, and later still with gayer throngs at
| evening *'routs and DANCES" for the season
| was particularly gay one, and Portland
| place was the headquarters OF one of the
most snowy and interesting of Oriental en-
| bassies
"a messenger, SIR" said the butler
shortly after Mr.. Needham had entered his
study, with parcel he must deliver only
to YOU"
| "a paraelY'
SIT is from the chemists"
''Oh, ye5; show him in,n said Mr.. Need
ham. "Dick wants some oil of almonds
for the horses. called to order it, and 1t
is strong poison, and there is SO much of
it they don't like to deliver it in a general
kind of way. Show the young man in"
II was only to deliver it to Mr. Need
ham," said the messenger.
quite right" said the banker 81 sup
pose there is enough to poison the whole
street,!
eyes, SIR" said the messenger II
! brought it myself that there might be no
mistake"
THANK you very mueh," said Mr.. Need
ham, taking the bottle, and then turning
to the butler he remarked, "We will lock it
up, eh, Jcan,'
Eyes, SIR"
SIN my desk"
'Yes, SIR"
Mr. Needhsm handed the bottle and tho
kevs to the butler. who placed it in tho
desk, locked the desk. and returned the
keys to their owner.
'That is we'll, I" said Ncedhanl, as the
daor closed ON butler and messenger; 81
begin to feel better already"
, He unlocked his desk, took out the bottle,
removed the stopper and smelled the deadly
liquor
Enough to poison half the town." he
said. We'll, the stir it will make will be
just as great as If it had done it."
Then he replaced the bottle i'll the desk,
opened the window, sat down in an easy
chair, AMI neither spoke nor novel for 8
long time.
Presently he rose, closed the window, and
paced the room, than sat down at his desk
and did very unusual thing-began talk
ing to himself in loud whisper.
mo, jim, not to-nig ht-to- morrow-let
me say tomorrow You must put things
stla ght for your BROTHER and write some
letters--y on must see Nolan, too"
Nolan was a confidential friend and
solicitor.
''Are you going mad, John9 No, coming
to your senses, chs You have been mad
for five years, mad and miserable Now
you are to have rest and peace. All, John,
if poor men only knew the BLISS of an
honest life they would never desire to lie
rich. Ii 1 had my time to come over again!
Why couldn't I have had dream years
ago, like that old man in the story, and
have awakened in time to turn back, to re-
form, to follow the other roadap
Re arose and looked at himself in mir
TOR, sat down again, began to writa then
leane.l back in his chair to whisper again to
himself like one in dream:
Tomorrow night, John, when they are