Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-10-01
':My God. man. You don't mean to say

MY memory flew back to that NOON
lit night in Rome, and what had seen
there.
LET me ask You a question before
you tell me ANYTHING more about it," l
said. "Was he killed on the thirty
first of June, and did it happen at
Densmerep"
EYES," he answered. ''They wrote
to you about it, see. thought per-
haps you might not have heard of it. !"
II have never heard word about il
from any one but you," l answered,
''unless l heard it from John Grayle
himself" Then | told him what had
seen. He heard my story with
grave, half-frightened look.
Percy" ne said, when l had fin
ished, ''shall we 60 up to Densmere
Tomorrow lwant to take a look for
the 'hollow-oak' your spirit-visitor
told you about. If John Grayle came
to you, after death, and he certainly
was killed on the day when you say
you saw him, why should there not be
some reason for us to believe that the
message he gave you meant some
thingP"
On the morrow we went up TO Dens-
mere, where John Grayle had been
spending few days when he was
murdered by some unknown person
no clue had ever been obtained to the
murderer. The affair was enshroudcd
in deep mystery.
Mr.. GrosvenOr, the owner of the
place, gave us cordial welcome. We
were SO impatient to find out the truth
or falsity OF our clue, If clue it could
be called, that we would not sit down
until after we had satisfied our curios-
ity. told my story, and why we were
there.
IL don't understand it," he said,
with puzzed look on his face. ut
is certainly strange story, and il
sounds like an improbable one. l do
not think you will find your hollow
oak, for have never seen one on the
place, but there is no harm ia
looking. Let us begin the search
at once. i am actually getting excl.
ted over the matter myself though
l have absolutely no faith what
ever in ghosts and spiritual manifes-
tarions.
We set out on our search. The
beeches and hemlocks grew thick on
either side of the avenue, but no oak
trees.
al am afraid your ghost was drawing
on his imagination when he told you
of an oak tree ut Densmere," said Mr..
Grosvenor.
'Isn't that an oak leafP" ask
ed Thiel, STOPPING and picking
up a leaf from the path. Sure
enough it was.
Looking up, we saw gnarled,
crooked limb projecting over our
heads from thicket of young
bushes. The top of the tree
had been broken off years be-
fore, and only this one branch re-
manned.
/ dashed into the thicket. 1
saw before me the body of an
| oak tree, and about four feet from
the ground there was hole large
enough for the insertion of o man s
arm
never was more excited in my life.
felt as if all things depended on the
result of my search in the cavity of
that hollow tree; thrust my arm into
the aperture and felt my fingers come
in contact with something that sent
shiver through me from head
to foot, l drew out knife about
whose blade was wrapped a bloody
paper. i held these things out for my
friends to see, and neither of us spoke
q word. but l know our faces were
very white.
unrolled the paper from about the
blade of the knife. / read:
JOHN GRAYLE, ESQ,
"Dedr Sir: Happening to hear that
you were stoppin ut Densmere, take
the liberty of addressing you. and ask
ing if person calling himself Manuel
Garcia is there, also. II he is, beware
of him. He is an impostor. He is a
gambler and william, and would not
for a moment be tolerated in the
society into which he has thrust him.
self, il his true character were known.
If you have any doubts of the truth
of what tell you, write to Sebastian
Garcia, "a Rue de Annuncio, New Or
leans, and he will tell you that this
man who has borrowed an old and
honorable name is thief, liar. and
a coward, who would no sooner show
his face in New Orleans than he would
dare TO enter lions den. The lat
ter place would be the safer of the
two. | have kept track of this man,
whose true name is GoDzaloo Duprez,
for years, and he cannot escape me.
will follow him to the grave. Ask
him il he remembers Honore, of the
old house by the river, and tell him
that she is on his track still. Watch
him, when you tell him this and see
il he does not turn pale"
The letter bore no signature. gave
it to my friends to read. They read
it. and then Grosvenor said:
81 think / see how it must have
been. John Grayle had been to the
village for letters, and was returning
when he was murdered. That much
we know. He probably received this
letter with others VIC found upon his
body. Probably he met Garcia, or he
who called himself SO, and charged
him with being an imposter. There
had been an ill-feeling between the
two for some time, for Garcia sought
to supplant Grayle in the regards OF
Miss Booth, to whom Grayle was on.
gagged. To save himself from detec
ton and exposure, the man killed
Grayle, secured the letter. and, with
the foolishness characteristic of Grim
. nails in many instances, concealed Il
with the knife in the hollow tree. i
, is strange, but not one of us ever sus
, pected Garcia, or Duprez, strange in
! deed, for we knew there had been il
feelings between them"
. Where is Garcia, or Duprez, nowp
asked Thiel.
81 do not know answered Grosye