The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-02

CUT BY THE COUNTY.
A NOVEL BY MISS M. E. BRADDON,
LADY Audey Fortune Shoes ETC.
PART VI.-CHAPTE x.

passed. You have not heard the last of that
person and his inquiries. 1t would have been
wiser If you had told him the truth about that
money which is to pay your husbands passage
to Canada, and set you all up in a new country.
1t is nice little fortune for man like Jaker
to drop into. 1t ought TO buy him pretty little
farm out yonder."
Mrs Jaker paled at this speech, and a fright
ened look came into those mild blue eyes of hers,
eyes which were apt to mislead strangers as to
her character
Fortune, sir!" she faltered. my poor hus-
band had nothing but the ten pounds he won at
the races"
Indeed Then how came he to spend nearly
ten pounds with the old woman at the shop?
That would leave him very little for his passage
money"
Hereupon Mrs Jaker, with tears in her eyes,
called upon the heavens and those who dwell
therein to witness her truth. She had told the
strange gentleman who called last night the
truth, and nothing but the truth. If her hus-
| band had more money than those ten sovereigns
won for him by the horse True Blue-which was
| Wiltshrebred horse and we'll beknown to him,
or Jaker would never have backed him-she
knew it not
"Come now, Mrs Jaker, this is all very fool
ish," said the Colonel, in friendly tone. Sup
pose were to tell you that the person you saw
| last night is coming again this morning, and
that in all probability he will take you off to
prison. A man in Jakers station doesn't come
by four hundred pounds in bank notes without
people asking questions, and as Jaker has made
| off no for to hos "
AS the Colonel uttered those words, -four
! hundred pounds, he looked straight into Mrs,
Takers face, and every line in that face. har-
dened as the woman was by long experience in
lying, told him that the shot had gone home
| Sir Allan's bank notes had by some means or
other fallen into Jaker's hands
II am here as your friend said the Colonel
The man you saw last night is a member Of the
police, and you have nothing to hope for from
him. l am here to help you, if can. A sum
of f4O0 was stolen from Sir Allan Darnels
house last Tuesday night and some of that
money has been traced to your husbands pos
session. How did he come by it? Was it he
who shot Sir Alanl'
mo, sir, no." and again Mrs. Jaker called
upon the Almighty to witness her truth"
told me Jaker won that money on the race
course. How can l believe that you are not
lying now9 A ruffian entered my friends house
at midnight last Tuesday, stole packet of bank
| notes, and shot Sir Allan The wound is likely
to be fatal. Should Sir Allan die before the
trial comes on, the burglar who shot him will
stand charged with his murder. Your husband
has had taste of the law, and he knows that he
can't shoot even a rabbit with impunity. He
will find it sitter business now that he has
shot man."
"He never lifted a hand against Sir Allan. He
hasn't been inside the Park since the time he
was falsely accused Of stealing one OF the deer
three years ago"
How did he come by that money them"
asked the Colonel, with severe look.
| Almost unconscously he put on the voice and
| manner with which he had been wont to address
rebellious Sepoys in days gone by. Mrs. Jaker
quailed before him.
| He found it," she faltered.
Found itl Preposterous! People don't find
| money in hedges. He must have stolen those
| notes either from the cabinet Lady Darnels
! morning room, or else he stole them from the
| person of the man who first stole them, The
| thing may be double robbery but it is rob-
band to be thief"
NO. sir" Again Mrs. Jaker called upon the
celestial powers NO. sir, my husband may
have been poacher, but he is not thief still
|
lie went away he came by that money honestly.
| 1t was given to him a free gift"
THAT won't do" said the Colonel.
| Just at this moment there rang through the
old cottage an awful blood freezing sound 1t
was peal of laughter long, and loud, and wild,
and shrill: such laughter as no one would expect
| to hear outside the walls of a lunatic asylum.
| why, you have maniac the premises, :"
exclaimed the Colonel How is thats' The
| laughter died away, and then there came wild
| snatch of song:
"Grevy Charenton Gambetta Toulon!
Vive lie sang! Vive lie sang!"
| That enough for Colonel Stukely. With
| out waiting for leave from Mrs. Jaker he made
for the narrow staircase in corner of the room,
| and rushed upstairs as if he had been mounting
breach, There were two rooms above-the
| door of the first wide open, Mrs. Jakers den
evidently. The door of the second was shut,
| and from within came another peal of laughter,
| almost demonac in its wild shrillness.
| "Otro toro." cried voice shril as the laugh
| "Otro toro! Seville, the land of poetry and love-
the land of song and dance, of bull fights and
beautiful women. Spain--yes-Spain is the
| place for me-"
This time the words were English spoken as
only English lips can speak. Yet, surely, it was
Frenchman VINO sang that snatch of Carmag
mole just now; and it was Frenchman of whom
| Colonel Stukely was in quest.
| He opened the door and stood on the threshold
! looking into the cottage bed chamber fair
sized room, under sloping roof, and lighted by
I a good old dormer window.
| The young man whom he had last seen lying
| among the gorse and heather was stretched on a
pallet under the window. His head was propped
up against the plastered wall, and his eyes were
staring straight before him, while his thin hands
played with the coverlet. Suddenly while the
Colonel stood watching him, he crouched into
corner of the wall and flung up his arms above
, his head like man recoiline from an enemy.
The bull" he shrieked, the bull is coming at
me-keep him off, keep him off. No, it is not the
bull. Worse, worse, ten times worse. 1t is her
husband, in'his winding-sheet bedabbed with
blood. could never stand blood-keep him of,
keep him Off"
He fell back upon his wretched mattrass, his
face flushed to crimson, his pupils dilated, the
eyeballs rolling restlessly, perspration rolling in
thick beads down his forehead ana hollow
| cheeks. He was victim to disease which the
| Colonel knew only too WELL and had seen but