Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-09-11
FIVE MILLION POUNDS.
By T. WE11Yss REID.
CHAPTER VII.

~ T. wEM7ss REID.
CHAPTER VII
THE AuNTE FOO
I am afraid l sat longer than I should
have done IN the luxurious little smoking
room. It was not the admirable quality of
Mauleverer's cigars that chained me to the
spot. Ny mind was full of all the incidents
Of the day, and l slowly pondered on them
as the fragrant clouds OF tobacco smoke
rose above my head. My predominant
feeling was one Of almost extravaganza de-
light. @She loves me! She loves mel" was
the thought that most frequently came
there shot across the broad current of my
sion. l remembered the inscription on the
hack of Daisy's portrait, 4Daisy stanclifre,
alias -" I recalled, not now with the
scornful indifference that I had felt in
the train. the wild words Of Gregson, @There
is murder going to be done at the pla,e to
which you are going, and you know it" II
that were true, then, at least, I thought I
did know by whom the murder would be
wrought. 1t would be- the man Flinter,
whom Daisy bad just described to me as
dangerous. Aye. and once or twice l re-
membered how Gregson had involved all of
us, myself and ~Branksome, and even Daisy
herself, in a common condemnation with
this rufian. Iknew how guiltless l myself
was Of all criminal plots against any human
being. But l was not more certain Of my
own innocence than I was Of Daisy's. Let
me write that here with emphasis, 20 that,
blamable as I may have been in many mat
ters, l shall at least be free from blame In
this.
But from all these wild and wandering
fancies my mind ever returned to the same
delightful thought of Daisy's love. That
sooner or later she should be mine, I was re-
solved. As for Maaleverer's millions, let
them perish with him, il they were to stand
between US.
I was aroused from a long, deep reverie by
the silvery tone of a clock which stood on the
mantelpiece Of the room. I looked up, and
to my surprise saw that it was one o'clock.
had spent more than an hour by myself
after M%auleverer had left me.
There was all through the house that dead
and s,lemn silence which IL never 20 COM
plete as in a large country hos- :. that hour
Of the night ! could feel, ~ Is were, all
around me the great empty ,s.a,s, and the
long corridors with their mysterious wind
ings, and the worm-eaten staircases, up and
down which those who had been dust now
for hundreds Of years had once passed in the
dush Of life and health
There was not sound. I say, to break the
silence; and yet as I listened that very
silence seemed to become vocal, and all the
air was filed with one rhythmic cry that
struck upon my tingling nerves with 9
di0tinCfnooe x1h3oh o~o1>nn rorHg .no,,1I ~noxo,
have attained. There is murder to be done
here; murder, murder, murderi" That was
what the awful silence of the great house
seemed to say to me. knew that it was
nothing more than the effect of the imagine
ton due to the excitement of the past day.
Yet I started up In nervous terror and
lighted my candle, hardly daring to lool
behind me as I turned from the room to
seek my chamber.
Where or how I got wrong I hardly knew.
I found presently, however, that I had
missed the corridor through which I had t.
pass on my way to the staircase leading t.
my room. I turned into another passage,
thinking it might lead me in. the right direo
ton As I was passing a door in this cor
ridor, I distinctly heard q voice raised as il
anger. 1t was Finter who was speaking.
"Curse him! what has brought him hero t
NEEDLE with everythingi You may believe
me or not, as you like, but il that internal
boy is not put out Of the way, and quickly,
too, we may as well give up the game"
I heard no more. There was q faint
murmur as though some one responded K
Flinter, but I could catch no Ineligible
sound, so I passed on, hardly thinking fol
the moment that what I had heard could
have any reference to myself The mex,
turn brought me in some inexplicable
fashion to the head Of the great staircase
from which spot it was an easy matter fol
me to find my way to my bedroom.
l closed the outer door opening upon tn
lonely stair that gave access to my apart
ment and looked around me. I was in tn
delightful little sitting room beyond which
the bedroom was dimly visible through al
open door. A fire had been lighted in botl
rooms, but in neither case was it now burn
ing. The black ashes contrasted drearilI
with the sumptuous furnishing of the tive
apartments. Ibid not linger in the outel
room. I crossed the threshold of the haunted
chamber, and closing the door, began a
once to prepare for bed.
And now, in the very dead Of the night
and cut off by long galleries and lonely stair
cases from any other human being, will
nerves shaken, too, by all the exciting Incl
dents of tho day, I first realized the fact tina
to sleep in this room with all its memorie
and traditions was by no means so pleasan
an adventure az 1t had seemed a few hour
earlier. What was the ghost which was sale
to haunt the placei ! sat down and tried II
recall the legend as l had heard it after din
ner. A woman, false and cruel, who hat
once been the mistress Of the hall, kept th,
young heir a captive in this very room fol
many years in order that she might substi
tute her own child for him. In this lonely
chamber-so the story ran-the captive DO,
had only one visitor; it was his half brother
the child for whose sake his own life wa!
doomed to misery. And the two had Learned
to love each other, so that day by day
the young favorite would creep W
the dark staircase and find admis
sion to the chamber where the true heir wa.
imprisoned. One day the younger child
was playing as usual in the room wher
something attracted him to the window. 1
was open, for it was in the summer time
He peeped out and saw his mother standing
below him. With a cry of joy he leaned
out of the window clapping his hands, and
In a moment he had o~verbalanced himself
and had fallen q crushed and Nfeless mass a,
the feet of the cruel woman who had sinned
for him in vain. A few hours later, when tn.
particulars which the shock Of 30 terrible .
tragedy had produced had died away, til.
lady climbed the dusty oaken staircase and
entered the room where the heir lay, over
whelmed with grief and horror at the fat.
of his little playmate. Dark vengeance wa,
on her face-the~ vengeance Of a woman wit