Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-09-20

| and sting you. / wouldn't sit with my
Bible on my lap and spit venom at lnno-
cent people,
aIf you can not control your tongue,
Grace, shall go to my own room, saiu
| Dora, closing her Bible, and rising as II 10
| depart.
Il shall be very much beholden to my
| tongue If it drives you there, retorteo
Grace. upon which Miss Darnel had no OPP
ton, and was obliged to carry out ner
threat; more especially as the room was
| Grace's own particular den, and she was
only visitor there.
She departed, carrying her Bible and
large assortment of angry feelings with
| her.
! But she did not retire to the solitude OF
her own apartments in the north wing.
| Solitude is apt to be intolerable in these
periods of suspense and anxiety. Miss
| Darnel went down to the drawing-room,
and on her way met servant who was go
ing upstairs to announce Mr.. Colchester.
| He was in the drawing room, the man
| said, and wanted to see Lady Darnel, Miss
| Grace, anybody.
| Dora felt that she came under the head
| of anybody, so she hurried to the drawing
| room, eager to be en- rapport with the
county; though, indeed, in spite of his
| splendid position, she always looked upfn
Edward Colchester as in somewise an out
slider. He was so good-natured, so hall
fellow-well-met with all the world, so lit
| tie governed by the Draconian laws OF
county society.
| She found him in the drawing room, in
| hunting clothes, fidgeting about with
| whip in his hand, just as if he had that
moment dismounted to rest his hunters
back during a pause in the mornings
work
"My dear Miss Darnel," he cried, Selling
her hand, what dreadful thing this Is
Been out with Col. Thorpe's barriers; only
| just heard it on my way home, or should
have been here before. How did it hap
pen? Is he very bade How is Grace?"
! at is a long story, Mr.. Colchester, and
| it is profound mystery. We none of us
know what it all means yet. My poor
brother is in most precarious state. L
| fear we will lose him."
Here the tears rushed to her eyes, and
they were not crocodile tears. If she hated
| her brothers WIFE she loved her brother;
and though she could not bear to see him
| happy in his second marriage-nay, re-
sented that second marriage as if it were
deadly wrong done to herself--she could
not calmly contemplate the possibility OF
losing him.
Don't cry" said Colchester, very much
inclined to be fearful himself Things
are never so bad as they look. But for
| goodness sake tell me how it happened.
Sir Allan shot himself, they say; late last
night after you had all gone to bed"
Not all" said Dora. Lady Darnel sat
! up late to write letters. She was still up
at the time it happened"
"Then she must know all about it"
| "She appears to know nothing. She had
| been to Grace's room. She was in the cor
ridor when she heard the pistol go off"
And Sir Allan was alone in his room?"
$50 it appears. He had gone to bed an
hour before. He must have got up and
| gone back to Lady Darnel's morning. room,
where he had left the case of revolvers on
the table Why he should have got up
and half-dressed himself, and gone back to
| get those pistols, is an unfathomable mys-
terry"
He may have heard burglars-or fancied
he heard Them" suggested Colchester.
"Some men are always on the qui vive for
burglars-sleep with life-preservers under
their pillows. They might burgle all round
my house and l should never hear 'em;
but l know it is a weakness with some
men. How do you know that there wasn't
burglar there2 He may have shot Sir
Allan"
Dora shook her head.
81 do not believe it was burglar. If
there had been any one in the house-any
scuffie between Sir Allan and robber-
Lady Darnel must have heard it, She
| was in the corridor when the pistol went
| off"
Then how do you solve the mystery9"
f..1
| deed was either murder or suicide"
"Suicide" exclaimed Colchester "Out
of the question. Why, there wasn't
happier fellow in Willis than Sir Allan;
the cheeriest, the kindest, the most genial
| of mem"
kind, genial, admit" said Dora, "but 1
know my brother better than any one else
can know him. was his companion and
contidante from the time left school till
the day he married his second wife do
not believe that he has been happy of late
| His marriage was not a satisfactory mar
rage. Even if he himself could have felt
thoroughly satisfied-which do not think
| he ever did-he knew that the county was
| dissatisfied with his choice"
THE county are a set of snobs," said
| young Colchester, swallowing an evil
word with a wry face. "Why couldn't
they take such splendid woman as Lady
| Darnel on trust?"
"My dear Mr.. Colchester, am thankful
to know that in good society no one is ever
taken on trust" replied Miss. Darnel.
"What could society be like if people
| were?"
| Perhaps good deal pleasanter than it
is now" retorted the reprobate squire,
| who troubled himself much less about the
| antecedents of an acquaintance than about
the pedigree of fox hound
| Miss Darnel shrugged her shoulders,
with the air of declining to waste any
more time in argument with person of
Mr.. Colchester's limited intellect.
| Continued to- norroac.)