Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-08-01

| Wv s~e AAvns sv~A ~ - ~ S~~~ !.
- Il was our impression ESQ thofougt
. sesrch having already been made In
side that the object Of our quest mus
be without tho house, 1t was raths'
esris work for us I'll, except the Pro
fsssor, who was equal to the occasion
and seemed 10 scent the battle, 80 u
speak, in the shape Of some far-of
| diamond which be had never seen.
Attwelye minutes past 3, then, Mrs
Csrei,l took the Professors hand, be
having been previously blindfolded.
mot" he said, "that such thing
Was necessary, but II Gained his power
| Of thought to acme extent" Harold
and retired few steps, and the silence
| for several minutes was deathlike. AT
last the Professor made . step, another,
and then to us on.lookcrs 1t seemed as
| IL certainty had replaced doubt. lie
went straight to the door, Mrs. Cargill
following land we, too, discreetly), down
the avenue to the first turning, and then
bang sgainst the fence in q most dis
turbipg manner. This little incident
seemed to have upset his train. Of
thought, and il was some minutes be-
fore be seemed to grasp the situation.
II was q fortunate thing that the
morning was fine, though the grass
looked abominably wet. / inwardly
shuddered at the ides that, had there
been q gate, we should have felt obliged
to open it and take to the grass; and,
catching Harold's eye, we both felt
somewhat guilty, IS though we might
be Sinking something. But the "some.
thing" was not to be shirked. The
Professor calmly commenced to climb
the psling, which, as his one hand was
occupied, and as he was an exceedingly
ungainly man, obviously never born for
feats of agility, seemed rather AN ex-
traordinary proceeding. Over be would
20, however, and over Mrs. Cargill must
90 with him when q man is in trance
he is very unreasonable. How Mrs.
Cargill stood it cannot tell, save that
she herself was, perhaps, q little affect
ed.
We were helping them quietly over
when the Professor got into most I'M
accountable hurry. and had we not both
devoted our attention to Mrs. Cargill
she and her leader must have fallen,
and the train Of thought been probably
broken. We had been asked to main
tain q discreet silence, but | could al.
most have sworn / caught smothered
exclamation from Harold Is Mrs. Car
gill's foot was brought smartly round
upon the side of his head owing to the
Professors unreasonable haste.
Once over the paling the scent seemed
to have grown weaker. OF course,
there was no hesitation in the avenue,
and a very evident absence Of such feel
ing when palings had to be surmounted;
but once on the dewy grass things
might be taken more easily. / went
back to the paling to join Harold, and
we left the pair to themselves till they
got fairly across the field. Then the
Professor seemed to recognize the
proximity of another paliDg, and we
had to run to be in time to help them
over. We were getting more used to
it now, and Mrs. Csrgill was bearing
up wonderfully. We handed them
over without any mishap, save that the
Professors foot got twisted in the
fence, and his boot Zone Of those elias
tic-sided monstrosities, and very old,)
came off in the struggle to extricate
him.
Harold and had up till now been
feeling not little skeptical about the
proceedings, but the fact that we were
in the wood by this time, and that the
Professor seemed totally unconscious Of
the absence of his boot, began to i'm
press us. 1t seemed, too, little extra
ordinary that he should be able to 60
calmly onnow without knocking against,
or wishing to surmount, the trees.
1t was by this time thoroughly light;
we must have been out for nearly half
an hour, and as yet had done nothing
but climb palings and get our feet very
wet. Still, it certainly seemed that
there might be some method in this
madness, and so on we went, more
slowly now, owing to the brushwood,
which happily was not very thick.
Suddenly the Professor stopped in so
decided manner that | could not but
think it possible that we were near the
object of our search. He was at the
moment just opposite thick laurel
bush. | looked hastily at Harold,
who appeared as confident as myself
that we must have come to something
to cause such decided and prolonged
stop. A few minutes Of silence and
suspense passed like hours ; then, a
step forward, and the Professor com.
menced to stoop slowly downward,
when we heard rustling among the
laurel leaves and fox skunk out from
the other side of the bush and made off
through the wood. This distracted my
attention for a moment, and when |
looked round the Professor had re-
sumed his usual stifl.backed attitude.
We waited for fully five minutes. What
had gone wrong? Where was the Pro.
fessor's promise? Was there nothing
in the bush after all?
He slowly relaxed Mrs. Cargilfs
hand. at is no use, gentlemen can
do nothing more just now" But why I?
VIVA. was the reason? Why stop him
self Just as discovery appeared certain I?
The Professor could understand itno
more than we. 81 came here" he
said, "guided by Mrs. Cargill's
thought. l don't know where | am.
| had the diamond, or the clue to it,
five minutes ago; now it is lost.
Whether Mrs. Csrgill ceased to assist
me or not cannot tell; but | know |
can do nothing more just now"
Ii seemed best, il we wished to pre-.
serve any secrecy in the matter, to
make our way home rs quick as we
could. gave the Professor his boot,
and Mrs. Cargill (who was something
exhausted) my arm and we returned
gloomily, almost as We had come-that
is to say, by the shortest and most d.
rect way. We were all too dis
gusted with the Professor to be
able TO discuss the matter amicably
with him at the moment, so we parted
quietly and like guilty creatures in the
hall to court the sleep which we all
began TO feel would be beneficial. NV
position | could not but think was rs.