The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-09-22
Five MILLION POUNDS
-------s~-~~
ByE. wEMxss REID.


When In the dark after days recalled the
moment when penned the lines which were
destined to influence in so terrible manner
not only my own life, but the lives OF SO
many other persons. and when in my agony
cried aloud to God for forgiveness for the
evil had wrought unwittingly. ] never
failed to remember one fact That was,
that / seemel to have written that fatal
message un Ter the inspiration of some will
outside my own 1t was one in an instant.
be- ore had even a tempted to weigh the
act itself or its possible consequences; and /
was once more under the roof Of the Hotel
dAngleterre before fully realize the step.
which ] had taken.
There Is no nee1 TO dwell upon on hurried
.depar ure from Trondhjem. Branksome had
recovered his calmness and seif-po session
before We sailed that evening, but it was evi-
dent that the terrible event Of which we had
heard SO Unexpectedly filed him bo;h with
sorrow and anxiety. He was very frien lily
in his ma ner to me; but neither he nor Eos
dyke was now disposed to tighten the pass
ing hours with the gay sail es of talk an
story which had been so frequent before.
They spent the greater part of every day
deep in consultation with each other in
Branksome's private state room and soon
found that Flinter was not unfrequently I'd
mitted to their confidence.
We had been three days at sea. In
another four-aud-twentv hours we ought m
be at Hull, and in few hours more would
see Daisy / was counting those hours Is
paced the deck after dinner under the frosty
starlit sky, when was told by one Of the
stewards that DR.. Branksome wishe to
speak to me at once.
found him in the handsome cabin which
was nominal.y set apart for the private use
Of the owner of the ship To my surprise
F.inter was with him as well as Fo.dyke. l
was struck by the extreme gravity Of Brank-
somes face when l entered the room Fos-
dyke seemed to be worrie and nervous;
while as for F,inter, he received me with a
scowl of hatred that he made not the
slightest attempt to conceal
@Mr Fenton, said Branksome, who was
standing and whose stately figure seemed to
fill the whole cabin, Hit has just come to my
knowledge, within the last hour, and by the
purest accident, that you dispatched mes
sage by telegraph from Trondbjem, after
hearing the terrible news of Mr.. Mauleverer's
death. am very sorry to take what you
may possibly regard as liberty; but have
to ask you If you will kindly inform me con-
cerning the nature of th.t message and the
person to whom it was addressed.
colored up and looked around in some
embarrassment Branksome's dark eyes
were bent upon me in gaze which, to say
the least, was singularly grave and almost
stern, while Fosdyke impatiently biting his
finger nails, seemed bursting with anxiety
to hear my answer. | did not look at
Flinter; but knew well enough the spirit
Of which he was possessed.
For a moment | hesitated, aud thought OF
declining to reply to the question But
:elt that had no right. after the way IN
which had been treated by Branksome, to
deal with him otherwise than frankly.
II teIegraphed, DR.. B:anksome, to Mis-
Stancliffe 1t was a simple message OF sym
pathy and an intimation that hoped to sex
her before long"
Fosdyk. continued to gnaw his finger nails
restlesslv. D.. Branksomes face did moi
change by single hairs breadth.
Sand that was the only message You sentF
be said, gravely.
aNo sir, Il was not the only message"
answered, annoyed and embarrassed, ye
feeliny that my best plan was to tell every
thing Il sent another message to thu chic
constable at Barton to tell him that sus
pected that Mr. Mauleverer had beon poi
sonedp