The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-07-17


"By the light of golden day,
By the charm of moonlit night;
Though thour't cold as autumn gray,
Thou art glowing in my sight,
Though at last we cease to meet,
Absence can not break the spell;
must live on memories sweet,
Oh, my love, farewell farewell"
Although still had misgivings I CON
suited the coroner and the stipendiary
magistrate, and the latter ordered the ar
rest of Mr.. Beryl at once. l had learned
during the day that no suspicion led to any
of the men of the militia or the depot of
''regulars.n The deceased was universally
disliked; but the bullet which killed him
was a round one, fired from an old smooth
bore musket That still might point
toward Beryl; but that womans shoes
rendered me uneasy, and could not satisfy
myself on the subject even when | dis
covered that the prisoner and the dsad
man had had a terrible quarrel-a quarrel
that had nearly ended in a trip to Boulogne
| and duel on the sands. OF course this
came from the love borne to Miss Brooks:
and after asking myself if the poetical
Beryl had, in fit of frenzy, concluded to
kill his rival, | proceeded, unsatisfied, to
another query-IS there another woman in
| the case! and was the man the victim the
assassin intendeds
Returning to the barracks, 1 got the
officers to come into the mess room again
The murdered man had been sitting with
his face to the window-the blinds OF which
were seldom or never lowered, since the
whole row looked only on the blank walls
DER She moorland-and SO it was plain that
the person WHO sat in the chair opposite
hun would be in the line of fire. When |
asked the question almost OWNED the
answer:
1.-THE bride"
Standing up as the deceased had been
standing when he was shot, l asked the
shortest and slightest of the officers to sit
| in the chair which had been occupied by
the unhappy lady
The top of the brides head would be on
a line with the heart of the victim! He
was rising to return thanks for the toast of
| the evening, when the shot was fired Sup
pose the bullet was intended for the brain
! of the lady the sudden rising of the gentle
man might well make the hand of the as
| sassin shake and spoil the aim. 1t was
plain to me that must look for woman,
some woman who felt herself injured by
the marriage, and who hated the girl who
| had won the place or position she coveted.
The more pondered on this, the idea of
| BeryPs innocence grew upon me- And
yet, l argued, on the other hand what
| English woman would resort to such a
revengel
lmade inquiries however and discovered
that Captain Mervyn's character had been
a strangely wild one. Belonging to good
family. he lived in expectation of title
and fortune, and this coupled with the
| fact that he did the bulk of the Colonel's
duties, led that gentleman to use all the in
fuence with his niece to bring about the
marriage which was never to be consum-
| mated.
The name most connected with Captain
Mervyn's was that of Miss Inez Hartman,
the niece of the stipendiary magistrate.
! The coroner'S inquest took place one day,
and the prisoner was brought before Mr..
| Hartman the next. Miss Hartman sat at
| the solicitors table, and was certainly not
| in her first youth. She had been very
| beautiful, and her eyes and hair were still
| black as night-the former large and
brilliant. learned that her father, who
was the elder brother of the magistrate,
had been in the consular service, and had
married a Spanish lady previous to being
| transferred to Brazil. He died, and left his
| only daughter to his brothers care. During
| the magistrates examination | became
cognizant of two things, The widowed
bride had persisted in being present and
early in the proceedings l saw her gaze
upon the prisoner in such way as proved
to me beyond doubt that she loved him with
her whole heart and soul. An hour later
| happened to glance at the magistrate
niece, and beheld her looking at Mrs.
Mervyn, the bride, with such an expression
of concentrated hate as | never saw before
or since on human face. That look was
revelation to me, and that afternoon |
went secretly and made cast of the i'm
preston of the woman's shoes in the
ruined hut. tried to trace them from the
old building but the soil was sandy, and
| the rain had obliterated all recognizable
traces of any foot-marks.
communicated with headquarters, and
was ordered to remain at the disposal of
the local authorities, who had applied for
the continuation of my services. made
the acquaintance of Miss Harman's maid,
and was not long before got an oppor-
tunIty of comparing one of the ladies'
shoes with the cast | had made. Having
formed mold from the cast, l fitted the
shoe in, and it was perfectly accurate.
Captain Clayton and Mr. Bromley swore
positively to having seen mana slight
one, probability from the scene of the
murder, and that set me thinking again.
A fortnight passed over, and | was al
most despairing Of making the discovery |
desired, when an advertisement appeared
in the Times for coachman to be "gener-
ally useful as an indoor servant al
most leaped for joy when | read: apply
to Mr.. Hartman, Milton House, Hilston
road, Northampton" | wrote to the chief
to provide me with first-class references,
and then hurried up to town. From there
| | applied for the situation, and, having got
it, disguised myself by donning close-cut
red-brown wig and crepe hair slde-whlsk-
ers, glued so finely to my cheeks that
could comb them with impunity. Next
| udy dTTlfou ilhe III
ton, and on reaching the magistrate s
house was thanks to the excellency of my
testimonials, placed in a confidential posi-
ton at once. Milton House was half a
mile further on the road than the barracks,
and the route taken by the flying fugitive
on the night of the murder would lead
right TO the back gate of the premises.
had provided myself with a complete set
of keys and pick lock- instruments. 1t
was my hope to be able to use them sue
cessfully on the first Sunday. The day,
however, was wet, and had to drive the
magistrate and his niece to church.
Next Sunday dawned beautifully, and
the whole household, with the exception of
the cook aud myself, walked to church
The former was too busy to look after me
so l had ample time to ransack every
corner of Miss Inez Harman's rooms. In a
cupboard off the dressing-room l found a
mud-stained sailor suit of clothing which
afterward discovered had belonged to her
cousin, the magistrates son, now, a sub
lieutenant in the royal navy. The gar
ments were cast off when he was a mid
shipman, and had been locked up in his
room, to which lnez, as mistress of the
houss, had access, of course. A pair OF
shriveled up shoes were rolled up in the
trousers, and in one of the pockets of the
latter / discovered the remainder of the
proof of the poem Farewell The burned
fragment had been used as wadding for the
gun, and this / found at the bottom of a
curious old box, which stood in a dark
corner of the dressingroom 1t was short
ornamental weapon Of Spanish manufact-
ure, and several bullets exactly matching
| the ono taken from the dead mans wound