Huntsville gazette., 1886-07-03
"Come in,' I said, hearing a knock

at the door. ~
''Good morning, old fellow he
said, entering, ''it's little early vet,
but confess / was trife curious to
have peep at your rooms before start
ing. Pretty comfortable place you
have here, Bob"
eyes, it is. Make yourself at home,
Mort, while try to coax the total de-
pravity out of this necktie.''
Mortimer strolled around the room
looking at the pictures. Suddenly he
uttered an exclamation of surprise. I
turned and saw him pointing at the
black cat, which was lying asleep on
the hearth rug.
Where did you get that cat?" he
asked.
'sShe followed me home one night"
l said.
"She's mine" he exclaimed. II
lost her two years ago, before | knew
you"
Then he walked to the other side of
the room and called: Here Witch,
Witch" The cat ran to him and
purred around his feet
"You see," he said, ''she answers to
her name. But how on earth did you
get her?"
/ looked at my watch. We had an
hour to spare. L sat down and told
him the whole story. AS | went on |
noticed that look of deep trouble set
tied upon his features. When I had
concluded he said:
Have you the gun yet?"
''Yes," | answered, taking it from a
closet.
MY God, knew it," he cried. at
is my gum"
"Your g~n!'' l echoed, aghast.
eyes, mine"
stood looking at him for moment
trying to collect my thoughts. Thoughts
too terrible to entertain crowded upon
me.
"You can not be-" l said, "my
fathers"
''No, no, not that" he interrupted.
81 mean that | invented the gun. 1t
was my idea, and the gun was made
for me. It was the first one ever made
and-and / sold it,
"Sold it!'' | cried. sTo whom?"
"Listen," said Mortimer, land I will
tell you about it. God knows / have
nothing to conceal. discovered new
and powerful use of compressed air. |
worked at my idea long time, and
finally made a gun which was sue
cess. | was poor and needed money
to push my invention, and when one
day young man came into my shop
and wanted to buy this particular gun
| sold it to him. He said he wanted it
as curiosity, and paid me a good
round sum for it. / know this is the
gun, because there is no patent mark
on it. The young man was the son of
good family with lots of money. |
learned afterward that he had a bad
reputation He lived wild and disso-
lutte life for time, but understand
that he reformed couple of years ago
and is now once more received in good
society"
''But who was this man?" | asked.
''What was his name?"
George Sutherland" said Mortimer.
/ had never heard the name before,
but | knew that was the man | had
been looking for, and | could see an
other step toward solving the mystery
of my fathers death. Without think
ing of what was doing took the mis-
sile from the chamber of the gun and
put into my pocket M
"Come," / said, I'VE have have just
time to see the chief Of police and tell
him about this man.
The chief knew all the details of my
fathers death, and with me had often
examined the gun. Mortimer gave all
the information in his possession, and
an hour later we were on the road.
| When we arrived at Cincinnati on the
morning of the wedding we went to the
house of my relatives. When we were
| told that the groom had arrived Mortl-
mer and [ went together to the room
where the young man was with his
friends. / went in first and was intro
| duced to my prospective brother-ln-
law. | found him a good-looking man
of the world, well fed and rather fascin-
ating..
That was alb had time to notice be-
fore Melville entered the room. Isaw
sudden pallor come upon the face of
the man who was about to become my
sisters husband. Mortimer Melville
started forward and without waiting
for an Introduction exclaimed:
George Sutherland!'
That was not the name given to me
in the introduction. 1t was the name
Of the man / believed to be my fathers
assassin. [ staggered; my tongue Glove
to the roof of my mouth. ,a neea
at is he!'' cried Mortimer. ale
bought the gunr'
"What do you meanp" stammered
Sutherland.
Then my senses returned. | drew
the curious missile from my pocket and
held it before his eyes.
miserable wretchl" l exclaimed.
'Look at this-this you sent to my
| fathers heart. But now you shall suf-
! fer for your cowardly crime"