The Penn's Grove record., 1886-09-25

II; but by hesitation JnaL nance was
lest. Should she faint, or should she
| cough, for the smoke vas choking herr
She stopped her ears with a pair of fin
gers, and stood there in an agony of
fear.
Wien she took her fingers out of her
ears to hear if they were going away,
Hubert vas saying:
SIT is absolutely necessary to put the
baronet out of the way. My idea was
poison"
Nelly shuddered and turned cold.
"No, not a murder-not a murder, il
1t can possible be avoided. [ have
shrunk from that for years--always"
said Gobblecock.
Nellie could not put her fingers into
her ears again. Should she scream out
bang on the foorY
'It is rather a horrid idea," said
Hubert, rejecting. "But 1 shall have
no horrorsl 1t shall be poisoning-or
drowning, if 1 could manage taking
him abroad and doing some boating;
perhaps he might be lured into a Medi-
terranean ~falucco."
VERY good,' said the other.
"That man is a monsterl'' thought
| Nelly. Hubert is excited, but he is
cold. He is goadlng Hubert on, and
pretending to think i'll of it,"
81 mean to put some money in my
pocket, L a tell you'll" said Hubert.
81 want you to put me up to the legal
formalltles of arranging the will. For
gerry is rather worked out, but l don't
see anything else"
'If [ were you," said G%obblecock, 1
should send the old man to a lunatic
asylum, and"
More and more Nellie was like Ar
gentina. She had tried gliding and
hiding, and had stepped into the middle
of an ENHANCEMENT of crime and mys-
terry. She knelt down, wrlnging her
hands.
81 shall make him a lunatic at large"
said Hubert.
VERY well; then stop at that. Over
excitement-piling on the agony-is al
together a mistake. l don't like the
idea of murder. but | shall gladly pro.
vide you with all the information about
the will. To avoid horrors, | should
get rid of the old man into a lunatlc
asylum. l am not sanguine, but l
wish you luck, my lad; plots of this
kind have succeeded before now, though
l tell you it is not to my taste"
There was a pause of smoking and of
choking for Nelly, who had sunk on the
floor. Then that horrible monster Cob
blecock said. land the,glrl-is 1t to be
Nellyp" she could hear the laugh in his
voice, as if he had made a shrewd
guess. what is to become Of herP"
Hubert hesltated. "Ought she "
to know who the murderer is?"
BY this time the poor heroine. who
was just like Argentina, felt as il the
human heart-that Argentina had not
were being smashed by a blow and
torn in two. Hubert, the man whom
ste had begun to love and trust, was
loaded with guilty secrets-a villain of
the deepest dye. 1t was Gobblecock
that had ruined hlm-of curse. it was
Gobblecock who had done all the mis-
chief Gobblecock was an ~unmitigated
monster. Nelly screamed out loud-a
shrlll, piercing scream, that rang
through every lamp and glass. and
echoed as if the ground itself had
shrieked, till walls and ceilings thrilled
with it,
Nelly came to her senses lying on a
couch in the drawing-room, surrounded
by the whole household. She was afraid
of G~obblecock, who was gently tanning
her-the monsteri And she shrank
from Hubert, who was so glad to see
one conscious look in her eyes. Poor
Hubertl She burst into tears at the
sight of him. That villain Of the
deepest dyel Had he not brought our
friend from London to be a consplra-
tor, a plotter of dark deeds.
Nelly wanted to speak to Mary. The
others were all sent away; and to Mary
she told all the escapade; how she had
slipped into a thrilling situation just
like Argentina in "a Dead Mystery"
and
Mary interrupted her by saying
quietly. "Hubert is writing a story.
His friend is a writer from London.
You dear little goose, they were only
planning the book. Hubert's friend Is
correspondent for a foreign paper. You
saw him at his letter last night. And
he has written stories. 'Brightley
Court is his. He put our home in that
and even poor little me. You need
not make you eyes bigger, Nelly"
"Oh. Maryi will Hubert ever forgive
mePn
"Poor villain of the deepest dye
He will ask you never to be the heroine
of a, dead mystery again.
but, Mary, did you say that-that-
that big man-wrote 'Brightley Court2'
You are Ruth know it-you are
Ruthl''
"He imagines so, He is Hyaclnth
Grey. But you look frightened"
Ruth will marry Hyacinth Greyr'
Nelly gasped.
ST do adore him-from my heart"
said this calculating heroine; 'but 1
must show you my little pearl ring.
Harry gave it to me tonight"
Alasl let Shakespeare say what he
will, there is something in a name.
Not even Juliet's love would have suf-
feed if she had lived in these days, and
if Romeo's name had been G~obblecock.