The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-09-24

/ saw, to intrude upon such grief and horror
as his. / got up quietly and stole out of the
room Invent out into the street, where the
snow was lying, and walked up and down
bareheaded, regardless Of the cold, trying to
collect my thoughts and realize what 1t was
that had happened.
And my first clear idea was ono of which
at the time felt ashamed, of which l am
even more ashamed now after the lapse of
years. forgot all about Mauleverer him
self and only grasped the idea that at last
the obstacle which stood between Daisy
and myself had been removed. There was
nothing now to prevent our marriage.
Nothingi Yes. / remembered myself. There
was the dark shadow of Mauleverer's gold.
Even now-from his grave felt we'll assured
that with his dead hand he would strive to
keep us asunder.
The thought of Daisy had quickened my
intellect, and saw that there was ut least
one step which l ought TO take. / went back
to the little room where l had left Drank
some and Fosdyke. found them engaged
in conversation of the most earnest descrip-
ton, carried on in those low tones which,
when the shadow of bereavement lies heavy
on man. he naturally adopts They looked
up when entered as though they scarcely
reished my intrusion. Fosdyke at all events
could scarcely conceal his impotence. lmade
hasty apology, and selling my coat and
hat left the room Five minutes later was in
the telegraph Office writing q message to my
darling, in which l expressed my sorrow a.
hearing the news OF her bereavement, and
my hope that within few days we might
meet again.
As l waite while the clerk checked the
message, my thoughts were naturally busy
with that solemn event. which had in a mo-
ment robbed Maueverer of all his wealth
and reduced him to the common level of our
poor mortality. He had boon dead now just
week. Probably this was the day of his
funeral. My imagination took wings across
the storm-tossed Northern sea, and / saw in
fancy the funeral procession starting from
that gloomy old hall among the Yorkshire
wolds, with one slight girlsh figure, draped
in black, following the coffin of the man at
whose riches all the world had wondered. 20
my darling" l cried in my heart, "why am
not with you to help you to bear your sor-
row, and to drive away that sense q loneli-
ness which Is never felt so keenly as by the
side of an open graves"
And then, like flash of lightning. there
darted through my brain the remembrance
of the words spoken to me by Gregson in the
tents that had attended my visit to the hall
Up to that moment had regarded the rich
mans death as any other person would have
done who had read the paragraph in The
Times. But now, in an instant, 1 saw it all
Fool that was, not to have seen it soonerl
Mauleverer had been murdered
Murdered! but how and by whom! Ono
man there was whom / suspected above all
others. But he was here, more than a thou
sand miles from the spot where the evil deed
had been done. Even if l could have been
told by a revelation from heaven that
Flinter had slain Mauleverer, l should have
had to acknowledge that the thing was inn
possible. The arm of the assassin may he
long; but it cannot reach across hundreds
of leagues of stormy seq in order TO strike
its towards blow. Yet while | reflected on
all the perplexing contradictory facts, my
conviction that Flinter was guilty grew and
grew, until it took possession of my whole
frame, and quite suddenly the explanation
of the difficulty which had troubled me
became clear to my mind. He had an
accomplice-some one whom he had left be-
hind him at Great Lorton and through
whom he had slain the man he protested to
love with so dog-like n fidelity.
"Ah! Mr. Flinter" said to myself, with
bitter smile on my lips, "you little thought
what pitfall you were digging for yourself
when you lured me on board the Golden
Hawk. If had never been your prisoner,
l should never have been able to confound
you as / am about to do"
took up one of the blank telegraph forms
OH tie table Of the little office, and wrote
hurriedly as follows:
Chief Constable Barton, Yorkshire:
If Mauleverer's symptoms apparently those
of epilepsy, 1 strongly urge post-mortem
examination. Have grave reason to suspect
foul play Return to England Immediately.
FENToN, yacht Golden Hawk.
When in the dark after days recalled the
moment when penned the lines which were
destined to influence in so terrible a manner
not only my own life, but the lives OF so
many other persons, and when in my agony
l cried aloud to God for forgiveness for the
evil l had wrought unwittingly, l never
failed to remember one fact That was,
that 1 seemed to have written that fatal
message under the inspiration of some will
outside my own 1t was done in an instant,
before l had even attempted to weigh the
act itself or its possible consequences; and 1
was once more under the roof of the Hotel
dAngleterre before fully realized the step
which l had taken.
There is no need to dwell upon our hurried
departure from Trondhjem Branksome had
recovered his calmness and self-possession
before we sailed that evening, but it was evil
dent that the terrible event of which we had
heard SO unexpectedly filed him both with
sorrow and anxiety. He was very friendly
in his manner to me; but neither he nor Fos-
dyke was now disposed to tighten the pass
ing hours with the gay salles of talk and
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 1 soon
found that Flinter was not unfrequently adj
mitted to their confidence
We had been three days at sea. In
another four-and-twenty hours we ought to
be at Hull and in n few hours more 1 would
see Daisy. Twas counting those hours as /
paced the deck after dinner under the frosty
starlit sky, when l was told by one Of the
stewards that DIR. Branksome wishel to
speak to me at once.
l found him i'm the handsome cabin which
was nominally set apart for the private use
of the owner of tho ship. To my surprise
Finter was with him as we'll as Fosdyke /
4. L. Al.