Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-09-20

the first visitor to the little fiat Harold
, furnished as their New York home was
! Paul Harley. His visits had been re-
| peated until the intimacy between him
and his sisters friend had gradually
| been replaced by a warmer feeling, which
needed not a word or even a look, on
either side to expand into an aYoWed
/ affection.
The thoughts of Nell and the loss of a
| seal ring served to keep his mind busy
until u o'clock, when he returned home
| and went to bed. He was awakened in
| what seemed to him a few MON ents, IN
til his eyes were fairly opened and he
saw daylight was paling the yellow rays
Of his still burning students lamp, by
/ his uncle's old servant and factOrum
Isaac, who shook him violently by the
! shoulder, crying:
-'Getup, Mr.. Paul, get up! and come
down stairs. Something drefhe's hap
! pened to masteri''
The old mans evident agitation, as
/ much as the import of his cry reused
Paul into instant action, and he ran
/ down stairs ahead Of the butler with an
! acute feeling of apprehension which
made him catch his breath as though he
| had stepped into an ice cold bath. Isaac
! followed, Wringing his hands In a help
! less way, while the tears cOursed down
/ his furrOwed cheeks. The room into
/ which he followed his young master was
| that on the second floor from whose key
! hole Paul had noticed the ray of light
! streaming when he went to bed, not half
! a dozen hours before. The room was
! devoted to Mr.. Warren's experiments.
/ and was Uttered with a heterogeneous
mass Ofmaterial which Paul used uncer-
| enormously to refer to as ''iunk. Ma
chimes in every stage Of CON
structiOn, rusty cog wheels and
lamps, galvanic batteries and so
forth, were piled up in every nook and
corner, while on a blackened pine work
table in the centre, directly under the
hanging chandelier, every jet Of which
was lighted, stood an Odd-lOOking
machine, the glass jars standing near
showing 1t to be some sort Of an electrical
apparatus, on which the occupant of the
room had evidently been lately at work.
In front of it, on the floor, lying in a
huddled heap as though he had been
kneeling and had suddenly fallen for
ward, was what had once been Austin
Warren, his head, with its snow white
hair, stiffened and clotted with darken-
ing blood, lying on one dOubled-up arm,
while the other, the fist clenched, was
7
he looked down and saw this, the gasp
/ ing sensation which had attacked Paul
when he was awakened returned, for he
took full measure Of the horror of the
situation in an instant. There was no
need for him to ask a question or touch
the body at his feet, for he knew, as
though by intuition, that the man that
had been more than a father to him and
whom he loved as few fathers are loved,
had been done to death. Yet, so curious
a thing in its workings is that mass Of
gray and white matter we call a brain,
he found himself recalling q figure in a
group he had once seen in some "cham-
Der of horrors exhibition, which, with
its bloOd-bedabble white hair resem-
bled the one before him, and curiOusly
thought how excellentIy the mOdeier of
the simulated corpse had performed his
/ gruesOme work. MOtiOnless and speech
less he stood there, still with that odd
difficulty in drawing his breath until he
was reused by a voice, which was not
Isaac's, saying grufhy, ga bad job,
SORT !" and looking up, he saw in the
room the same gray-cOated Park police
man whose measured tread had struck
/ his ear as he stood on the stOOp the
night before, which now seemed a cen
/ fury rather than a few hours ago.
''What does it mean?" he asked the
/ policeman, who somehow seemed to him
an embodiment Of authority and know
! ledge.
cts this way, sorr," said the man
! in his odd New York accent: ''AbOut
/ twilve o'clock last nOight I see a young
man (Which, asking yer pardon, 1 don't
doubt it wOr yersilf who KEN up to de
/ dure here and let hissilf IN wild a latch
/ key. Half an hour later I wor passin'
the house agin, when I heard loud voices.
! which seemed to come from this very
room troO de open windy. shtopped,
! fur thought it seemed shtrange, Well
/ sorr, I heard de old gentleman say q
/ knew his voice, fur it's many's the paia-
( verin' we've had tOgether), I heard him
soy, 'Afther I've clothed and fid ye fur
twinty years, ye ungrateful scoundrel,' or
| sOmethin' lOike that, fur I disremember
( de exact words. Den heard a fall an
a cry, and I med up me mOind there
was sOmethin' wrong. So I just waited
arOun' till Daylight KEN, an see de
Ould man here" (pOinting to poor old
Isaac, who stood the picture of misery,
shaking his head from side to side)
''cOme down an open de shutters. Then
aXed him If there was anything wrong,
an he tux me up here, an we opened
the dure, an shure we see this, and he
/ pointed to the body, and kneehng down,
began to straighten out the poor, twist
ed limbs. AS he opened the clenched
hand he started slightly, and Paul, in a
mechanical sort of way, asked, ''Has he
been murdered do you think % ''Shure
I know he has, an the man that this fits
done the deed, j" and, still kneeling he
held up Paul s ring for inspection. Paul
took step forward, but needed no close
scrutiny to assure himself as to the iden-
tity of the object. His Overtaxed nerves
could no further stand the strain. Once
more the blood seemed to surge away
from his heart and he could no Songel
draw his breath, but gasped as he en-