Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-07-26

first that was lying, bound hand and foot
and securely gagged, upon the turf; second
ly, that the horses were still tethered, and
standing quietly at the foot bridge; and,
thirdly, that my companion had resumed his
position on the bowlder, and there sat watch
ing my recovery.
Seeing my eyes open, he raised his hat and
addressed me in tones of grave punctilio.
believe me, sir, am earnest in my regret
for this state of things. Nothing but the Sc
verest necessity could have persuaded me to
knock the son of my late esteemed friend
over the skull and gag his utterance with
stone-to pass over the fact that it fairly
lays my sense of your hospitality under sus-
pcion. Upon my word, sir, it places me in
a cursedly equivocal positionl"
He took pinch of snuff, absorbed it slow
ly, and pursued.
SIT was necessary, however. You will
partly grasp the situation when | tell you
that my name is Teague-the Reverend Will
lam league, Doctor of Divinity, and former
ly incumbent of Beakirk-on-Sands"
His words explained much, though not
everything. The circumstances which led to
the Reverend Williams departure from
Bleakirk had happened some two years be-
fore my birth; but they were startling
enough to supply talk in that dull fishing
village for many a long day. In my nursery
l had heard the tale that my companions
name recalled and if till now had felt hui
initiation, henceforth felt absolute fear, for
| knew that had to deal with a mailman.
~ perceive by your eyes, sir" he went on,
shat with part of my story you are already
familiar; the rest am about to tell you. 1t
will be within your knowledge that late on a
Sunday night, just twenty-nine years ago,
my wife left the vicarage house, Bleakirk,
and never returned; that subsequent inquiry
yielded no trace of her flight, beyond the fact
tnat she went provided with small hand bag
containing change of clothing; that, as we
had lived together for twenty years in the
entirest harmony, no reason could then or
afterwards be given for her astonishing con-
duct. Moreover, you will be aware that its
effect upon me was tragical that my lively
emotions underneath the shock deepened into
a settled gloom; that my faculties notorious
ly erninent) in a short time became clouded,
nay eclipsed, necessitating my removal-I
will not refne-to a madhouse. Hey is it
not SOP"
| nodded assent as well as I could. He
paused, with a pinch between finger and
thumb, to nod back to me. Though his eyes
were now blazing with madness, his demeanor
was formally, even affectedly, polite.
'My wife never came back naturally, sir,
for she was dead"
He shifted little on the powders, slipped
the snuffbox back into his wastcoat pocket,
then, crossing his legs and clasping his hands
over one knee, bent forward and regarded
me fxedly
81 murdered her" he said slowly, and nod
ded.
A pause followed that seemed to last an
hour The stone which he had strapped in
my mouth with his bandanna was giving me
acute pain; it INSTRUCTED, too, what little
breathing my emotion left me, and l dared
not take my eyes off his The strain on my
nerves grew so tense that felt myself faint
ing when his voice recalled me.
Il wonder, nown-he asked as if it were a
riddle-"I wonder if you can guess why the
body was never found!'
Again there was an intolerable silence be-
fore he went on.
Lydia was dear creature; in many re-
spects she made me an admirable wife. Her
affection for me was canine positively. But
she was fat, sir; her face jelly, her Shout
ders mountainous. Moreover, her voice!-it
was my ruciation-monotonousl regularly,
desperately voluble. If she talked of arch
angels they became insignificant-and her
themes, in ordinary, were of the pettiest. Her
waist, sir, and my arm had once been COM
mensurate; not now three of Homer's heroes
could embrace her. Her voice could once
touch my heart strings into music; it frayed
them now between the millstones of the COM
monplaee. Figure to yourself a man of my
sensibility condemned to live on these termsp'
He paused, frightened his grasp on his knee,
and pursued:
'You remember, sir, the story of the baker
in Langius9 He narrates that certain wo-
man conceived violent desire to bite the
naked shoulders of a baker who used to pass
underneath her window with his wares So
imperative did this longing become that at
length the woman appealed to her husband,
who, being good natured man, and unwill-
ing to disoblige her, hired the baker for a
certain price to come and be bitten. The
man allowed her two bites but denied third,
being unable to contain himself for pain. The
author goes on to relate that for want of this
third bite, she bore one dead child and two
living. My own case" continued the Rev.
William Twas somewhat similar. Lydia's
unrelieved babble reacted upon her bulk and
awoke in me an absorbing, fascinating desire
to strike her longed to see her culver.
fought against the feeling, stifed it, trod it
down; it awoke again. 1t filled my thoughts,
my dreams; it gnawed me like vulture. A
hundred times while she sat complacently
turning her inane periods, l had to hug my
fist to my breast, lest it should leap out and
strike her senseless. Do weary youa Let
me proceed:
Tb,+ dow, ,f,,orx soft ono t1n
side of the hearth, in the vicarage drawing
ROOM She was talking-talking; and l sat
whispering to myself: You are too fat,
Lydia, you are too fat Her talk ran on the
two sermons | had preached that day, the
dresses of the congregation, the expense of
living, the parish ailments-inexhaustible
trivial, relentless Suddenly she looked up
and our eyes met Her voice trailed off and
dropped like a bird wounded in full flight.
She stood up and took a step towards me.
is anything the matter. WilliamF she asked
solicitously. You are too fat my DEAR
answered, laughing, and struck he- full in
the face with my fist.
'EShe did not culver much-not half enough
but dropped like bale full sack on to the
carpet caught up a candle and examined
her. She was quite dead"
1uC LIlduuluH Shlplcu up Ii JILL AIo OO"Aur1
and looked at me with indescribable cunning.
81 am so glad sir" he said, ''that you did
not bleed when struck you; it was great
mercy. The sight of blood affects me-ahr
he broke off with a subtle culver and drew a
| long breath. "Do you know the sands by
| Woeful Ness-the Twin Brothers." he asked
knew that dreary headland well. For hali
mile beyond the gray church and vicarage
of Bleakirk it extends, forming the northern
arm of the small fishing bay, and protecting
it from the full set of the tides. Towards its
end it breaks away sharply, and terminates
in a dorsal ridge of slate colored rock that
runs out for some two hundred feet between
the sands we call the Twin Brothers. Oh
these, that to the south, and inside the bay, 1.
motionless and bears the name of the dead
Bpy;' but the "Quick Boy" to the nortf
shifts continually. 1t is quicksand, in short
and will las the word goes) swallow man il
three minutes.
"My mind, resumed my companion, "wa
soon made up There is no murder, thought
l, where there is no corpse. So | proppee
| Lydia in the armchair, where she seemed a!
| if mapping, and went quietly up stairs
packed a small hand bag carefully with sucl
clothes as she would need for a journey, de
scended with it, opened the front door, wen