Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-05


omened investigation about to end, as he
had feared, in the destruction of all his
hopes of happiness? No, he concluded
without some better confirmation, he
would not believe this woman's asser-
tons.
Have you anything more to say TO
me?;' he SAID presently returning TO the
girl, who still sat watching him beneath
her half closed eyelids, with a cruel, cat
like smile.
Mon dieu! - she cried. "What would
you have? Is it not enough?'
Enough! groaned poor Mr.. Padger
to hfmfelf. ''Too much! 1 fear, far,
far too much.
''You will not forget?" she said
fercely at the door. ''T shall watch.
Have no fear, and some day, my friend,
l shall see IL the papers-my revenge. -
Mr.. Padger returned slowly to his
room to carefully consider the value of
this latest guiding light. The evidence
of discharged servant, animated I'M
aisguiseGlf by the most yenomous and.
sjf3Xag geCatgd passion for vengeance, waS2:
SSs he had previously remarked to, hing
set, onE to be received, with the greatS
est. eesttIiSp ABd yet - allowing for a:
certain ah}ouBss8f moYE6rless conscious
distortion, THEREBY as Eaire;raful stamp of
veracity about the w4eaan s revelations.
81 could not malfaae<4it beige: I
could not manage it before. Ft:s17
The sentence rang in his distracted
brain again and again. What vast?
He scarcely dared to PROFOUND the CUES
ton to which there was but one answer.
What could it be but-that?'
''NO, - he cried, vainly struggling to
hIC
"No, will not believe it. -
He tried TO insure himself that the i'm
probability of her insinuations that Mr..
Ennis never went to town that day was
sufficient to destroy all confidence in her
previous statement, but he was coupe flea;
to admit TO himself that thesNstrictly
guarded expression she gave toE%bat was
a mere spicion tended to inspire belief
in what she declared to be a facts, ~
GA discharged :. servant, - hes. saids
again. 'SDiseharged for some disGrace-
full action Hat Sffs is ashamed t65oWn.
What is hAR,evidensR worthy -
But 1t wds unavaIling. He felt an in
ward conviction that she had spoken the
truth. 1t was hopeless to try to evade
the facts. Everything pointed more and
more plainly to Miss Ennis. To have
been in the public garden by quarter to
one she must have left, as she had said,
at half past twelve, but there was time
enough in half an hour to commit a deed
which must have been the work of an
instant. The knife was hers, the foot
step might have been.
"And yet, - said Mr.. Padger, as ne
started for MoEplaisir, Gin spite of all,
m sure 1t was q man.
CHAPTER TX.
MIR. PADGER OVERHEARs SOMETHING.
Plunged in profound abstraction, his
thoughts wandering aimlessly and help
lessly, striving and striving vainly to
realize the true bearings of the fact, in
disputable as he felt it to be, that Miss
Ennis had met some man unknown, if not
her father, in the public garden Of West
cliffe at a quarter to one on the day of
the murder. 1t is little to be wondered
at that Mr.. Padger's steps strayed from
the direct path to MOnplaisir, and that
he should find himself, when he awOke
to a full consciousness of his surround
ings, in that market place which was at
the moment occupying so much of his
strained attention.
''WelI, as I am here,'' he thought,
''I may as well take look round and see
if l can find by any chance where those
two went when they disappeared. -
Standing at the corner of the High
street he quickly perceived how hopeless
q task he had set himself. An individual
was so soon merged in the crowd and lost
that it was impossible to follow them,
and as there were five different streets
leading from the place in various direc-
tions, nothing short of miraculous good
luck could lead pursuer into the right
one.
He walked all round the market place,
and down each OF the streets without OBJ
serving anything to Indicate the place
that had afforded Miss Ennis and her
companion refuge that day. There were
several hotels, but it was not likely that
the girl, the daughter of a welI-known
resident, and herself from her beauty not
a little remarkable, should have visited
one of these with stranger. 1t was just
as improbable that she would have gone
to his lodgings, and if they had entered a
private house, no clue as to which was
Obtainable.
Ono go!' was the brief but emphatic
fashion in which Mr.. Padger summed up
the failure of this unsatisfactory enter
prise.
The moon was just rising in golden
splendor as he passed through the gates
closely over the avenue that not a ray of
light penetrated to illumine the path
Underfoot the sandy soil, parched by
weeks of rainless days, was reduced to
the consistency of fine, soft powder upon
which his feet fell nOiselessly, and he
gIided along the gloomy tunnel as silently
as midnight specter.
He was about to emerge into the lighter
space beyond. when he beheld pacing the
lawn, on which he had held his interview
with Mr.. Ennis, on the occasion of his
first visit to Monplaiser, slim figure at
tired in a white dress which glimmered !
nebulouSly against the dark background !
of the shrubbery, and which he felt sure
could belong to no one but Miss Ennis |
herself.
He paused in doubt as how to proceed. !
He could not advance further without at |
{. acting her attention, and though there |
was no particular reason why she should |
not know of his visits, supposing she no
ticed him at all, he hesitated, almost un-
to go on.
Before he could make up his mind |
what to do, the matter was settled with |
out his Intervention. He saw Miss En- |
mis- stop with q start, and the next in |
slant she gave sharp cry of alarm, as |
with faint rustling the dark figure of a |
man issued from the bushes close to |