The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-03-02

the snme fate. Gentlemen; it is d
fact that that poor scarecrow, the
preteDder, once sat in that trarSss..;;
OF a throne, while well born, virtuous
ladies crowded round to kiss his
false hand" and Sir George pointed
to chair snrmounted BY a kind of
canopy ard crimson.
"One ni .., continued Sir George,
CIR Hugo returned home earlier
than he was expected, and, walking
hastily vi, stairs. the first thing he
heard was the voice ofhis wife in con-
versation with stranger in one of
the rooms He tried the door; it was
locked, and by the time he had burst
it open a man was leaping out of the
open windew, Sir Hugo dashed
after him; and after half d dozen
passes, drove his sword through the
body of Conrad Dillingham;. Return:
ing through the window he found his
wife senseless on the floor, and put
ting constraint upon himself to re-
frain from spurning her with his foot,
he passed on to his chamber, where
the first thing that met his eye was
great iron chest with the lid open,
while a very short examination
showed that his precious title deeds
had been distracted. He found his
way back to where Conard lay with
staring eyes in the moonlight and
searched the body for the deeds with
out success: Returning through the
window, his wife sat up and looked
at him and his blood-stained hands,
but her face was the face of maniac,
and she never recovered her reason,
dying many years afterwards within
the walls of a madhouse.
"He saw the whole devilish plot
now, Conard Gillingham, using his
wife as his tool, had intended to
abstract the deeds, and with these in
his possession to attain him of high
treason and claim the estates.
There was a state trial, which any
one can read to this day, and he was
acquitted. with q universal expression
of pity for his misfortune and of
loathing for the subject of his ven-
geance.
"ro piece together these facts had
cost me months of labor in reading
through old diaries and letters in the
imminent room, for / have never felt
sure whe her some day or other or
some of my descendants might not be
challenged to produce the title deeds
of Dillingham;. The blow has fallen
upon me at last. It seems that some
descendants of that old collateral
branch, all long since dead and gone,
as | hoped and believed, have turned
up. At any rate there are agents
busily at work making all manner of
inquiries, searching registers and so
on, and my lawyers have told me
point blank that may be called ups
on to produce these deeds and that if
they are not Forthcoming my tenure
of Dillingham; Towers may be in Sc
rious jeopardy. Unless you, my
young friends, with your keen wits
and ready invention can help me my
resources are at an end"
He turned and rang the bell, and
then leaned his head upon his hand,
his elbow on the mantelpiece. A
servant entered, and looking up he
said quite naturally, "Put out all
these lights and close the room, Mall
lam-I only wanted to show Mr..
Pallatti how it looks on a state oc-
casion-and take the cigars and
things into the billiard room. We
will finish the evening there"
OF the almost incredible events
which followed / confess that
am unable to offer any expla-
nation. l can only vouch for their
having actually occurred. Whether,
as Mr.. Pallatti honestly believes, the
the soul can in certain rare instance
leave the body and wander up and
down the spirit world like dog in a
fair prying into the secrets of the
dead, or whether those events were
merely the result Ito quote the doc
tor in Martin Chuzzlewit'') of a
"most extraordinary, happy and
favorable conjunction of circum-
stances" will forever remain a mys-
terry to me.
When l got into bed that night
nv brain was in a whirl, and l
should have been glad to exchange
nerves with a cat. The unusual
quantity of wine / had drank, the
dazzling splendor of the state draw
ing room, the awful midnight tragedy
of century ago, and life-like por-
traits of the principal actors seemed
to forbid the very idea of sleep. But
when thought myself most wide
awake l began to doze off, and was
soon 'as fast as q church" How
longit had lasted l could not tell;
when | awoke with a start, and for
the third time in my life found my
self alone in the dark. / stretched
out my hand for the matches, but
they were gone, and at the same
time the luminous glare appeared
upon the wall. Then the room, with
it's one tall opened window, the
broken furniture, the case of stuffed
birds, and the two figures of my
former vision developed rapidly. |
| could see the last plainly enough
| nova man in a long horseman's
coat and brown boots, with great
| silver spurs: a woman in a long
white wrapper, with fair hair flow
ing over her shoulders nearly to the
ground, and they stood together by
the table reading from a large sheet
ot popar which thnv hold hotwpnn
| them, by the light of a single candle
| in silver candlestick. Occasionally
they turned their faces towards
me with an anxious expression, as il
they were listening for something, and
Immediately recognized two of the
portraits in the state drawing room.
Suddenly they started violently, the
| man rushed to the windows and
leaped out, the woman thrust the
papers into her dress, and second
man with flashing sword in his
4 L