Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-27

day Notwithstanding Pluck the bloom Of
it-hey4 commonplace of the poets"
"But sir" put in as politely as I might,
"you have not yet told me with whom have
| the pleasure Of lunchins."
Gently, young sir" He waved his hand
towards the encircling moors. 1--WE have
Toasted more Honerico, and in Homer, you
remember, the host allowed his guest four
teen days before asking that question. Per-
NIT me TO delay the answer only till l have
/ poured libation on the turf here. Ali l per-
| ceive the whisky is exhausted; but water shall
suffice May | trouble you-rny joints are
| stiff-to fill your drinking cup from the brook
at your feetr'
took the cup from his hands and stopped
/ over the water. AS did so, he leaped on me
/ like a cat from behind | felt a hideous
| blow on the nape of the neck; a jagged fama
| leaped up; the sunshine turned to blood
then to darkness With hands spread out,
stumbled blindly forward and fell at full
length into the beck
When my senses returned became aware
/ first that was lying, bound hand and foot
and securely gagged, upon the turf; second
/ ly, that the horses were still tethered, and
standing ouistly 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 punctiio.
! Believe me, sir, l 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 a
stone-to pass over the fact that it fairly
lays my sense Of your hospitality under sus-
picion. Upon my word, sir, it places me in
a cursedly equivocal position%
He took pinch of snuff, absorbed it slow
~, and pursued.
1T 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 Bleakirk
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
l knew that had to deal with mailman.
81 perceive by your eyes, sir" he went on,
'that with part of my story you are already
familiar; the rest l am about to tell you 1t
will be within your knowledge that late on
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 fight, beyond the fact
that she went provided with a small hand bag
containing a 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 emineno in a short time became clouded,
nay eclipsed, necessitating my removal-I
viii not refne-to a madhouse Hey, is it
not so7'
l nodded assent as well as I could. He
paused, with pinch between finger and
thumb. TO nod back to me. Though his eyes
were now blazing with madness, his deneanor
was formally, even affectedly, polite.
"My wife never came back naturally, sir,
for she was dead"
lie shifted little on the powders, slipped
the snuffbox back into his waistcoat pocket,
then, crossing his legs and clasping his hands
over one knee, bent forward and regarded
me fixedly.
II 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 pam; it DISTRACTED, 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 POUNDS"
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 canine-positively But
she was fat, sir; her face jelly, her shout
ders mountainous Moreover, her voicel-it
was my neutrality-suspicious. regularly,
desperately voluble. If she talked of arch
angels they became insignifcant-and her
themes, in ordinary, were of the pettiest. Her
waist, sir, and my arm had once been COM
mensurate; not now three Of Honer's heroes
could embrace her Her voice could once
touch my heart strings into music; it frayed
them now between the nillstones of the COM
monplace. Figure TO yourself q man of my
sensibility condemned to live on these terms"
He paused, frightened his grasp on his knee,
and pursued:
You remember, sir, the story Of the baker
IL. l.
man conceived a violent desire to bite the
naked shoulders of baker who used 20 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 unwtll-
ing to diSobhge her, hired the baker for
certain price TO come and be bitten The
man allowed her two bites, but denied a third
being unable 10 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. Ny own case,n continued the Rev.
William, was somewhat similar. Lydia's
unrelieved bsbble reacted upon her bulk and
awoke in me al absorbing, fascinating desire
to strike her Ilolged to see her culver. l
fought against the feeling stiaed it, trod it
down; il awoke again It filed my thoughts,
my dreams; it gnawed me like vuiture. A
hundred times while she sat complacently
turning her inane periods, had TO hug my
fist 10 my brea$t, lest it should leap out and
strike her senseless. Do l weary youi Let
me proceed:
That Sunday evening We sat, one on each
side of the hearth, in the vicarage drawing
room. She was talkng-talking; and | sat
whispering to myself: You are too fat,
lydia, YOU are too fat Her talk ran on the