Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-07

us-why he broke the tie between him and
Daisy and shook the dust of his fathers dwell
ing of his feet. He had found me out. Clara.
Accident had put him in the way of hearing
his fathers guilt pronounced by the lips of the
wretch who executed the crime which his
father had only meditated in evil dreams.
Claude Morel hunted me out in our house in
London and forced his way to my study in Or
der TO ask me for money. 1t was not his irst
attempt upon my purse. l had been pestered
by letters from him, sometimes at long inter
walls. sometimes in rapid succession; but l had
answered none of those letters; and now when
he dared to force an entrance in my house /
was rigid in my refusal of money. knew
what the word chantage means for q French
man OF his temper and that if once opened
my purse to him | should be his slave forever.
i was no coward in my relations with that
scoCndrel, although he threatened me with the
one thing which / had to fear-he threatened
to tell you the story Of his crime and how he
took the first hint of it from my lips. He had
kept the telegram sent from Reading on the
morning of the murder-the telegram giving
the hour OF your husbands appointment-and
he swore that if l denied him substantial help
he would tell his story to you and lay that tele-
gram before you.
/ bade him do lis worst, strong in the as
surance that he would do nothing to incrim-
mate himself, and that he could not touch
upon the subject of Robert Hatrell's death
without jeopardizing his own safety. Least of
all did l believe that he would reveal himself to
you as your husbands murderer. No: | felt
that L had nothing to fear beyond personal an
noyance from the existence of Claude Morel:
yet the memories which the man pressed upon
me were so hideous. his presence was SO intol-
cradle, that l would have given half my fortune
to be rid of him forever. 1t was as if my crime
had taken q living shape and were dogging my
steps. Most of all did l loathe his presence
when he came upon me in my quiet study-in
the room where his crime and mine had first
shaped itself in my disordered mind.
He had resolved to weary me out. l believe,
and to that end he had taken r lodging at Hen
ley. He appeared upon my pathway at all
hours and in the most unexpected places, but l
was rock.
We had several interviews before the one
which was fatal to my sons peace of mind and
which parted father and son forever.
On that particular morning Morel overlook
me in the lane near my cottage, and urged his
demands with a savage persistence. rendered
desperate, ! suppose. by the disappointment of
hopes which he had en- ,ertained from the hour
he discovered that | was "a rich man.
You say that / knew you i'll London some
years ago." | said. land that we had confiden-
tial conversations together in this place, and
that We two together plotted the murder of my
best friend? You admit that you are p muir
derer, and you ask me to believe that | am
one. l choose to deny all your assertions
choose to say that l never saw your face till
you forced your way into my London house. If
you persist in the form of persecution which
you have been carrying on for. the last six
weeks it will be my duty to hand you over to
the police, and IL will be their duty to discover
whether you are a lunatic at large. or whether
you are really the man you pretend to be, and
the murderer of Mr.. Hatrell. In the latter
case there mustbe people who can identify you.
Some OF those witnesses at the inquest who saw
you go IN and out of the house in Denmark
street may still be within reach of a subpoena.
Ii you annoy me any further in my own house
or out of doors it will be needful for me to take
this step and you may be sure l shall take it."
L had never been cooler than when | gave
him this answer. l had weighed and measured
the situation. and l did not believe he had
power to harm me, be his malignity what it
might. My crime might be even darker than
his, but he could not touch my guilt with his
little finger without his whole body being
drawn into the meshes of the law. KNEW
that, and L could afford to laugh at his fury.
To give him money, were it so much as a
single sovereign. would be in somewise to
acknowledge his claim and to make a link
between us. There should be no such link.
And over and above this motive l abhorred the
man. and his necessities had no power to touch
my pity.
He could do me no harm, I thought, nor
could he but for the accident of my sons
crossing the top of the lane while this man was
was with me and having his attention attracted
by the strangeness of the mans gestures as he
talked to me. The angry flourish of his arm
as he poured his rancor into my ear suggested
a threat of personal violence; my son followed
us in order to protect his father should there
be need of his interference: and once within
earshot he stayed his footsteps and listened to
the end of a savage recapitulatlon of all the
details Of those vague suggestions which led
to the scheme of the murder and of the sending
OF the telegram that furnished the information
which rendered the crime possible.
He. my SON, heard the history Of nv sin,
heard and believed. l stopped at the end of
the lane and looked around. Cyril stood a few
PAGES from ne, deadly pale. looking at me in
terrible silence. Claude Morel turned and saw
him stand there. almost at the same moment,
and skunk aside in abiect fear.