Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-23
MAYHEM the INSPECTOR answered in dis

Mayhem the Inspector answered in = dis
guised voice. Open the door please
Not Tonight. cannot see you now. Who
are you? Come tomorrow. -
81 must see you now. Let me in please. The
matter wish to see you about is of great inn
portance. -
want to go to bed. Leave your name and call
what does this mean?''
While speaking through the door to the un-
known man outside, Mayhem heard the hurried
rush of feet behind him, and almost before he
could turn round to confront the intruders ne
was in the grasp of two strong men.
With desperate fear biting at his heart, May
hew shot volley of curses and questions at his
assailants. But they answered him nothing.
and the other policeman opened the door and
admitted the inspector.
what does this mean?' Walter foamed,
making Intellectual attempt to shake off the
four strong hands that gripped him like vices.
~ will tell you minnie, - the Inspector
s3id grimly. Put the bracelets on, Jim--that s
it; and now, Mr.. Mayhem, where is Dan Ash
ton?'
''Ashton!' the astonished man faltered.
''How do know? Isn't he down the old pit
where Mark Eliot threw him?''
Come, you know-where is DAMP
al tell you don't know ask Eliot. Hasn't he
confessed?''
(which is the room, BROWNE
''This is it,
Tho old man opened the dining room door and
they all trooped into the chamber, the two
frightened maids, who had just come down
stairs following the men. The inspector and
beside the still figure, raised it, and the former
cried:
Weber up the lane; tell him to be as sharp as
he can. And you, - TO the policemen who held
the manacled man, take your prisoner to the
station. -
CHAPTER Lv.-FREEDoM.
The golden sunshine of early morning was
filing the air and flooding certain portions of
the dark alleys which nestled about the old
parish church; and one wide beam entering
The front place. OF old Bob Cubby's cottage
lit up the cherries little room aud fell upon the
bed wherein Mark Eliot was lying.
On the previous night Mark Eliot had taken
his arrest more cooily than either Nellie or Bob
had done; and after admitting his guilt had
stated that but for his illness he would have
given himself into custody, he had fallen back
on his pillow. with his eyes resting tenderly,
lovingly, on the woman who still knelt beside
the bed.
At the request of one of the constables, Cubby
had gone to the police station TO inform the au-
thurities of Marx Eliot's condition; and SO it
had been arranged that the policemen should
remain in the house with the arrested man until
such time as he could be safely removed to the
borough lookup.
Not another word had passed between Nellie
and Mark. Each h ad much to say to the other,
but with the officers of the law present they
could not trust themselves to speak. What they
had to say to one another only themselves must
hear.
Presently Nellie arose and stood above her
old lover. She was composed now and dry
eyed; but there was that upon her sweet white
face which plainly revealed the anguish she had
borne and was yet enduring.
For a moment she stood there, her breast ris-
ing and falling quickly, her nostris dilated, her
lips compressed and her eyes shining like stars
Looking into each o,her's eyes their souls had
seemed to rush together, and they spoke to each
other, although their tongues were mute.
Then she had held out her hand; he had ken
If in both his own, pressed his lips impulsiveIy
upon it; and the next moment she had flown
away in mad haste, fearing that she might do
something in the presence OF those strangers
which might prejudice her good name.
For an hour or two after Neliie's departure
Mark lay there, speaking no word to either of
the men who guarded him, but thinking in a
weary, despairing way of all that had happened
since his return to Warringham.
So quick and stirring had the march of events
been during the past two days that all thought
of the purpose which had brought him back to
the town had been driven from his mind; and he
remembered it was for the first time since his
startling meeting with the woman he had
thought dead.
And lying there he told himself that all hope
surrounded his fathers history, for he had
killed the only man who held key TO the
riddle.
Well, it did not matter much now to him who
and what his father had been. He was a muir
derer, had confessed his guilt. was under ar
rest, aud in little while either the scaffold OF
. convict settlement would claim him.
Presently Marx again sankto sleep, and this
time his slumber was the deep restful uncon-
seriousness that follows great fatigue, mental
and physical. When he awoke ii was morning,
and the sunlight was filling the room
Ee was hungry now; more strong and hope
full. His brain was clear and keen once m :,e,
his limbs had regained their vigor and N~rl
eager 70 be treading the solid earth again.