St. Paul daily globe., 1890-10-20
The SERPENT'S TOOTH.
Thrilling Story of Anglo-Indian Lfe--By Sir Gilbert
Campbell Bart.

|retnrned the lady, with short laugh.
t"Weli, we are late people and you viii
ilnd us up. Remember we are at tile
bedford
AS soon as he was left alone Manvers
turned again towards the sitting figure,
which did not move muscle. The
band had departed and the company
were doing the same. while some of the
officials had already begun to eXtinguish
caused the major to address the notion
less figure. pardon me-" said he,
raising his hat. Il have had the pleas
fure of seeing yau at Oranipore. Are
you aware that the pier will shortly be
closed, and that all visitors must
leave it,
No reply save the sound of the rising
wind and the soft tap-tap of the sea
against the support of the pier.
Manvers moved closer and repeated
what he had said. Still no reply, and
growing a little impatient he laid his
hand gently upon his shoulder. AS if
this touch had been all that was neces-
Sary to disturb his equilibrium. the mo-
tionless figure slipped sideways and
would have fallen to the ground had he
not caught it i'll his arms. AS he did SO
his hand came in contact with the
cheek. which was cold as ice, while the
form. which had been a little before SO
ftlii OF 1.-the grace, Swayed helpleSSly in
his grasp. A horrible suspicion came
over him. and regardless of what he did,
ne placed his hand upon the girls heart.
t There was no pulsation, and the terri
bic conviction forced itself upon him
that the Rance of Oranipore was dead.
IL.
Hardly knowing what he did. Manvers
placed the dead girl on the seat and
fastened to inform some of the men who
were still loitefing about of the terrible
occurrence. In few moments little
group was formed around the figure,
which, huddled up in the corner of the
seat, presented a helpless spectacle,
which was ineXpressibly piteOuS to gaze
upon. The pallor of death was dis
tlnctly visible, even upon the dark skin,
and the eyes, which were wide open,
had in them an expression of surprised
alarm. rather than any look of agony
caused 10y sudden swapping of the sill
yer chord.
why. it is the black lady who lives
up Palmyra square with that old chap
with the long beard,' remarked one Of
L have never seen them apart BEFORE
BY this time the helmets Of a couple
of policemen who had been apprised of
the terrible occurrence appeared be-
yOnd the outer circle of the spectators,
and, pushing through it, the function
aries of the law took possession of the
| lnotiOnless figure on the seat.
''Do you know her. sir?" asked one of
the constables, addressing Manvers.
who was standing gazing with horror
stricken countenance upon the SAD sight
| before him.
II can hardly claim acquaintance
with the poor GIRL" returned the major.
Il have seen her several times in India;
she is the daughter of the late Rajah of
OranipOre."
'She lives in one of the large houses
IN Palmyra square" remarked one of
i the by-StahderS. with her guardian,
DR.. Langton Hesselton.''
In a comparatively brief time an am
buiance was procured, and the dead
boly OF the unfortunate girl removed
to her guardians residence in Palmyra
square.
The next morning all the local papers
had sensational paragraphs relating to
the strange and fatal occurrence On the
West Pier, and i'm due time these were
A coroner's jury was summoiid aud
several medical men, who had made a
/ post-mortem examination of the de-
ceased. dep0sed that there was every
symptom of snake poisoning, but as
i venOmonS reptiles, were not .-uSu-
ally found upon the West Pier,
the jury returned an : open YER
diet and the affair soon passed away
from the minds of the BrIghtonians.
| DR.. Langton Hesselton appeared to be
| overwhelmed with grief, and. after the
| funeral, gave up the great house in Pal
myra square, of which he was only a
monthly tenant. and wended his way
to the great metropolis, waere he was
lost among amony the teeming myriadS
| of Modern Babylon"
| Mag. ManverS, however, could not
! shake Off the unpleasant impression
which the affair had caused him, and
| when he closed his eyes he could see
the dark. deserted pier. Then. out of
| the darkness, the dead figure of Heera
| would seem to start forth from the
| Semi-recumbent position in the seat,
| and raise her hands wildly above her
head, as though imploring assist
| ance from some unseen danger. Do
| what he could. the vision still
! haunted him; in the midst of pleasant
companionship and joyous voices, the
sad face and appealing eyes of the
| Rance of OranipOre were ever before
| him, and a mysterious hand seemed
| to be making signs to him which he
| could not entirely comprehend. He had
heard many Ill reports while Quartered
| at Oranipore of the doctor and his do
| ings, and the remarks he had caught as
the unfortunate girl and her guardian
walked down the pier filled
| hIrpl xHrIf ;1l>
! he could not account for. At
length he could it no longer, and bid
ding farewell to Sir John Copston and
| his other friends. he packed his port
manteau and was whirled away by the
] train to London. He had long talk
with his solicitor on the subject, but the
man of, law, though listening patiently
to his story, advised him not to meddle
in the affair, as there was not the
shadow OF case against DR.. Langton
| HesseltOn.
'But he had a direct interest in her
death" agreed tue major 81 have been
| to Somerset house, and have found that
| the fellow has taken out probate of the
will and that the document. in addition
| to giving to him all the dead girls per-
sOnal property, which is very large,
| contains clause by which she has ex-
erclsed her right of adoption, and, unless
the government take upon themselves
to interfere, and they are very chary
of doing SO, Langton Hesselton is at
present the Rajah of Oranipore."
We'll, take my advice and drop the
matter" said the solicitor. "You will
do no good and If you interfere will
only gain name for Quixotism."
Much disheartened by the futile result
of his interview, Manyers took his leave,
hardly knowing whether to adopt his
legal advisers counsel or not. A pri-
yate detective whom he consulted was
more sanguine, but after bleeding the
major to the tune of a couple of hun
| dred pounds, threw up the inquiry, as
| suring Manyers that as he had failed
there WAS not man in ENGLAND ,,-l,c,