Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-11-03
AVENGED AT LAST; Or, a Worldwide Chase.
A STORY OF RETRlBUTION.

A STORY OF RETRlBUTION. hands in blood until murder came as natural to him as the killing Of a bull lock to a butcher; he had drawn better natures down to evil and made crime the study of his lifc. But the day of retribution was fast closing in upon him. The murder of Mario Delaro was soon to be avenged, and before long he would realize the awful justice of the old Mosaic law-"A life for a life" And yet how poor a recompense. Robbed of her life happiness when it was just beginning to assert itself, all that the victims widow received in re- turn was the knowledge ethatretribution had finally overtaken the one who had robbed her of her treasure.
 And, compared to Valasqucz, what a fearful price had she paid to secure re- venge. Tho best part of her life had been spent: wasted, in fact, in running to earth monstrosity who had at last fallen into her hands through sheer ac- cident (as the greater part of the world would say), though there arc those who would see in such an accident the won derful machination of an unrelenting Ruler, who has said: Vengeance Is mine."
 Nevcr until now had Velasquez re- tlccted on the possible results of the re- pulsive acts of his life. His immunity from discovery had only tended to harden his soul and he had ever been prompted by one impulse only-greed for wcalth-which when acquired had never brought him any genuine pleas ure. He had never once stopped to think of the price his victims paid to satisfy his own insatiate desires. He had been absorbed in self and lad lived life in which none others shared part But now that the hellish conceits of his dehased mind could only spend themselves on four prison walls, he was forced to think.
 Leon NclasquoZ, running riot as one of the most active of the devils em- miss snries. had never paused to think of the cXactness with which Gods mills grind all, had never thought it worth his while to consider that those who eS- cape the mills the longest are in the end ground moro quickly and relent- lessly Iio was in the mills now and the great stones werc beginning to re- volve; so closely, surely increasing the speed of their revolutions every mo- ment, never to cease grinding until tho grist should be fine as the finest powder. His nights grow restless, sleep al- most forsook him, and the little snatches of mapping which he did sometimes secure were only fitful slumbers disturbed by horrible dreams which brought to his mind in turn, like moving panorama, the scenes of his devilish acts Bold as he had been through life. he now shuddered under | the shadow of the gallows, and so fear | full was the mental torture that at times | he wished that the end might be speedy. When tho bolts shot into their sock cts across his prison door all hope fled, l and he knew full we'll that he would, after all these years of liberty, meet the penalty of his greatest crime. From the and entirely ceased to speak to those who approached him. He neither ex- | pressed hope of escape nor murmured at his fate. Some imagined that the terrible visions of just punishment were perhaps the cause of his silence, though others avowed that he was only meditating a bold and final plu unge for liberty. Be that as It might, he per sisted inGa morose reticence.
 While he fingered in prison Mrs. De- laro and her friends were taking a rest from tho intense excitement at a pretty little English watering place, trying in vain to forget for time the final trage- dy in which they must take an import ant part.
 Mir. Blodger had been completely out done by the scenes he had witnessed. He made a hurried determination to re- turn to America and never again assist at such exciting performances. He re- ceived so severe a nervous shock that all the poetry of his soul was crushed out, and he was compelled to postpone for an indefinite period the writing of an ode to Father Thames, in which he had avowed his intention of putting vast amount of research, labor and thought. The world was thus robbed of another literary gem.
 He was true to his word, and a week after Velasquez's incarceration Mr. Blodger's little party of friends accom- | panied him to Huston station and badc him God speed" on his journey home. About five weeks later Mrs. Delaro, Armida and Percy returned to London to meet the American detectives, who had arrived with the extradition papers.