The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1891-07-22

er's cup of gall. The little means that
he could command from his broken for.
tunes had been swallowed up in his un-
| successful defense of the suit.
The hour was about twilight; the un-
touched meal had been cleared away, and
the old housekeeper had retired TO her
chamber. Perry sat in the front room,
in a low chair by the window, aud,
absorbed in his misery, lie noticed moth
ing of the storm that was coming up.
He had not sat thus more than half an
hour when he heard the sharp unlatch-
ing of the gate, and the quick step OF
feet on the gravel; and then there was a
knock at the door.
A tall man stood without, his garments
clinging to him IN wet folds and the
water running from them in streams.
The old man help up the candle to his
face and saw prominent nose and pair
of keen eyes under wide hat, and for
the rest there was a handsome, rather
benevolent, mouth, aud mass of au.
burn beard. The man was stranger to
him.
"Good evening, SIR" he said, in q
bluff, hearty voice. "May come In and
get dryi Such ID ducking haven't h ad
since fell of Freehaven Dock, long ago.
Will you allow such wet rat in your
houseW
Eyes, come in," Perry replied; and
usheriug the stranger into the room, he
brought some kindlings and light wood,
with which he soon made fire in the
fireplace.
The stranger took off his coat aud vest,
and squeezed the water from them, hung
them on a chair, and addressed himself
to the drying OF his extremities. The old
man looked on in moody silence, and the
stranger was compelled to make the first
advances.
ga nice place you have here, should
think. l saw it from the bottom of the
hill, before the storm came up"
"Who are your Perry abruptly
asked. "Do you come here on any bust
ness4 Have you anything to do with
that iasoal Murch, who has robbed me of
all my property1 Idon't know, sir; per-
haps do you an injustice; but I have
become embittered against everybody.
l'll ask you kindly, IL you came here
spying for Issac Murch, to leave peace.
ably-and now"
"On my honor, then, sir, replied the
other, much surprised at the questions,
al don't know anything of Murch, and
I'm above spying for him or anybody.
came into Freehaven, down below here,
this afternoon, in the steamboat, and ex-
pected to walk over to Westlock before
the rain came on. I got caught, and
made for the first shelter saw, but IL
you'd rather / would go"--
"No, no." interrupted Perry; "I
wouldn't turn dog out into the storm,
much less human being. Stay till you
are dry, and the rain Is over; and that,
think, won't be before morning. I'll
give you bed"
Finding the old man but little inclined
to talk, the stranger bade his host good
night ard went to the room assigned to
him.
1t was then about ten o'clock. The
storm was at its height, and it continued
for an hour longer, when it abruptly
ceased. The suddenness of its cessation
aroused the occupant Of the room, and
wearied with his stress of emotion, he
took his candle and assembled the stairs.
He had no heart for anything but his
own dreadful misery; aud he would pro-
badly have forgotten the presence of a
stranger in his house but for ray of
light issuing from the keyhole of the
chamber which he had bade him take.
Randolph Perry paused, and merely
obeyiug a sudden impulse, stopped and
placed his eye at the hole. He had not
the least curiosity about this man, aud
his act was certainly without motive.
But his eye had but singled out his guest
from the other objects in the room when
he concentrated his attention upon him
with the greatest eagerness. lie saw him
sitting by the table, his back to the door,
and the candle before him. Four or five
piles of bank notes, new aud cracking,
were before him; aud he counted them
over rapidly, replacing them all in an
oiled-skin wallet beneath his pillow. In
few moments more the light was ex.
tinguishe1 aud the heavy breathing Of
the sleeper was heard.
Silently did the listener gain his own
room; and as he stood there he was Il
man transformed Could he, have seen
his own face at that moment he must
have been terrified at the iendish pas
sions that peered out from it. He
Strengthened up his bowed shoulders; his
eyes lost their listless, hopeless expires.
sion and burned with baleful light;
and even his shrivelled, wrinkled cheeks
flushed with the shame of the dreadful
sin with which he was struggling.
For Randolph Perry meditated murder.
With this horrible resolution formed,
the old man rapidly proceeded to its ac-
complishment. In his bureau drawer
lay sheath-knife eight inches in the
blade, which he had never carried since
boyhood, and opening the drawer he
took it from 1t sheath, aud holding it up
to the light saw that it was sharp. Toe
demon must have had full possession of
him in that hour, for he smiled as he
observed the glitter of the bright blade.
Placing it in the breast of his Waistcoat,
he softly left his room aud traversed the
passage. Listening at the door of his
victim, he heard his steady, regular
breathing, and noiselessly unclosing it
he entered and advanced to the bedside.
But his eyes fingered upon the tat lie;
he could not withdraw them. They
rested on large family Bible, the gift
of his wife in happier days, and it now
lay open, as the hand of the stranger
must have opened it, to the sixth chap
ter of Matthew. At the top OF the page
he saw drawn with a pencil in hold let