Telegram-herald., 1891-08-14


PA swf.l sorry. Belle darliag''
tand tho villain fingered over these
words - over sweet morseisis but
dldns you hear Of my terrific aecideat?
fell down an old quarry aud hurt nay
head very badly. Why. at times. es-
peeiAIiy when I'm tagged bit and
bothered with Questions, my mind be-
comes = perfect blank. aad make hor-
ribie hodge podgs Of everything. My
head feels a. though il would burst as
this very minute" This last with .
grosn Of most CHASTITY Dimensions
The poor girl was completely ho-
cused. and was amazed aud indignant
that .he LAD not been told Of the ter
rite accident" before Then she coqSd:
Poor old boy. poor old head" 80
soothingly that It sent q tariii OF rap
turs down Niok's worthless frame
And she stroked that head, hard as the
neither milestone. SO lovingly with her
sofk planp hand taat the Maehiayei-
Ian oae p&tted himself on the back, AL
of which only hardened him in his sin
And when sho refrained from asking
any more aw kward questions he gloried
in his successful villsiny. and laid hin-
self out to kill And as he looked well,
and talked well. ir was not long before
the fair widow lay-metaphoricaily
speaking, of course-at her fictitious
cousins feet in IA excess of reverence
aud devotion She could hardly con-
ceive the great change that had taken
place in hirn since she had seen him
last
You've developed awfully. Mort. In
the last two years"
Mort" with grim smile. thought
TO himself that the next two hours, per-
haps. would see even q more awful de-
velopneat of himself and things in gem
eral
He put the finishing touch to his
work Just rs be wa5 leaving. He would
have been content with q hand-shakc
by way o1ke1isu. but poor Belle. with
. charming pout and q most provoea-
tive raising Of her blossom of a mouth,
delivered herself into tho hands Of the
enemy by patheticAlly remarkirg:
you're very mean, Mort; you haven't
kissed rae once yet" Nick qu.iled;
even he was touched by this absolute
trust He felt almost inclined to blurt
ont the whole truth and then run for
his life hut tha. sum-. inviting smle
green place was The delight sho
took in tutoring his simplicity ayerte1
awkward questions Besides. IL was
infinitely divcrting to an old roundcr-
old in expcricnce-like Nick At last
the carriage stopped before handsome
brown-stonc house.
poor. dear Edwards sister ia stop
| ping with me, you know. but she's out
to-day, SO We shall be all to ourselves
to talk over old times Won't il be
| jolly?"
Nick hardly seemed delighted by the
thought of the prospective jollity;
in fact he heartily wished himself ont
of his scrapc. But there was no re-
! treat now; he had burned his boats
So up he went to his dressing room, os-
tensibly to wash of the trevel-stains
of a journey he had never taken, really
to throw himself on a couch and rack
his brains for plausible myths about
people and places he had never seen.
The way of the wicked man is hard.
Nick found it extremely SO, and he
never enjoyed a good dinner less The
inevitable examination began. "Tn
try numbering 'cm." he thought So
| whenever ne got mixed on the gencalo-
gy or personal history of any harmless
/ person or persons he ruthlessly slew
them and buried them away fAr out OF
! the reach of all questions Whole
families went at a swoop; when reces'
! snry he raised an epideric-typhoid
cholera. grip-he didn't care what, as
long as he got awkward customers out
of tho way. Samson's Biblical jaw
bone was an inefficient weapon fol
homicidal purposes compared to Nick's
"iaw," and poor Belle was in an ex
cess Of grief and amazement at the re
cent loss of SO many friends. Finally
he struck on q snag in the shape of Q
young lady whom he had consigned Il
An untimely grave-from too much
cigarette smoking, Quoth he, irrever
emily. Un!uckily the fair Belle had ;
message from tho dead in week-olc
letter. Then things got worse thar
ever for the culprit He got incxtrica
bly, entangled In the prickly branche.
of the family tree-hopelcssly lost II
tho lanes and bywsys of the local toPo
graphy. Still, with courage worthy o
a better cause and = supernatural calm
ness born of despair. he lied on by the
carload
"How's Zozo2" asked his unconsciou'
torturcr.
''Zozo?" dubitatively. "Wondcr who
tho dickens Zozo can be? So silly t.
give anyone a name like that! S'pos'
it's baby I'll cfance it. anyhow
Then, aloud:
.'Oh, Zozol Zozo's oil right"
"IIow can You say so, when yot
yourself wrote he was i'll, poor dearT
''Oh. yes. Of course! How silly am
He caught scarlet fever. but he's mucl
better now"
what do you mean. Aertf Scarlc'
fcverl | never heard Of horse will
scarlet fever"
"Grcat Scott" groancd the pseudc
Mort, here's how-de-dol Er-er-Oh
yes Don't you know7 Er-Horsc'
often get scarlet fever. my dear. but o
course you couldn't he expected Il
know that Why. that bay mare father
bought only last year
Belle started up from the table with
shudder srd stared at her visitor a
though at a maniac
"you must be mad. Mort Poor IN
Gle has been dead these ten yesra
don't understand you at all" And hes
| frame shcok with excitement
Nick uerved his Tagging wings u