The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-03-28

halls with u pale. supercilious. face.
Repeatedly Brenda went out on the
piazza and looked with longing ewes
toward Gerald's home. whose roofs were
just family seen above masses of green.
cry.
At last. to her surprise, she saw him
coming up the lawn from the outer road
with a man on either side Of him. She
slipped into the house again, and watched
the approaching figures from II of the
drawing on windows.
While she did so Natalie entered the
room II see Gerald Ravelow coming
here" she broke ont, with two men in
his company. Who are they"
IL have no idea" answered Brenda,
turning from the window. "Why should
! have!"
Natalie give IL slight laugh that a
like a sitrer ~ L. into sound. Just then
steps were heard on the piazza. Moved
by "A sudden impulse. Brenda flung open
the blinis Of the window near which
she had b""l standing.
This WA. Gerald" she said.
Gerald entered o afterward alone.
But Brenda saw that his two companions
waited Just outside.
The young man put out his hand to-
ward Brenda while he fixed a hard and
cold stare ut Natalie.
81 have Il paper" he said, written a
day or two bsiore hts death by your late
husband. In that paper he accuses you
Of trying to poison him. He detected
you, but sail nothing. He preferred to
die by your hand. since he had loved you
~ well that to live on would have been
a horror. | quote almost his exact words.
And there is ny doubt about the anthem
ITCHY Of thi paper chat he left. Bren-
da. here, received it from him and
placed it secretly within his breast after
he had bcrN Lara in his coffin. | found
it there. In it lie also states that not
long ago he forced from you a certain
confession regarding u man named Ar
chibald Clay. and that he has reason to
believe you hide at the present time
a packet oi letters from this MAJ and
n or more bottles of poison as well
within Il particular cabinet upstairs. ]
have secured II search warrant and must
thereforc"-
At the word search warrant" Natalie
darted toward the door. Gerald followed
her, after II swift sign through the wide
piazza winlo" lie sprang up stairs,
knowing tn" house so well that the cab.
met to win" his friends letter mad a!
luded and the apartment in which il
cfnnI \kr.,.. htt, ,ypn .n,p1,,laca1 Law. hin,
But quick rs he had been. Natalie
reached tine cabinet before him. He saw
her kneeling at one of it's open drawers
The next instant he saw her lift some.
thing to her lips. Almost Immediately
after that she fell heavily backward
There had lain II swifter poison here il
the cabinet than that stealthy II which
had doubtless wrought her husbands
death.
She was quite ~lifeless when they picked
her up. Afterward, when rigid exam
nations We're made us to her previous
life, it seemed slight wonder that such q
woman SHOULD have preferred TO end by
suicide the final collapse of her evil hopes
She had undoubtedly been tine wife of
certain dlsreputable Englishlnan called
Capt" Clay, and one of whose aliase.
was Leveridge. long before her marriage
with poor infatuated Louis Bond. From
some of the letters from this man found
in the cabinet it was only o evident
that she had planned Louis murder with
his full knowledge, and that the two *
pected at some future day to enjoy the
wealth which would thus Wiley have
been secured.
During the following autumn occurred
Gcrald's marriage with Brenda, greatly
to the delight of Mrs. Ravelow, whose
health had now regained Its usual gentle
state of invalidisln. Some time before
this event Brenda had visited the vault
where her brother lay, and had first or
dered with her own hand what disarray
had been caused by Gerald's weird visit
and aftcrward quietly obtained aid fol
the restoration of the injured coffin.
But Gerald could never he induced t.
accompany her on either of the sever
little pilyrimagcs which her task in
volved. NO. Brenda" he would say
there are memories connected witt
that place which will haunt me till
die. No need of making them NOR,
vivid than they are sure to be- already.
But once Brenda said: "Perhaps 20,
are quite wrong in believing. Gerald
that anything supernatural really &C
Cured that night. In my hurry ant
agitation, Selling Il moment when sh,
was not present, ! thrust the paper with
in poor Louis breast. 1t may be that
lodged it insecurity, and that the move
mcnt of the coffin aftcrwari displaced
it still more When, as you say. yor
diSpartcd the flowers hat lay on the
breast Of Louis. the paper may bay,
been half concealed by these, while it,
whiteness r~orrcsponded to thai of tho
flowers themselves, all being seen in /
dim light Hence. when the candl,
fcll"---
Fell interrupted Gerald. WHY
do Won state that it fell"
Brenda smiled eve so family. BE
| cause YOU had set it, in its sconce, at tn,