The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-10-04


| send for a doctor and to have the wound
ed man tended, and to keep the rest q
the house IN ignorance of the occurrence
She would play her part in the piece a.
though nothing had happened; no one
would be able to guess from her appear
ance that anything unusual had taken
place
"And when the play is over / calculate
you'll be wanting to make tracks," said
Mr.. Potts coolly.
tsOn the contrary, IL the injury should
prove fatal, / will swear not to leave the
house"
Mr.. Potts sat silent and Mortified, bui
only fora few moments. 81 hook on,
he said at last. IF the worst comes &c
the worst, Ill stand your friend. Stimp.
son shall help me carry the man here
we'll do it between us. I'll send a two
wheel cart for the doctor; everything
shall be done for this man, and guess
that smart young woman as fixes you
up had better turn nurse and do the
nursing. Thatll keep it private. You
go to your room, and the less you appear
to suspect q mystery, the better it viii
be for all jokers."
Even in her gratitude at the wealthy
Americans sympathy, Lady Charlotte
shuddered at his vernacular. She went
to her room and sat down, feeling sick
with fear and horror. Had she com
mitted a nurder2 How could she allow
herself to be provoked to such an extent
by a low minded and money lending
Jew? What next misfortune could over
wheln her? She had lately considered
herself specially marked by destiny to be
annoyed.
For a long time she sat In deep but
distracted thought. She felt sometimes
as though her brain would burst. A
dozen times she got up and rushed to the
door to do she knew not what Once she
opened the window wide and looked
down at the marble terrace below. sit
must be quite thirty feet, she thought,
"and instant death, but how dreadful
No, | have not the courage for it that
way"
A housemaid knocked at the door.
"Oh, if you please, your ladyship, Mr.
Potts says can | help you dress. Miss
Howden, he says, is a-ndrsing Mr.. Stimp-
son, as has been taken i'll in masters
room
Lady Charlotte looked at her watch.
Quarter to -, and the play COM
mences at 3, and suppose the people
come about /. Yes, suppose had
better dress now. That will be better
than doing nothing and thinking and
thinking until must go mad.
Her toilet concluded, Lady Charlotte
sat opposite her glass in doubt and hesi-
tation. She looked at her rehection-a
graceful figure in soft white silk-but a
CHASTITY pallor, which seemed to be accen-
tuated by those white draperies, fright
ened her. 81 look as though had com
mitted a murder" she thought. People
would guess as much from my appear
ance." There was ever present to
her mind a series of pictures, be-
ginning with trial for murder in
which she would be designated by the
counsel for the prosecution as the woman
Craddock, and eliminating in a gibbet
and an audience of press men at that
final scene.
Lady Charlotte sat till nearly /, when
a maid servant brought her note from
the master of the house. 1t was in the
secretary's handwriting, neither adj
dressed nor signed.
.sThis is kind,' thought Lady Char
lotte bitterly; "Mr. Potts does not want
to create discriminating evidence"
'eThe groom who went for the doctor
did not find him at home. he had to
drive on to Maidenhead to find another,
SO there has been delay in getting assist
ance Mr.. Hart has been conscious some
time and has taken brandy which we
poured down his throat. I win let you
know in the course of the afternoon how
matters progress. It will be better il
you are seen everywhere in the grounds
during the afternoon and evening. Your
maid tells me that no one heard the re-
port Of the pistol except herself; the
heavy portieres must have deadened the
sound.n
With little rouge Lady Charlotte
concealed the deadly pallor, which she
felt must otherwise attract universal
attention. She asked the same maid
servant who had brought her the note
to bring her some brandy, and, after
swallowing what seemed to be an enor-
nous quantity, she summoned up all her
courage to leave her room and join the
crowd down stairs
Everything had been SO well prepared
beforehand that nothing was left to be
arranged on the last day. A blazing
July sun poured down on the grounds Of
Renainshall Abbey, and the little glen
arranged for the performance was the
only shady nook within the cultivated
part of the grounds Immediately sur
rounding the house.