The Forrest City times., 1891-07-17
l, THE HAUNTED CHAMBER.
DT ''THn pucuEss.n
lsGAse sf "Koniea," "Nons Sesi,v. 70
 "Phyliis," etc., etc.
CHAPTER xL. CONTINUED.

that the lock, rusty with age, gives way and leaves the passage beyond open to
 Going into the small landing at the foot of the staircase, they close the door carefully after them, and then, captain Ringwood producing some matches, they light the two lamps and hearts, up the stairs.
 The second door is reached, and now nothing remains but to mount the last flight of steps and open the fatal door.
 Their hearts at this trying moment almost fail them. They look into one another's blanched faces, and look there in vain for hope. At last, Ring wood, touching Ethel's arm, says, in a whisper
 Come, have courage-all may yet be welll' "
 He moves toward the stone steps, ana they follow him. Quickly mount door, and, afraid to give them any moro time for reflection or dread of what may yet be in store for them, throws it open.
 At first the feeble light from their lamps fails to penetrate the darkness Of the gloomy apartment. At the cur sory glance, such as they at first cast round the room, 1t appears to be empty. Their hearts sink within them. Have they indeed hoped in vain!
 Dora is crying bitterly; Ethel, with her eyes fixed upon Ringwood, is read Ing her own disappointment in his face, when suddenly a piercing cry from Florence wakes the echoes round them.
 She has darted forward, and is kneel- ing over something that even now is barely discernible to the others as they come nearer to it. It looks like a bun de of clothes, but, as they stoop over It, they, too, can see that 1t is in reali- ty human body, and apparently rigid in death.
 But the shriek that has sprung from the very soul of Florence has reached some still living iibers in the brain of thls forlorn creature. Slowly and with difficulty he raises his head, and opens a.pair of fast-glazing eyes. Mechanic ally his glance falls upon Florence. His lips move; melancholy smile struggles to show itself upon his parch. ed and blackened lips.
 Florence" he rather sighs than says, and falls back, to all appearance, dead.
 He is not deadl" cries Florence pas sionately, He can not be. Oh, save him, save him! Adrian, look up speak to me. Oh, Adrian, make some sign that you can hear me!'
 But he makes no sign. His very breath seems to have left him. Gath ering him tenderly in her arms, Flor ence presses his worn and wasted face against her bosom, and pushes back the hair from his forehead He is so completely altered, so thorough . wreck has he become, that it is indeed only the eyes of love that could recog- ui and deep hollows show themselves His beard has grown, and is now rough and stubbly; his hair Is un- conbcd, the lines of want, despair. and cruel starvation have plotted out all the old fairness of his features. His clothes are hanging loosely about him; his hands, limp and nerveless. are ly- ing by his side. Who shall tell what agony he has suffered during these past lonely days with death--an awful, creeping, ig .Sa 3g..g gnawins death staring him
 A deadly silence has fallen upon the little group now gazing solemnly down upon his quiet form. Florence, hold ing him closely to her heart, is gently rocking him to and fro, as though she
 At length Captain Ringwood, stoop- ing pitifully over her, loosens her hold so far as to enable him to lay his hand upon Sir Adrian's heart. After . mo- mcnt, during which they all watch him closely, he starts, and, looking still closer into the face that a second ago he believed dead, he says, with sub dued but deep excitement
 There may yet be time! He breathes his heart beats! Who will help me to carry him out of this dungeonT
 He shudders as he glances round him.
 T will" replies Florence calmly.
 These words of hope have steadied her and braced her nerves. Ethel and Mrs. Talbot, carrying the lamps, go on before, while Ringwood and Florence, having lifted the senseless body of Ad- fian, now indeed sufficiently light to be an easy burden, follow them.
 Reaching the corridor, they cross it hurriedly, and carrying Adrian up a back staircase that leads to Captain Ringwood's room by a circuitous route, they gain 1t without encountering a single soul, and lay him gently down on Ringwood's bed, almost at the very moment that midnight chimes from befpro Arthur Dynecourt steals from his chamber to make that last visit to his supposed victim.
 CHAPTER. XII.
 Slowly and with difficulty they coax Sir Adrian back to life. Ringwood had insisted upon telling the old house. keeper At the castle, who has been in the family for years, the whole story of her masters rescue, and she, with tears dropping down her withered cheeks, has helped Ringwood to remove his clothes and make him comfortable. She had also sat beside him while the captain, stealing out of the house like . thief, had galloped down to the vii- lago for tho doctor, whom he had smnggled into tho house without awak- ing any of the servants.
 This caution and secrecy had been decided upon for one powerful reason. If Arthur Dynecourt should prove guilty of being the author of his cous- ms incarceration, they were quite de- termined he should not escape what ever punishment the law allowed. But the mystery could not be quite cleared up until Sir Adrian's return to con- sciousness, when they hoped to have some light thrown upon the matter from his own lips.
 In the meantime, should Arthur hear of his cousins rescue, and know him. self to be guilty of this dastardly at tempt to murder, would he not take steps to escape before the law should lay it's iron grasp upon hims All four conspirators are too ignorant of the power of the law to know whether 1t would be justifiable in the present cir cumstances to place him under arrest, or decide on waiting until Sir Adrian himself shall Do able to pronounce