The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-15


swered. II have reason for believing it. |
have thought it all over all night and all
day. You shall know everything l can tell
4 you, but not here. You must come to my
| house. and there we can talk it quiet. What
I shall have TO tell you is for your ear
! alone.n
SAM" said Redwood, "Mons. Dom has
something Of great Importance TO say to me.
You don't mind our leaving your
| NO" Sam returned. do your own
business. Master George, shall be glad
| to get home and have a talk with 'Tilda,"
The three left the house together and
walked In silence until their ways parted ,
| when they shook hands and took their
! separate roads. AS Dom entered his own
lamp.lit room, George could see that he was
| terribly agitated. His hands trembled. His
| features twitched, and his eyes were full
of gloomy trouble and resolve. He locked
! the door and pouring out wineglassful OF
neat cognac, pushed it across the table.
You had better drink that" he said.
"You may find that you need it. "
NO" George answered. "Pn have no
| Dutch courage"
you had better take it." Dom urged.
but his companion refused a second time
with an impatient anger. Then sit down
and gather all your strength for you will
need it."
George obeyed the injunction to be seated
| and braoed himself to meet whatever might
be preluded by these menacing words.
81 shall pain you, my dear boy said
Dom, with profound pity in his voice. II
shall pain you terribly. but cannot help it.
You know the manner of your fathers
deathn
George tried to answer In the affirmative,
but his voice refused to obey his will He
nodded, therefore, and sat in awful ex-
peotations, not as yet knowing what to
fear.
His murderer" Dom pursued, twas be-
lieved to have borne the same name as my
self. He passed utterly out Of sight at the
time OF the murder, and has never been
heard OF since"
~ KNOW" George answered in grating
voice, 80 unlike his own that it startled
him.
"Now, as I am sinful man. said Dom,
speaking with profound solemnity, land as
l hope for mercy, tell you that know
your fathers murderer
Redwood fell back in his chair and glared
at him. unable to articulate word.
Dom took up the glass of cognac and
made a motion toward him, but be waved
it away with wild gesture
Dom slowly and reluctantly set down the
glass again, his troubled eyes fixed observ-
antly on Georges face
Can you bear it, Shall l tell you' Do
you guess"
Don't tell me yet" George gasped, with
so recently rejected, drained 1t and set it
back upon the table.
"Now. Go on"
81 know, as surely as know that we are
here, that John Hetheridge was the author
of your fathers DEATH
Red woods face sank into his hands, and
there was dead silence for long time.
How do you know it," Redwood asked
at last
al will tell you, p Dom responded.
he traced his own suspicious from the
first inception in his mind, and George
listened in absolute silence, sitting like a
statue. The narrative omitted nothing.
and by the time its end was reached looked
horribly onvincing.
The listeners heart cried out against it, It
was impossible that Ellce's father should
be the murderer of his own. 1t was too
appalling to be believed, and vet, even
whilst his heart passionately rejected 1t, his
mind more than half accepted the story,
aud the inward conflict produced an actual
physical nausea which threatened to be-
numb both thought and feeling. The crime
with which Potter had charged Hetheridge
had seemed so motiveless as to be incredible
but Doms suspicious cast glare of light
across it, The two accusations coming one
upon another from quarters 30 remote, and
fitting into each other so remarkably,
seemed at moments to strike protest DUMB
He knew that if the revelations of that
night had been made to him under other
circumstances they would have led him TO
devote his life to their proof or disproof
and that it was only the intervening
thought of the pure and innocent girl to
whom he had pledged his troth which held
him back from a credence almost complete
He looked up at length and his face was
old and haggard A dry film seemed drawn
across his eyes and he could see but dimly.
With a great effort he forced himself to
rise and speak.
You could have done no less than tell
Tears were running silently down the old
Frenchman's face as he clasped Redwood's
outstretched hands in his own.
ut was impossible to keep silence, but |
don't believe it all the same until know
more about it. Ny minds made up. It's
good-by between Ellice and me, unless can
prove her fathers innocence. l can't try to
disguise the guilt of my own fathers muir
derer, but | won't wreck my own life for a
| mere fancy. l must sift this matter to the
bottom, Dom. l shall 60 and face this man
with Potter in the morning and hear what
he has to say.n
Dom approved of this proposal, and they
sat down to advise about it.
II dare not face my mother" said
| George. You must tell her for me that |
| have business of the utmost Importance
which has taken me away to London.
can get trap at Tue w eybrldge Arms, and
| drive over to Colchester tonight, SO as to
be in time for the morning mall from Har-
| witch. I'll take Potter with me-"
| His mind was tossed up aud down like a
sea, but he kept self-possession which
seemed strange even to himself. Dom
thought his fortitude splendid and had
never esteemed him half so much as now.
His heart ached over the blow he had been
| compelled to deal.
In the supreme moments of life, trifles
take an absurd and over-mastering impor-
| tance.
~ dined alone tonight" said George,
"and felt too tired to change. I've been out
| and about like this all day."
| He indicated the heavy clay-soiled boots
and CATERS he wore, and the rough suit of
| homespun.
"All that's little countrihed for London,
isn't itr'
Dom recognized the condition of his
mind, and had no charge Of trivialities to
bring against him.
You'll tell my mother. won't you?"
Redwood asked. "Ill go and look up Pot
| ter"
81 will come with you" Dom responded.
II shall have time to deliver your message
afterward. It will be best to tell her after
you are gone"
Their way led them within sight of the
Rev, Jordan Farrells house, and George
| turned aud paused in the road to look at it.