The morning call., 1893-11-06

particular compound he had asked for; he
had requested that it should not be sent
by an ordinary messenger. but that j.!
should bring 1t myself. She let ME in !!
Oh. my God to think of it,
"'Calm yourself / said. laying my
hand upon his arm and inducing him to
resume his seat.
Yes, yes, will,' he replied; I must,
or shall go mad. Her voice was music !;
she was gentle as she was beautiful!
Don't ask me to dwell upon those first in
terviews had with her. Don't ask me to
tell you how we grew to love each other.
One day, with her permission. l asked the
old man for his consent to our marriage.
'Never-neverp was his reply. He did not
forbid me the house. l was useful to him
in his scientific Investigations. She babe
me not despair. He loves me- she said !;
I will win him over to consent She did.
The day was named for our wedding-this
very day! To think of i'll This very day!
And we were to go to Rouen for the honey
moon. He himself had named Rouen,
where he had a correspondent who would
be good to US. Here is the license" He
drew forth a pOcket-bOok and rummaged
over some papers.
No. he said. L remember / gave it to
Dufoy. He must have driven away. They
say they saw no carriage-your policemen.
1t was TO be at IL, the ceremony, quite pri-
vate, only the sexton as witness. Mr.. Du-
foy put on fresh clothes, odd they were,
but not less curious than usual. He made
the coffee himself, and we also had wine
for breakfast, a sweet kind OF liquid that
! efferveseed.
There was no servant in the house, a
woman came in every day for an hour or
two, but was only admitted into Marie's
TWO rooms. 1t WAS very strange house,
but Marie was not so in the least; sweet,
pleasant, weH-read. had travelled and was
only 90. He had given her beautiful In
dian scarf for wedding present; she was
to wear it; the texture of it was of the
finest goSsamer web. and yet it had been
embroidered in something like tissue of
gold; it had beautiful sheen of gray and
crimson, and IL was so light tbatyOu could
have blown it away and yet so ample that
when Marie put it over her white silk dress
il seemed to envelop her from head to foot.
"'Well, the breakfast was over, and we
had retired to Marie's own room to await
the carriage. Mare's room opened from
the first landing on the great broad stair
case. 1t was plainly furnished. but with
artistic old things, rare cabinet, one or
two paintings of Ara bian subjects, on the
mantelpiece curious lamp. with odd ex-
amples of jade and carved soapstoDe. L
felt myself becoming nervous ana anxious
for the carriage. At last Marie spied l.
at the door. We went down the stairca Sc,
the old man first. He also entered the
brougham first and took seat with his
ba k to the horses.
GAS I turned to close the door before |
handed Marie into the carriage. and with
prayer Of thankfulness that we were at
last in the street. Marie said
'Oh. l have forgot en- my bracelet, ex-
cuse me for moment | know where il
Is She ran back into the house; l stood
upon the doorstep waiting, the old man
watching me from the brougham. Mo-
ments passed, then minutes-the mome nts
seemed minutes, the minutes hours. ]
don't suppose she had been in the house
after all more than five minutes when
followed her. Without that | know of
anv real cause for anxiety, felt terrified,
my heart beat with such alarm as l had
never before experienced. l ran TO the
room we had just left-it was filled with a
strange mist that had faint. deadly kind
of odor. In the midst of it l saw the
shadowy. half-concealed form of Marie.
She seemed to be swayIng to and fro, l
rushed to catch her in my arms.
"As il from distance heard her voice
in sad, fearful whisper say, Dear Hor-
ace, farewelp and when l would have
clasped her in my arms the shadowy form
l took for her evaporated. faded ou:, be-
came part of the mist. 1t cleared as |
uttered a cry of despair, and at my feet
lay. in glittering heap. the Indian scarf
which had been wrap ed about her. |
stoo ped to pick 1t up, and / remember no
more until ] found myself hammering at
the door as your men have described to
you.'
"a strange story said, but
Strange. but true-my God, too truep
he exclaimed.
~ was not about to question it, I said.
but the house where the police found you
is half mile from Praed street and has
been uDoccCp pied for twenty years l in
duced the young fellow to allow me to Ike
him home in my cab l then went to Cart
wright's and saw the written order they
had received from DufOy, which had been
the cause Of DewaI going to the old mans
house.
sit was written in a curious, foreign
hand, the words spelled in the oldest Eng
lsh fashion, The missive sealed with
quaint seal, having what seemed to be an
Arabic word engraved beneath the coils of
serpent. The articles required were such
as might be used in mineralOgiral expert
ments. Satisfied that l had now a clew
sufficient to unravel the mystery, ] went
to the address the writer gave-to the ad-
dress where Dewar had been so often and
under such happy circumstances - but
Praed street only deepened the mystery;
there was no such house. no such number
as that given in the letter, 10 house at all
like the one which Dewar had described.
and the house where he was knocking and
asking for Marie was. as already de-
scribed. half mile away. dilapidated and
untenanted. From that hour to this /
have never found the smallest trace of
DuIoy or Marie. though Dewar, as l tell
you, is we'll known, is not insane, never
has been, he says, and still adheres to the
truth of his st0ry."-Hartford Times.
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