Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-09-07
CHAPTER XVII.
At Her Mercy.

At Her Mercy.
Edna Deane shrank back to the edge
of the pit as she recognized the race OF
the person who had come in response
TO her cries for aid. -.
1t was Beatrice Mercer; there could
be no doubt of it, and the shock or
the recognition, IL realization OF the
pertidy of her former friend, drove
Edna to sudden silence.
She sank TO the side of the pit n
looked up blankly.
"yyho is there, l sayE' demanded
Beatrice, pcering sharply down:
1T is l; Edna-Edna Deane."
"ln%crcdible!'
Beatrice recoiled as If dealt a sud-
den blow, and turned white to the lips.
Edna Deane! For the first time In
her reckless, cruel career of subterfuse
and deceit the self-reliant schemer fai-
tered.
She had met her Waterloo in the
failure of her scheme to delude Kay
mond Marshall. That had been the
first break in her plots, and now
How had Edna Deane come here
alive, when she deemed her dead! At
I tliS VI III IldtCS III In "oAAa, "NSA~
a single misstep, a single suspicion
aroused on the part of old Mr.. Ralston,
would strip the imposter of her bor-
rowed plumage and place in her right
full position the prosecuted, deceived
| Edna.
For some moments Beatrice shrank
back from the edge of the pit, lost in
| wild augury and suspense. Then her
4 hard nraptina1 mind Cyt.nSnnI tho GifIfl-
| ton.
She knew that Ralston was confined
| to his room. Both the steward and the
housekeeper had gone to the village
and would not return until late that
night.
She called down to Edna. Word by
word, sentence by sentence, she forced
her to tell how she had come there,
learned for the first time the entire
truth about Edna's peril and Edna's
deliverance. Unheeding her appeals
for rescue she compelled her to relate
her story. She knew that Edna would
not falsify.
You must make no outcry," she said,
in a cold steely tone of voice. This
place is a dangerous IN for any stran-
ger. If / release you will you go away
and never tell any II you saw me
here nor seek to know why / am here,
or revisit the place."
Yes! yes" assented Edna, eagerly,
somehow terrified at the cruel, repel-
liant expression in the face of her for
mer friend. only n question-where
is Raymond Marshall, your husband!"
Beatrice's teeth closed with q vicious
snap.
"An is over between you two-he is
mine now" she responded. Remain
here until | return-until it is safe for
me to rescue you and get you outside
the grounds"
Then she was gone, and darkness and
silence ~supervened, and poor Edna,
shrinking, trembling, awaited her fate,
with u confused sense of peril, of mys-
terry in her agitated thoughts.
Beatrice had gone to her room in
the mansion with Il drawn brow and
tightly compressed lips.
She had a hard problem to study out,
and it was p~erplexing her. Edna
Deane, whom she believed dead, had
come across her path again. OF late,
she had begun to realize the value of
wealth; she was not yet hopeless Of
winning Raymond Marshall to her side;
but, if he learned that Edna was alive,
If old Mr.. Ralston asserted that she was
an impostor, what then?
Darker and fiercer glowed the basil
isk eyes; more somber and tragic grew
the sinister face. She dare not let Edna
go free; it meant ultimate disaster to
all her hopes and plans.
She proceeded, finally, to another
room. In one corner of it was a large
cabinet. Unlocking and opening it's
doors, she revealed row after row Of
phials and bottles, evidently the medi-
cine used by the invalid Ralston.
A large bottle bearing the label ''chlo-
roform,' attracted her attention, and
she took it up thoughtfully.
Il have only n short time to act, for
the servants will soon return" she MUIR
INJURED. Il must quiet her, for l have
not time to get her out Of the pit be-
fore they come back. / will empty
the contents of the bottle into the pit.
They will stupefy and silence her.
Later, | will get her out, imprison her,
orr must take time to think. If the
fumes kill her that is not my fault
continued the heartless siren.
She went out into the garden, the
bottle in her hand. She reached the pit
and uncorked 1t.
What was that?'
She started with the ejaculation. and
peered sharply ut the near shrubbery.
as she fancied she detected a rustling
movement there.
1t was not repeated. however, and
she leaned over the edge of the lit
once more.
Emptying the volatile fluid into the
~prison-place of her victim, the merci-
less plotter FASTENED from the spot the
desperate cruelty of murder in her
wicked heart.
CHAPTER XVIII,