Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1894-03-30

terrace, then i'll reverse order came
his shadow i'll tho light of No. 2, and
then after II momentary interval his
shadow obscurcd tho light from No. 1,
How long this went on cannot tell
Presently it stopped. did not pnr-
ticularly notice when; l WAS thinking
of my presents.
Some time after tho butler camo in
and asked if he should lock up tho
house and shut the shutters. 1 M
swcred eyes" us my father, / said,
hnd done his pipe and had come in. Z
concluded he had come in because
no longer saw his shadow, and Judged
from his invarinblc habit of always
coming indoors when he had done his
Pipe.
Next morning 1 came down to break
fast MS usual and waited for him.
'Plensc, miss" said the housemaid,
"mnster left the lamp burning i'll tho
study NIL night"
"Did hep" snid I. 1t was unusual
he WINS 80 mcthodical in all he did
The ten would spoil unless he came
quickly. l rang for the butler. "Will
you call your master? Ho must have
oversight himself. Say there is grilled
partridge and it il getting cold, and
the tea will taste bitter"
Presently tho butler returned.
"Plcasc, miss, tho master ia not in
his room. He has not been there all
night. The bed is undisturbcd. The
hot water not taken ill.,.
My fnther hud disappeared.
Not IL trace of him could we find.
Suddenly, i'll the moonlight, he had
vanished. The Inst had seen of him
wns his shadow on tho drnwing-room
floor on tho previous night. AS 1 con-
sidered, could not say in which dircc-
ton | Ind seen his shadow pass for the
Inst time. could not tell within half
nn hour when l Ind Inst seen3it. l
could not, indeed. swear That the
shadow l had seen was that of nv
fnthcr, as l had not looked Mt him
through the window.
All that | could say WAS that it was
his custom. about that timo every
night, to walk the terrace, and thnt,
therefore, probably he had walked 1t
tho night he disappeared, and his
shadow it probably had been that l
had seen flung on the drnwing-room
floor.
Days, weeks passed, and not n trace
of my fathcr was found had not
the smallest doubt M to whnt Ind be-
como of him nor had my brother nor
any of the ncighborhood. "The ban
dit" had murdered him and made away
with his body for the sakc of tho din
mond.
OF course we took notion the mo-
mcnt we were sure he had absolutely
vanished. The police watched "the
bandit; they searched tho house,
where they did find some articles that
had belonged to my fnthcr, but which
tho cN-butlcr protested ho had pur-
Joined while i'll our service. There
was n handkerchief that had my fnth
er's initinls, IL tic to which l could
swear and II brcnst-rin, but I could
not be sure that he had worn these
when he disappeared.
My fnthcr did not dress for dinner
when we We're alone, SO that he nav
have worn the tic and brenst pin on
the last Occasion we dined together.
cnnnot shy; hnd not noticed what he
then wore.
Nothing further to compromise the
man was discovered. but TINT was not
wonderful four dnys clnpsod since the
disappearance of my fnther before the
police searched "thc bandits" lodgings
time enough for him to make away
with the diamond. What he had done
with my fathers body, where he hud
secretcd it, we could mover find.
We could not imagine how he had
lurcd my father away from tho terrncc
ana down back lnuc, where we con
occurred the murder had been com
mittcd-not that We found evidence
there of IL struggle, but that it was the
only plnce i'll the immediate neighbor
hood where IL murder could have been
committed
We Ind no moral doubt Whatever
that "the bandit" Ind murdered nv
father and had murdered him in the
back lane l mention ; that he had made
him Inscnsiblc by means of chloroform
before dispatching him and TINT nv
poor fathers body was secreted some
where near our villa.
Nevertheless, it was not possible to
bring tho murder home to tho man
and when he disappeared shortly after
we were NIL morally certain that he
had gone away to enjoy the profits of
the sale of the diamond, cut, may be,
into two or three, SO rs to render it in
capable of Identification.
After nwhilc-eight months-I mar
RED and went to India. My brother
let the house, rs he was unmarried.
Five years after 1 returned from
India with couple of children, whom
the climate of India did not suit. AS
the house was then inlet 1 took it off
my brother, although associated with
such painful recollections. The hon
orablc great-nunt came to pny me
visit and make the acquaintance of her
great-Sreat nephew and niece, the lat
ter of whom was called after her.
One moonlit evening, after the chill
dren had been sent to bed, we were
Slftjnn tOpathnr in tho 1ro,,;,,ex -.