Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-12-22

II.
he was always with her and no doubt
loved her dearly. / can scarcely wonder
at that, as she is SO beautiful a girl.
But he behaved very well, and when
Francis came back went to the CONT
nent.
He was unable to bear the sight of
his brothers happiness. said Aunt So
phia scntimentally. Poor young man!
I have no doubt his heart is broken. He
actually left Westminster before his
brother arrived from America, SO as to
spare himself the painful sight Of their
happiness 4"
! saw by this conversation that my
surmise was correct. Felix had fallen in
love with Olivia while his brother was
III America, and selfishly determined
not to give her up had devised the idea
of passing himself off as Francis. With
this in his mind he had gone to Paris
and pretended to stay there, then reap
peared to Westminster as Francis, al
leging az earlier return from Chile as
an excuse. When Francis really return
ed. Felix asked him to be at the Fen inn
So as to rid himself of his brother be-
lure lie cOulG see OllVla.
Whether he intended to kill Francis
or to merely explain matters could not
tell, but at all events Francis had been
murdered, and l firmly believed that
Felix was morally guilty of the crime.
The suppression of the letters, the sub
| stitution Of himself as Francis and the
| deXterous manner in which he had rid
| himself Of the corpse, according to Mer-
| rick theory, all showed me that had
| a dangerous and reckless man to deal
! with. But after the clever way in which
he had baffied me in Paris by resuming
! his name j was prepared for any vii
lainy at his hands. He had committed
| himself SO far that he could not draw
back and was compelled to follow crime
by crime in order to bolster up his po-
| sition.
He was going to town with the evident
intention of evading me. Doubtless he
thought that, deceived by the episode
| at the Hotel DIES strangers, ] had quite
abandoned all idea of meddling in the
| affair. But for Merrick / should GER
tainly have done so. Now that Merrick
| saw the matter in the same light as
|
resolved TO give no hint of this to Felix.
When he left Westminster, / could
| pursue my inquiries at leisure. Already
l had been too rash in revealing nv in
tentions, for had / not mentioned my
! journey to Paris Felix would not have
been pat on his guard and baffied me SO
adroitly.
| / had at least gained one importan;
piece of information, which in itself
was sufficient to break off the match.
The passenger list of the Copiapo proved
conclusively that Francis had not reach
ed England before the 9th of June, and
this shown to Olivia would show that Fe
lix was passing himself off as her lover
|, With such proof i could stop the mar
riace Immediately, but preferred to wal,
, until l gained further evidence impli
eating him in the murder of hi:
brother. l believed Merrick's theory tC
, be true and quite expected to find tina
) Felix had ridden out to the Fen inn fol
, the purpose of hiding his brothers. body
| in one Of the bog holes
. by the way" l asked Aunt Jane 81
, we parted for the night, ''how doe
| Miss Bellin look? Like happy bride
/ eh?''
''By no means, 4" replied my aunt sol
EMMY. "She looks i'll and miserable
D But that l know this marriage witt
l Francis is q love match / should say sh
disliked the idea of becoming his wife. ;
81 mo doubt" thought i, mo doub
Olivia mistrusts Felix already"
l said good night to my elderly rela
I tive and went off to bed. Instead o
turning in, lighted my pipe and leane
4 out of the window, thinking deeply
Could it be possible that Olivia had dis
: covered the imposture? If so, why di
Q she tamely submit to marry ma
whom she must know was guilty of hi
t brothers and her lovers death? More
< over, if she was assured of this, sh
must also have condemned the deceptio
+ at the Hotel DIES strangers. Her con
duct seemed strange, yet l could nc
bring myself to believe that she kne,
the truth. If she did, she was as bad a
> Felix.
4 ''She must think that he is reall
: Francis and that Felix is in Paris"
: thought Surely she would not will
Q ingly go to the altar with a man whoI
l. She knows to be villain. No! He ha
S thrown dust i'll her eyes and made he
e believe what he pleases / must saw
: the poor girl from such fate. Perhal
O i'll spite of outward semblance she il
n stinctively feels that Felix is not Fran
: els. Women have their instincts.
}, know of no other reason why she shout
t look pale and ILL.
My cogitations were cut short b
t Aunt Jane knocking at the door an
S telling me not to waste the candles.
:. was used to these little idiosyncrasi,
Of my aunts, so answered that W,
q going to bed and put out the light (;
. once, but the rest of the night was pas
It ed in a wakeful state. Truly l had
: bad attack of detective fever.
= For the next few days l kept veI
e quiet, as ! was unwilling to rouse IL
d suspicious of Felix. At length my aunt
who entertained no suspicion of my d
|. signs, informed me that he had gone