Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-11-15

bands friend, since he found her so,
and he himself as goodly man as you
would meet on any summers day. Her
husband. David Lancaster. was a good
ly man, too, and worthy Of her, and of
Edward Vereker, his friend.
But there were three of them, and
three is an evil number concerning
men and women.
1t was during the summer of 1893 that
Edward Vereker and Evey, his friends
wife, began to be more than friends.
He was staying with the Lancasters
down in Surrey. in their pretty little
red house on the edge of the pretty
little blue river, and David was going
up and down to London every day. be-
cause it was yet early and the various
vacations and holidays had not begun.
So he and she were left n good deal on
one another's hands. Satan found mis-
chief. not for those idle hands, but idle
eyes, for that summer ones hands re-
mained in ones lap, and it was too hot
even to talk; but it is as easy to look at
ones neighbor as TO stare blankly into
space. and eyes can do a great deal by
themselves, take it altogether.
So these two sat in the shady garden
under the big cedars and looked at
one another for want of something
better to do, and found the occupation
suffice for all their needs.
Evey Lancaster was a good woman
by nature, not by art. I mean she was
naturally good, and had not become SO
by trying very hard. She had been well
brought up; she read decent books, and,
| therefore, only few, and she meant
every word of her share in the marriage
service.
But alas! and alas! she was a woman,
and a pretty one, and Edward Vereker
was good-looking, and a man, though
somewhat unusually moral and pos
sessed of sense of honor. Moreover,
they both loved David. But David was
away all day, and-I mistrust June and
the devil in green garden!
l don't know that anything would
have come of it if tragedy had not
stepped in; Adelphi tragedy, battle,
murder and sudden death in one of its
most appalling forms in the shape of
hydrophobia.
Evey and Edward had been uuneces-
sarily energetic that day; perhaps they
both uncomfortably realized that sit
ting under the trees saying nothing was
becoming a little exciting. At any
rate, Evey went to the gunroom and
brought out Smith & Wesson, $3.50. Of
her husbands, and they set up mark
in the meadow outside the garden, and.
having prudently removed the cows.
practiced shooting in the cool of the
day. They shot very badly, but they
had to look at the target, and that was
comparative safety. They got tired Of
it at last, and she sat down under one
of the great oak trees fanking the
while he sauntered across the grass to
rearrange the somewhat shaky target.
She was near the gate leading to the
road, and it was open, for the cows had
gone that way to the farmyard, and in
June, '03, gates that it was not an i'm
perntive necessity to shut remained
open for coolncss' sake.
And here the Adelphi melodrams
came in, and through the open gate.
too. heralded by Shouts outside"-a
strange, heart-sickening clamor coming
up from the hush of evening distance
hoarse, scared yells and the tramp Of
running feet, and confused directions
apparently issued in many voices. And
through the open gate a horror rushed,
creature with dripping jaws and star
ing eyes, big, black retriever, bear
ing in its strange, altered state but lit
Ne resemblance to the friendly, kindly
dog of few days back; and al its heels
a concourse of men armed with sticks
and farm implements, and any weapon
that could be hastily snatched up, but
none. alas! with gun.
Evey Lancaster, revolver in hand
with shells still remaining in a couple
Of chambers, saw the mad dog enter tn e
meadow and make straight across it
)ut over the sunburnt grass to where
Edward VerelSer was walking towards
the target. She was under the shadows
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