The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-07-07
Ft0RANlERWYNS~
ST. q seq2&Sz.1 Ik9F0RTUNE.
M22 M28&>S

OuTTleuIy, TGChlSSoIis SOIOi i
trouble, and it's going to kill me-"
Heaven help you! heaven spare you'll"
murmured the cripple %terventlY.
Can I trust you?" demanded Whar-
ton, almost iercely, turning upon the
other.
"Can you trust me? Oh, master, friend,
wouldn't l die for you'll"
John Wharton was acting queerlY,
quite out of himself. For q moment he
was lost in somber thought, as though
debating with himself. Then he sud-
denly thrust his hand into his bosom.
Thence he drew the package.
Take it" be uttered sharply, extend
ing it towards his companion.
Take it?" muttered the other va.
guely.
Eyes"
Never mind. You say I can trust
you. Hide It,"
Hide it?" came the parrot-like mono
tone. 'Where?"
where you will, so it is safe. 1t
haunts me. l can't think. My brain
seems Keeling, but it must be safe.
Don't tell me where, only hide it. A
thousand angels seem tugginR at my
heart-strings to restore it to her, one
gaunt, menacing demon a Y no, and
dare not refuse. Hide it safe, secure.
If anything happens to me"
ut won't-masAer! Oh, it surely
won't! You are only half daft over the
trouble at the bank"
IF it does, 20 to Arnold Dacre, and
tell him l entrusted the package to you.
Deliver it to him. No, no! ] can ex.
plain no more, only obey. have a task
to perIorm-a task to performs task to
perform"
Way down the stairs echoed the last
words of the strange monotone. Hold
ing the packet in his hands, the cripple
only knew that it's owner had fled from
the room as if possessed-that it was en-
trusted to him for safe-keeping.
ut must be valua ole," he muttered
with concern" too valuable to hide here
in Ridgetield, or he'd have done it. I
known q place-up the rivera safe
place, a sure place.,
The man with q mission to perform"
had meantime gone out upon the public
streets of the town, had mingled with
the mob, had executed that mysterious
task apportioned to him by his tyranical
master.
1t was full eventide when he returned.
If his face had been pallid at noon, it
was CHASTITY now. His eyes,, rolling,
haunted, seemed to turn and dilate on
ricketty pivots, a continual tremor Of
the bloodless lips told Of emotion that
was fast sapping life and energy with
its intensity.
give done it," he muttered. II have
succeeded-oh! the pitiful farce, oh! the
heart-breaking effort"
Utterly unnerved, Wharton sank to a
couch. The grey shadows came through
the windows, the deeper dusk began
to penetrate the lovely room.
He tried to rest-in vain. His hand
would seek his head, his eyes would
glare strangely. Once be started up
with a terrified cry, and stared at a
corner of the apartment, as il his feveIed
fancy depicted some horrible wrath
lowering there.
THE old man." he chartered, 1.-THE
DOOR, honest master who was so kind to
me. Murdered! l a see his CORY
locks OF silver now, oh, mercy! mercy!
l didn't do it. / didn't do it,"
He shrieked forth the words and
pressed his hands over his eyes, as if to
shut out the awful picture that haunted
him.
II can't stand it," he gasped at last,
arising trembling in every limb, and
gliding like a thief to a table.
A bottle he had brought stood there.
He took up q glass. So unsteady were
his fingers, that the flask ratified against
the goblet like ha~ilstones on a thin
pane.
Suddenly bottle and glass went crash
ing 10 the floor. A violent shock had
assailed the miserable wretch. The
tension reached its highest bearable
point.
Something snapped in John Wharton's
head-something gave way in the mental
equilibrium.
A strange cry like tie whine Of a dog
when stricken with poison, escaped his
lips.
Its GOMEZ be whispered in hollow
tones; "oh, God! whose laws ] have out
ragged, whose commands I have rejected,
mercy! mercy"
Fighting off imaginary hosts OF bat
Ting demons, shriekine, covering, the
dull hopelessness of the idiot in his eye,
the fury of the maniac in his twitching
face, the CONFUSION shook the strong
frame as by a cyclones breath, and then
cast him prone on the floor, Quivering,
jabbering, helpless.
ut had come" at last, indeed!-the
silver cord was loosed, the wheel at the
cistern was broken-the mailed menace
of doom had crushed him, and the worst
had befallen John Wnarton-the hand Of