The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-07-24
p

+, 1897 BY G. p puTNAN5 sons.
, Topper, "you went to Riverside farm.
You went there not to see your friend
Miss Lewis, butt
"How do you know I did not 60 to
see Virgie?" interrupted Alice excited
ly.
"You did not 60 to see her, because
you had discovered that there was to be
meeting between her and Harry Lu-
cas-"
at is falsel How can you say such a
thing?"
"You went into the summer house
and hid there, SO that you might over
hear what passed between the two"
"It's all liza wicked lie!" cried
the girl, Historically sobbing between
the words. II did not 60 near the farm,
and I did not go after Harry-and-it's
all made up--and"- Here she broke
down utterly, sobbing go that it was
necessary to delay the proceedings till
she could recover from her agitation.
Lucas, much disturbed, arose and adj
dressed the coroner:
esquire, is it necessary to continue
the examination CT Miss Marvel?'
IF it could have been avoided, I
should not have called her."
"But can you not let it drop now,
since you see that she knows netning:"
"She knows what passed between
you and Miss Lewis i'll the summer
house." said the squire sharply. 'If I
cease questioning her, will you give us
the information which we want!'
ut is impossible" said Lucas de-
spondently, "and doubt that Miss
Marvel knows anything about it."
ave will let her answer that ques-
ton; she seems to be recovering her self
possession" Lucas reluctantly returned
to his seat. As soon as Alice had suf-
fciently regained her composure Mr..
Upper resumed:
"Now, Miss Marvel, you see that pre-
varication is useless We are fully in
formed as to your movements on the
night in question. What we want you
to tell us is what passed between Miss
Lewis and Mr.. Lucas" A great weight
seemed lifted from Alice's mind, and
she replied quite readily:
"Oh, if that is all, I'll tell you the
whole thing" Lucas barely suppressed
groan. Before I go any further I
must tell you how came to be at the
farm. Mr.. Lucas came to me OIL Sun
day and told me that he could not go
driving, as we had planned, because he
had to 90 out Of town. Of course l be-
lieved him and was satisfied. After he
had gone I found note on tho floor,
and picking it up knew that Mr.. Lucas
must have dropped it from his pocket,
for it was addressed to him. should
never have thought of reading it, but I
recognized the writing and knew it
came from Virgie, SO read it at once. "
Lucas started in surprise, but did not
speak. Alice continued:
when l saw by the contents of the
note that Virgie invited Mr. Lucas to
meet her at night in the summer house.
I determined to be there also, did so
because here she seemed little
confused, and her rich blood mantled
her cheek-"well, because Virgie is en-
gagged to my brother, and for the min
ute I could not understand why sho
made an appointment with another
man." Most Of those present smiled at
the girls naive explanation. II reach
ed there fist and hid in one side Of the
appointed place. Not long after they
came. / heard nearly all that passed. -
Tell US, please. as much as you can
remember"
"They talked quite awhile, and then
she left. What they said was all about
my brother. 1t seems that he had writ
ten to Virgie, in the care Of some friend,
and asked her to meet him that night
down by the river and tell him whether
she would marry him. He said that
would DO the only way he could come
back after what Mr.. Lewis had done.
Just at this point the dog commenced to
bark, and they spoke lower, perhaps be-
cause they thought the dog had heard
their voices, and they were afraid to
attract attention, and, in fact. after a
minute, the brute did stop his noise,
but it was hard for me to hear the rest
of the talk. At any rate / made out
that Virgio was afraid that Walter
would be angry if she did not go away
with him at once, and that, she said,
was out Of the question. She asked Mr..
Lucas to meet my brother after she had
seen him, SO as to prevent him from do
ing anything desperate.
What did you understand her to
mean by 'desperate?' -
II think she was afraid he might
commit suicide"
ut did not occur to you that she
might be afraid he would kill her
uncle2'
mo- Of course notr' Once more she
seemed excited. "You surely do not
think Ny God, what have I been
saying?"
Come, come, Miss Marvel, there is
no need to be worried. No one accuses
your brother Let US come to another
point. While you were at the farm did
you hear any pistol shots?'
She looked at him and trembled vio-
lently, but uttered not word. The
lawyer then produced the weapon with
her name on it.
rs this yours?" he asked.
Alice covered her face with her hands
and groaned.
Miss Marvel" said Mr.. Upper,
after few moments pause, pray calm
yourself. A great deal depends upon
& ehea