The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-09

difficulty in filing up. But the flower
whose presence on the scene of guilt
she challenges me to explain! How
about that, SirS? And then the money
SO deity reburied by her? Can any
explanation make her other than ac-
ceSsory to the crime on whose fruits
she lays her hand in a way tending
solely to concealment? No, sirs, and
so 1 shall not relax my vigilance over
her actions, even if, in order to be
faithful to it, I have to suggest that
a warranty be made out for her i'm
l.prisonment.'
You are right" acquiesced the coro-
ner, and turning to Knapp, he suggest
ed that Miss Page was such an i'm
portant witness in this matter that
perhaps it would be better to have her
down in the town where she could be
more easily under his eye.
! Nothing could have pleased Mr.. Saith
erland better. CHANGING at Frederick,
and seeing that he was rather pleased
I than disturbed by this suggestion, he
= gave his unqualified approval, and Miss
Page was notified OF the coroners
wishes.
She made no objection. On the con-
trary, her cheeks dimpled, and she
turned away with alacrity to prepare
herself for departure. But before going
she approached the coroner and said,
/ perSuasively:
Il have told you all that came to my
mind this moment. But after thinking
it over I may remember some little de-
tails that have escaped me today"
Call her back cried Mr.. Courtney.
! She has kept back something; let us
hear 1t ALL
But Mr.. Sutherland, with a side look
at Frederick, whispered, wait. She is
a subtle creature and under the excite
| ment of the momC&t will contrive to
! elude you. Catch her alone, Mr.. Court
ney, catch her alone; and if she has
secret, you of all men will succeed in
surprising it.
He had noted that the rest were too
| preoccupied to observe that Frederick
had reached the limit of his strength,
and could not be trusted to preserve his
composure any longer under this search
! ing examination into the conduct of a
woman from whom he had so lately de-
! tached himself.
The next day was the day of Agatha s
| funeral
She was to be buried in Portchester
! by the side of her six children, and, as
( the day was fine, the whole town, as by
+ common consent, assembled in the road
along which the humble cortege was to
make it's way to the spot indicated.
I From the windows of farm houses
/ from between the trees of the few scat
! tered thickets along the way, saddened
and curious faces looked forth till
/ Sweetwater, who walked as near as he
dared to the immediate friends of the
! deceased, felt the impossibility of re-
| Numbering them, and all gave up the
! task in despair.
Before one house, about a mile out of
J town, the procession paused, and at
! gesture from the minister every one
within sight took off their hats. amid
hush which made almost painfully ap-
parent the twittering of birds and the
other sounds of animals and mani
mate nature, which are inseparable
from a country road. They had reached
widow Jones cottage, in which Phile-
mon was then staying.
The front door was closed, and so
We're the lower windows, but in one of
the upper easements a movement was
perceptible, and in another moment
there came into view a woman and
man, supporting between them the i'm
passible form of Agatha's husband.
! Holding him up in plain sight of the al
most breathless tflrong below, the
woman pointed to where his darling lay
and appeared to say something to him.
Then there was to be seen a strange
sight. The old man with his thin, white
. locks futtering in the breeze, leaned
forward with a smile, and holding out
MS arms CIltu, III d Iadilt, out Joyful,
tone: Agatha" Then, as if realizing
for the first time that it was death
he looked upon, and that crowd below
was funeral procession, his face al
tered and he fell back with low
heart-broken moan into the arms of
those who supported hun.
AS his white head disappeared from
sight, the procession moved on, and
from only one pair of lips went up that
seemed surchaTged. One groan. From
whose lips did it come? Sweetwater en-
deavored to find out, but was not able
nor could anyone inform him, unless
it was Mr.. Sutherland, whom he dared
not approach.
This gentleman was on foot like the
ress. with his arm fast linked in that
of his son Frederick. He had meant to
ride. for the distance was long for men
past 60; but finding the latter resolved
to walk he had consented to do the
same rather than be separated from
his SON.
He had fears for Frederick; he could
hardly have told why, and as the GER
emony proceeded and Agatha was SOL
EMMY hid away in the place prepared
for her, his sympathies grew upon him
to such an extent that he found it diff
cult to quit the young man for a mo-
ment. or even to turn his eyes away
from the face he had never seemed to
know until now. But as a friend and
stranger We're rapidly leaving the yard,
he controlled himself, and assuming a
more natural demeanor, asked his son
if he We're now ready to ride back But
to his astonishment, Frederick replied
that he did not intend to return to Suth-
erlandtown at present; that he had bus
mess in Portchester, and that he was
doubtful as to when he would be ready
to go home. AS the old gentleman did
not wish to raise a controversy he
said nothing, but as soon as he saw
Frederick disappear up the road he sent
back the carriage he had ordered. say
ing that he would return in a Port
chester gig as soon az he had settled
some affairs of his own, which might
and might not detain him there until
evening.
Then he proceeded to a little inn,
where he hired a room with windows
that looked out on the high road. In
one of these windows he sat all day
watching fer Frederick, who had gone
further up the road.
But no Frederick appeared, and with
vague misgivings, for which as yet he
had no name, he left the window and
set out on foot for home.
1t was now dark, but silvery CLEAN
on the horizon gave promise eff the
speedy rising of full moon. Otherwise
he would not have attempted to walk |
over a road proverbially dark and dis
NAL.
The churchyard in which they had |
just laid away Agatha lay in his course.
AS he approached it he felt his heart |
fail, and stopping a moment at the |
stone wall that separated it from the
highroad, he leaned against the trunk |
of a huge elm that guarded the gate
of entrance. AS he did so he heard a