Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-02-05

downward d. a.s,,, and starting th03s within
/ bent my ear over the thy apert-
ure. 1t made all the difference in the
world could now hear every word
that Wildred was saying.
II have always, and with some rea-
son, I think" was the first sentence
that I caught, considered myself a
man of more than average mental
ability. l am usually prepared for
any traps which can possibly be
sprung for me. but in this instance |
find | have made my one mistake. |
believed in woman's devotion. Pro-
badly it serves me right to have been
deceived. Since you have found it all
out through her, / may as well admit
to you that it is true. She was here.
Nobody suspected her presence, or
even her existence. She was Very
useful to me in many ways. II she
had proved troublesome | could have
rid myself of her at any time, and She
knew it. Instead of doing whatI
ought to have done, | believed that
she was willing to go away without
betraying me, and | let her go free,
with a present of thousand pounds.
She could even have asked for more
when that was gone, and | would not
have refused her. / was fool ever
to marry her, but she was the hand
soonest woman | had seen at that
time, and, as you know, | was some
years younger, some degrees more i'm
pulsive, than l am now. | was still
more of a fool not to have put her out
of the way, knowing what she did
but, as l remarked, that was the mis-
take of a lifetime. She has told you
my secrets, she has shown you GER
tain things in this house which have
very naturally displeased and shocked
you. She timed her return to this
house very well-jealous idiot!-but
she will pay for what she has done.
"How will she pay?"
I could not see Karine, but I could
hear her voice, vibrant with the fear
and horror that she felt.
Better not ask; the question doesn't
concern you. She will simply become
familiarized with the secrets of the
House by the Lock in a manner upon
which she didn't count-that's all"
81 had never pictured Satan himself
Nso cruel, so horrible as you cried Ka
rine. Il thank Heaven, now that I
know through this wretched woman
what you really are, that not l but she
is your wife!"
yet, you must remain with me, as
though you knew nothing but what
should have had you know, for your
own sake and your brothers.
Had it not been for that foolish
woman, who has ruined herself in try
ing to ruin you and me, we might have
been happy together, Karine l adj
mire you more than any woman on
earth, for you are certainly the most
beautiful, and your GOODNESS, to man
of my temperament, has only added 10
your attractions as a girl. AS a mar
ried woman it would have been differ
ent. | meant to make you love me;
and even now, Karine, what has hap
pened that need change anything be-
tween US? You are not a conventional
little fool, as are some women I could
name, and the love of a man like me
must create some impression on your
nature. The obstacle which you think
stands between us shall be removed,
the marriage ceremony can again be
performed over us-secretly if you
choose. No one will be the wiser and
as in any event you must stay here
III my HOuSe-
81 will not. Somehow God will help
me to escape, and then, when | am
free from you, l shall let such friends
as l may have left deal with you as
you deserve"
Its difficult to see how you will get
away. It's true | did not dream tnaL
Marion would be here to greet us, or |
would not have brought you to this
house. But now that you are in it you
will stay. No one knows that we are
here-no one in your world, at least
and l intend that we shall have a
protracted honeymoon. You heard
how some vagabond, some tramp, who
wished to get in, failed just now?
Well, it is just as difficult for strangers |
to escape from the House by the Lock |
as it is for them to effect an entrance |
For instance, you and | are now cut off |
by means of a sliding iron door from |
the old portion OF the house. From |
this there is absolutely no way out, !
unless | allow it, save one, and that |
way two or three people have already |
found by going through certain little |
door hidden behind the hangings. I'll |
show it to you if you like, or perhaps
the lady who told you so much has tod |
you that as we'll"
'She mas. She told me all about that !
poor MIR. Farnham, how you made HIM |
believe you friend to be trusted, how !
you induced him to smoke Opium--sere !
in this very room-this awful rOsan-
till he was daZed and unconscious, and /
how he only reused from his stupor |
just as you were going to burn him
alive in your horrible crematory She |
told me how the furnace went wrong |
at the last moment, and you had to kin !
him in a different way from what you
had planned-less easy for you, more
dangerous of discovery. Oh, the hor-
ror of listening to those details, for she
spared me nothing-nothing | heard
from her how Mr. Stanton came in the
midst of the dreadful happenings on
Christmas Day, how she saw him
through the door, and afterwards, when
he had spoken to the police how you
brlbed her with jewels and money to
pretend that she was your cook, that
she had screamed with the pain of
burning her foot, and how she painted
her ankle to look like a red scar when
she had to show some proof of her
story. She would have been true to
you through everything, she said
poor misguided woman!-if she had not
been taken i'll and stopped in London
inc FOO 4 INf :