The Holly chieftain., 1899-08-18
THE PASSING
OF MANDEVIL.

"Spasm OF the glottis," said the colo
mel. lis good enough for jury, but what
Mandcvil was quite clear he was going
to die Of that night and what am quite
clear saw hi.n die OF was inst simply
.strangs.iution There came that which
took Him by the ihront and clutchcd the
life out Of him between \ pretty little
tldmb and four UA fingers. saw the
marks" piT
Now, IA Mnndevii had como To an end
in the midst of the supper crnwd ut the
Savnrin hotel. the colonul's prescntmcnt
OF the matter appeared somewhat steep.
Still. ~ a rule, his perceptions were pro-
fessional. lie wns unacquninted with the
use of the imaginative faculty. aud to
produce my very marked psychological
impression upon him you would have 10
opelatc. His auditors took tho stcepness
without iinpertinent comment. How was
he going TO get over it, thought
"A!i." tic narrator said. going back
again into the depths'o his chair. "now
you're asking me. or course there's that
story Of the II Uily curse. ycu know BE-
licvc in that sort Of thing? They did.
Don't much wonder either. And. sup
pose, II you do believe you've got n fam
lily curse upon you you're apt to do things
tiul utiB ~ uluiS uHu - al tAN NN"
Ter FOR the next lot to believe in II too
We'll. the trouble began in the first Klr-
toms timc-our chaps glandunclc. Over
II woman II war, MS per usual.
IAN extremely fascinating little devil
this Lady l4ilt!i. by all accounts. but nct
nearly careful enough. with lord and
master like that When he found her
ont, he took her in hand so seriously thai
the next thing was II funernl. However,
she must have hud considerable interest
somewhere. because you are bound to be-.
lieve she certainly came hack. Her hus-
| band WIS found dead on the floor OF his
| room one morning. with tho look OF de-
| spnir op his face and her sign manual on
| his throat at--s,,me us ! saw Oh his grand
| nephew's. II you like. That was her lead
off. There have been nothing but male
| Mandc,ils born since. and not one of 'cm
has died in his bed. they tell you. Don't
say that ! stick out particularly for dy-
| ing in mine, you know. Three genera
| tons OF it. though, seems to mean some
thing. And thui's not all. The first kir-
| ton had Two younger brothers. Nothing
| happened to the second. who succeeded
| till he hnd seen al his sons wiped on,
except the lnst-another kirton. Theil
the fnthcr WAS shot ina duel. und within
| tho ycur the son was Tonic for. Just likt
i.is uncle. That Ict IN the son of the third
brother. who was the father Of our man
| He and were commissioned in Ours th,
same day. Crimea. India. Africa anl
| the rest Of ii. He never got II scratch
a year and two days ago he put himself
Internationally. they printed it. Well
there yoi are.
AFTER all that do You wonder our John
n,e-the last Kirton-fclt that he was
down to be come for like the other two
II he didn't, what's the use of hcredity
You shy this sort of thing is all rot. >,
do lin oar case. We haven't been borr
with the terror in our blood 1t was u,
good telling liirton that he was fool
lie knew more about himself than
could. Shoot himself? You bet, hc'e
thought of thai. and what stopped hin
wasn't prejudice nor want OF pluck mel
tier. Well. the life he lived thai lhs
year would have been enough in the cas-
Of the average man. ic saw il out
thouph. mind you. il nothing had. hap
ycncd 10 him after all he'd be In luna
tic asylum tonight.