Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-18

what sickening results 1 hardly have the
courage to record.
Remember. please. that the carriage door
still open. that DR.. y. was already half
way out, and that the horses Were going at
fun speed. y sudden jerk all that was
nreded-and the jerk came. For one in
slant the unfortunate man tOpplcd where
he stood while his eyes glared into mine
with rage and fear, and his lean throat
struggled hoarsely with d sound: and with
a little involuntary Shrek l saw him
make a dreadful plunge. stand fairly up
right on his head and shoulders. and col
lapse in mashed. sickening fashion into
the shallow gutter
Nov, indeed, the carriage should have
been stopped and no farther trfiing about
il bur a strange stupidity Crept over me as
| stood Craning my head back to the spot
were fast leaving in our wake. until a
second fash If light revealed fact to me-
which brought me down upon the carriage
seat, very mild and limp. my mind filled
with serious Spscuiatiuns about the awk-
wardness of the sCrape l had got myself
into.
was not in my sisters carriage-and
more, there now dodted before me the dis
tinCt remembrance of having dismissed the
CoaChman a the doctors door. Yes, ran
on my mind in morbid detail. Il had dis
missed my driver. had sought out the great
man with my sordid complaint. mad fingered
in his passa way, had hidden in his ear
riage, had flown at him like an avenging
tiger cat. and now he lay a dead man by
Z
witnesses to our death-struggle. in full tilt
to set the legal bloodhounds on my trail.
And there was my CoacEman sun at large
with his tale TO tell, and there was the
possibility OF last words which my victim
might falter forth upon some official breast.
stamping me as his assailant." That the
man was dead seemed my only hope, and
l sat and nursed my horrid thought until
my mind was a charnel house of CHASTITY
speculation. How FAR removed | seemed
from the peaceful sorrows of yesterday,
and how | cursed my stupid fOrgctfulness
about the carriage and my unseemly haste
TO throttle an innocent man on whose pri-
Vacy | had intruded,
In the meantime the carriage sped on.
on. and on. faster and vet faster and still
I sat there duh and lumpiSh. trying to
! form my vapid plans as to what / should
do when 1t should stop. Then | think that
the real folly of my actions began, for il
occurred to me that after all there would
rot be much TO SIarIle the driver. Or.
; y. and | Were much The same height: we
both happened TO he much bundled about
the head. what was there 70 prevent my
aHEhtlng without suspicion and then watch
Ing my chance to cut and run, leaving the
charge of sudden madness to rest on the
memory of DIR. n. when his corpse should
! b" discovered, by The roadside That
hdtIed with those thoughts | well remem-
Der, but their fascination grew upon me
and / kept returning 10 them at intervals
until my whole line of action despite the
efforts of my reason. was clearly mapped
Gradually, too. the whole thing grew
upon me as funny and theatrical. and even
the certainty which possessed me that the
I dead body of that unpleasant doctor still
lay by the roadside could not hinder me
I from certain awful relish in IT, In vain
did l force myself to dwell on the shock
ing hgure he must cut: but all that guilt
/ and shame could do for me- in the state
of mind | then endured, was to force from
me general forgiveness Of his offensive
treatment OF me. That done nv moral
sense would bulge no farther
And now another disquiet laid hold rInou
me! 1t was becoming painfully evident
that We must have long since passed no.
yond the limits of the city No lights unyy
flashed in at the carriage windows: no o.
posing roll of wheels deadered the sound ot
cur vehicle 1t ratified over the frozen
sround. and as my mind glanced about
midst the tales of rural Notwithstanding
had heard Of masked men rising like CON
jurors puppets before Il q belated tro-plrr
Of ln-gotten gains that had been made f.
vanish like vision. l began CONSTRUCTING
/ head lines for the next days issue in which
} the name of George Manning was consDicII-
! Gus.
There was no getting out unless | chose
/ the certain death of broken neck to The
more shadowy horrors with which / was
/ threatened. Suddenly, il seemed we began
/ going sheer up. Five. ten. fifteen minutes
and still We climbed. until my faculties be-
/ came absorbed in the mere act of holding
on. \ Wilderness. as of snow. which knew,
sun fingered among the mountains, threw
n STARE into the pitchy darkness of the
night The horses slipped, the driver swore
and hung on, while the wind struck