Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-09-14
CHAPTER xxi.

drawing the blinds, so that it was now all
dark and dim; soft, gloomy light filled
lit, through which one could see the bed
stead, with its rich crimson hanglngs,
and on it the stiff, straight outlines al
ways so terrible to see. Lenore went up
to it alone. She turned down the white
sheet which had been thrown SO rever-
emily over the face of the dead; no cry,
no sob escaped her lips; she stood there
white as the dead-as cold and as still.
The CHIEF constable came up to her and
pointed to the fair, clustering hair that
was thick with gravel and soil, pointed
to a black bruise ON the white forehead.
''That shows" he said, gently, chat
he fell on his face. The shot must have
pierced his heart"
She looked at the beautiful, placid face,
so calm, so still, so full of noble majesty
looked at it with a pain she would new
er have known had she loved him with
her whole heart; then, bending her head,
she laid her living lips on his dead ones.
Austin" she said, II would have died
10 save you"
The full realization Of the fact that he
was dead came over her in its fullest
sense, as she raised her head from his.
She remembered his passionate delight if
ever she caressed him-how his face
shone, and his eyes, how bright they
grew-how he had loved her, this man SO
"onlly slain. That very night, even, how
senderly he had babe her farewell Then
she looked at his neck. and cried out to
she, chief constable:
'.He has been robbed as well as muir
deredn' she cried. ''Last evening fast
med a silk scarf, with pearl brooch,
round his throat. Where is it?''
The chief constable turned the sheet
atill further down.
''There' is no scarf here" he said; "but
there is every sign Of one having been
horn violently off"
From the glossy pleats of cambria a
piece had been torn with great violence,
ne button had been wrenched off, one of
the gold studs was missing, the other two
were there-studs that Lenore remember
ed well. She had given them to him
herself.
.'It hardly looks like robbery" said the
chief constable, ''or why should these be
Aft?'
He pointed as he spoke to the gold
Atuds, to the rings on the finger, to the
watch and chain.
Il cannot understand it." he said;
there can be no doubt Of it's being a
foul and unnatural murder. But for the
wiolent dragging off of the scarf one
night imagine that he had been shot by
mistake"
The very word seemed to pierce her
aeart.
.sWho would shoot him?' she asked {;
'he has not an enemy in the whole wide
world-not one!'
still face.
''If you could but for once speak to
me-" she cried, "but once, and tell me the
secret of your death"
But those white, rigid lips were never
more to unlock in this world, no laugh
ser was to part them, no smile to play
over them, no words to leave them-they
we're locked in the silence of death. Sud
denly she, his wife, looked up into the
plying face of the head constable.
81 am quite sure of one thing she
said, that the person who shot him has
taken the scarf and brooch away, and
remember my words, although years may
pass before they are verified, that brooch
and scarf will be the means of bringing
shc murderer to justice; remember my
words when they come to pass. Now go,
all of you, and leave me alone with my
dead"
There was a sensation all over the
hand; a murder at any time fills the COM
munity with dread and awe; but this was
such a terrible murder: done in the sweet,
soft gloom of the summer night, done in
the midst of sleeping flowers and rest
less leaves; near where the deer lay rest
ING and the birds were asleep; done,
seemingly, without the least provocation.
1t was a murder that no one could I'M
aerstand. The sweetest of singers was
cruelty slain; a great poet, teacher of
the people, writer of noble poems had
been most cruelty slain.
The horror of it was deepened by the
knowledge Of the fact that it seemed very
unlikely Mrs. Audley would ever recover
from the blow. She. like her daughter,
had thought and spoken much of the
brooch and scarf; both seemed firmly
possessed with the same idea, that they
would ultimately lead to the detection of
the murderer. It was wonderful how
that idea haunted them.
The usual terrible routine was gone
through with all possible state and sol
emnity; a coroner's inquest was held;
witnesses were examined; but not even
the least trace of the crime could be
found.
The most commonly received opinion
was that some tramp passing by had
murdered him in order to rob him; then,
had been disturbed before his plumber
was complete. The only difficulty in the
way of this belief was that tramps did
not, as rule, carry pistols, nor, il they.
iutend to commit robbery, do they leave
ii half dcne.
So round the coffin of Austin Chandos
all these rumors grew and died away:
the mystery was one which it seemed
would never be solved; the only thing
was to wait.
Lenore felt her trouble hard to bear.
if his death had been q natural one, it
would have been hard; but this most foul
and unnatural murder added such horror
TO it. That which made ii worse was,
4 lxSz