Morris tribune., 1899-08-26
CHAPTER x.
What Marjorie Saw.

l.
What Marjorie Saw.
It was long before Marjorie could
find sleep that night, and even when
she did, she was disturbed by uneasy
dreams.
Again and again in her dreams her
fathers murder was enacted before her
eyes
She saw the murderer steal away
from his victim as he had done on that
Valentines morning nine years ago.
He stole away, but she was in pursuit
of him-always-alwa in pursuit.
She sought him across deep waters
and through dark woods, and always
at the critical moment, just when she
seemed able to hand him over to JUS
tice, an intangible obstacle interviewed,
and the weary pursuit had to be begun
again.
From one of these oppressive dreams
she awoke with a start, to find herself
lying in an uncomfortable posture, and
a pale moon, newly risen from behind
a bank of clouds, stealing its rays into
The wan light looked curlously eyre
to her, in her nervous and overwrought
condition
She got out of bed, with the lnten-
ton of drawing down the blind
But as she stood at the window, with
the cord in her hand, she saw some
thing which made her start violently,
and strain her eyes to see more.
Her bedroom was at the back OF the
house
It overlooked the wood; and, creep
ing down the slight eminence, under
cover of the shadow of the trees, sne
saw two men coming towards Dene-
lands.
The stealthiness of their movements
suggested guilt.
Across Marjorie's mind there flashed
a recollection of the attempted bur-
glary at Sir Edward Mortimer's house.
Were these two men the thieves, and
were they coming to Denelands?
II had better alarm the house, at any
rate" was her swift thought.
But before she put 1t into execution
she took another look at the two men,
now scarcely dozen yards away, and
in the full rays of the moon.
A shrek rose to her lips-a Shrek
which she depressed only by the most.
desperate effort, for in the men Nno
approached, with the gait of r"idnights
thieves, and carrying small bundles IN
their hands, she recognized her bene-.
factor, Mr.. Hyde, and his eldest
nephew.
In one horrible moment the truth
flashed upon the anguished girl
These people were the thieVeS-thls
seemingly estimabIe family with whom
she had found home were a gang OF
desperate criminals, who assumed this
disguise the better to carry out their
schemes.
While she still stood beside the
window, a third form came stealing
down the hill from the wood.
1t was man, and as he drew nearer,
the moonlight shone upon him, too.
Marjorie gave a little moan as she
recognized her lover.
His crippled foot had been all pre-
with what motive she
could not guess, but doubtless for the
furtherance of some nefarious scheme.
He was walking very quickly, run
ming almost, as though in desperate
haste to reach the shelter OF the
house.
Marjorie left the window, and sank
into the easy chair beside the bed.
A deathly faintness was stealing over
her. She was ashy pale, and trembling
from head to foot.
A new and more horrible suspicion
had come into her mind, and she felt
sick and dizzy beneath the over
shock of it.
If these were indeed gang OF
thieves, might it not be one of them
who had murdered her father?
They were in possession of the lock-
Ct. What more likely than that Made
lines account of how she had obtain
ed it was false, and that one OF the
men beneath that roof was guilty OF
her fathers blood2
Cnntsnnad ON naap A.