Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-07-08
THE PASSING
OF MANDEVEL

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"Spasm of the glot,is.'' said the colo
! lei, lis good enough for Il jury, but what
! Mandevil was quite clear he waS : ing
TO die of that night and what am li.ig
| clear | saw ham die of was just Sin &c.,
| strangulatiun. There came that wine.
| took him hy the threat aul clutchcd thy
| life out of him between Il pretty iittlt
lhumb aud four til fingers. s;1w the
marks
Now. rs Mandcyii had come to an end
in the midst of the supper crowd ut the
Savarin hotel. the coonel's prescntmcnt
of the matter appeared somewhat steep.
Still, as rule. his perceptions were pro
fessionai. He was unacquainted with the
use of the imaginative faculty. and TO
produce any very marked psychological
impression upon him you woUid have -
operate. His auditors took the steepness
without impertinent comment. How was
ne going to get over it. though!
"Ah.'' the narrator said, going back
again into the depths of his chair. ''now
you're asking mel OF course there's that
story of the family curse you know. Be
lieve in that sort of thing? They did
Don't much wonder either. And. sup
pose, if You do believe You got a fam
ily curse upon you you re apt 10 do things
that help it along and make it all the eas-
Ter for the next lot TO believe in il too.
Well. the trouble began in the first Kir-
toms time-our chaps granduncle- Over
4 woman it was, as per usual.
"An extremely fascinating little devil
this Lady Lilith by all accounts, but net
nearly careful enough. with Il lord and
master like that. When he found her
out, he took her in hand SO seriously that
the next thing was a funeral. However,
she must have had considerable interest
somewhere, because you are bound to be
lieve she certainly came hack. Her hus-
band was found dead on the floor of his
room one morning, with the look of de
spair on his face and her sign manual on
his throat-same as ] saw on his grand
nephew's, if you like. That was her lead
off. There have been nothing but male
Mandevils born since, and not one of 'em
has died in his bed, they tell you. Don't
say that | stick out particularly for dy-
ing in mine, you know. Three genera
tiuns of it, though. seems to mean some
thing. And that's not all. The first ilir
ton had two younger brothers. Nothing
happened to the second, who succeeded
till he had seen all his sons wiped out
except the last-another Kirton- Then
the father was shot III duel, and within
the year the son was come for, just like
his uncle. That let in the son of the third
brother, who was the father of our, man.
He and | were commissioned in Ours the
same day. Crimea, India, Africa and
the rest of it. He never got scratch.
4 year and two days ago lie put himself
out-accdeutally, they printed it Well.
there you are.
after all that do you wonder our john
nie-the last kirton-felt that he was
down to he come for like the other two?
If he didn't, what's the use of heredity:
You say this sort of thing is all rot. SO
do lin our case. We haven't been born
with the terror in our blood. 1t was no
good telling Kirton that he was Il fool.
He knew more about himself than
could. Shoot himself? You bet, he'd
thought of that, and what stopped him
wasn't prejudice nor want of pluck nei-
ther. Well. the life he lived that last
year would have been enough in the case
Of the average man. He saw it out,
though, mind you, if nothing had hap
Dened to him after all he'd be in IL luna
tic asylum tonight.
Friday he'd asked me to dine with
him here Then we were to go to the
Empire and end up with a partie carree
at the Savarin. noticed we dined not
at my regular table in the corner, but !
right in the middle of the room, with |
other tables ali round us. Same ut the /
in the crowd all the time. |
Same at the Savarin-centerGd the whole |
show. WHATS more, he'd get his man
Somers behind his chair. " hat did |
.hinli was going 10 happen: Wen, Ii |
struck me that kirton was so internally |
sober, considering that it might all BE- |
going to mean jinljams. We were Il bit |
ate sitting down. Kirton faced the door. I
He had Lady Blanche on his right and
mamma On the left, and faced him. 1t
vas close upon IL before we'd got to cof-
ee III kept AN eye on Kirton all along.
,ou know the Mandevil sort of face
lbout the color of a new drum head.
Then lie was staring right through me at
he door, aad his face had got to be the
oor of that cigar ash. Behind me there
eeu,cd all at once kind of commotion
When / looked round, the people between
IS and tire door were getting out Of their
hairs.
".All the chatter and the clatter seemed
o step | fancy one or two women
aucaked heard one woman back of
Ne cry out What's that? to the chap she
ras with Then everybody seemed to be
taring straight at us. There was Kir-
en. sort of pinned back in his chair-in
tit. you'd have said-his hands close to
is throat. at grips with nothing; his eyes
a!f ont of his head and his face-well,
IKE no other fellows face that ! ever
aw going through till then. There was
sort of stampede. SOmers actually told
lie afterward that he felt it every time
e tried to get near his master-felt some
hing between 'em like death, he said, till
was all over Soners' idea WAS that
1irton was at grips with this something !
Il he time. He's. pretty matter Of fact,
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