Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-07-12
that steals my very senses from me-
Ho noppo% l,ro,,,

that steals my very senses from met
He cannot know"
AT last Count Ludwig loosened her
jeweled fingers from his arm, and step.
ping forward, drew the curtain with a
sweep of his hand.
There was an instants breathless
silence. An affrighted amaze seemed
to stop the beating of every heart
Then broke forth exclamation and out
cry, and above all, like the death
scream of some dying ANIMAL rose a
woman's shrek.
The picture was, first, n room, rich
in decorations of green and gold In
the foreground, half reclined in a
cushioned chair, an old man, with
long, softly curling white hair. His
head had fallen little to one side, his
eyes We're fixed in CLASSY, yet re-
proachful stare upon the eXquisitely
beautiful face of. Il woman, whose
jewelcd hands he grasped with n dy-
Ing clutch. Both his hands ana hers
were blood-stained. Hers held Il sti-
letto-like dagger from whose gathering
point also blood dripped. There was II
gaping wound in the old mans side,
and the woman's face was that of Miss
Considine.
When the appalled, woman, for
whose sole benefit this picture had
been painted, would have flung I'D her
frenzied hands to shut out the sight,
Count Ludwig caught them in an iron
grasp. and almost shouted in her ear
in his excitement.
No, no. madam: you shall look, and
look. and look, till the sight blinds you
or kills you, l care not which. Do
You see him, false siren the poor old
man, who was kind to you-who took
you out of poverty to marry you-who
never harmed the most helpless crea-
ture? What had he done that you
should kill him, you murderess?"
Miss Considine had ceased to strug-
gle. The blanched Wilderness of her
face and the startling eyes We're some
thlng awful to see, and tine screams
that broke through her rigid, ashen
lips, curdled the blood to the heart.
Shall tell you who l am?" Count
Ludwig continued, without releasing
her, still compelling her to look.
Count Ludwig no longer. 1 am his
soll-that Rudolphus of whom you
have heard, but whom you never saw.
When came home and found that the
poor old man who loved me had been
ruthlessly slain, swore never to rest
until 1 had found and given to justice
his murderess. For, madam, | never
doubted single instant who she was.
You laid your plans we'll. You married
n doting old man for his wealth, and
with your sorceress designings you in
duced him to disown his own children
and make will which gave YOU all.
Then you contrived that he should
send the servants for n holiday, except
that valet, who was hanged for tho
murder. Poor old George! He would
have died sooner than harm his mas.
ter. You pretended to quit the house
yourself. But you came back in dis
guise and did the deed"
He paused. Miss Considine had not
uttered Il sound for some moments.
The horrible ghastlincss had not left
her face, but she Ind in a measure re-
covered her self-possession. Now she
spoke i'll an utterly changed but COM
posed tone.
you cannot prove n syllable of this
mad story" she began, but he stopped
her. with eyes that seemed absolutely
to blaze with rage and menace. Draw
ing swiftly forth n purple velvet case,
he lifted the lid and showed upon the
white satin cushion an cxQuisitely
wrought sandalwood bracelet. 1t was
stained with something which had
dried upon it, and changed its color,
all except about third, to dark,
sicllly shade, whose hue It was not
difficult to recognize. +
Said Count Ludwig in an awed tone:
II found this among the cushions
of the chair in which my father was
slain. 1t is his blood upon it. 1t
slipped from your arm in your strug-
gle with him. You wear Its mate this
moment upon your arm"
He held his ensanguined token an
instant beside the one on this woman's
bare, eXquisitely nodded arm. AS the
guilty woman tainted Rodolphus
caught her falling form. Then he laid
her slowly down upon the carpet and
drew back. She never stirred.
81 think she is dead" he said qui-
city.
1t was true. Some vessel had burst
inwardly in that wild struggle against
the shock of knowing that the man
she had learned to love was the son of
her unhappy victim. She had been
dying while he spoke to her.