Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-04-06
LOST MANS LANE.
BIZ ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
CHAPTER XXVI-Continued.

hlSnb lhAb was d"iul
thought, Miss Butterworth. wonder
that you look as well as you do, madam.
Truly you are a wonderful woman--a
very wonderful woman
"A truce to compliments, cried.
IF you know as much as your words
show of what went ON in that i'll omened
house last night, you ought to show
some degree of emotion yourself, for if
it was not silly Rufus who was laid
away under the flower parlor who,
then, was it? No one for whom tears
could openly be shed or of whose death
public acknowledgment could be made,
or we would not be sitting here talking
away at cross purposes the morning aft
er his burial"
'Tears are not shed or public &C.
acknowledgement made for the subject of
q half crazy man s love for scientific in
vestigation. 1t was a dog you saw
buried, madam-a favorite dog which
Mr.. Knollys loved, but which for all
that could not escape that half monsters
passion for vivisection."
You are playing with me-" cried,
"outrageously and inexcusably playing
with me. a dog laid away i'll such
secrecy and with such degree of feel
ing as l was witness to? You must
think me in my dotage, or else''-
1--WE will take the rest of the SEN
tence for granted, he said. You know
that l can have no wish to insult your
intelligence, Miss Butterworth, and if !
say dog must have ample reasons for
it. Can you contradict those reasons?
Do you know it was a man that was
buried there last night? If you do, there
is no more to be said, or, rather, there
is everything to be said, for that would
give to the transaction of last night
very dreadful and tragic Significance
which at present l am not disposed to
asCribe to it. "
Taken aback, almost overwhelmed by
a statement for which was i'll no de-
gree prepared, and yet which l could
not but think false for all his quiet self
assurance, stolidly replied:
Since you say it was q dog, prove
that. 1t will be time enough for me to
talk when your supposition is proved
untenable.
"Madam"-he was not angry; fell
low feeling for the disappointment he
considered me "a prey to made him very
gentle to madam, if you know it
was not dog, say So do not wish to
waste my time. "
Il do not know it.
Very well, then, Twill toll you why
think my supposition true. Mr.. Knoll
lys, as you probably have already dis
covered, is man with a secret passion
for vivisection. "
Yes" said l, Il have discovered
that"
1t is known to his family, and it is
known to very few others, but it is
not known to the world at large, not
even to his fellow villagers.
II can believe it" said l.
His sisters, who are gentle girls,
feel dreadful about it. They have
tried in every way to influence him to
abandon it, but unsuccessfully so far,
for he is not only entirely unamenable
to persuasion, but has nature Of such
brutality he could not live without some
such excitement to help away his life
in this dreary house. All they can do,
then, is to conceal these cruelties from
the eyes of the people who already exc
crate him for his many roughnesses and
the undoubted shadow under which he
lives. Time was when | thought this
shadow had a substance worth our in
vestigation, but further knowledge of
his real fault and q completer knowl-
edge of his sisters virtues turned my
inquiries in a new direction, where |
have found, as have told you, actual
reason for arresting Mother Jane. Have
you anything to say against it? Cannot
you see that all your suspicious can be
explained by the brothers. cruel i'm.
pulses and the sisters horror of having
those impulses known"
thought moment; then l cried out
boldly: "No, cannot, Mr.. Gryce. The
anxiety, the fear, which l saw depicted
on those sisters faces for days might
have some such explanation perhaps,
but the knot of Grape on the window
shutter, the open Bible in the room Of
death (William's ROOM, Mr. Gryce
proclaim that it was human being for
whom Lucetta's sobs went up, and SO
shall 1 continue to think till investiga.
ton has proved my mistake"
Il do not follow you," he said,
moved for the first time from his COM
posture. "What do you mean by knot
of Grape, and when was it you obtained
entrance into Williams room?''
Il have points to relate" was my
quiet retort, as interesting as anything
you have told me of your Investigations
at Mother Jane cottage. Did you think
simply walked ON the outside of
things, Mr.. Gryce?"
II should not have done you that in
Justice
81 have pierced, as l think, deeper
than even yourself into William char
acter, | think him capable-but do sat
isfy my curiosity on one point first, Mr.
GryCe. How came you to know as much
as you do about last nights proceed
ings? You could not have been in the
house. Did you succeed, then, in MAX
ing Mother Jane reveal on her return
what it was she took part in?"
The tip of his cane was up, and he
iiO"hCu az IL. Iutu Iu6 udlulo IOOL
place, and he gave it a good natur
smile.
Miss Butterworth, said he, II hav
not succeeded in making Mother.
at any time go beyond her numer.
monologue. But you have been mD4o
successful. And with a sudden marvel
GUS change of expression, pose and man
ner he threw over his head my shawl,
which had fallen to the floor in my as
tOuiSbmant and rockino him cole to opd