The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-10-27

But now that ii hit was IN the room,
the worst seemed over; it was q dis
u gushing business, but. not more than
i disgustin g, and it was with no great ap-
prehension that John proceeded D to
make the circuit Of the table his last
comparatively tranquil moment Of that
day. No sooner had he turned the cor
Isner, no So, Err lad his eyes alighted
Ion the bod & than he gaYea bothered,
breathle ss cry, and fled out Of the room
and out of The house
lit was not "A Ian who lay there, but a
man well up in years, Of stern counte
4 nance and iron gray locks, and was
no drunkard, for the body lay in a
i black pool Of blood and the open eyes
|#stared upon the ceiling. Il =sSz
To and fro walked John before the
lSdo9r. The extreme sharpness Of the
| air acted on his nerves like an astrin-
gent, and braced them swiftly. Pres
entity, he not relaxing in his djsordered
walk, the images began to come clearer
and stay longer in his fancy; and next
the power of thoug came back to him,
and the horror and dangersof his situa-
ton rooted him to the ground.
He grasped his forehead, and staring
on one spot of gravel, pieced together
what he knew and what he suspected.
1 Alan had murdered some one; possibly
that man against whom the butler
4 chained the door in Regents Terrace;
possibly another; some one at least;
human soul, whom it was death to slay
| and whose blood lay spilled upon the
floor. This was the reason Of the Whis-
| Ky drinking l kin in the passage, Of his zun-
| Willingness to welcome John, Of his
strange behaVior>and bewildered words;
this was why he had started at and
harped upon the name of murder; this
was why he had stood and hearkened,
or sat and covered his eyes in the black
night. And now he was gone, now he
had basely fed; and to all his perplexi-
ties and dangers John stood heir.
Let me think---let me think" he
said, aloud, impatiently, even pleading
~, as if to some merciless interrupter.
In the turmoil of his wits, thousand
hints and hopes and threats and ter
rors dining continuously in his ears,
he was like one plunged in the hubbub
OF a crowd. How was he to remem ber
he who had not a thought to spare
that he was himself the author, as well
as the theater, of so much confusion?
But in hours of trial the junto Of mans
nature is dissolved and anarchy sue
ceeds. ss s
1t was plain he must stay no longer.
where he was, for here was a new Ju-
dicial Error in the very making. It was
not so plain where he must go, for the.
old Judicial Error, vague as a cloud ap-
peared to fill the habitable world; what
ever it might be, it watched for him,
full-grown, in Edinburgh it must have
had its birth in San Francisco; it stood
guard, no doubt, like a dragon. at the
bank where he should cash his credit;
and though there were doubtless many
other places, who should say in which
OF them it was not ambushed? No, he
could not tell where he was to go; he
must not lose time on, these insolubiIi-
ties. Let him go back to the begin
ming. It was plain he must stay no
longer where he was. It was plain, too,
that he must not flee as he was, for he
could not carry his portmanteau, and
to flee and leave it, was to plunge deep
er in the mire. He must go, leave the
house unguarded, find a cab, and re-
turn-return after an absence? Had
he courage for that?
And just then he spied a stain about
a hands breadth on his trol1ser-leg,
and reached his finger down to touch
it. The finger was stained red; it vas
blood; he stared upon it with disgust.
and awe, and terror, and in the sharp
ness Of the new sensation, fell instant.
~ to act.
He cleansed his finger in the snow,
returned into the house, drew near.
with hushed footsteps to the dining
room door, and shut and locked it,.
Then he breathed little freer for here
at least: was an oaken barrier between
himself and what he feared Next, he,
hastened to his room, tore off the
spotted trousers which seemed in his
eye a link to bind him to the galloWs,
! flung them in a corner donned another
pair, breathlessly crammed his night
things into his portmanteau, locked it,
swung itWith an effort from the
ground, and with a rush Of relief, came;
forth again under the open heavens. #
The portmanteau, being Of occidental
/ build, was no feather-weight it had
distressed the powerful Alan; and as
for ohm, he was crushed under its
bulk, and the sweat: broke upon him
/ thickly Twice he must set it down
1 TO rest before he reached the gate and
when he had come SO far, he must do
as Alan did. and take his seat upon
one corner. Here, then, he sat awhile
and painted !; but now his thoughts were
sensibly lightened;; nov, with the
] trunk standing just inside the door,
some part Of his disco iation from the
1 house of crime had been effected, and
4 the cabman need not pass the garden
wall. 1T was wonderful how that re-
a lieVed him ); for the house, in his eyes,