Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-02-16

s. s. Darrent twisted
il 70 the right. and the figure unscrre,wy-
i ed, revealing . long, marrow cavity,
running the whole lengt h Of the body,
into; Which. tightly rolled up, a scrap
of parchment had been pushed. With
the blade of his penknife he carefully
withdrew the little scroll, which was
i about an inch long by two inches wide,
and spread it ont before him. It was
covered with very small writing, and,
although the ink was somewhat faded,
he made out without much difficulty
the following Inscription: q.
When the full moon shines through the center
pane OF red glass in the top OF the library win
dow, its track along the floor will reach at mid.
/ night a knot in the wood. Measure fron, that
knot three feet to the west and eight feet to the
! north, which will reach to the wainscot; then
measure six feet up the wall to the carved scroll,
1 and pull forward. it,! ST. I'M
Three times Darrent read the paper
through. What could it mean? What
mystery was there hidden behind those
dark oak paneled walls in the dreary
library at The Grange? Was there some
guilty secret slowed away that old
Marsden had hidden all through his
life, but had wished when he was dead
that Astray should know? Was there
possibly some clew to the real murderer,
something that should tell an avenger
where to search. for old Marsden's enc
my, the deadly enemy that had struck
the murderous blow, or was there some
concealed wealth, lying behind that
/ for -
been murdered # he> had been MUIR
dered for that wealth, those who had
killed him knew where the treasure was
hidden and no doubt had stolen it al
ready. 1t was useless to speculate. He
must go to The Grange at once, follow
! out the instructions of the parchment
| and see what was the result =
"Now," said Darrent to himself as
alone he entered the library at The
Grange, .'I'm not going to wait fer
any hocus pocus of moonlight and mid
| night. I'm just going for this orna-
mental scroll work, and if there's bit
of it loose I'll find it and what's behind
it too. y" In the gathering dusk he took
| a rule from his pocket and measured six
feet from the ground on the portion of
the wall not covered by the bookcases
and found that that was exactly the
height Of the ornamental scroll work on
the paneling. Then, with a portable
electric lamp and large magnifying
glass, he carefully examined the carv-
ing. Presently he came to piece where
join in the wood could be discerned,
and, pulling it forward, panel some
eight inches or ten inches long came
with it, disclosing narrow space be-
hind, in which lay small leather Gov
cred volume. Darrent took the book out
and pushed back the panel; then, seat
t ing himself in one of the corners by the
fireplace, proceeded to read
JOSIAH MARsDEN's DIARY. - IT.
PARIS, Oct. 8, 1S71.-Back in my
hotel at Lass, and now can pause and
think Of what I have gone through in
this accused city, Paris, the city Of
light! BAIL Paris, the city Of deathl.g
Was it fancy or did each passerby
shun me as walked through the de-
serted streets this morning? Did they
see murder in my eye, the coming brand
Of Cain upon: my forehead? Let me
write clearly what has befauen me, SC
that if it should ever chance that this
is read it may speak in my defense: 1t
may show at least that 7 am not an as
eassin by choice, but by circumstance.
Who can sag what guides us to our
fate? :. IF there had been seat at the
opera tonight, should not be what
am now. But the opera is a great sue
cess, there was not seat to be had,
and so strolled about until lost my
self in the labyrinth of squalid streets
and alleys on she south side of the river
Suddenly scream broke out upon the
night, the cry Of a woman, proceeding
from house in darkness, save for an
upper story, where a beam of light cut
a pathway through The blackness. It
would have been well if I had passed
on unheeding, but without thinking
rushed to the entrance. It was open,
and I sped up the shaky staircase and
pushed open a door upon the third floor.
Not a light, not sound. i paused, ir-
resolute, and then felt the cold barrel
Oh plsCOl against my temple. a dozen
hands held me powerless while my arms
were tied to my sides. SIS.
! Who is it - I gasped. 81
Shoot, You fool, shoot!'' man re-
piled, and gave myself up for lost.
1T is a pig Of an Englishman, 2 one
growled, and then there arose a sub
dued mutter Of voices in German which
could not follow. # i =s .s$4e f
why did yon come here9''' some one
asked in French ID
ST thought 1 heard scream y.
YOU'RE spyl'' s i s . ..s:
'''Why dent you shoot instead Of
talking2'' .=.. s..:.
hats the good Of thatf What are
we to do with the body p Ss:.
Once more the consult ation was held.
Now and again I caught word in.
French, but most Of the language was
il German, with occasio nally sentence
in an an unknown IN tongue. Perhaps il was
Russian. sSss
And all this time was ssecurely
20 49,.