The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-05-16

'Ihe best can get, and now, dear
Olive, tell me, how much do you
know?"
Everything" laughed Olive,
"absolutely everything-according to
what the scientists call inductive rea-
soning. As to fact, plain, cold, hard
fact-well, enough-quite enough to
hang you, but not quite enough to
save you. Now I fancy there may be
side lights that you can turn on, which
will change the more lurid colors into
paler lines. According to Celestine,
the man who was brought home to her,
pierced through as she supposed, with
his own dagger, had been .foully muir
dered."
"There was no murder about it,
nothing bit q hand-to-hand fight, at
time am! under circumstances when
fights ending fatally were of daily oc-
currence. It was fair fight, self-de-:
fense on The part of both. Had Inot
killed hin, he would have killed me;
and your friends Clarence wasa brave
man and fought well; and it was after
he was dead that the idea of person
ating him came to me. The resem-
blance between US was extraordinary,
so much so that I suspected some re-
lationship and that we both belonged
to the Mendoza family, even before I
found the birthmark on his brow"
(Which was a bright red, however,
while on you it is black" interrupted
Olive. -; ;;:'-'
"You are correct and also sharp"
said Stanley Tor Mendoza if the reader
prefers, though he continued to be
known only as Clarence Stanley.
Had Celestine been half as clever as
you are, she would never have been
deceived about the dead man. But I
counted on her agitation and excite
ment, and the plan worked. With
the assistance of Van Tassel, the man
whom she called her brother, changed
clothes with the dead man, and took
possession Of his papers;,letters, jour
nails, etc., by means of which I have
been able ever since to personate him.
But among his papers I never found
anything about this old maid whom
you call Toddlekins--''
"And several other things which I
shall be able to tell you," said Olive.
"Among others, there is an heir-at-
law, certain Lord Harold Moray,
who is now in this country, in search
of the Honorable Clarence Stanley,
and who, in the event of his decease,
is the next heir to the earldom and
estates of Windermere." .'~.3 - F..
'The deucep' exclaimed Stanley.
''I never heard OF him!'' -.
$50 I supposed; nor OF his sister
Constance, to whom Clarence Stanley
was engaged when he left England. "
There was nothing about either of
them in any of the letters and papers
I found" said her listener aghast at
these revelations.
II guessed as much from my dear
Toddlekins's letters. But it would
have been rather awkward had Lord
Harold suddenly confronted you
either here or il, England"
"And it will be so still-deucedly
awkward"
mot so bad as might have been
had you neglected to have this con-
versation with me. As it is, fore.
warned is forearmed, and you are
quite too clever to.be overcome by so
small a difficnltv "a thatn
II am not 80 sure. A few more
such shocks and tumbles as I have had
Of late will shake my nerves."
''Not bit Of it, with me to steady
you," said Olive. "You see, I intend
to be the Countess of Windermere;
and, although the old earl is madly in
love with me and plaguing me to death
to marry him, I have taken a fancy to
have young husband. Hyour nerve
fails you now, you lose Polly Hamil-
ton ;,for Celestine will yet learn the
truth. You lose all chance of the
Mendoza treasure" (again her listener
WINGED and asked himself. 'sIs there
anything this girl doesn't know?")
land you lose the estates and title of
Earl of Windermere. The alternative
is simply"
She paused and smiled bewitch-
ingly.
'To marry you and gain all that is
worth having" said her companion,
filling that pause. ''Truly pleasing
alternative, and I think I will accept
it. But now to arrange plan of
action and prepare for all possible
contingencies. What do you know of
the Mendoza treasurer"
"Only what I have heard Incl
dentally from remarks dropped by
Polly Hamilton, and later from Celes-
tine, that your first knowledge of her
was made through the hope of finding
out something about its hiding
place" ....
"In which I was confoundedly
taken in; but no matter! I know oil
about it now, and together you and I
will go to California and search for it.
You are the cleverest woman I ever
met in my life, and I shall end by
being as madly in love with you as
ahem-the old earl, my father"
Olive smiled serenely, and began
to think the partner of her ambitious
plans q most charming person.
"With the Mendoza fortune and
the Windermere estates and title"
continued the Honorable Clarence,
I'VE can rival the state Of any prince
and princess" :"
Precisely what I have been think
ing, my dear Clarence, ever since Ire
ceived old Toddlekins's message. But