Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-07-01
CHA PIER XIV.

story SO far as they concern the arch
villain Steinhardt, 1 am SO affected
with a shuddering horror that / scarce
write legibly. Yet they have such a
fascination that 1 am drawn to the de-
scription of them, to the risk of omit
ting one or two matters of quieter inter-
est, which are yet vital to my story.
These 1 must dispose of. Wednesday
and Thursday passed away, and the
Friday arrived, which to think of even
now makes me tremble. 1t was a dar-
ing experiment we were about to at
tempt, and so very little would make it
ridiculous! I had taken partly to my
confidence the big son of the landlady
! "a staunch Lancashire lad of the old
/ breed). With him I went through the
slides of my story several times, and
showed him how to manage them with
effect.
The evening came and l was almost
sinking under excitement. The place
of entertainment was that public hall
in which Freeman had delivered his
famous lecture. The kind of thing was
rather new in the village, and there
was crowded attendance of work peo-
pie, especially of Steinhardt's own.
Steinhardt, with his wife and son, sat
right in front, where the reflection
from the sheet fell full upon him.
When the lights were turned, some out
and others low, Freeman and crept up
behind the, sheet, where I waited with
trembling pulse and sudden creeping
chills till the, to me, uninteresting
part of the entertainment came to an
end. The curate acted as lecturer, and
explained with fuency what the views
meant, or told something about the
places represented. l cannot tell what
it was about. At length his series of
views and his lecture were finished.
There was moments pause-to me a
wild throb of fanxiety-and then the bass
voice OF the manager of the lantern
doomed forth the announcement: ga
Lacashire Mystery" Without another
word>the first picture came upon the
sheet q crept to its corner to watch
Steinhard). It was two men in an
attitude of quarrel, surrounded by col
ored vapors. The second followed
quickly without word of explanation;
the same two men the one halt suffo-
Gated, struggling to get out of vat or
bath OF vapors, while the other, with
mouth mutf1ed, held him down. Still
no word of explanation. Rapidly
came the third picture-the man one
lying dead aid dyed before the other,
and beside an open box. Awful whis-
pers began to. stir among the spectators,
who were the more impressed no doubt
by the silence amid which the pictures
appeared. ventured to peep at Stein
hard; he was gazing fixedly, with part
ed lips. The fourth picture called
forth an instantaneous cry of horror; it
was, perhaps, too realistic. The dead
body lay Stripped and quartered before
the living man, who stopped over it. |
fancied that at this sight 1 heard low
moan from the front bench, but on
glancing at Steinhardt 1 saw him sit
ting as before, as if fixed as much by
utter astonishment as by horror. The
next picture rapidly blotted out the
gruesomeness of the other; the portions
of the body lay wrapped in three can
vas packages, and the man stood by as
if pondering. Quickly came the next
the man digging near a ruined build
ing, with the three packages by him. |
eth ovid spinning MILL" some one
exclaimed aloud; had not thought the
resemblance was so recognizable. That
was almost Immediately succeeded by
the same view of the mill, with the
packages gone, the hole covered in, and
the man standing as if pulling a rope
which passed over the top of the wall
'The devil!' exclaimed Steinhardt,
starting suddenly to his feet. But he
recollected himself, and sat down again.
At once the last picture of all flashed
upon the sheet; the wall lay fat on the
ground, and the man stood by with the
loose rope in his hand!
Up started Steinhardt, and strobe |
down the room, amid an ominous
silence, to where the big Dick stood by |
his apparatus.
"W here the DEVIL" heard him ex-
claim, sd those horrible pictures
come from? They were not among the
lot 1 bought! Come, no id nonsense!
You must tell me where you got them.
Who gave them to you?
There was now a wild hubbub of
talk. Dick, l vas sure, Had refused to |
tell him anything about them. In the
midst of this the lights flashed forth
again, and the people began slowly to
disperse, with hushed but earnest
speech. Freeman and l slipped out by
a side door.
l went straight to Jaques's cottage.
There found Birley. In low, anxious
voices we began to discuss what would
he (meaning SteinhardD do now.
Louise wished she had been there, and
Birley had just said it was as we'll she
had not, when heavy foot rapidly ap-
preached, the latch was noisily raised,
the door was dashed open, and Steir.
hard stood before us.
"Soh." he exclaimed, glaring at Bir-
ley and me, az have found you, sneaks
and towards! You think with your
FOOLS tricks and your pictures you will
annoy me, and spoil me! Piff! You
ale nothing!-you are beggars,-you
are dirt! will have you, Sir Parson,
arrested for making calumnious charges