The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-10-29

factory pnotoSFaPn VI youlseh' "on
you, dear?"
"The best I can get, and now, dear
Olive, tell me, how much do you
knowp"
Everything" laughed Olive,
absolutely everything-according to
what the scientists call inductive rea-
soning. A. to fact, plain, cold, hard
fact-well, enough-quite enough to
hang you, but not quite enough to
save you. Now ! fancy there may be
side lights that you can turn on, which
will change the more lurid colors into
palsr 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-hsnd fight, st
O time and under circumstances when
fights ending fatally were Of daily oc-
currence. It was q fair fight, self-de-
tense on he part of both. Had I not
killed him, he would have killed me;
and your friends Clarence was 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,
90 much 90 that ! suspected some re-
lationship and that We both belonged
to the Mendoza family, even before I
found the birthmark on his brow"
(which was Q 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, tho man
whom she called her brother, Ichanged
clothes With the dead man, and took
possession Of his papers, letters, jour
mails, 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, o 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 tho next heir to the earldom and
estates OF Windermere.
''The deuce!' exclaimed Stanley.
81 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
! found, said her listener aghast at
these revelations.
"I 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 20 still-deucedly
awkward"
mot 80 bad % might have been
had you neglected to have this con-
versation with me. As il is, fore.
warned is forearmed, and You are
quite too clever to be overcome by 80
small o difficulty ss that"
II am not 50 sure. A few more
such shocks and tumhles as have had
of late will shake my nerves."
mot q bit of it, with me to steady
you," said Olive. "You see, 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 o fancy to
have 0 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?")
"and You lose the estates and title OF
Earl Of Windermere. The alternative
is simply"
She paused and smiled bewitch-
ingly.
ITO marry you and gain all that is
worth having" said her companion,
filing that pause. "Truly a pleasing
alternative, and think will accept
it. But now to arrange o plan Of
action and prepare for oil possible
contingencies. What do you know Of
the Mendoza treasurer"
"Only what I have heard Incl
dental'y from remarks dropped by
Polly Hamilton, and later from Celes-
tine, that your first knowledge of her
was made through the hope OF finding
ont something about its hiding
place."
I'm which I was confoundedly
taken in; but NO matterl I know all
about it now, and together you and I
will 60 to California and search for it.
You are the cleyerest woman I ever
met in my life, and I shall end by
being as madly in love with you as
shem-the old earl, my father"
Olive smiled serenely, and began
to think the partner of her ambitious
plans . most charming person.
with the MeEdoza fortune and
the Windermere estates and title. ~
continued the Honorable Clarence,
I'VE can rival the state of any prince
and princess"