Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-01-02
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| Il pictured to myself TINS girl. WnOn
I had loved, and love still. as being
somewhat unhappy at the thought OF
the wrong she felt she had done me: ]
pictured the man as being remorseful,
too. And i meant that night to put
them both at their ease: TO cry to
them, I will not stand in the way Of
! your happiness; 1 will not bind any
woman to a promise made when she
was too young to know what it in.
volved. 1 will join your hands: more
than that, will enrich you both with
! What would have been hers had she
married me; and set out that night to
do it,
without saying word to anybody,
and taking your servant with you?"
supplemented the little man.
Yes: that was the beginning of ev-
erything: that was the one fatal mis-
take I made" said Gilbert Rickerby,
with mournful shake of the head.
AT the last moment I changed my
mind. I had dealt in mystery all my
| life: had wandered. a mysterious, I'M
known man since l was boy, and
wanted, for this last time, to be mystic
! riouS still. I took my servant with me
| that night in order that he might spy
! out the land, as it We're; in order that
he might say to this cousin of mine:
| My master will not put in an appear
| ance yet: he sends me, in his place, to
| tell you that he is really here. to bring
! you the good news he has Travelled so
far to tell So I gave my servant a
card of mine. and put in his possession
sum of $500 as an earnest of what I
meant to do. and to show him that the
man did not come with mere idle
! tale
We'll, what happened them" asked
Mr.. Reeks. leaning forward, in his ca
gerness to know more.
| 1.-The servant never returned: and. a
| day OF so afterwards, Nugent Leath-
| wood advertised for me, demanding to
! know why J. had not kept the appoint
(, nent made. More than that, Nugent
Leathwood claimed the body of anoth-
! err man-an utter stranger to meas
Gilbert Rickerby; and that man 1 saw
! come from this house on the night he
| met his death in the street I followed
| the body of the stranger side by side
| with Nugent Leathwood to the grave;
1 stood by while that body was buried.
under my name"
but how is it that Lea thwood did not
recognize your asked Reeks, bewili~
| cred.
| "Ile had never seen me-" replied Gill
;ert. I'VE had merely correspondent by
letter; that was one reason for my
| scrlding the servant before me, because
felt that Leathwood might think that
1 had gone in person and might blurt
| cut in that first moment his real feel
ings about the matter"
But the servant-what of him."
"Dead-murdered, apparently at the
very hour he entered the house. The
$500 you We're to have, Mr. Reeks, was
! taken from the body of James Holden"
The brain of the little man began to
| reel again: he started form his seat,
| and came forward, tremblingly, to-
wards Gilbert. But I don't under
stand" he gasped. How do you know
all this?"
Because I have found the poor fell
lows body in this very house-in che
| room above where we are now--don' t
start; he's past hurting you, or any
one. That's a matter about which I
want your help. I must stay here
hidden-for the present; and that body
must be got rid off,
If ever Mr.. Reeks had wished HIM
self safely back in Little Pond street.
| even though a cloud of brokers and
duns were lowering about the house, it
! was surely at that moment. For Mr..
Reeks, despite his mistakes and the i'm
pecunious condition in which he usually
l:-cd, was, before al things, a law-abid-
ing citizen; and the disposal, Cor how
ever good reason, Of the body of a
murdered man. is not thing to be
lightly undertaken. He drew back pro-
testing. feebly, with his hands.
Indeed, Mr.. Rickerby, l do assure
you that I have a most serious objec-
ton to having anything to do with the
matter. Whatever I might be disposed
to do, if 1 stood alone Il am generally
considered a bold and reckless mani, I
am bound to remember Mrs. r. Mrs.
r. las no one TO protect her in the
event of anything happening-in the le-
gal sense-to me; l must, really, de-
| cline.''
My dear Mr.. Recks. feel sure that
when tell you that I am not the only
one involved in the matter, you will be
willing to help me. There is in this
house the young girl about whom ]
have spoken. She is very ill-mentally
i'll: but she is kept close prisoner in
the other part of the house. I cannot
tel! whether her imprisonment is forced
upon her, or whether she lives there
voluntarily: in any case, she is not in
a fit state to judge of the matter"
But what is the matter with her?'
asked MIR. Reeks
:'sl1e came here as far as I can learn
on the very night that I crept into the
house" replied Gilbert. "Shc must
have been informed Of my supposed
death: I fear''-he ground his teeth in
helpless rage as he thought of til
fear that she must haze been offered
some insult probably at the hands of
that villain my cousin. At any rate.
she fled from him, and found her way
in here; wandered about in the dark
ness all night, and stumbled, accident
ally. upon me. You may imagine what
she must have felt, in coming sudden
ly, il, the twilight CT this place, upon
the figure of man she knew-or
thought she ]1ncw--"as dead. She
rushed away from me; she was discov-
cred by faithful old servant, who
waits upon me in secret; and was by
her taken back to the room in the 9th
er hdilse:wnieh had been prepared fol
her There she lies, in high fever