The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-09-04

door For OF a sudden q thought came
TO me. or rather, thought that had
repeatedly striven 70 Danish. assumed the
aggressive and forced itself upon my at
tention. i strove 70 Yout II awsy as one
OF those things which do a man no honor.
but would not be denied. Presently II
beat In upon my brain: II throbbed
through every pulse; II turned me cold
with a hopeless. sickening dread. Was
the discharge OF the pistol due TO accident
OR premedttation?
My uncle had not yet come In. so I had
no one In whom l could confide. but the
possession OF this horrible doubt robbed
me OF all reason and sent me into mad
dening maze or conjecture. Surely. surely
this man. this Mr.. Wentworth, a gentle
man without doubt, and one Of the nu-
merous class 10 be found I'm the West End.
could have no connection with Wooching
and the Society OF the Hidden Meaning?
II was a monstrous thought. unworthy 2f
me. unworthy OF any honest man. and,
as have said, / sought to stiie II, but up
1t leaped like fame which will not DC
suppressed. And yet / would give IL no
welcome which In any way might be
construed as an encouragement, for as
yet had still some faith In man..
A few minutes later my Uncle jim
came in. and after listening TO an apol-
ogy for his absence Che had been pay
ing a visit In the neighborhood OF Pal
cordingly told him Of my second meeting
with Mr.. Wentworth and OF the incident
which had taken place In that gentle
mans room.
There was no manner OF doubt as 10 the
direction his thoughts Immediately few.
The old suspicious look leaped 10 his
eyes; anxiety clouded his face In the most
pronounced manner. He saw In this. as
/ was beginning rapidly 10 see; the hano
OF the society. and yet hoped against
hope. Heavensi II amounted to this-m
every stranger i was TO see a possible
enemy could neither eat, drink nor
sleep in safety. The thought turned me
stck-sick 10 death Of life and the worm.
And yet. detected and hopeless as / was,
there was an undercurrent OF despair
which made me cling madly to that which
i felt assured was worthless.
Were the circumstances at all sus-
picious?" queried he 'Did he, by word
or act lead you to believe that he was
In any way connected with the societyT'
Neither by word or act. True, at
times did imagine things just as ! fear
dark street, a man with an eastern face,
but then i am always imagining things.
The difficulty with me is TO forget"
mot for a moment. II you do, that mo-
n,,n nsirt will be the 9ppor1qnty Tor Tor Which
We We are are men. Il Is if fri sStfai. this having
70 suspect every one with whom we cone me
BUT @ha, srs we Ss % dos confess s DO
nSs IKE the look e. thdngs ad bna d,a ons mot
would need to be a god to read the minds
OF men"
Wishing TO believe that had sall some
faith In man. i suggested that such ac-
cidents were not uncommon and that
were we not 80 peculiarly circumstane;ed nee.
the ,nsae s, rspsS ssssSr sna asafnh that's where
the curse of our position touches us
acuteiy.we must suspect everything ana
And. yet II he is what we dread. how
can you reconcile this incident with the
warning he gave me in the Empire last
"That too" said my uncle, slowly. his
eyes fixing me with serious. steady
look. has caused me an infinite amount
our M own shadow may conceal the assas.
tampered tam hIs With X st st any is'' 'N1 nv
distinctly the man with the beard stumb-
fusely Oh. no: fear fear there cam can be no
doubt Of the attempt"
We'll. am not so certain. In the first
place. 1t would be an Infinitely risky
thing TO attempt at a crowded bar-thfs
bottle or a Vial Into strangers glass.
Some one was sure 90 see The act. S2me
one, as II happened. dld. BUT What III
the man with the beard had been an ac-
compiler What II the whole story had
been but ruse TO gain your confidence
began TO see things clearer, or al
least 1 Thought So But IL robbed me OF
the last yestige of hope. / would like 20
have conlbated my uncle's argument, but
somehow I couldn't. There was a ter
rible force and reality in his indictment
I felt instinccvely that t would have
been a waste of powder to reply.
AS we prepared to go down to dinner
my uncle suggested that we should call
on Mr.. Wentworth, examine his curios
But the knock at his door received no re-
eponse Jim knocked again. this time
more loudly. 4. auerulous query came:
'I"
who are your"
'pavie."
There was silence for a moment or two;
then the voice said Anything impor-
tantT
''Oh. no; only wanted to have a chat"
OF dressing. VIII after dinner suit your"
Admirably"
Good"
After dinner we searched the various
reception rooms in vain for Mr.. Went
worth, and as a last resort / ran up
stairs and knocked at his door. cSiams
berrnaid with n bundle on her arm came
along the passage. and from her learned
n rather startling piece OF news.
Mr.. Cyril George wentworth had left
the hotel about an hour previously!
(To be Continued)