Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-10-15

| Hammond. Get up ana go tell DaH-
iel to roll Henry Elgln's bed hither.
Go, old simpleton."
"Yes, l WILL" said Fan, crawling up
the side of the door until on her feet.
"You don't know how weak and shaky
I am now. Yesterday-why this morn
ing lifted the big tub Of water easier
than I can cupful now. But / was
thinking, You know what pair of gay
fiends you two be-you and Mrs. Har-
ker-gay fends! You ought to be kin
close kin-you look alike about the
eyes and mouth-hard,' ,'cruel-'
"SilenccE" said Luke. fiercely. go
do as ordered"
"Yes, yes-morc devilry," said Fan.
turning away, and muttering as she
passed through the ante-chambcr into
the hall, 1.-Two gay devils! Devil burn
me If you amt the gayest pair l ever
knew-but one pair--my boy and girl
they We're pair-gay tiends-gay!'
"Nancy," said Luke. looking at his
sister, half stupetied, what are You
thinking about!'
about Fam" said Nancy.
"You must not do it, Nancy Harkcr,"
said Luke. 1--WE are uneasy enough
now in suspecting-we would be mis-
cradle in knowing"
Luke" saiG Many, sIernly, you do
know it, or believe it. She let slip that
there We're twelve letters in the name
of some one whom she loved. 1t may
be only n coincidence, but taken with
other things, it looks like fatality.
See"
Nancy Harker stopped and wrote
with red chalk upon the white mating
this name:
NICHOLAS DUNN.
"That is a name, Luke, that you and
I have not spoken aloud for years
the name Of our father. Count the let
ters."
"Twelvew said Hammond uneasily.
'But it is nothing more than coinci-
d4nce. Let the matter alone. Nancy"
suppose she, old Fan. is as we
think" said Nancy"
But she is not, confound your curl
osity," said Hammond. "She is not
she shall not be-"
Luke" said Nancy, speaking very
low, although poor Kate seemed far
from understanding or listening.
Luke, If it should be true that Fan
was the wife of the man whose name
l have written there, and whose chill
dren We are, and she should discover
the TRUTH
Hammond turned deadly pale.
Luke continued Nancy, "she would
avengc the death of her husband as
sure as you are standing trembling
thcre"'
"Tremblng! Do I tremblc? SO do
you" said Hammond.
Il do know it," said Nancy. IL
tremblp for two reasons. First, be-
cause in Fan, as we call her, we may
find an enemy no less fcrociously vim
dictivc than Harriet Foss. Besides,
Fan is half crazy, and her vengeance,
hate or whatever feeling may urge
her to our destruction if she finds out
who we are, and if she is the person
we think she is, urge her to our de-!
struction with means which would be
oil the more dangerous to us because
she will not pause to sacrifice her own
life in her fury"
'She may have feelng-the feeling
Of mother, Nancy, for her offspring"
"Our mother" said Nncy, "ncver
loved us. She was devoted to her hus-
band alonc-you know it. Her soul
was with him. Was it our desertion
that made our mother q lunatic? No,
our desertion killed our father, and
that craZed our mother"
"Well, let's hear the other reason for
your trembling"
''If Fan is our MOTHER" said Nancy,
"she is a deadly enemy. How do we
deal with deadly encmies?'
But if 1t comes to question of her
life or our death, Nancy. what then?"
at must not come to that" said
Nancy. "That would be horrible. We
must get rid of her-send her away,
not harm her."
"Too late" said Hammond, clenching
his fists; "too late, Nancy"
"Why too late, Luke? Is it ever too
late to prevent a crime, which we fear
We may be forced to perpetratc for
our own preservation
Eyes, it is too late" continued Luke.
Fan is not the same woman she was.
l intended that she should perish with
James Greene, but her cunning batIled
me. Since then she thinks she must
tell of the scene to all who know moth
ing of it. That desire is increasing in
her heart. If we send her away she
might tell of the affairs of Luke Ham
mond, and then-ruin to us! Besides,
we should need another in her place,
and already we have too many accom-
tt-.t.;itt-cs. tt-.t.;itt-cs Let that name that you have
written remain upon the floor. Watch
Fan when she reads it."
"She will not understand it," said
Nancy; "she has often told me she has
forgotten how 70 write and read" ,
"She may have been lying"
"If So" said Nancy, "seeing that
name there she will connect it with
our presence here, suspect and leap to
conclusion at once"
"You talk as if she was in the full
swing and sway of her reason. You
forget she is half crazy, and though
ills said crazy people are extremely