Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-13

ponderous outlines of an old settle. which
| jutted from the corner of the fireplace hail
/ way out into the room. At it was seeming
| ly from this seat that the men. who at va
| rfous times had been found lying here, had
| fallen to their doom. a thrill passed over
| me as l noted it's unwieidy bulk and the
| deep shadow it threw on the ancient and
! dishonored hearthstone. To escape the
| CHASTITY memories it evoked and also to
| satisfy myself that the room was really as
| empty as 1t seemed. took another step for
J ward. This caused the light from the lam
| tern l carried to spread beyond the point
| on which it had hitherto been so effectively
| concentrated: but the result was to empha-
| size rather than detract from the extreme
| desolation of the great room. The settle
| was fixture. as 1 afterward found. and
| was almost the only article of furniture TO
| be seen on the wide expanse of uncarpeted
| floor. There was table or two in hiding
| somewhere amid the shadows at the other
| end from where l stood and possibly some
kind of stool or settee: but the general I'M
/ preston made upon me was that of a COM
| pletely dismantled place given over to moth
and rust.
| do not include the walls. They were not
| bare like the floor. but covered with books
from floor to ceiling. These books were not
| the books of today; they had stood so long
| In their places unnoted and untouched that
| they had acquired the color of fungus end
| smell Well. there Is no use adding to
| the picture. Every one knows the spirit of
| sickening desolation pervading rooms which
| have been shut up for an indefinite length
| of time from air and sunshine.
| The elegance of the heavily succeed
| ceiling. admitted to be one of the finest
! specimens of it's kind in Washington, as
| well as the richness of the carvings orna-
| menting the mantel of Italian marble riS-
| ing above the accused hearthstone. only
| served to make more evident the extreme
| neglect into which the rest of the room
had sunk. Being anything but anxious to
| subject myself further to it's unhappy infiu-
| ence and quite convinced that the place
| was indeed as empty as 1t looked. turned
| to leave. when my eyes fell upon something
so unexpected and so extraordinary, seen
| as 1t under the influence of the old
tragedies with which my mind was nee
essarily full that 1 paused, baked
| In my advance. and well-nigh I'M
| certain whether looked upon real thing
or on some strange and terrible fantasy of
my aroused Imagination.
form lay before me, outstretched on
that portion of the floor which had hither-
to been hidden from me by the half-open
door-a woman's form, which even in that
first casual look impressed itself upon me
as of aerial delcacy and extreme re-
fnement and this form lay only the
dead lie; the dead! And I had been looking
at the hearthstone for just such a picture!
No, not just such a picture, for this woman
lay face uppermost. and on the floor beside
her was blood
A hand had plucked my sleeve. 1t was
HibbardS. Startled by my immobility and
silence, he had stepped in with quaking
| members, expecting he hardly knew what.
But no sooner did his eyes fall on the pros
trate form which held spellbound than
an unforeseen change took place In him.
What had unnerved me restored him to full
self-possession. Death in this shape was
familiar to him. He had no fear Of blood.
He did not show surprise at encountering
1T, but only at the effect it appeared to
produce on me.
"Shot!" was his laconic comment as he
bent over the PROSTATE body. "Shot through
the heart! She must have died before she
fell"
Shot!
That was new experience for this room.
No wound had ever before disfgured those
who had fallen here, nor had any of the
previous victims been found lying on any
other spot than the one over which that
huge settle kept guard. AS these thoughts
crossed my mind I instinctively glanced
again toward the fireplace for what 1 al
most refused to believe lay outstretched at
my feet. When nothing more appeared
there than that old seat of sinister memory
experienced a thrill which poorly pre-
pared me for the cry which I now heard
raised by Hubbard.
Look here! What do you make of this?"
He was pointing to what. upon closer in
spection, proved to be strip OF white satin
ribbon running from one of the delicate
wrists of the girl before US to the handle
OF pistol which had fallen not far away
from her side. "It looks as If the pistol
was attached to her. That Is something
new In my experience. What do you think
1t meansT
Alas! there was but one thing 1t could
mean. The shot to which she had sue
cumbed had been delivered by herself This
fair and delicate creature was suicide
But suicide In this place! How could we
account for that? Had the story of this
rooms ill-acquired fame acted hypnoticalIy
on her, or had she stumbled upon the open
door in front and been glad Of any refuge
where her misery might find solitary
termination? Closely scanning her up
turned face, I sought an answer to this
question, and while thus seeking received
a fresh shock. which did not hesitate to
communicate to my now none too sensitive
companion.
Look at these featuresw I cried. 81
seem to know them, do you?'
He growled out dissent but STONED at
my bidding and gave the pitiful young face
a prolonged stare. When he looked nm
again 1t was with a puzzled contraction of
his eyebrows.
1--WE certainly seen 1T somewhere" he
hestitatingly admitted. edging slowly away
toward the door. perhaps in the paners
isn't she like"
"Like!" L interrupted. 'Tt Is Veronica
Moore herself, the owner of this house
and she who was married here two weeks
since to Mr.. jeffrey. Evidently her rea son
was unseated by the tragedy which threw
SO deep gloom over her wedding"
I Remain.
Not for an instant did doubt the corr |
rectness Of this Identification All the MIC |
lures had seen of this weil-known society /
belle had been marked by an fpdiv1duoutv