The Lamar register., 1903-04-15
MQuDikeCk, The uO|FTQIDeT.
By SEWARD W. HOPKINS.
Author Of Jack Robbins Of America" "in the
China Sea-" Two Gentlemen Of
Hawaii" "On u False
Charge" Etc.
Copyright. 1895. by ROBERT Bossxn's soHA
CHAPTER XVI.


l cannot, in sheer sympathy for the
the man. put all our conversation into
this chapter. There was something
about his calm bearing, his mute ac-
ceptance of his fate. that to me was
sacred. His white hand scarcely
trembled as he carried a match to his
cigar, even after he must have been
convinced that his race was run.
His face was ashen, and the hand
some mouth was set firm and white
After the preliminary announce
ment of our discoveries. which he ac-
cepted with a sad bow of his arsto
cratic head. said:
81 have here, Graviscourt the
sworn statements of the man who was
supposed to have killed Alice Gravis
court. the man who was hired to kill
Nita Barlotti. and the man who saved
the child from the numbering physi-
clan. Shall l read them. or do you
place yourself in the hands of the law
without further agony?"
Proceed" he said quietly.
With voice shaking with emotion,
l read to him the statement of Antonio
Sigmotta. During the reading he sat
finished. he raised glass of wine to
perfectly motionless, and when had
his lips. firmly replaced the glass on
the table. and sat waiting.
Proceed" he said as I paused
the next!"
Then l read the statement of Luigi
Dambo and still the doomed man sat
perfectly calm, the ashen pallor of his
face and hands being the only indica-
tions of the awful tumult that must
have been in his brain.
When l had finished this he drained
the glass again, and again sat wait
ing.
Proceed" he said. and this time
there was distinct sneer in his voice.
There is another-that OF my friend,
Charles Sigmotta."
began to read. Charles Sigmotta's
statement was as follows:
Il, Charles Sigmotta, otherwise
known as Tortoni, the druggist, being
duly sworn, do say and declare that
the following statement Is absolutely
true:
81 have listened to the statements
OF my brother, Antonio, and Luigi
Dambo, and I confess that all that is
in them concerning myself is abso-
lutely true.
Il was the familiar friend of Ralph
Graviscourt, who. as is we'll known,
was poor man with expensive tastes
and heavily in debt. when. by the
death of his brother. he became the
guardian of the child Alice, and the
executor of his brothers will. By this
will. In case of the death of Alice be-
fore marrying. Ralph Graviscourt be-
came sole heir to the fortune of a mil
lion.
He at once plotted to get rid of
the child. and my own financial neces-
sites made me willing accomp!ice,
for the terms he offered were liberal.
THE plan was this: had a child
who had died of smallpox child of
poor Italian parents, who gladly con-
sented when l offered to take her
away and bury her without expense to
them. took this child to Gravis-
courts house, and took the real Alice
Graviscourt away, first giving her a
powerful drug, which | expected would
kill her. Our reasons for making this
substitution were that Graviscourt
feared that some of the friends of his
brother and his wife would demand to
see the body. and if it were known
that she died of smallpox, this curl
osity would no doubt be stifled; and
then again, it provided against a pub
lie funeral and viewing of the corpse.
And the child substituted was so
strongly marked by the foul disease
that one look would convince the most
curious and satisfy all misgivings.
But there was no trouble. The
Italian child was buried as Alice Gra
yiscourt and what followed with the
real heiress is truthfully told in my
brothers statement, though UP to the
advent of Maligni's circus both Gravis
court and l believed that Alice Gravis-
court was at the bottom of the East
river.
"Graviscourt came to me in great
alarm one day and said that girl who
closely resembled his brothers wife
was an actress in Maligni's circus, and
demanded to know more about the dis
position l had made of Alice. l reas-
sured him and said that the likeness
was merely a coincidence, and so I
firmly believed. | knew that my
brother had claimed to have daugh-
ter Nita but l never saw her. and now
understand why he so carefully kept
her out of my way.
When Graviscourt had gone. l got
to thinking over the matter, and my
curiosity was aroused, and l went to
the circus to see Nita, my brothers
child | was stirred by the striking re-
semblance she bore to the wife of
Charles Graviscourt, and sought Ma
ligni to learn more of her Maligni
told me how Antonio had given her to
him, and seemed to attach no impor-