Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-04-29
CHAPTER xXIII.-tContinued.,
ONOO(
~

CHAPTER XXIII.-tContinued.l
1t was dark when he returned to the
house, and he closed the shutters and
barred the door very carefully before he
sat down by the fire to reflect upon his
text step. He had been rejecting on that
tll day. without seeing his way too clear
y to the results on which he had set his
heart-a large sum of money, and a new
life abroad to enjoy it in.
He would not go upstairs yet awhile
another hour would be of advantage to
him, and he must wait. The bank at
Worcester was shut, and there would be
no getting money till tomorrow morning
before that time came she would sign
the check, and remain a prisoner in
Tackson's button factory until time had
been allowed for him to cash 1t. That
was the end of the brilliant scheme which
he had planned out like an artist.
Suddenly there was a violent knocking
pt the door, and Peterson sprang up, with
bis hand shaking on the back of the chair.
He reached his hand toward the candle
and extinguished the flame, as his first
resource against an unseen enemy. Then
he crept on tiptoe toward the door.
"Who's there?"
"Let me in."
"Tom Eastbell!' calculated Peterson.
He opened the door, and dragged the
applicant for admittance into the house
by the collar of his coat-a man drench-
ed to the skin by heavy rain.
''You muddler!' shouted Peterson;
"why couldn't you stop at Sedge Hill?
How dare you come intermeddling? :?
Didn't you leave it all to me?"
''Here-let go my throat-let a fellow
speak. What are you doing in the dark
Where are they all? Is Sarah here?
has she signed the check?'
Peterson released his hold and locked
the front door again. Tom followed him
into the room, and sat down shivering
by the fire. His companion and adviser
relighted the candle, and held it to his
lace.
''Why did you Gomez"
"For safety. Oh, Ned, I shall be hang
ed!' Tom cried. 1.-THE old woman is
dead, and every body thinks 1 have done
1t. Here's a blessed go for an innersent
man! l never touched her. upon my soul; |;
she died right off, bang, in the picture
gallery, and it was nothing to do with
me. 1 wouldn't have thought of such
q thing"
Dead? The old woman dead?" said
Peterson, surprised again at this ayowal.
"Oh!-ugh!-yes," he said, shuddering
more strongly. "Her eyes opened sud
den; Ned, and she was off, l shall never
forget it. And then the beast of a wom-
an, Hartley, came in when l screamed,
and said that had murdered her. I was
talking her over to make will, when
she died-that's oil. Oh! let's go to Lon
fon."
'"Tom," said Peterson with excitement,
"you must go back. You must not leave
everything to that Culwick. The old
woman has died naturally-the doctor
will prove that-and you have nothing to
fear"
"Oh! haven't I? That's all you know
about it."
"You accursed idiot! don't you see that
you are rich?-that Sarah Eastbell was
pnly between you and colossal fortune?
-and Sarah Eastbell is dead, too.'
SARAH dead, too!' screamed Tom
Eastbell Jun his new excitement; "oh,
don't say that. 1t can't be-"
"Hush! Keep it quiet; it is an eternal
secret between you and me; but she
sprang out of the boat suddenly last
night, they tell me, and was drowned.
In a day or two they will find her in the
Severn, and you will be heir-at-law."
'"They'n say 1 killed the couple of
them"
Sarah ran away from home-every-
body knows that-and came to harm ny
accident. There Is nothing more natural"
''Poor Sally! She was a good sort"
Thank goodness 1t was quite an accident
for nobody meant to kill her."
"Get back in haste-at any cost. Say
you were distracted, and did not know
what you were doing-that you have been
In search of Culwick-or a doctor. Get
back"
Suppose they take me up for killing
my grandmother; that's what I'm afraid
Of"
"Get back; you are safe. Get back,
fool, to all that wealth."
Edward Peterson's excitement was
Kreater than Thomas Eastbell's now. He
thrust him from the house; he locked
the door after him; he tottered back to
the room.
Tom Eastbell would be rich-immense-
" rich-if his sister Sarah were removed
from all the troubles of this world: Tom
Eastbell in his power-at his mercy for
many past offenses-a weak fool whom
he could rule implicitly, and get money
quickly by.
Then, with the light in his hand, he
proceeded with a wonderful steadiness of
step up the stairs. A strange specimen
of villain this-for he went into his
daughters room first and said, poor
Bess-you have gone for good then," and
walked out again, and up the remaining
fight, with very sorrowful countenance.
He drew the key from his pocket, unlock
ed the door, strode in, and then stopped
suddenly-a man struck, as it We're, into
stone by his amazement.
The room was empty!
CHAPTER XIV.
Reuben Culwick did not reach Sedge
Hill till a late hour, when the blinds
were down before every window of the
IS great house. He did not dream of death
at home while he had been abroad in
pursuit of the living, and, in the deep
thought born of his baff1ed search, he
strobe up the broad garden path without
being struck by the blank aspect of the