Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-08-23
The dead bride

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was to emphasize rather than detract
from the extreme desolation of the
great room. The settle was fixture,
as afterward found, and was almost
the only article Of furniture to be seen
on the wide expanse of uncarpeted
door. There was table or two in hid
Ing somewhere amid the shadows at
the other end from where stood, and
possibly some kind Of stool or settee,
but the general impression made upon
me was that of completely disman-
tied place given over to moth and rust.
The elegance Of the heavily succeed
ceiling, admitted to be one of the finest
specimens of its kind in Washington,
as we'll as the richness of the carvings
ornamenting the mantel of Italian
marble rising above the accursed
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 its unhappy influence and
quite convinced that the place was in
deed as empty as 1t looked, turned to
leave when my eyes fell upon some
thing SO unexpected and so extraordi-
nary, seen as it was under the infu-
ence of the old tragedies with which
my mind was necessarily full, that I
paused, baked in my advance and we'll
nigh uncertain whether looked upon
a real thing or on some strange and
terrible fantasy of my aroused imagi-
nation.
A form lay before me, outstretched
on that portion of the floor which had
hitherto 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 one of
aerial delicacy and extreme refine
ment; and this form lay as only the
dead lie; the dead! And I had been
looking at the hearthstone for Just
such pictured No, not just such a
picture, for this woman lay face upper
most, and, on the floor beside her was
blood
A hand had plucked my sleeve. 1t
was Hibbard's. Startled by my i'm
mobility and silence, he had stepped in
with quaking members, expecting he
hardly knew what. But no sooner did
his eyes fall on the PROSTATE form
which held me spellbound than an un-
foreseen 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 sur
prise at encountering it, 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!
Ihat was new experience for this
room. No wound had ever before dis
figured 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 instinctively glanced again to-
ward the fireplace for what | almost
refused to believe lay outstretched at
my feet. When nothing more APP
peared there than that old seat of sin
lister memory, experienced thrill
which poorly prepared me for the cry
which now heard raised by Hubbard.
look here! What do you make of
this?'
He was pointing to what, upon, closer
Inspection 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. 1T
looks as II the pistol was attached to
her. That is something new in my
experience. What do you think it
means?"
Alas, there was but one thing it
could mean. The shot to which she
had succumbed 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 i'll acquired fame acted
ALPHABETICALLY on her, or had she STUN
bled upon the open door in front and
been glad of any refuge where her
misery might find a solitary termina-
ton? Closely scanning her upturned
face, sought an answer to this ques-
ton, and while thus seeking received
a fresh shock which I did not hesitate
to communicate to my now none too
sensitive companion.
Look at these features" cried. 81
seem to know them. Do you?"
He growled out dissent, but stoop-
ed at my bidding and gave the pitiful
young face prolonged stare. When
he looked up again it was with puz-
zled contraction Of his eyebrows.
Eve certainly seen it somewhere"
he hesitatingly admitted, edging slow
ly away toward the door. perhaps in
the papers. Isn't she like
"LikeW l interrupted. at is Veroni-
ca Moore herself, the owner of this
house and she who was married here
two weeks since to Mr.. Jeffrey. Evil
IDENTIFY her reason was unseated by the
tragedy which threw So deep a gloom
over her wedding"
To be continued.)
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