Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-12-30

candle. len, Win every lnteHtitu pi
fight. hacked toward the door 10y
which | had entered. But some I'M
pulse stronger than that of escape
made n!c stop just before reached it.
| could soc nothing tie place WAS dark
rs Tophct -bl.t could listen. The per
son-Mr. Jeffrey or some othcr-was
coming my way. and In perfect dark
ness. / could hear the faltering steps
- the fingers dragging along the walls;
then q rustic rs of skirts, provin" the
intruder to be Il woman--a fact which
greatly surprised mc-thcn Il long
drawn sigh or gasp.
This last determined me. The stu
alton was too intense for HE to leave
without first learning who the woman
was who in terror and shrinking dared
TO drag her half resisting feet through
these empty halls and into Il place
cursed with such unwholcSOmc mem
cries. dbl not think of Veronica. No
one looks for butterfly in the depths
of dungeon But | did think of Miss
futile that woman of rcsolute WILL
Without attempting to imagine the
reason for her presence. | stood my
ground and hardened till the heavy
mahogany door ut the other end OF
the room began to swing in by Jerks
under the faint and tremulouS push Of
Il terrified hand Then there came
silencc-a long silence followed by Il
moan so agoniZed that / realized that
whatever was the cause of this painting
womans presence here, 1t was due to
no mere errand Of curiosity. This
whetted my purpose. Anything done
In this house was In n way done to me;
SO I remained quiet and watched. But
the sounds which now and then came
from the remote corner upon which
my attention was concentrated were
very eloquent.
Il heard signs and bitter groans. with
now and then murmured prayer.
broken by low wailing, In which
caught the name Of Francis And STILL
possibly on account Of the utterance Of
this name, I thought the woman near
me to be Miss Tuttle, and even went
SO far as to imagine the cause Of her
suffering If not the nature Of her re-
tribution. Words succeeded cries and
l caught phrases expressive Of fear
and some sort Of agonized hesitation.
Once these broken CALCULATIONS were
interrupted by a dull sound. Some
thing had dropped to the bare floor.
We shall never know what 1t was, but
l have no doubt that it was the pistol.
and that the marks Of dust to be found
on the connecting ribbon were made
by her own fingers in taking it again in
her hand. you will remember that
these same fingers had but few min
utes previous CROPPED their way along
the walls) For her voice soon took a
different tone, and such unintelligible
phrases as these could be heard issu-
ing from her partly paralyzed lips:
81 must! ! can never meet his eye
again alive. He would despise- Brave
enough to-to-another's blood - cow
ard-when-Own. Oh, God, forgive.
Then another silence, during which /
almost made up my mind to interfere,
then a loud report and flash so star
Ting and unexpected that l recoiled,
during which the room leaped into
sudden view-she, too. Veronica, with
baby face drawn and set like a wom-
an's-then darkness again and a heavy
fall which shook the floor, II not my
hard old heart. The flash and that
fall enlightened me. I had just wit
messed the suicide Of the last Moore
saving myself. suicide for which
was totally unprepared and one which
do not yet understand.
II did not 60 over to her. She was
rs dead when she fell as she ever
would be. In the fash which lit ev-
erything l had seen where her pistol
was pointed. Why disturb her, them
Nor did return upstairs. I had small
interest now in anything but my own
escape from situation more or less
compromising. Do you blame me for
this? was her heir. and was where
l had no legal right to be. Do you
think that was called upon to pub
lish my shame and tell how l fingered
there while my own niece shot herself
before my eyes? That shot made me
millionaire. This certainly was ex-
element enough for one day. Besides,
I did not leave her there neglected. I
notified you later after I had got my
breath and had found some excuse.
That wasn't enough? All, see that
you are all models Of courage ind
magnanimity. You would have laid
yourselves open to every reproach rath-
er than let a little necessary perjury
pass your lips. But l nm no model.
] am simply an old man who has been
too hardly deaF with for seventy long
years to possess every virtue. I made
mistake-I see It now-trusted a dog
when l shouldn't-but If Rudgo had
not seen ghosts-well, what nowT"
We had. one and all, with an invol-
untary impulse turned our backs upon
him.
what are you doingT he hotly de-
manded.
"Only what all Washington will do
tomorrow and afterward the whole
world" gravely returned the major.
Then. as an ejaculation escaped the as
tonished millionaire, he impressiyely
added: "A perjury which allows an in
nOcent man and woman to remain un.
The major deneunees
Vncle David
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