Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-01-09

from Mr. Lansdelrs brain. The habit
of vacillation, which had grown out of
the idleness of his life, was stronger in
him tonight than usual; but the desire
TO see for himself how deeply he was
wronged triumphed over every other
feeling, and he never turned his face
from the direction in which Nessborough
Hollow lay. He came near the place at
last, little tired by the long walk from
Lowlands, good deal wearied by all
the contending emotions of the last few
hours He came upon the spot at last,
not by the ordinary roadway, but across
a strip of thickly wooded waste land
lying high above the hollow.
He saw all this; and then from the
other end of the still glade he saw two
figures coming slowly toward the inn.
Two figures, one of which was so fa
miliar and had been so dear that de-
spair, complete and absolute, came upon
him for the first and last time, in that
one brief start Of recognition. All, sure
ly he had never believed in her falsehood
until this moment; surely if he had be-
heved Charles Raymond, the agony of
seeing her here could not have been so
great as this.
He stood as still as death, not betray-
ing his presence by so much as the rust
ling of a leaf, while the two figures
approached the spot above which he
stood. But little way off they passed,
and were parting, very coolly, as it
seemed, when Mrs. Gilbert lifted up her
face and said something to the man.
He stood with his back turned toward
Roland, to whom the very expression of
lsabeps face was visible in the moon
light.
After this the doctors wife went
away. Roland watched her as she turn
ed once, and stood for a moment looking
back at the man from whom she had
just parted, and then disappeared among
the shadows in the glade All! if she
had been nothing more than a shadow
if he could have awakened to find all
this the brief agony of a dream!
All that was left of the original saw
age in the fine gentleman arose at the
moment in Roland LansdelPs breast.
He leaped down the sloping bank with
scarcely any consciousness Of touching
the slippery grass; but he dragged the
ferns and branches from the loose earth
III Ills utot6Ht, anu d shower Oh IOTn
verdure few up into the summer air. He
had no weapon, nothing but his right
arm, wherewith to strike the broad
chested, black-bearded stranger. But he
never paused to consider that, or to
count the chances of a struggle He
only knew that he wanted to kill the
man for whose sake Isabel Gilbert had
rejected him. In the next moment his
hands were On the stran gers throat.
You scoundrel," he gasped, hoarsely.
you consummate coward and scoun-
drel, to bring that woman to this place"
There was q brief struggle, and then
the stranger freed himself from Mr.
Lansdells grasp. There was no COMPARE
son between the physical strength and
weight of the two men; and the Unequal
ity was sensibly increased by a stout
walking stick of the bludgeon order car
ried by the black-bearded stranger.
''Hoity-toityw cried the gentleman.
who seemed scarcely disposed to take
Mr.. Lansdell's attack seriously; A'haye
you newly escaped from some local luna
tic asylum, my friend, that you go about
the country flying at peoples throats in
this fashion? What's the row? Can't a
gentleman in the merchant navy take a
moonlight stroll with his daughter for
once in a way, to wish her good-by be-
fore he fits out for a fresh VOYAGE
without all this hullabalooF'
Your daughter" cried Roland Lans-
dell. "Your daughterF'
Yes, my daughter Isabel, wife of Mr..
Gilbert, surgeon"
Thank heavenw murmured Roland.
slowly, thank heaven"
And then a little pang of remorse shot
through his heart, as he thought how
little his boosted love had been worth.
after all. How ready he had been to
disbelieve in her.
Il ought to have known" he thought
Il ought to have known that she was
innocent. If all the world had been
banded together against her, | should
have been her champion and defender
But my love was only paltry passion
after all The gold changed to brass in
the fire of the first ordeal"
He thought this, or something like
this, and then in the next moment he
said, eourteously:
Upon my word, have to apollo ,ize
for my" he hesitated a little here
1OE he IeuAl9 was dSudlllt1 Ol ullQSeiT
all the murderous instincts were gone
as if they had never been, and the pain
fully acute perception of the ridiculous
being fully aroused, he felt that he had
made a eonsummate fool of himself.
stop a Bit" cried Mr.. Sleaford, the
barrister-''stop a bit! thought knew
your voice. You're the languid swell,
who was so jolly knowing at the trial
the languid swell who had nothing
better to do than join the hunt against
a poor fellow that never cheated you
out of s;xpence. l said, if ever l come
out of prison alive I'd kill you; and I'll
keep my promise"
He Kissed out these last words be-
tween his set teeth. His big muscular
hands were fastened on Roland Lans-
delrs throat; and his face was pushed
forward till it almost touched that other
handsome face which defied him in the
proud insolence of a moral courage that
rose above all physical superiority. The
broad bright moonlight streaming
through a wide gap in the foliage fell
full upon the two men; and il the dark
face glowering at his, Mr.. Lansdell rec
ognized the man whom he had followed
down for the mere amusement of the
chase-the man described in the police
records by a dozen aliases. and best
known by his familiar soubriquet of
Jack the Scribe.
You dog" cried Mr.. Sleaford. eve
dreamed about such meeting as this:
and it did me good to feel my fingers at
your throat, even in my dreams. I'll
do for you, if l swing for this nights
work"
There was struggle brief and des-
perate struggle, in which the two men
wrestled with each other, and the
chances of victory seemed uncertain.
Then Mr. Sleaford's bludgeon went
whirling up into the air, and descended
with dull thud, once, twice, three times
upon Roland Lansdell's bare head. At
ter the third blow, Jack the Scribe loosed
his grasp from the young mans throat.
and the master of Mordred Priory fell
crashing down among the fern and wild
flowers.
He lay very quiet where he had fallen.
CHAPTER XIV.
flor thar farexVall paaatiuv with NJ