Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-27

far as money goes. En- passant, where
is your delicate monster passing his
honeymoon? Not with his bride, II
seems. That Is deuced queer. But to
return to your father, Gilbert wye. You
had better sit down, 1t is long story.
Mechanically Mignon sank into a
lseat with that choking lump still In
her throat, and her gaze fixed on Cy-
ril WE in a sort of fearful fascination.
An ugly demon sparkled in his
Ipale eyes. He had missed his venge-
ance in one way, but he would now
have 1t in another
The sight of Lispenard's wife. sit
ting there before him in her maddening
beauty, but no longer within his reach,
filled him with fury.
This little narrative, belle cousine,
should have been told you at the time
of your fathers disappearance" he
said: but my silly mother bribed me
to keep silent by paying my debts.
Luckily she is not here to stop my
mouth a second time"
/
Cyril Vye related the story Of his Un-
Gle Gilbert's career in the west, the
crimes he had perpetrated: the infa-
nous notoriety he had gained. Every
thing was told, and all the while Mig
non sat looking him full in his wicked
face, speechless, stunned, yet drinking
in every word.
81 meant to bring our king Of the
road agents to justice" said Cyril,
that very night when I IT turned with
you from New York. I had :elegraphed
for officers Of the law tC come to
Rookwood and secure him. They came,
but the bird had flown.
1--WE searched Rookwood over for
our man, but in vain. Then We cross
ed the river to Lispenard's house. He
allowed us to look about the place
led the way, in fact, through all the
rooms till he came to that chamber
where his crazy sister was once kept.
There he stopped-wouldn't let us In
side, you know, swore nobody was
There. He's a gentleman. The officers
knew him and believed him. They
were satisfied, was not! AS sure as
I sit here your father was at Lispen-
ards tower that night, concealed, with
Lispenard's consent, in the chamber of
his crazy sister, and he lied to the
sheriff-did our aristocrat-lied for
your sweet sake, and for your sweet
sake he hid the outlaw and helped him
safely off. Think Of a man like LIS
penard STOPPING to do such work as
that, and all because Of a pretty face!
He knew your fathers story, too. Shir-
law, without doubt, had told him that.
Our gallant captain, you know, recog-
nized the road-agent who had once
tried to rob him. and he couldn't swal-
llow that sort Of a father-in-law. So
he cut and run. Well, Gilbert wye got
off, as said before, thanks to Lispen-
ard, and went back to the west, and
to his old profession, as Lispenard
must have known he would do when
he helped him to escape from me-"
Still she kept that frozen silence
that stunned and dreadful silence her
eyes never wavering from Cyril Yves
face.
Il hear" continued the lawyer, that
for awhile he did nothing. Perhaps 1t
was a season Of remorse and repent
ance with my dear kinsman; perhaps
he really tried to give up his old voca-
ton; but the lull in business was
brief He gathered his gang and took
to the road again, and one night last
autumn he stopped a stage full or
armed vigilants, and according to the
local western papers, from which l
obtained my news, one of the most
desperate fights on record followed.
The vigilants were bound to hang him,
Ibut he refused to be taken alive. He
shot himself with his own revolver,
and fell dead in the midst OF them.
The newspapers state further that
daughter Of the outlaw was in the
stage and witnessed the whole tragedy.
That must have been your sister Es-
ther She came to my law-office In
the autumn and made minute inqu1-
ries about the route to Happy valley.
Here Is the account of Black Dawes
death" drawing some papers from his
pocket: perhaps you would like to
Tread 1t for yourself. Now, to sum up
the whole matter, Mignon, you nave
been clothed, fed educated for years
on the spoils of robbery and murder.
The garments that made your beauti-
lful body more beautiful, the luxuries
THAT nourished 1t, the accomplishments
THAT enhanced your charms, were all
bought with blood -money-the rified
pockets of dead men paid for 1t all
IYou used to think yourself an heiress,
land so you are-joint heiress with that
thigh and mighty Esther, to the black
est and foulest Of names, and to the
memory of a father who had to kill
himself, at last, to save his neck from
that doom he so richly deserved-the
rope!"
With a heart-rending scream, she
ling at Cyril Wye, but over and beyond
him, to a door which had opened sud
ldenly on the other side Of the room
lon it's threshold stood her husband
Abel Lispenard.
He stood there only for moment;
then, with a most unwonted exhibition
of his great strength, he seized Cyril
WE. and whrled him out Of his chair
You scoundrel! How dare you
intrude here!" he thundered, and flung
the lawyer straight through the door
land headlong down the wide stairs in
Ito the hall below. Col" he cried, in
TERRIBLE voice. go, before l kill you!
Yves senses were completely knock
ed out of him. He lay for some mo-
ments like a dead man; then he hastl-
lly gathered himself up from the floor
land fled, without word or sound. from
the house.
And in the room above, Mignor
lstood confronting her husband.
He is dead" she cried, wildly; my