The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-07
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| C1eopatra's asp with it's body turned to gold and it's eyes to emeralds. Dudley Venner looked every inch what he was, a man of culture and breeding; but he was gloomy and wore distracted air, as one whose life had met fatal thing He saluted scarce ly any one excepting his entertainers and old Dr. Kittredge, the local prac- titioner. who watched Elsie furtively but keenly.
 Elsie made a circle of isolation around herself. Drawing her arm from her fathers. she leaned against the wall and looked with a queer, cold glitter in her eyes at the crowd that moved and babbled around her.
 The old doctor went up to her. Well, Elsie," he said. do tell me how you happened to do such a good natured thing as to let us see you at such a great party?"
 Its been dull in the mansion house, " she replied, and I wanted to get out of 1t. There's nobody to hate since Dicks gone There's nobody there but Dudley and and the people, and I'm tired of 1t. What kills anybody quickest. doctor?" Then, in a whisper: T ran away again the other day, you know"
 Where did you go?"
 OhS tO IhC OAu pAdCO. was Ouly gone one night. Here, I brought this for you" And she handed him a flower. He started as he took it, for he knew 1t grew only in one place on The Mountain" and that one where no foot should venture.
 Have a good dance tonight, Elsie, . said the doctor, trying to smile, but looking grave.
 Bernard Langdon had arrived late and was dancing with pretty Rose Mil burn, one of his pupils. Presently in one of the turns of the dance he felt his eyes drawn to figure which he had not distinctly recognized. though he had dimly felt it's presence. He saw Elsie Venner looking at him as if she saw no one else.
 He was not a nervous person, like poor. overworked Helen Darley; but the glitter of the weird eyes affected him strangely He became silent The young beauty at his side chafed at his seeming neglect and the im- perious blood mounted to her cheeks, but-he was unconscious of 1t. There is one of the young ladies I must speak to- he said, and was just leaving his partners side. when, Four hands round" shouted the first violin, and Bernard found himself seized and whirled around in a circle. When he got back to his place he looked for Elsie Venner, but she was gone
 Old Dr. Kittredges narrow suIky turned in at the gate of the Venner mansion next day conveying the doctor in troubled thought. The house which MT. Venner had inherited from his Dudley ancestors, stood at the very foot of The Mountain" where it rose steepest with baldest cliffs and overhanging woods. It had been built in colonial times and was filled with massive furntture old silver, portraits and hangings brought from England. Around it and beyond ir, stretching out into the country, were farms belonging to the estate"
 In plain view from the library win dows was a small plat or green in the midst of whCih was a single grave marked by a small, plain, white slab of marble Dudley Venner's eyes saw it every time he looked out of the win dows of the room where he spent most of his time.
 The doctor fastened hIs horse and was walking up the garden alley when he stopped suddenly with a start A sharp. prolonged rattle. continuous and rising and falling rhythmicaI cadence, struck on his ears. For a moment the doctor felt all the terror of the crota- Jus, alias rattlesnake. which was ever with the people of Rockland He moved softly toward an open window. Elsie was alone in the room, dancing one of those wild Moorish fandangoes, such as a matador hot from the Plaza de Toros might love to lie and gaze at. She had caught up her castanets and rattled them as she danced. with a