Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-05-09
Ole EARL'S HEIR
........ By CHARLES CARvICE .


| a match ana HI Lne nfe reduy mdue
in the small and poky CRATE. But the
wood was damp, and the crate would
not draw, and presently the tiny, sui
len flame died out.
He knew that if he went to bed
cold and chilled he should not sleep.
and he lit the lantern to light him to
the woodshed.
| Holding the lantern near the
ground, he peered at the heap keenly
and shudderingly
1t was just as he had left it, and
he seemed to remember the position
of every stone and protuberance.
1T is all right" he muttered be-
tween his teeth, btu he did not go inn
mediately. Instead he stood and star
ed down at is as If overcome by sud
den stupor
Then, with an oath, ne pulled him
self together. and, resolutely turning
his eyes away from the heap, went to
the shed and got some wood.
When he got back to the house ne
felt in his pocket for his matchbox and
found it, but suddenly missed his
Keys
This staggered him. and he stood
staring at the fire vacantly, then he
forced a smile.
Il am fool" he muttered. I've
left them in the gate
With the lantern in his hand he
went down the garden, and found that,
as he had thought, he had left the
key attached to the bunch sticking in
the keyhole of the wall door.
Cursing himself for his stupidity,
he locked the door, and, with the keys
in his hand, returned to the parlor
The fire was burning up, and he
drew his chair close and sat huddlea
up over the blaze, and went over the
scene with Norah. But every now and
then there came a CHASTITY pause in
his reflections, and In that pause the
ghost of his crime stalked across his
mind, and made the silence of the
cold, damp little room truly hideous.
He got some more brandy at inter.
walls, and at last succeeded in produc-
| ing the exhaustion which is the ghast-
| ly imitation of wholesome sleepiness
| Then he rose, and with final
drink went heavily upstairs
| But, exhausted as he was. he in
stinctively pulled aside the blind and
stared through the window at the
heap in the garden, just as he used to
do before he left for London: and
with an oath. he dropped the blind
and began to undress.
Curse the place and everything in
is!' he muttered as he got into bed
TT wish II were burnt down.
i Then he succeeded In distractina
his mind from the one haunting fear
and forced himself to think of Norah
and so fell into an uneasy, restless
doze. He had not been asleep more
than an hour when he woke suddenly
with the dim consciousness that he
had been awakened by some kind of
noise.
He sat up and listened, and for q
time all was silent. and he was about
to throw himself back. when he heard
faint noise, which seemed to come
from the room beneath, the room in
which Becca had-died.
The cold sweat gathered upon his
face. and he sat shiverng and quaI-
ing, with his ears strained painfully.
trying to persuade himself that II
was only fancy. But as he listened
with an agonized acuteness he dis.
tinctly heard the noise again. Ii was
the sound of footsteps, muffled and
cautious, of some one moving in the
room below
He got out of bed and. slipping on
some clothes stole to the door. Then
he smiled ghast'y smile of relssnf.
ance; the noise no doubt was made
BY the Old woman, who was paying a
visit to the sideboard on the chance
of his having left the brandy decanter
not locked up.
I'm give the hag fright he NUT
tered, and he went to drawer and
took out an old-fashioned pistol, and,
loading it with blank charge. crept,
with 1t in his hand, to tn head of the
stairs.
All was silent again now. but he
knew that he had heard the noise and
not merely dreamed that he had
done so. and slowly and Continuously
descended the stairs.
Although he was prepared for Il,
the sight of thin streak of light
coming through the partly open door.
way of the sitting.room gave him a
start. and. with stifed oath. he
moved forward on tiptoe. and softly
pushed the door more widely open and
peered round It,
Then he fell back and clutched the
pistol tightly, for II was not the bent
decrepit figure OF the old woman he
saw within the room, but that OF q
man
Now. Guilford Berton was not al
ltogther a coward. and the shock tc
his overstrained nerves. weakened D,
the copious draughts OF spirits. could
mot be set down entirely to fear
After moment or two he collected
fhipnSN1f ond ncarad atnun3 tho doc,