Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-10-15
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IL TyzfO By
-. E.W. HORNUNG,
49, ~ AG y ~ "a Author Of
EaA 81 IA 49, 81 e. the ANA racks
A&O4H - - ~ man. "Sinsaree.
~ Etc - X - 4
! March. g: :;::: = !. $: So.
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1898 OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES,

SHS Sulcl ia TIE 1tOSamunu tnlS WO.
man came to my house. She had fallen
very low. Death seemed to me to have
set Its seal upon her, but she had in.
formation which she would only sell,
until I told her where Claire had gone
and whom she was to. marry. Then
and there it all came out. / must say
there was no huckstering then. The
wrctclied woman seemed genuinely dis.
tressed. She told me- Harding wiped
his mouth, and his voice trembled-
"she told me my daughter was gone to
be n murderer's wife,"
yet you did not know of it?"
II did not know about Blaydes. That
made the second.
Ellis second murder?' gasped Tom.
"Or manslaughter-call it what you
will. The first was the worst. 1t was
fratrlcide. There were two brothers.
James was the younger. Out shoot
| ing one day when they were both
mere lads, he shot dog dead in his
passion. The brother abused him. In
an instant he also was shot through
the heart. 1t was brought in an acct
dent, but the family knew what IL
was. They drummed him out. They
refused to see his face again. He
was as much transported as any felon
In New South Wales, with as good a
cause. We never knew why his fam
lily would have nothing to do with him.
Why, for instance, the very flowers he
laid upon his mothers grave were
summarily returned to him. 1t SEEM
ed inhuman, but think it was very
human now. God help me, thought
1t was only the ordinary wild oats
made too much of. But was at fault,
|grieyously at fault. Bitterly regret
1t. Bitterly shall rue 1t. till my dying
day.
Nicholas Harding was deeply moved
He was indeed different man. In a
hoarse voice he described the horrors
of the interminable outward voyage
the perpetual dread Of being too late,
the nightly nightmare OF Claire mar
ried to criminal lunatfc IL not dead
already by his hand.
Crime and Madness" said he, "are
In their blood. found that out too.
The mother was saint, but discov-
cred she had died In an asylum. The
father is sane, but you know his repu-
tation. He had denied me an inter
view before. forced myself upon
him now. And he admitted the perfect
truth Of the story had heard. You
ask how that woman came to know of
1t. Well. SO did /. AS told you, she
had sunk as low as possible. 1t seems
she made n practice of asking her COM
panions whether they knew aught of
the Daintrees, because she suspected
our guest of some shameful secret, but
never OF killing Biaydes, and she had
always the thought of repaying Claire
the good turn Of which Claire must tell
you. Well, at last-call it chance or
fate or what you will-but at last she
hit upon trail that led to the truth.
She discovered an old gamekeeper who
had actually seen the deed and been
pensioned to keep 1t secret, but blabbetl
1t in his dotage. And then she came to
Avenue Lodge"
Once his. tongue was lOosed and 1t
was seen that the subject excited the
conyalescent much less than had been
feared, Mr.. Harding would speak Of it
with apparent freedom. Yet the case
lad aspects which he sedulously shpn-
ned. And toward the end er.d! Of the yoy-
1ge he beeame yIsiblY troubled and
depressed, hut at last one chilly north
sr1 night, when the western islands
had been left astern. he too1 Tom by
the arm, and his hand tremhled.
"Erichsen." said he, ~ was once
your enemy. am now your friend.
In the near future am to be some
thing more, and ! cannot face 1t a
humbug and hypocrite. You remem-
Der those letters you gave me back
without question? have waited for
that question all these months. That
you have never asked 1t that alone
shows what you are. 1t makes 1t the
harder to have to tell you the kind of
man l was. But have made up my
mind that you shall know y
And he confessed that he had been
guilty enough Of the bribery all but
brought home to him and vet not more
guilty than hundred others, many Of
them ~ higher places, as he said with
perfect truth, but little bitterness. The
voyage out had purged him Of self es-
TEEN and arrogance; the homeward
voyage was rearing hetter qualities in
their place.
Yes, 1t was true bill!' he sighed.
True also that my money had silenc-
ed the witness who refused to spaak-