The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-01-25
THE z
BrangWyn Mystery

urated his hair and mustache with this
liquid and left them so. 1t was hair
bleaching preparation of his own in
vention, and he was we'll assured that
the frost of seeming age would be up
On his head before he had repeated the
process half dozen times. He placed
the bottle and small sponge with
which he had applied a portion of it's
contents in the bag beside the bank
notes. Then he finished the whisky
he had taken with him, lit cigar, and
sat down to think and to wait until he
could arrange the mop into which he
bad made his hair.
He was not at this time conscious
OF much beyond certain numbness of
the mind. The shock of his cousins
telegram had come heavily upon him
and had left him with little more than
a nightmare sense that some great
time of horror was approaching. And
yet with all this he could make the
clearest picture in his mind. He saw
the men and women whom he knew
best, and looked on whilst the news
was told to them. He saw Aloysius
before his accusers, and saw him
produce the document which saved
himself because it condemned the
writer.
He saw himself flying southwark
with a score of divergences at obscure
country places from which branch
lines parted for other places, whence
he could work sinuously back to the
main line again. He saw himself,
silver-haired and bowed, halting along
the streets supported by staff. He
saw two keen-faced men-one French
one English-in a railway carriage
detectives, with a warrant for the ar
rest of Alexis Brangwyn He saw
Lillian with look of incredulous hor-
ror in her eyes. He saw her face
change to loathing and disdain
1t was all idle thinking, with a numb
nausea at the back of it, but the pic
lures flashed upon his mind as vividly
as il he saw them as things present
themselves in dreams of unusual dis
tinctness. When his hair had dried
he restored 1t to it's usual order, open
ed his door. and, carrying his calf
skin handbag and bestowing it upon a
table in the outer room, bade his SER
want pack for him the things needful
for possible absence of three days.
II may be away longer" he said.
II may be back before"
He took last look, a conscious
of oil he
with which he had surrounded him
self; the cleaning marbles, one or two
of them the work Of his own hands;
the brOnzes with which the walls were
rich, the fine etchings, the proofs be-
fore letters, the little gems of water
color signed with we'll known names,
many OF them the gifts of friends.
Nov cut and fetch hansom," he
said, when the man had finished pack
ing; "and be quick about it."
He was driven to the railway station
and arrived there with five minutes to
spare. He bought little pile of mag
azines and novel. For all his be-
numbed mind, and for all that he was
flying for his life, he had thought
enough for his own comfort to thrust
into his handbag an unbroken box of
cigars he reserved for his own special
smoking.
He encountered nobody whom he
knew, and, as it chanced, he had the
compartment he had chosen to him.
self. The train bore him on the old
familiar, often-traveled line through
the sunshine of the open fields. AS he
lay back In his corner smoking, and
looking from time to time out of the
window, and now and then at the
pages OF the book he held in his hand.
there was nothing in his aspect which
could have denoted to a stranger the
purpose OF his journey. He thought
idly that in all his speculations on
| this time he had never realized how
little exciting it would prove. And
yet he knew quite we'll that there were
horror and terror waiting for him
from which he should never escape
whilst life should last.
An acquaintance whom chance had
thrown in his way, working journal.
list whom Billery had brought one af-
ternoon to the old garret studio in
Paris, had told to Aloysius and himself
the story of an execution. It was grim
ly told, with all the detail Of the born
observer of events, and told, too. by a
born recounter, who had since achiev-
ed sort Of celebrity that way. 1t
came to his mind now and he saw it
all with that creative artist eye of his
the hangman pinioning his stony
prey. the procession from the con.
demned cell to the gallows, the chap
lain reading the burial service over
the living man. the investiture in the
white cap, the drawing of the moose
about the neck. Alexis sat up with a
pale face, and passed his foref1nge-
round the inside Of his collar. drawing
1t from the windpipe, whore It seemed
to exert an unpleasant pressure, and
moistened his dry lips with his tongue
He reached Dover and lounged aim
'essly about the place. and made a
,retence Of luncheon and drank pint