Ladysmith news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1906-1907, 1907-01-26
THE
BrangwyIl 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 well assured that
the frost of Seeming age would be up.
on his head before he had repeated the
| process half a 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
had made his hair.
He was not at this time conscious
of much beyond a certain numbness of
the mind. The shock of his cousin S
telegram had come heavily upon him
and had left him with little more than
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 Al0ysius
before his accusers, and saw him
produce the document which saved
himself because it condemned the
| writer.
He saw himself flying southwark
with 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 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 numb
nausea at the back of it, but the pic
lures flashed upon his mind as wildly
as if he saw them as things present
themselves in dreams of unusual dis
tinctnesS. When his hair had dried
he restored it 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 a possible absence of three days.
Il may be away longer" he said.
Il may be back before
He took a last look, a conscious
look, at all the costly objects of art
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.
Now cut and fetch a hansom," he
said, when the man had finished pack
ing; land be quick about it."
He was driven to the railway station
and arrived there with five minutes to
spare. He bought a little pile of mag
azines and a 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
cigars he reserved for his own special
smoking
He encountered nobody whom he
| knew, and, as it CHANGED, he had the
compartment he had chosen to him
self. The train bore him on the old
familiar, often-trayeled 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 stranger the
purpose of his journey. He thought
idly that in all his speculations on
this time he had never realized how
I little exciting it would prove. And
yet he knew quite we'll that there were
a horror and a 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 garnet studio in
Paris, had told to AlOysius and himself
the story Of an execution. 1t 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 2
pale face, and passed his forefingeE
round the inside of his collar, drawing
it from the windpipe, where it seemed
to exert an unpleasant pressure, and
moistened his dry lips with his tongue
He reached Dover and lounged aim
lessly about the place, and made a
pretence of luncheon and drank pint
of champagne. Looking at his com
panions at table he said to himself:
orxv of no0r1o 1ypnvU ma I1x