Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-06-02

away 10 put nll1 III Charge VI Soui
business. Prier and myself have found
out a great deal about him lately,
though there are many other things
we'd like to know of him that we don't
some questions regarding him that
we shall undoubtedly never find an
swers to. Whether a certain letter was
written to him, for instance. Mr.. Ly-
man lived here at Jahnway Park, by
the way, for a short time, in some pc
culiar capacity, and has been a fire.
quent visitor here (not to the owner,
but to some of the servants), even as
late as since my arrest"
Yes; but are you not wandering
from the subject?"
Not far Please have patience. Let
me tell the story in my own way. This
gentleman was distantly related to Mr..
Craig, too. the husband who was
drowned, as you remember having
heard, and had some business trans
actions with him. We have reason to
believe that Miss Bannottie went to
Mrs. Craig'S house, the night she muir
dered that lady, to obtain possession Of
some document, some business paper,
we don't know what"
We'll? What connection had Ly-
man with Miss Bannottie's refusal Of
Prier's -brother?"
This: At the time Mr.. Priers broth
er met her for the first time, during
all the weeks of his acquaintance with
her, and for a long time after his
tragic death, she was Samuel Lyman's
wife!"
Married? Lurline Bannottie mar
ried?"
Certainly"
But I never heard her lament Mr..
Lyman's death"
Mo. She had been separated from
him. legally separated, for years. He
obtained the divorce, I believe, and l
think that there had been trouble be-
tween them even before the episode Of
Prier's brother. She was in Europe
when Mr.. Lyman died, and But
1 see I am firing and horrifying you
You have no idea how wicked Lurline
Rannottie has been"
No? Do you think you have, Mr.
Gilbert Sem? Until you learn how
Samuel Lyman died, until you know
that Lurlne Bannottie was not in Eu-
rope when he was tried by the fire,
you will not know more Of her evil
life than you do now. You know all
YOU can know in this world; as for
the next-be patient, Gilbert Sem, you
may not have long to wait!
"She played a desperate game in the
letter she sent me-" said Sem. IF l
had declined Aldrichs aid I should
undoubtedly have suffered death in her
place."
Undoubtedly"
And a more desperate game in the
anonymous letter to Prier, Of which he
told me and of which 1 have told you.
She meant to cast such suspicion up
on Aldrich as would part you and him
for ever, no matter what else happen
ed"
Il have no doubt Of that" said Ell
sic, and she grew white and trembled.
And very likely thought she could
get him in such a situation that she
could exact the price she desired. in
payment for the silence of her lying
lips. The price of his hand and his
name, at least, though his heart was
elsewhere"
Il believe it,
"Prier's life has been shadOwed by
all this. Strong, able, acute, there is
still one weak spot in his mental make
up--one place where l fancy the eyes
of a man who loves him, as l sincere
Nv do. can detect the scar of the blow
which has fallen, again and again, up
on his mind and soul"
Il do not understand you; please ex-
plain"
Il will. Prier has always been de-
tective, since he has done any work in
the world at all. / learned that at
the Boston office of the agency by
which he is employed. But-his re-
cent life, for a half-scOre Of years or
So. has been clouded by this tragedy
of the half-sister he so tenderly loved.
Would it be strange if he sometimes
tancied that in the happy days of the
long-ago his employment was other
than it is now? He often claims to
have studied this, or to have done
that. before he became a detective. AS
quaint as he is good, as eccentric as he
is noble, as full of a fine sense of hu-
NOR as he is Of the wisdom of his pro-
fession, I still sometimes think"
Yes. You think what?"
That a man with a giant intellect
may vet be partially mentally crippled;
that he not only tells the stories he
does, but actually believes them!'
Sem arose. Elsie followed his ex-
ample. She gathered her few articles
of clothing and jewelry, he giving
what assistance he could. They pack
ed them into two small valises. Then
they descended the stairs, for second
time. walked out from the grand and
gloomy old house, under the glory of
the light of sunset and walked away
together-away from Jahnway Park,
for ever,
And in the early evening, with the
moonlight falling cold and white about
him and the men who came with him,
Walter Aldrich came. Came to find
the house empty, the rooms desolate,
and the moonbeams lying colder and
whittier than elsewhere on the stony
face of the man who had been his
meSsenger-the man who had dared
the wrath of Lurline Bannottie-the
man who had weighed her courage
and her cruelty against his manly
strength. and had found himself want
ing.
Walter Aldrich went away again,
1icbpa rtpDp6-went