The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1909-05-27

BY GUY THORNE
Sweet is revenge, especially to a
woman."-LOrd Byron.

mouth was half open, showing the
pearly teeth, and there was a high,
unwonted color in the baby cheeks.
Miss Decies felt under the impro-
vised quilt for one little plump arm,
withdrew It from its covering, and
placed her thin fingers upon the pulse.
IT'S all right she whispered to her
self. IT'S all right. DR.. Ludwig knew
exactly the strength Of the drug. It
has not injured him, and it will not
inure him. He will awake in ten
hours time, feeling a little sick and
without any knowledge Of what has
passed. And now, and low
She rose, leaving the drawer open,
and vent to a cupboard at another
side of the room. From this cupboard
she took a large square of material,
heavily quilted with eider-down upon
the inside. The out side was of black
and white macintosh, very much like
those holdalls with which ladies travel
so much nowadays, and with the usual
combining straps.
Miss Decies laid this in the center
Of the carpet. Then she stole back
into the sitting-room and glanced at
the clock. 1t was now exactly twenty
minutes to two.
Then, for a moment her resolution
and courage seemed to fail her. She
tottered to an arm chair which stood
by the bedside and sank down upon
it. Her head fell forward and she
lifted her thin, sinewy old hands and
covered her face.
What am | dOing?" she moaned to
hercelf. "Oh, what am | doing? Leo
pold! Leopold! it is for your sake;
it is for your sake, my son, that / am
committing this frightful crime; that
| am turning upon the hand that fed
me, that ] am bringing misery and
ruin upon a great house. My son, it
is for you!"
She rocked backwards and forwards
in a piteous agony Of terror and re-
morse. And as she did so a faint
moan came from the child who lay in
the deep coffin shaped box protruding
from the wardrobe.
She rose with a swift movement
and went to the drawer. The little
Duke had but turned ~uneasily in his
sleep. One tiny, chubby hand was
raised toward the rounded velvet
check, and a deep sigh came from be-
tween the little rosebud lips.
Miss Decies knelt down once more,
and as she did SO a sudden impulse
came to her. he bent over the coffin
like box and lightly kissed the little
boy upon the brow.
Poor little Fitz," she murmured,
poor Beatrice. But it Is for Leopold;
Is is to save him. I must do it. L"
The tears had begun to trickle from
her eyes, when she quickly jerked her
self upon her feet. almost ran into the
sitting-room once more opened tho oak
cupboard and filed the tinted glass
with courage. She drained 1t, shud-
dered again, and then, with slower
steps, went back int the bedroom, Just
as the clock upon the m~antlsshSif,
with It's muffled cathedral chimes,
beat out the message that it was a
quarter before two.
She bent yer the drawer and with
a supreme effort lifted out the sleeping
child. Staggering towards the quilted
covering in the center Of the room,
she placed him upon it so that his
head projected a littI from the upper
edge. Then, with purposeful fingers,
she rolled the thing about him and
strapped it carefully until the little
sleeping boy resembled nothing so
much as one OF those long bundles
in which the indian woman carries her
papoose. The unconscious boy moan
ed again uneasily as the long, thin
arms Of his betrayer bound his secure
ly in the padded prison. When the
strapping was complete, however, he
remained motionless, and no more
sound came from him.
Then Miss Decies took a woollen
skull cap and placed 1t upon the curl
ing chestnut hair, tying it beneath the
chin with it's silken ribbons. Finally
she lifted the whole burden by a
leather handle in the center, to which
a ring, lined with india-rubber, was
attached and carried it into the sitting
room as IL 1t were a mere bundle Of
rugs and umbrellas.
She laid the bundle down Just I'M
der the straight fall of the rope which
depended from the high pulley above.
The bundle, with the little project
ing head half covered with the wooden
cap, lay upon the floor with the ghast-
ly suggestion Of a corpse. The woman
looked at it s~teadfastly for a minute
or two, and as she did so all the hest
tation and remors seemed to die out
of her face. The eyes began to glow,
not o with grim determination
alone, but with the fierce and horriG
light of madness.
She pointed one long, lean finger at
the bundle, and chucked dryly In her
throat.
"Ah!' she whispered, with a fright
full leer, there you are! The great
little duke. heir to untold millions.
You who were going to be a mighty
prince of England. There you are,
knowing nothing at all! Minel Mine!
and Leopold's! Mine and Leopolt's
and Sophia's! Sophia, who once was
my W charge, my little stubborn
pupil at Landskrona- My terrible. un-
relenting mistress now! All the world
will talk Of YOU tomorrow-will talk
OF that silly little bundle. From San