The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-18

/
Laura. Mr.. .Fairlie would help them
convinced as he was that she was
truly Anne Catherick The sisters
went to the graveyard for farewell
| visit, and there they found Walter
| HartriEht.
| a week later three plainly dressed
people took cheap lodging in poor
| and crowded neighborhood in Lon
| aons east side. The man described
! himself as an artist and the two wo-
men as his. sisters. There, cut Off
( voluntarily from all his old connec.
i lions. shut out from all his old sources
1 OF income, Walter Lartright obtained
y work under an assumed name. Thence
/ forth he and Marian toied for the
| bare means OF existence, sustained By
| the dual mission of nursing Laura
| back to health and strength and the
Contamination to expose, unaided. the
| plot that had robbed her OF her for
| tune and even her identity
| They combined and set aside thelr
! small private fortunes for the work
! and lived vigorously on Walters small
| earnings, for they found at once that
they were facing a long fight. Their
! give them no hope He had not seen
| Laura in years He pointed out that
| with Mr.. Fairlic's evidence against
them u, the he task was hopeless. Indeed
and Hartright the dupes of mad
| woman delusion--dupes whom the
| courts OF law would be more inclined
| to look upon az calculating agents.
| When Walter Hartright reported
| this to Marian, he said: "ihere "
| only one hope. 1t is in the secret
that Anne Catherick and her mother
/ knew its betrayal means ruin to
| Sir Percival. its knowledge will give
us club to force confession CT the
Gf rfNy Ia i'm
| Acting on this conviction, he sought
} out Mrs. Clements. She told him ali
she knew Mrs. Catherlck and she had
+ been neiShbors twenty-five years ago
In Old Welmingham. whore airs. Cain
erick's husband was parish clerk He
/ mad left her suddenly after discover
( ing that she had held several secret
/ meetings with Sir Percival Clyde in
the vestry Of the church About the
I same time Anne was born. and Mrs.
I Clements had nurscd her and gradu-
! ally come to look ON her almost as her
own daughter. as her mother seemed TO
/ hate her
/ With this meagre information he
! hurried to Old Nottingham From Mrs
( Satherick he elected nothing His
/ other inquiries were equally fruit
/ less. He learned nothing TO hint what
the secret could be-nothinz except
/ this: that it had something to do
I with happening IN those far-off days
/ in the vestry.
Feeling himself against dead wall,
| Hartright sought out the old parish
clerk who had taken Cathencks place
/ when that man left the country after
/ the scandal. The talkative old feI-
\ low cheerfully showed uartright
L everything. incluong the great church
register, and the artist at once Iooked
| through the entries under the years
4 Percival's birth. After long search
/ his eye was caught by an entry
/ crowded in the most peculiar and sus-
/ picious way into tiny space at the bot
tom Of the page; 1t recorded the
4, Felix Clyde.
/. When tho old clerk put the register
! away again Hartright remarked on
the Insecure place in which 1t was
/ stored guarded as 1t was by a rusty
old lock and surrounded BY the accu-
/ rnulated litter of century.
1 "Ay. ay.'' said the old man, "our old
vestry counsel used TO worry about
| of It In his safe in Knowlesbury near
/ here. Very few know of it,
! Hartrisht saw CLEAN of hope II.
4 as he had immediately begun TO sus-
I pect, the entry OF the marriage was
| a forgery, ii could be proved from the
4 duplicate register. Ali the old stories
that he had heard about the curious.
hidden life OF Sir Percival's parents
! came back 10 him. He fastened to
! knowlesbury. It turned out as he had
marriage OF Sir Felix CLYDE.
,s rh,s vas a, the j., secret IT,, !, was IN Hart.
secret would prove Sir Perclval an i,legitI-
mate child and thus strip him OF the estate.
Tho disclosure. of the forgery would send
him TO prison!
He determined TO make sure that the res.
lister in the vestry OF the ehureh was put
{, inta safe place at once. Hastily ne went
back 10 Old Welmingham. II was dark
when he reached the old clerks house. To
was a light within. The door was barred,
Almost at the same instant the light
changed TO leaping blaze. a hand within
fused to obey. The hidden man threw
himself against the mighty door. In vain!
whole vestry, combust!ble as tlnder was a
mass OF fire. Scream after scream came
from within. Then all was still save for
the roar OF the flame.
i When the tircmen at last vcnturcd to en-
ter they found the terribly burned body Of
Sir i' Perc ai Clyde s a0@ : : : - 49, W.
Tho next day Mrs, catherick confessed
that this was indeed the secret. sir Per-
clvars parents never had been married. and
she had been bribed by him to steal her
husbands keys and to help him make the
forged entry.
And now that the secret was learned at
last. II was useless!
But here chance-blind, inscrutab|e chance
was TO step in and complete what human
wit could not. 1t led straight to Count Fcs-
co-Fosco. whose plot had worked itself out
with Sucn terFlDle sIIootunesS, fosco, IN
whose armor there seemed vulnerable
link. against whose fearful intellect there
seemed no weapon.
Many months had passed-months of un.
availing effort. Unavailing they were.
however, in tho direction of renstatinp
Laura, they had brought great happiness;
y for she had been married to Walter Hart.
4 right.
one evening Hartright was with an Ital.
ian friend, refugee whose life he had once
saved. Suddenly they met Count Fosco face
to face. In that instant the huge, !ordly.
mastertu man seemed to cover and shrink:
He turned leaden pale. His Jaw dropped
ike that OF one already dead, He fed With
a mortal dread. bowling his great form.
] Hartright, realizing the Importance 81
what had happened. urged his friend tn
the latter told him that he was a leader
lin a great secret brotherhood and that
4 Fosco. also a leader at one time, had be-
4 trayed its secrets. The duty lay upon him
under the most sacred OF oaths to set the
I.brothorhood's agents on his trail without
delay.
4 entered the Fosco house. He found it dis
ordered, IN evident preparation for hasts
flight. Under the threat to notify the
brotherhood al once. he forced a written
confession Fosco told how he had traced
Anna Cat hericlS to London and had lured