Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-25
V*esA V*sSA V*A V*ssA w
THE FRENCH
DUELLNG PISTOLS
CRONKITE PLAYS A DOUBLE PART AND
JUDGE MARCELLUS'S COAT is SINGED.
*A ss*A s.A ss*A sss*A ses*A ss*A 1854

| SHOuSH COuSlu 1IIlllp lOl dli
practical purposes
Very good, SIR" returned Cronkite
submissvely but obviously. Il learned
just as l was leaving that Mason
Vance has been arrested for this s'ime.
Is there much of a case against him."
Tn inclined to think the police have
the guilty man." answered the judge
Young Vance at one time was very
close to Mr.. Nagle. They parted in
| anger He is familiar with the house
and may well have had passkeys to it.
He has been impOrtuning Mr.. Nagle
to consent to something which he has
| steadfastly refused to consider.
Why, the very weapon with which the
murder was committed is one of pair
of French duelling pistols which Mr.
| Nagle gave to Vance"
The consent which Vance sought
and Mr.. Nagle refused to grant was to
Vance's marriage to Miss Prentice,
assume, sir?"
| "Ah, you have moled out that much,
have you? Well, let me tell you that
Kate is a good girl, conscientious
girl, who would never meet her lover
secretly, if that is where your con-
founded imagination is about to lead
you"
Il am aware already, sir, that
Vance's arrest was a surprise as COM
plete as it was terrible to her. But to
go on. You told me that if Philip
Goodhue were alive, as you were con-
vinced he is dead, he would now be en-
titled to all of the realty. Will you
please tell me how and why?"
Simply because old Amos Nagle,
uncle to these two cousins, Oscar Ma
gle and Philip Goodhue, loved the one
as much as he distrusted the other, yet
felt that the property imposed a duty
upon him toward each. He believed.
as l still believe, that when Philip dis
appeared he could not last more than a
few years on account of his evil ways.
Yet this sense of duty constrained
him to provide in his will that if Oscar
should die, never having married, Phil
ip, if he survived, should inherit. Then,
on his very deathbed, alarmed by the
thought that Philip might in some way
encompass Oscars death, and yet not
be held legally responsible, he made a
codcil which he delivered to me to be
kept secretly and only to become Oper-
ative at my discretion.
70
other more distant collateral descend
ant, who turns out to be my dear Kate
Prentice Of course it has no validity
now, nor will any one ever see it or
know where I've had it hid; but have
sometimes thought that were Philip
still alive, with his Internal ingenuity
and intuitive knowledge of the work.
ings of his old uncle's mind, or rather
conscience, he would have a shrewd
idea of just some such secret provis-
ion against him; but what's the use?
Il m getting to wonder and wonder
worse than you, Abe. AS | told you
yesterday, I had sure word long ago
that Philip is dead, we'll dead"
Abe Cronkite sat in heavy thought.
Then he walked to the window and
looked out on the garden, cool, clear
and deserted under the moonlight. He
turned again with that expression OF
intense seriousness which the judge
even when he Knocked had learned to
respect.
Il want you to do something,
Judge: there is no time, nor is it now
wise to tell why" he said. Il want
you, after l have made myself up a
bit and gone out for a while, to sit
here i'm the dark, behind locked doors,
pending the three raps of my return.
Not a word, please, now, judge. / will
explain later to your satisfaction"
Almost against his will the judge sat
in silence watching his man as he
stepped to the mirror and made some
deft changes in his appearance; as he
stepped to the closet and put on the
judges own long black coat and took
up the judges own hat and cane. Not
a word of reproach or gesture of res
traint came from the judge, as Cron-
kite. in a dignified pace. inimitahly like
his own, passed out of the room. on
the contrary. he put out the light and
locked the doors.