The Washington herald., 1911-01-09
CHAPTER XIII.
The End of the Bondage,

| won tdlk aDOut tHe hOrrOrS Vi tHa'
] time. but the evidence against me was
strong. According to the prosecution.
had left my uncle and gone along the
veranda until I came to the gunroom
Then had secured a revolver and made
my way back. and. entering unperceived
had shot my uncle in the head. will
the one in favor of Robert Shenstone
| under which Beatrice also received a
legacy Of $4,000, was found on the ia.
BILE: the other. in my favor. had disap-
peared. though the butler-who had gone
in to make the fire up-had seen both the
wills on the table. just after I left. The
theory was that I had taken the wrong
will in mistake and not discovered the
error until too late.
''The shot must have been fired while
the servants were having tea One OF
them had declared there was shot fired,
and the remark had been made that il
must be poachers near to the house.
THE chief witness against me was
Beatrice Shenstone, who told how I had
| forged my uncle's name to q check. and
| that there had been a bitter feeling on
my part since then. My counsel declared
that in the interview had with my uncle
he had exonerated me from the forgery
with which he had charged me. but the
slip Of paper I had sent him could not
be found. and I had not an iota Of evil
dence to support my statement.
THE verdict was guilty, but the people
| who had known me exerted themselves
! in my behalf. l believe Beatrice did her
best, too, and the sentence was COM
muted to one Of penal servitude for life.
Il knew the real criminal was Beatrice
Shenstone. l expect she went into the
| library after 1 left. and my uncle would
| tell her that in week or two she was
| to leave the hall. She was a proud girl.
| would madden her. and in a frenzy of
rage she committed the murder Then.
| in order to save herself, she did her ut
most to throw suspicion on me, and cir
cumstances helped her.
The thing that maddened me most was
the knowledge that Julia would read of
the tragedy in the papers and think OF
me as the guilty wretch they painted me
''Of my prison life. will only say that
tried to bear it like a man; but it was
really the longing to be revenged on
Beatrice Shenstone that made me strug-
gle to live and conduct myself SO that
might get out before the twenty years
which mean a life sentence expired.
Two years after my conviction
ried to her cousin. Robert Shenstone.
who had inherited the Hall. had known
him slightly as a hard-working barrister
later. he became Judge. You have seen
Josh, my personal attendant. He was q
fellow prisoner of mine. and somehow we
got to like each other His was a life
sentence. He had in the heat of passion
killed a man. and Josh took his punish
ment as a thing he deserved. l told him
bits of my story when I'd a chance. and
think he felt nearly as bitter against
Beatrice Shenstone as I did.
''Our sentences ran concurrently, and
when we had been sixteen years in prison
we were both released with the under
standing that We reported ourselves reg
ularly. I told him il he liked to come
with me he should share what had. The
first thing I did was to see Shanlon. He
had been an elderly man when I was
convicted. but he was still living, and
he had nursed my little fortune of five
hundred q year SO judiciously that I was
quite a rich man. 1 got him to realize it
all. Then I persuaded him to give me
the whole Of it in gold and notes. mostly
the latter; then one night Josh and I
sailed for South America There was not
an extradiNon treaty for the port chose,
so I knew they could not fetch US back.
though We had broken the terms Of our
ticket-of-leave, as we did not intend ever
to report ourselves to the police again.
1T Is ten years since We landed in South
America, and at once began speculating.
My luck was marvellous; everything !
touched turned to gold. changed my
name after I landed: I was determined to
destroy all traces. A man whom I had
helped died: his name was Sandstone. l
had him buried as Paul Shenstone, and
sent a notice to the London papers of his
death. That was six years ago. I had
an object in all this; I intended to re-
turn to England and work out my scheme
Of vengeance. I had managed to hear a
good deal about the Shenstones during
my brief time in LondAn, and I was
aware they had one child. had one
child. and through Beatrice Shenstone he
had been lost to me.
"a little more than two years ago
left South America, transferring my for
tune to a bank in Melbourne: then, after
spending q short time in Australia and
getting a pretty good knowledge of the
country. I went to Paris. Josh accom-
panying me as he had done to Australia
I'm Paris I went to q specialist and
had my two principal features altered.
Ny nose and mouth were quite changed.
I began to wear moVstache. and my
hair was gray. Ny figure. too. had
changed, 80 I did not fear detection.
Josh had fortunately had his nose broken
while we were in Australia, and made
him have his lip altered. after which
we came to England looked out for
a house, not too Tar from Arlington Hall.
The Hermitage was in the market. 80
bought II. went freely about the
district, spoke 10 farmers and people who
had known ms when I was q young
man, without being recognized. The rea-
SON I avoided society was because !
couldn't have visited at other houses
and refused Invitations At Arlington Hall.
and I would not break bread in the
house Of my enemy. A. soon a. was
settled at the Hermitage began to]
arrange matters In order 10 work ont the
scheme Of vengeance had formed. I
resolved that tho. activo party should
be q young man Had taken the mat
ter In hand Il was possihle In the end
suspicion would heve fallen on me-. and
both Josh and dnd ourselves IN prison
again. / punposed that the man-who
was TO be my Aop1ty- -ahould win the
a0ectionb of Nargaree Shsnstone, then
hiu the judgs. and would have arranged
matters - tAat Gu9Dec6oa would tai %
his wifa. Whan III this hA4 h1ppoaed
I shouId Aayo to1l tho Hon-Who had
been th1 tnsfxuk q NJ Sevenge-l
whAt ! - lev tell1ng -
'.peaft ~ tA1pllf goe - 4Aing
- Ara2 Anoeog 1lk -
IL; Il