The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-10-31
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
BY BARONESS ORGY.
Author Of "Ths Scarlet Pimpernei" "Pettieoat Rule" Etc
Itlived the present holder.

outlived the present holder.
This letter was followed by sew
eral others about which neither Luke
nor Mr.. Warren knew anything, for l
told them nothing. At last there came
one from Brussels. BY this time 1 had
searched carefully through some let
ters which my brother, Arthur, had
desired that / should destroy after his
death, but which I had always KEEP
by me, meaning one day to comply
with his wish.
that my brothers marriage was a per-
fectly legal one, and that his son was
the only true heir-presumptive to the
title and estates which l had always
fondly thought could only devolve up
on Luke. l went over to Brussels de-
termined to see this Philip before he
set foot In England. The thought
that he would supersede Luke was
more than 1 could bear.
Il arrived in Brussels early one
morning, having crossed over in the
night. At once l drove to the mean
hotel where he was lodging. He was
sharing a room with a man with
whom he had picked up a casual ac-
quaintanceship on the sea voyage be-
tween the West Indies and Antwerp.
The two men had come over together
in the Belgian boat. They looked q
pair of young blackguards, out it did
not take me very long to be convinced
that for some reason best known to
himself my brother, Arthur, had de-
ceived nae and that his son, Philip, was
indeed the legitimate and rlghtful heir
to the title which l hold. The papers
were authentic and undisputable. This
much L knew and that Luke, whom l
loved best in all the world. more
than any father has eve loved
- ~ ~~1 ~ TO~l
clyffe so long as Philip de Mountford
lived.
Men will say hat 1 am an aban-
doned criminal, and indeed it may be
so. May God forgive me hereafter, for
! killed my brothers son, I pretended
TO rejoice at his homecoming, and in
half an hour had gained his confidence.
In the afternoon we went out together
and after a short walk we picked up
a taxicab. Philip gave the driver the
address of a restaurant at which l had
asked him to dine with me. 1 kept
carefully in the shadow, SO that the
man shouldn't see me-. Then on the
way in the cab I killed him. When
his head vas turned away from me,
/ plunged an old Italian stiletto which
I had carried about with me-, ever since
l had had letters from Philip, straight
into his neck.
He died instantly without a groan,
and l was sick to death, but l man
aged to sit quietly beside him until
he cab pulled up; then I jumped out
and told the chauffeur to drive my
friend on to some remote place on
the b~oulevards.
Il watched the a until it was out
OF sight, hen I hailed another and
drove straight to the Gard du Nord,
and crossed back to England that
night. 1 threw the stiletto overheard
into the sea. I had spent II hours i n
Brussels, and I had killed Philip de
Mountford, and made sure hat Luke
would be Earl of Radcliffe after me.
1T was not likely that in their search
for the missing criminal who had
stabbed an unknown stranger in a cab,
the Belgian police would suspect an
English peer. The mystery of that
crime has remained impenetrable. be-
u nothing was ever known Of the
stranger who was murdered. AT the
mean hotel where he lodged no one
knew anything about him. Only one
person knew and he was silent for
purposes of his own.
Before the police searched the I'M
known strangers oom the room which
he shared with the chance friend whom
he nae picked up on the Belgian boat
the latter already had found and con-
cealed the papers which would have
revealed h identity of the murdered
man, If o that Of his murderer.
Il, at home in England, wondered
how it was that the Belgian police had
eve discovered thai the murdered
man was named Philip de Mountford
and that he claimed to be the heir
to the earldom of Radcliffe. 1 expected
paragraphs in the paper, some un-
p~leasantness even, but none came.
II could not understand it, for 1 had
forgotten the existence of the chance
friend.
And then one day last April 1 I'M
derstood. Once more 1 had letters from
abroad, from a man who claimed to
be my brothers son. AT first I thought
the whole thing a silly imposture, un-
til the day when a man confronted
me in my own house, armed with every
proof h I had killed Philip de Mount
ford in Brussels. He had the latter's
passports, his birth and marriage GER
tiicates, his letters Of Identification.
all, all the papers that he had filched
from among the dead mans things,
and which he now Haunted before me,
daring to prove him an impostor. If
I am not Philip de Mountford,' he said
to me, then where Is Philip de Mount
ford?' And from that hour, I was as
wax in his hands. He held me and
he knew it. I might have proved him
an impostor, and he could prove me
a murderer.
Heaven alone knows how I did not
lose my reason then. I floundered in
sea of wild conjectures, wild pro-
jects. wild hopes of escape. But my
tyrant held me, and I dared not rebel.
And ono more I was obsessed with
the awful gertrude that Luke would
never be Earl of Radcliffe after me,
while this man lived.
He had sc taken upon himself the
personality Of Philip, the evidences
which went to prove his identity with
the late Arthur de Mountford's son
were SO strangely circumstantial, that.
short of proclaiming loudly hat I had
killed my brothers son with my
hand, nothing could prevent the i'm.
poster from succeeding in flching
Luke's inheritance.
"And even If I had confessed then,
It seemed to me that this man would
still succeed in proving that I had
IN unknown strangers
chance friend, who was an English
bricklayer's son-and that he and he
only was Philip de Mountford, the late
Arthur's son.
When did I FIRST dream of killing
him, as I killed the other? I could
not tell you that. But It was some time
ago, and I watched my opportunity
with patience and perseverance. Then
at last the ODportunfty came.