Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1914-04-22
CHAPTER ".



Up to the present moment the two
young men had been confronted only
by series of mystifying incidents,
battling, to be sure. but bearing moth
ing sinister upon their face; and un-
less Van Vechten's more recent per
turbation lat sight of the yelled LADY,
be taken into account, neither had the
mornings queer events borne any
especial significance whatsoever.
But here, In the twinkling of an eye.
was tragedy stark and grim. Only a
minute or two ago and this man was
pulsing with the perfect vitality Of
young, vigorous manhood: now the
spark OF life was down--extinguished,
as one nigh. puff out the tame Of a
candle.
Both were profoundly sobered by
the shocking end of their brief chase,
and even Van Vechtens more active
mentality was slow to accept realiza-
ton. As for Tom Phinney, he merely
stood gaping at the still form, his
brain for the time being utterly be
numbed.
The spell of horror was in a mea2-
ure broken by a pollceman's belated
arrival He stopped and turned up the
could be seen staining the left temple.
The features were composed. as II
death had been kind and mercifully
swift.
"Slugged," was the officers senten.
tious conclusion. Standing upright. he
shot glance round the crowd. Who
saw this done?" he roughly demanded.
Nobody replied; only an uneasy stir
ring undulated through the small gath
ering which promptly settled again in
to silent immobility; and the blue-coat,
as usually happens in such cases,
sought to cover with rudeness his in.
competency to handle the situation.
II was at about this junctare, Van
Vechten forever afterwards remem-
bered, that he first became aware Of
the face, He was standing behind
Tom, Bit TO his left. and opposite the
alley mouth, His entire attention, nat
urally enough, up to this time had
been absorbed by the ugly scene at his
feet. II was all the more strange,
therefore, that his mind should have
been attracted and held elsewhere.
even temporarily. But nevertheless.
all at once he experienced an indefin-
able, irresistible impulse to glaLll up
Ward at certain point In the ring of
onlookers. And his regard came to rest
upon particular face.
Straightway he became sensible of
an unfamiliar thrill. an abrupt quick
not in the least account.
Perhaps he would have looked away
again at once had there not come to
him, as instantaneously as had the
impulse TO glance upward, a convic-
ton that the face signified something
far out OF the ordinary. The present
circumstances might in measure &C.
count for the horror mirrored there.
but not for the despair. the terror,
which seemed gradually to be chilling
the faces owner into a statue of ice.
The face. Van Vechten told himself,
potency for which the man's death
alone was wholly inadequate to &C.
count; the fixed stare was directed at
something beyond and behind the life
/ less figure.
II was girls face, It was refned
and delicate OF contour. and was
framed in a nimbus of wavy midnight
hair. II was. moreover. a strikingiy
beautiful face-even hauntlngly beau
tiful for 1t was face which the be
holder would not be likely to forget fol
many and many day Van Vechter
knew that he had never seen the cir
before; still there was somethins
about her that leased and perplexet
nim
! He knew dimly. later. that she mus
have been slender and not very tall
for she was standing In the paved al
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