The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-10-02

sion Mr.. Blake knows beforehand that
he Is going to take the laudanum.
which Is equivalent. physiologically
speaking. to his having. unconsciously
to himself. a certain capacity In him to
resist the effects.
Ten o'Clock.-The witnesses, or the
company-which shall I call them?-
reached the house an hour since.
A little before o o'clock I prevailed
on Mr.. Blake to accompany me to bis
bedroom, stating, as a reason, that l
wished him to look round 1t for the last
time In order to make quite sure that
nothing had been forgotten In the re-
ously arranged with B~etteredge that
the bed chamber prepared for Mr..
Bruf should be the next DON to Mr..
Blake's and that I should be inform
ed Of the lawyers arrival by a knock
at the door. Five minutes after the
clock In the hall had struck 0 I heard
the knock and. going out Immediately,
Altl MI DIul III tue COkIl0OAs
My personal appearance, as usual,
told against me. Mr.. Brufrs distrust
looked at me plainly enough out of Mr..
Bruf's eyes. Being well used to pro-
ducing this effect on strangers, 1 did
not hesitate a moment In saying what
1 wanted to say before the lawyer
found his way into Mr.. Blake's room.
1t was next necessary to get the
meeting over with the two ladies. I
descended the stairs-a little nervously
l confession my way to Miss verin-
der's sitting room.
Miss verinder herself suddenly OPEN
ed her sitting room door.
rs that MI. Jennings? p she asked.
Before I.could answer she came out
eagerly to speak to me in the corridor.
We met under the light of a lamp on
a bracket. At the first sight of me
Miss Verinder stopped and hesitated.
She recovered herself instantly, colored
for a moment, and then, with a charm
ing frankness, offered me her hand.
II can't treat you like a stranger, Mr..
jennings" she said. "Oh, II you only
knew how happy your letters have
made me?'
She looked at my ugly wrinkled face
with a bright gratitude so new to me
In my experience of my fellow crea-
lures that l was at a loss how to an
swer her.
She was far above the paltry affec-
tation Of being confused. She spoke
to me as she might to a brother or a
father.
Miss verinder went back to the sit
ting room, and l went upstairs to Mr..
Blake. To my surprise, I found him
alone. restlessly pacing his room and
a little irritated at being left by him.
self.
when are you going to give me the
laudanum?" asked Mr.. Blake impa-
tiently.
You must wait a little longer" 1
said. II win stay and keep you CON-
pany till the time comes"
1t was not then 10 o'clock. Inquiries
which I had made at various times Of
Betteredge and Mr.. Blake had led me
to the conclusion that the dose Of lau-
danum given by Mr.. Candy could not
possibly have been administered before
IL. l had accordingly determined not
to try the second dose until that time.
We talked a little, but both our minds
were preoccupied by the coming ordeal.
Two O'Clock a. m.-The experiment
has been tried. With what result I am
o to describe.
At IL o'clock j rang the bell for Bet
teredge and told Mr.. Blake that he
might at last prepare himself for bed.
l followed Betteredge out Of the room
and told him to remove the medicine
chest into Miss V~erinder's sitting room.
The order appeared to take him COM
pletely by surprise. He looked as If
he suspected me of some occult medi-
cal design on Miss Verinder. might
l presume to ask" he said, "what my
young lady and the medicine chest
have got to do with each otherY"
Stay in the sitting room and you
will see."
We found Miss verinder, pale and
agitated, restlessly pacing her sitting
room from enc to end. At a table in
a corner stood Betteredge on guard
over the medicine chest. MI. Bruff sat
down on the first chair that he could
find and plunged back again into his
papers on the spot.
Ito be continued