The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-02-25

laugh Of savage triumph when the
door closed behind his daughter.
At last he was left to his own de-
vices-and at q time the most fitting
imaginable for what he had in mind.
With a grin, Seneca Trine raised
both arms and stretched them wide
apart.
Then, grasping the arms Of his
chair, he lifted himself from It and
stood trembling upon his own feet for
the first time in almost twenty years.
This, then, was the secret he had
Rugged to his embittered bosom,
secret unsupported even by the at
tending surgeon; that through the
motor accident three days ago he had
regained the use of limbs that had
been stricken motionless-strangely
enough, by a motor car-nearly two
decades since.
Slowly but surely moving to the
bureau in the room, he opened one
thing he had without her knowledge,
seen Judith put away there while she
thought he slept.
Then, with this hidden in the
pocket of his dressing gown he
steered a straight IL very deliberate
course to the door, let himself out,
and like a materialized specter of the
man he once had been, navigated the
corridor to the head of the broad
central staircase and step by step,
clinging with both hands, negotiated
the descent.
The lobby of the hotel was deserted.
As the ceremony approached its end
every guest and servant in the house
was crowding the doorway to the
chapel. None opposed the progress
of this CHASTITY vision in dressing
gown and slippered feet, chuckling
insanely to himself as he tottered
] through the empty halls and corri-
dors, finding an almost supernatural
strength to sustain him till he found
himself face to face with his chosen
enemy and victim.
The first that blocked his way into
the chapel, a bellboy of the hotel,
looked round at the first touch of the
claw-like hand upon his shoulder and
shrank back with a cry of terror-a
cry that was echoed from half a
dozen throats within another instant.
AS If from the path of some grisly
visitant from the world beyond the
grave, the throng pressed back and
cleared a way for Seneca Trine, fa'
ther of the bride.
And as the way opened and he
looked up toward the altar and saw
Alan standing hand in hand with
Rose while the minister invoked 6
blessing upon the union that had been
but that instant cemented, added
strength, the strength of the insane
was given to Seneca Trine.
When Alan, annoyed by the dis.
turbance in the body Of the chapel,
looked round, it was to see the aged
maniac standing within a dozen feet
of him; and as he looked and cried
out in wonder, Trine whipped a re.
volver from the pocket of his dressing
gown and swung it steadily to bear
upon Alan's head.
At that instant the storm broke
with Internal fury upon the land.
A crash of thunder so heavy and
prolonged that it seemed to rock the
very building upon its foundations
accompanied the shattering of huge
stained-glass window.
A bolt of blush fame of dazzling
briIliance slashed through the window
like a flaming sword and smote the
pistol in the hand of Seneca Trine
discharging the weapon even as II
struck him dead.
AS he fell the bolt swerved and
struck two others down-Alan Law
and the woman who had just beer
made his wife.