The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1916-03-02

Esther aside at the first outbreak Of
The panic and the riot. A slash In the
sanvas walls of the tent had givel
Quabba ana Esther egress to safety
and Quabba had led his dazed young
mistress away. 81
After Arthur had been conveyed by
Durand and the others to their waiting
mOtorCar. Arthur, through excitement
al drugs. collapsed But he revived
wien he reached his rooms in his fne
new mansion. and demanded that
l. her be sought for.
II am not crazy he vehemently de-
lule! II saw Esther Here. and !
want you 10 bring me 10 herr
Now. calm yourself. Mr.. Powell
sad Durand soothingly. THE excite
ment which you have witnessed has
brought on another attack of this re-
current haiiucinat.On. y man annot
suffer cOncussiOu of the brain ANA 9th
er injuries, as you have. u.id hope to
escape serious mental us we'll as physi-
cal reactions. There. there. We must
And the hypocriticaI and unscrupu-
lous swindler administered liberal
dose Of the drug that he had permitted
Arthur TO become secretly. as Arthur
thought. addicted to.
Vivian added her Establishments to
he soothing hypocrises Of Durand.
and De VauX, the jackal kelt up a
murmur Of feiscned concern and sym
patty. Cnly Blair stood aloOf These
ways were not his, but Blair coveted
the power Of the Powell millions. which
Arthur's incapacity placed him in posi-,
ton to administer. and SO lie gave his
negative aid to the despi able plot to
ruin Arthur bodily, mentally, spiritual.
ly and financially.
BY the drug and the power Of sugges-
ton the conspiratOrs succeeded In i'm
pressing Arthur again that his seeing
Esther had been an illusion Of his dis
ordered mind. They further calmed
him by convincing him there had been
an accident at the circus that had
caused excitement, but the triple trag
edy he had witnessed was also a fig
ment of his hysteria.
Guarded as Arthur was and supplied
with soul and body destroying drugs.
it was easy for the cabal to keep news.
papers. visitors and other sources Of in
formation from him. Even his private
secretary had been sent by Blair as a
manager Of distant properties. SO that
Arthur might by no chance gain any
confirmation Of the presence Of Esther
in Los Angeles.
1t was not wholly easy to convince
Arthur. even under these conditions.
though he was weak willed and his
physical strength only returned to him
In measure. But to keep him from
thinking Durand and the Others incit-
ed him to one folly after another as his
strength came back to some degree.
Already they arranged for tallyho
party to the races on the morrow. They
feared to go too far In their efforts to
drive Esther from Los Angeles. Their
efforts were confined to keeping AR
thur separated from her. to augment
his fear Of complete mental collapse
under the threat Of the recurrent hal
lucinatiOns which they endeavored to
convince him his encounters with Es-
ther were.
On the other hand. tie conspirators
knew Esther's high spirit. They hoped
she would become discouraged and per-
haps disgusted ut Arthur's eccentric
treatment Of her-the cause Of which
she was not likely to suspect-and re-
turn to Richmond and Hagar.
But Esther was resolved upon solving
the strange mystery of Arthur's con-
duct. At each encounter since they
had been parted in the mining town Of
Mammoth just before he was so griev.
ously injured he had been delighted
Mt sight Of her and then some strange