The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1925-02-18
byVictOr Rousseau
Copyn sht by W. G. Chapman
CHAPTER IX-Continued
Copyright by W. G. Chapman

phine, and then he'd have terrible out
bursts of rage. and his mind would 60
especially when he'd have those fits
after he came back from Avonmouth.
But after that the hoodoo got him.
That was when | was afraid"
"The hoodooY inquired Joan.
Miss Wentworth. the devil who
was at him so long got hold of him
once or twice. I've seen him come
back from Avonmouth different man.
Miss Wentworth. That's when I've
been afraid. Because the devil that
can kill the body isn't much Of. q
devil, but when he kills the soul there
is no help but prayer When he's In
those dreadful moods he's another
man. He's a wicked man, Miss Went
worth, and I'd shoot him then, If he
tried to harm me or any of mine. and
/ wouldn't think I'd killed Doctor Lam
caster. 1t all began after they accused
him Of stealing the trust funds"
ut is not true" said Joan.
I'm sure it isn't, Miss Wentworth
But you see old Doctor Lancaster
didn't leave the charge of the fund
to his son; he left it In the care of
the trustees. And there we're COM
plications about the hospital at Avon
mouth. And then, after the doctors
bride ran away on the eve of their
marriage it changed all his nature"
Il have heard of that" said Joan
quietly. "But we must not discuss
that in the doctors absence"
"Why, everybody knows about that,
Miss Wentworth. Before it happened
spected man In Lancaster. He'd been
born here. you know, on the planta-
ton down in the valley Millville way.
She was a Miss Reid. She came from
Farnley county. she was the reigning
belle there. admired and fattered. and
1t turned her heart TO a stone to have
all the men after her. crazy to marry
her. The doctor was a young man
then, and he couldn't see any further
into her heart, such as it was, than
the rest of them.
"She led the doctor a chase before
chC plOAilStu lilCN say DIl TIC
very day before their marriage was to
have been she left her home without
word to anyone, to go off with an
other man who's never been discov-
cred. That broke the doctor up. He
took to drugs then, they tell me. The
institute had been a big place before;
it stood over on Morley's hill, bur IT
burned down one night, and we took
this old farm house. And the doctor
was using the funds, they said. and
wasn't responsible at ALL
1.-The trustees found that the money
was gone. Nobody knew where 1t |
went, because the doctor had his own
inheritance, and he wasn't the man to |
steal or squander. They wouldn't do |
anything to him. because OF his fam
lily, but they put Mr.. Myers in charge
of the finances. That's all. None of |
US liked him, but what could we do
about il? He was here when Doctor
Jenkins and / were appointed, and as
soon as we understood how matters
were we agreed to stay as long as we
could and try to help the DOCTOR
Mrs. Fraser, | want to know why |
Mr.. Myers melted Doctor Lancaster
to use morphine" said Joan.
Miss Wentworth"
You know he did. You told me
So And Doctor Jenkins knows"
The matron looked agitated. what
could we do?" she cried. Suppose
we knew. what can two people do
against a man like Myers? Suppose
we had said so, who would have be-
ieved us? We did all we could do;
and we all love the doctor and would
-ather stay with him and help where
We could than be discharged and do
nothing"
She looked at Joan piteously. like a
hid caught in wrong-doing
81 know you did your best" an
wered the girl. But why should
Doctor Lancaster stay here in Myers
'ower, instead Of at his home in .
monmouth, where he is respected
nd powerful? Nothing of all this is |
nown there"
The matron wrung her hands II
ont know" she answered. 81 sup c
Ose that man has had him by the S
hroat in more ways than we know. S
Whenever the doctor used to go 10
Mr.. Myers would go with
i'm, and generally he'd come back )
18th him. Miss Wentworth. till you t
anne here the doctor wasn't a man j
hat with his drugs and the hold Mr.. c
[yers had over him. he was just a [
achine. And Mr.. Myers was the v
river" a
Joan had the feeling that she should
OF listen to the matrons talk about 4
ancaster; it seemed disloyal of her; b
1T she felt. too. that she must know II
ore, and speedily, II she was to /
Iwart that menacing evil which she Il
nsed more and more clearly as the b
passed. N
Miss Wentworth" said the matron,
acing her hand on the girls arm d.
mly, there's something else | ought C
have told you about. Mrs. Dana
"Harkp' interrupted Joan. holding y,
} her hand for silence. al
Then thew heard long distance | a,