Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1879-10-11 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

OHAPTBR /OM.  ANXIOUS MOMENTS. PERCY, less excited than his unfortunate relative, would have thankfully connived at Marian's escape, even though he felt that her attempt to leave the house looked terribly ominous of guilt. He strove to reason with the Colonel—to soothe him into smote generous frame of mind—but the only effect this had was, that the half-frenzied man released his arm, and essayed to proceed alone. Seeing this, he came to his assistance and supported his tottering steps to the hall below, which Mrs. Lacey had already reached. Had Marian really intended flight they would have been too late to prevent it; but such a course as this had not entered her mind. Never pausing to look back, she passed through the office to an inner room devoted to Mr. Darwin's use. As she entered she closed the door, but so hastily that the lock did not catch, and therefore every word spoken was audible to her husband, as, leaning on the arm of the embarrassed Percy, he dragged himself into the office. While the Colonel's reluotantcompanion was debating whether he ought not to contrive to warn her by some signal that listeners were so near, Mr. Darwin's voice was heard in reply to something she had just told  "Absurd! Who says that Colonel Lacey has been poisoned ?" the solicitor hastily demanded. The Colonel's grasp on Percy's arm tightened, and the latter held his breath, lest Marian's answer should be inaudible. . _ .  Who says it? the doctors ; Mr. Norrimore and a physician who has been here from London and examined his medicine; and I, Godfrey—yes I—do you hear me ?—have been accused of administering the drug. Colonel Lacey himself believes that I have been treacherously attempting his life." " Pshawl" Mr. Darwin sharply ejaculated. " mistake—a ridiculous mistake. I'll not have such a tale spread; it might do me irreparable injury if anything of the kind occurred in my house." "And yet you manceuvred to bring no here, knowing what the end must be:" said Marian with terrible significance. .  "It is a mistake I tell you," he repeated. "Lacey is getting childish ; no one will take notice of aught be may say. Boldly deny the accusation ; you know that you are innocent; let Norrimore bear the blame if there is no other way of hushing it up. He cannot swear that it is not his fault or his assistant's."  —.—.—... _ 'There has not been any mistake, as no one knows better than you do," Marian firmly persisted; "and the matter has gone farther than you seem to think. lam banished the Colonel's presence. Percy Balfour is with him, and both of them are just men, who will not permit such a crime to pass unpunished lest others suffer too."  "It is very unfortunate; for you I mean," Mr. Darwin remarked after a pause, during which his restless hands could be heard uneasily shifting his papers to and fro. "But Letty spoke just now as if the Colobel were dying. Surely she was not in error! He is, he must be near his end l" and the eagerness of his tones made mere than one of his auditors quiver with indignation. • " God forbid !" Marian emphatically replied, "dying in such agony of mind as well as body—my poor suffering husband! No, no, I'll not believe it. He was calmer, much calmer when be sent Wilson away. Pray heaven he may recover sufficiently to hear me exonerate myself from this foul charge, Godfrey !" and her voice deepened with emotion; "he shall not die in the belief that I am his murderess; he shall not, I say '"