Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-06-10 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

CIIAP'TER VIII.  An Unexpected Meeting.  "Whet' to the sessions_ of sweet _silent thought,  1 summon up rememberance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought.  Nearly two months had elapsed since Sir George Wilmot had been discovered murdered in his library, and the event, after exciting the curiosity of the public, and giving cause for a dozen or more improbable stories, had become ane of tl-:e many mysteries which froth time to time arise only to be forgotten. The inquest upon the unfortunate man had revealed facts which satisfied 1 everybody that the crime was the act of a burg• lar, but although a large reward was offered for the discovery of the murderer, the detectives employed by the new baronet were baffled in following up certain clues, which they were presumed to have found. Mrs Conyers' evidence, given without the slightest hesitation, neerely proved that Sr George %%as in his usual good liealth and spirits when she left him after her visit to his house, and Esmond Wilmot could only describe his uncle's usual habits. The ordinary verdict in CaW9 similar to the present • was returned, and there had arisen other intereets to distract. the public mind, io that the memory. of the WilmotLodge murder, vivid enough for the proverbial nine days, faded ivvay and was forgotten, save by those more particularly a,sisoeited with. the tragedy. Lord Devereux read the accounts of the crime and the inquiry, and reluctant to enter again into a world from which he had 'twee a !•,tranger so long, had remained secluded atDevereux Court.  But now that the woman who had borne his name was dead, a new life seemed opening up before him. There were no hard thoughts of his dead wife nor bitterness in his heart when he remembered the past; yet a relief w-hich he experienced in knowing that she and he were separated by death was a source of the deepest satisfaction. lle was a free man once more; free from the chains of a bondage that had darkened his life and brought desolation and misery to him; free to think of one who was purer and fairer than any woman he had ever seen .before, the memory of whom haunted him and brought a iongiug to gaze upon her sweet face. put from the moment he and Sybil Montagn parted at the entrance of Beachcoinbe they had never met again; for although he had sought her, his quest had been fruit less.  So time had passed rather wearily with him in his big, lonely, old house, and a restlessness net to be resisted made him resolve to quit England fcr some months. There was no reason why he should remain, although the thought that by going abroad he would destroy all chance of meeting the woman whose memory fascinated him with a strange new hope had caused him to hesitate in putting his plan of going away into execution. But at length the monotonous existence he was living became unbearable, and after a brief visit to London, for the purpose of malang some needful preparations for his projected journey abroad, he decided lo spend a few days at Brighton. An old friend was going down, and it vas a chance word which influenced Devereux to accompany him; it was some years since he had been there, and in all probability it would be many more before he would have another opportunity of visiting the town. London seemed as dull as Devereux Court; and, after all, it mattered vexy little whew his wandering footsteps might lead hi ni  MIS I  If London were dull, Brighton was no more cheerful; and with the object of killing time one evening, ho decided to pass it at the theatre. A pesrformance in aid of some charity had been an. flounced, and although, as a rule, a clay rather bored him, he purchaaed a box ticket. He was late in his arrival at the theatre, the performance having already begun, and he read the names on his programme, givirg little heed to them, and leaning back in his sea.t, with languid intere4 in the actors, for his thoughts sore I asr away. It was strange that at that moment the nemory of what had happened ir Beach.combe and the sweet face of the girl whom he should always remember came back as he watched the scene before him. That strange meeting on the lonely road and the brave act that had saved him at a nument of peril were never to be forgotten, .and the longin,.; to hear the voice which had spoken to him, and gaze once more into the