470
WEST SHORE.
He wondered, in a half awake way, that his mem
ory wag so good, for he was an old man. He shook
himself, and with trembling hands untied the package.
How well he knew the pars! Ye, hi. memory was
wonderful, and with such a straining at his head.
The two spots of red in hi cheeks grew and grew
till they covered his far. As he continued the search,
his hands shook so perceptibly that it caused him some
alarm. He felt his hot forehead, then on the next pa
per read:
" Marshficld estate."
The lines of rigid tension in his face softened.
How foolish and weak to doubt! He drew out the pa
r and ojiened it.
With stooping shoulders, a face as colorless as that
of a corpse, he stared at the first word. There was a
buzzing in his ears. His hot breath came through lips
that were parched almost to bli.-tering. He was so
numb in his limbs that he could not have moved for
his life. Save his restless, scheming brain, he was
dead. but the mind was so alive to the misforture
which had befallen him, that it seemed to be strug
gling for eseaj?. With a mighty effort he forced his
wild, staring eyes to read, and his treacherous brain to
construe these words
Ftiui : When you see this you wi'l know the bandwrit
In and your cuns be hurled at your own nVh and blood.
What I am. I wat born. Itm if at any tiro there ha been a
glimmer if that honesty and purity of pu-poe that gives to one
womanly grace, it ha been rruehed by yonr taunts and jeers.
K member that she who wriu-s tliU ban been schooled in hy
pocrisy, the volume of which will won at.ish that sorie'y in
which yoa have an vainly tried to eetaM.eh youreelf. As for
me, I am out of it tower. I hate ii ! My p.th is downward,
marked put at my hi th. Aa for yoa, if too turvive the scan
dal and humiliation which ninM now befall yon. that same lack
of higher Mptrationa so evident in me will.oncw your jring
pride it broken, bring yoa to my level.
II every !an to long nurtured by yoa is fruntrated, do not
attribute it wholly to me. Had I never Un born the result
would have hern, to you, the name. I have only hurried the
t. , It. Ri" thro0h J"tb yoa expect to own the
Mawhfirld properly is alive. I have urn her, have held in my
hand a atone ehe wear which ia the eiact counterpart of the
one yoa have so Jealou-ly guarded.
ii w TT cr?'unw ,llrh induced yoa to conceal f -om me
all knowledge of a aobjnt of such interret to us both, induced
me to cover the fact that I have lorn known the content of the
papers yoa eipe. ted to find here. You have plaved your game,
and have lot Had we worked togrther.yoo would never have
beer, obliged to acknowledge the lo-s. Hie papers are of no
further nm to yoa. oi are eafer without them, for they are
evidence of your crimes. 1 take them to pro'ect your dugh
Wr. ou may r. at aured Uiat the probity will not go from
your familv. t nder my manaicement tin-re will be little fear
that the rrl will ever prove her own. She will toon be lower
than 1 ran ever icome. for the can mtTer. I thank you that I
can shut my eye to her sufferings. What matter to me if her
heart breaks! If when she finds her position, she Ukes her
own Me where ehe will die there are no mournera. After yoa
are oVad, shall claim my property. Yoa will be pleased fiat
yoor daughter will profit by your patience.
If yoa were kneeling to me, judge by your own heart how
mtu sympathy 'there is in mine. You once taunted m,
myfalL Ooud-bye, lorever.
He did not move. The torturing brain smiied baf-
flifcjl Ilia! flSaatfctt t-ad . , t . . ! en
his head. hnM h! M then daggering blindly, rushed out into the
M Hullo, Mr. (ioldthurst!" a voice said. It was
Mr. Griilis. " You won't thank me fur cumin' down
at this time o night," regarding the staring face with
rather a foolish expression on his own, "but I caw you
crossin' the bridge. There's a little matter I want
fixed. I want some kind of a paper on that Marsh,
field property!"
Quite unconsciously Mr. Griilis had allowed hi
voice to take a peremptory tone. He showed he had
come to stay, for he took a seat and looked at the
white face.
" Tain't often a man can find you. now-a-days,"he
went on. He mistook the stare for the cold contempt
for which the face was noted, and it angered him.
" Why don't vou speak, man? " loudly. " Don't think
you can set there 'n' look me out o' face! You've gut
my money, Y I want somethin' to 6how you mean to
do the right thing by me, V I'm goin' to git it! "
In the silence which followed, he wished that he
had not gone into it so abruptly; he began to think
that something was wrong. The white head staring at
him looked queer, almost awful! All at once a con
vulsive movement showed in every feature, and a dis
cordant rattle issued from between the chalky lips.
" There is no property."
Mr. Griilis leaped from his chair in a rage. Every
thing he had seen he attributed to the hypocrisy of the
man.
" Ye lyin' villain!" he shouted, "what did ye en
courage me to wait for? D'ye think forty thousand
dollars nothin', ye thief? Dam ye, if ye go out of this
house ye'll go a disgraced man before the world!"
Mr. Griilis stopped, for the form was slowly rising,
the stare had grown so ghastly that he became nerv
ous, and started toward the door. A singular noise
reached him, a noise quite unlike any that could be
made by human being. He turned to see Mr. Gold
thurst's arm reach out and grasp the lamp. For an
instant there seemed a circular flame about the awful
fan, then there was a dull thud, and Mr. Griilis fell
senseless.
e e e e
There was not a sign or sound to tell the patrol as
he went through Summit avenue, that a human life
was hanging in the balance. On the floor of the
ioldthurst library lay Mr. Griilis, his knees drawn
up, his right hand pressed to his head, from which the
blood ran down the face and stained the grizzly beard.
The ghastly scene was lighted by a flickering' fire,
tiny fire, which crept along the floor as though with
cunning stealth, that it might not startle its prey. On
it moved, making fantastic figures on the walls and
ceiling. Now it lay low, then sprang into renewed
life, dancing coquetishly hither and thither, as though
to lull suspicion. Along the thick carpet it crawled,
then, with a leap, encircled one of the heavy draperies
in its grasp.
Darting toward the insensible form, it played about
the ojH-n hand, then greedily licked the fingers. A
spasmodic jerk threw the form on its other side. A
groan cscajied it, but there was no attempt to rise.
Nearer the fire came, till il rmuhml the forehead.
Another jerk, and Mr. Griilis came to his knees and
nieht
Savagely the flames, robbed of their prey, laW
themselves about the room. The breeze through the
ojwn door fanned them into greater fury. They crept
up the stairway, not timidly, but with a lustful greed;