| Show A1Jad Mans V eng ance1 I I By EDGAR rAWOETT i 1 I I I Copyright All righto reserved He flung her hand from his shoulder and met with a scowl her pleading eyes I I Brenda he said how dare you What right have you to assume as you I do that my Avif is beneath your respectful > respect-ful treatment A The girls lips moved but sho said nothing Had she not perhaps already said far too much for her brothers health and mental peace Brenda again cried Louis and his eyes flashed with auger you can no longer live in this house There seemed seem-ed to have been something about his sisters sis-ters recent silence that had acted upon him more strikingly than her speech No Shadyshore is mine and I shall be master here You have your own fortune fort-une Spend it as you please and where you please Ive borne with your scandalous scan-dalous actions long enough I give you just one week in which to make your preparations after that go you must Brenda had grown very pale by the time that Louis had ended Horror at the thought of leaving her brother with Natalie now made her desperate You tell me that I wrong your wife Louis she said in choked tone But I ah how does she wrong yon With whom is she walking the lawn now at this very moment Who is the man she calls Archibald and what right has he to be here as her clandestine associate Let me tell you the words that I have just heard her speak to this man and then Brenda gave those words with unerring un-erring literalness I 11 cant believe this faltered Louis j when she had finished He looked steadily I stead-ily into Ms sisters face for an instant And yet Brenda I have always known yoU to be so truthful t I swear to you said Brenda that I have told you nothing but the absolute truth He caught her hand in his own thin and feverish one Oh forgive me came his response 1 have been unjust to you Perhaps your fears your doubts I were after allbut no nor he suddenly sudden-ly broke off and then for a moment he covered his face like a man in very great agony Ah my God he soon pursued if it were possible that she is faithless to me But Brenda not a syllable to her Promise me this It may be that she is altogether innocent And yet she has told me so much everything in factabout her past and I have never even heard her mention the name of Archibahlyes I am certain of it And pray Brenda keep silent Say nothing whatever leaving all to me and and forgiving me I hope as II do not deserve to be forgiven For answer Brenda impetuously threw both arms around her brothers neck Oh Louis she cried Heaven knows that rye hated to tell you these things I have no wish to quarrel with your wife I should so have loved her Louis if only but never mind You have ray promise prom-ise And yet if Natalie should attack me I cant be sure just how calmly I shall receive her But Natalie made no attack Whatever What-ever soon passed between herself and Louis was spoken behind closed doors She will tell him some falsehood no doubt mused Brenda and he will believe it and turn once more against nie For two or three days poor Brenda waited some such development but none came Louis failed to give her the slightest confidence on the subject of his wifes avowals ttrugh an interview this kind was eagerly and longingly expected ex-pected Louis appearance and deportment deport-ment were meanwhile dejection itself He showed no longer a sign of fondness toward Natalie and Brenda perceived that her sislerinlaAV labored under visible ible annoyance or worriment it was hard to tell precisely which Shortly after dinner time one sultry lifeless evening a servant came to Brenda Bren-da and told her that Mr Bond had suddenly sud-denly been taken very ill Hurrying to her brothers apartment Brenda found him stretched on a sofa near one of the windows looking pale as death His wife sat beside him chafing one of his hands between her own and seeming to be overwhelmed by distress Its his heart she whispered to Brenda He has had one or two illnesses ill-nesses like this before They are usually followed by faintness just as you see though this is no more severe than any other that has yet visited him I shall send at once for Dr South gate said Brenda with decision She promptlywent toward a bell and rang it Natalie looked at her with an abrupt challenging stare Louis doesnot need a doctor she said He is better now Besides she went on with an obstinacy that bore strange contrast to her former wen of grief a rural doctor like that might do him more harm than good Tomorrow if he is strong enough we will go to town and see some physician of authority Brenda gave a slight sarcastic smile I disagree with you she said and shall send for Dr Southgate Natalie rose haughtily from the chair beside her husband You shall not set your will against mine she said You are always delighting in opposite views to my own Ever since I married Louis you have seen fit to treat me with either concealed or opsn insult Just then Louis opened his dark eyes and Brenda saw as they fixed themselves on hers that they burned like diamonds Louis she exclaimed hastening toward to-ward him do not you sanction my sending for Dr Southgate No he answered But while Brenda L started back in despair at this unwelcome unwel-come reply he put forth his hand with a slight unmistakable motion Brenda at once seized the hand between both her own and sank down at his side She perceived the next instant that he was more ill than she had ever seen him Across Brendas shoulder he looked at IDS wife Natalie he said in a voice that was husky and yet contained a ring of command com-mand I wish to speak a few words with my sister You yourself can go and tell them that the bell which I heard Brenda ring need not be answered Do you understand me 1 hope that you do Those last two brief sentences liad not a sign of menace and yet there was something in their low emphasis that made the color slip from Natalies cheeks Dear Louis she broke forth a moment mo-ment afterward however in tender persuasivq tones you had best not talk with any one this evening Tomorrow To-morrow Do as I desire you Louis interrupted inter-rupted His voice was not much above t J f a whisper but Brencla recoiled from him as she heard it so unlike his usual self did it seem so conipelling so corn < I inandaht and yet so terribly tranquil Natalie went to one of the doors and slowly opened She disappeared slowly slow-ly too as if some magnetic form were insisting upon the exit Louis hand trembled a little now in Brendas hold But soon it lay there quite still again He presently spoke but i as if with intentional caution against a possible listener Brenda leaning forward i for-ward so that his breath almost swept her cheeks was just able to hear each i word as it fellfromhiS pale and slightly twitching lips My sister I have wronged you very i much YesI see this now when death has laid hold of me and there may be J only a few hours left me to live Brenda dont start like thatit is nothing this change we call death But to die as I am dying is an exquisite comfort I I would not live on Brenda for an empire My part of life is doneutterly done I have loved that woman Natalie Love 1 f ridge with an immense passion an immense im-mense constancy What I forced her to i tell me the other evening there is no need I of my telling you You area mere girl you could not avenge me But all has grown clear to me and I know beyond a doubt that some one else will I Some one else Oh Louis Hush Brenda You see how weak Inn I I-nn My brain seems to swim now There 1 is a paper here v in my breast pocket j Reach up your hand Take it and hide it as though your own life depended on its jealous concealment Have you found it Brenda i Yes Louis yes j j i Have yon hidden it j I Yesyes i I i Now remember When I am laid in my coffinnot until then get a chance to place it against my heart just HO yo found it placed a minute ago Dont let her see you But Gerald willjj I come ho will come the day of the fu I neral even if something should delay Mm from the funeral itself And then i as soon as you and he shall meet tell him where you put the papsr Will you swear to nieBrenda that you will carryout carry-out this wish of mine I Yes Louis I will swear with my whole soul But f i The paper is sealed close as you will see and bers no inscription issome thing I wrote yesterday I have been in fearful suffering for hours past but I have guarded this even from her And dont grieve much forme Brenda Im a thousandfold happier at going than staying To live now would only be one prolonged anguish Some day I think that Gerald Avill make everything clear to you He will find out Never mind how He cant tell you yet even if you ask him He will simply s17 u to you when you tell him what you have done Perhaps Louis might have gone on speaking in his faint yet clear heard voice if the door had not now been suddenly sud-denly opened and Natalie had not swept into the room Brenda at cues rralEed fhfvf he hid tried to listen and failed The girl rose from her brothers couch still holding his hand and facing the intruder Natalie at once spoke before Brenda had time to do so My place is here at my husbands side and here I shall remain re-main she said Oh I know why you came in like that now broke from Brenda You were afraid to let us be alone together You were afraid of something he might tell mer Natalie bit her lips and shot such a look at her husbands sister as might have flashed from the eyes of a striking snake But at this moment a long heavy groan burst from Louis Brenda flung herself once again at his side His face had now grown bluish his eyelids were strangely fluttering and at the verges of his lips had collected a slight wreath of foamLouis Louis called Brenda wildly Louis speak to me But she had heard the sound of his voice for the last time in life About two hours later he died besieged be-sieged by recurrent spasms or what appeared ap-peared keen suffering though old Dr Southgate summoned at last and watching watch-ing him with deepest attention declared that being wholly unconscious he escaped es-caped all pain I CHAPTER IY I I 1 The Itiss that followed was one of betrothal be-trothal I The White Sulphur Springs had bored Gerald Ravelow severely for a number of weeks past He saw in a hundred of the pretty girls that haunted the lawns and piazzas of the hotels a resemblance to Brenda vague yet irritating He avoided all chances of being presented to any of these damsels and soon won in consequence conse-quence the name of woman hater This put him into a still more unpleasant humor from which his only refuge was found in taking very Idng horseback rides among the breezy Virginia hills Meanwhile Mean-while his mothers health had improved but slightly although her malady was fraught with no symptoms of danger Learning by accident flint a New York physician of uote chanced to be at a small hotel about ten milea distant Gerald persuaded his mother to accompany him thither They retained their former apartments at the hotel which they now temporarily left and to which they proposed pro-posed returning in at least three days from their time of departure As matters arranged themselves however how-ever the now quarters proved charming the new doctor a very agreeable man and the new project most unforeseen success His mother seemed so much 1 brighter and stronger thai Gerald determined deter-mined to give up his apartments at their I former hotel and remain for an indefi nite space in the spot wmtner no nom I drifted With this purpot is sent for whatever letters that might have arrived ar-rived at their recent abode directed either to himself or Mrs Ravelow Several Sev-eral letters had arrived and were duly sent Among them was a telegram from Miss Brenda Bond telling of her brothers broth-ers death Gerald was horribly shocked For the first time since boyhood his mother saw him weep He bitterly reproached himself him-self for having seen his friend so seldom of late he pitied Brenda nth a lovers exorbitant power to pity and finally he told his mother that it would TDO imperative I imper-ative for him to leave on the next north ern train I Of course my son she acquiesced i I would not have you remain away from the funeral for Avoiids that is if I there is any possible chance of you reaching reach-ing it in time i Gerald did his best But the journey was long and Brendas telegram had been cruelly delayed When he arrived j at Shadyshoro the funeral ceremony had been over about three hours Brenda clad in the deepest mourning met him I with a sob and a little cry I My poor girl he said and took her in his arms A servant had just glided from the drawing room leaving them alone Geralds lips found their way to I hers and the Ides that followed was one of betrothal as both silently understood I I have so much to tell you faltered I Brenda looking about her with nervous I glances But there will always be the j thought that she is listening It is such j a lovely afternoon Let us walk out under un-der the fir trees Their walk lasted until nearly dusk Finally with blinding headache caused j by grief and excitement Brenda redirected i redi-rected her steps toward the house II And you tell me said Gerald as he walked ruminatively at her side that Dr Southgale declared your brother I died of heart disease Yes He wrote that on the certificate certifi-cate I saw the two words myself I i i But you yourself think I I Oh I think nothing because Ive not a vestige of proof I Gerald was silent for some little time He would have liked to tell Brenda the reason her brother had caused her to place that paper in his coffin but remembrance re-membrance of his oath forbade After once having made the midnight visit to Louis tomb he would privileged to wale of it but before doing so tlie terms of that curious whimsical compact com-pact preclude1 all reference to his intended in-tended act You too seemed mystified by his having bid m j to conceal that paper inside in-side his coffin said Brenda Yon cannot can-not guess cm you Gerald what it contains 1 No I can not replied Gerald glad to mswer so directly Unless he went on a list of accusations against I Ins wife is to be found there Oh I have thought of that said I Brenda but surely if Louis had wished I that you should see the paper he would t I not have = i The words died on her lips for just I then while they were ascending the i piazza steps Natalie came forwardfrom i j i the inner hall Her mourning did not I become her as it did Brenda and be I i I side the extreme pallor of her face I there was a certain wildnesss noticeable I I in her odd hued eyes I I She dropped her gaze before Geralds I direct one A Significant silence now ensued which Brenda suddenly broke She put out her hand to Gerald Good I by she munmired lI am worn out for today I must lie down You AviU conic tomorrow Tomorrow surely he said pressing press-ing her hand She at once glided past her sisterinlaw and disappeared into the j hallGerald Gerald waited a moment for Natalie to speak then seeing that she looked both embarrassed and agitated he said j I was very sorry not to have seen the last of poor Louis I Natalie seamed furtively to gnaw her under lip Then she threw back her i I delicate head with a little blending of scorn and sadness Oh if you had but come here a few hours sooner Mr Rave 1 low exclaimed I bahieve that even you might have consented to side with meyes me the wife of your friend i against the treatment I have been forced tto receive from Brenda What treatment asked Gerald I have heard that you wished to keep l a physician from visiting your husband I even while you knew him to be in the i agonies of death I I did not know itr she burst out I clinching both her slim hands as they hung at her sides I never dreamed he I was dying How should I dream so He had been ill and ailinghe had had I such attacks before and I wished a New York doctor of reputation to see him I instead of some some mere country j ignoramus Here she nan c into one of the bamboo chairs that Avere scattered I scat-tered about the piazza and looked at Gerald with a mixture of imperiousness I imperi-ousness and malice hI have only I 1 this to tell you Gerald Bavelow she I continued you may bo as much in love with Brenda Bond as you please but if my husband has left yon an executor ex-ecutor of his estate and I dare say that he hasthen I shall demand that a full settlement of it shall be made as speedily speed-ily as possible giving me the share to which I am entitled for I wish to leave this country and escape from all further insolence at the hands of this arrogant sister Yes I wish to go back to England Eng-land With Archibald asked Gerald making the two sharp words cut her unfinished un-finished sentence like the swift stroke of a knife She started terribly and then stared at him How do you know What do you know she began to stammer He gave a brief cold laugh Oh Im a great deal more ignorant than I should like to be he answered And then feeling that to stay and talk with her like this might bo to place Avithin her power some hint of a certain secret it was both his duty and his desire jealously jeal-ously to guard for the present lie slightly lifted his hat murmured Good evening and passed at a rapid pace dow the piazza steps Tomorrow will be time enough for action he thought as he hurried across the twilight lit lawns A dread Avhich he could not dismiss however assailed him with regard to Brenda Was it safe for her toP lSS another night at Shadyshore 1 with the hatred of Natalie vigilant and asserted But soon Gerald smiled at his I own fears Whatever evil this widow of Louis Bond might already have done it was sure that she would put no future obstacle between herself and the possession of a noble fortune Policy I would be the potent motive to keep herr her-r I tWma all immediate mischief For the first time In his Me Gerald felt beset by a sense of nerves He would almost rather have Jost a hand j than violate his oath to the dead but this oath had of late entered his memory nth an altogether novel series of thrills By 11 oclock that evening he found i himself in a most perturbed condition His own home so closely adjoining the larger estate of the Bonds had been left in charge of an old couple whom his sudden appearance had greatly surprised I After doing what they could for his entertainment I en-tertainment these two custodians had 1 retiredto bed at Geralds urgent behest The evening outside was full of soft breezes and scintillant starlightsum I mer darkness with just the least autum I nal touch to it To reach the Shady I shore vault would require a walk of not more than ten or fifteen minutes Gerald I had secured the key having long ago I 11 placed it in a certain drawer which he i I had now but to open for the purpose of laying his hands on what they sought i i He had supplied himself with two or i three candles and a box of matches All I was ready His heart beat queerly ash j as-h began his little journey across lots and by dark clusters of lonely foliage The ghastly character of his undertaking was not its only drawback He seemed to see againand again before he reached the vaulT forms dart out upon him with I I vetoing gestures accusative eyes And how coi Id ho explain his trespassing presence in case any such arrest should occur But in reality he gained the vault quite unobserved It was built of solid granite in the side of a slight hill He listened for a moment and then descended descend-ed the small flight of steps leading inward in-ward to a large metal door Then he inserted his key in the loci It fitted nerfectlv iial emits soon aft rwavJ he had passed within tho interior of the vault leaving the metal door behind him just enough ajar to admit a certain quantity of air yet noL enough so as to attract the notice of any possible passer He now stood in pitchy darkness A heavy smell as oi fresh cut flowers at once oppressed him He had ceased to I feel trepidation his old magnificent j courage and coolness had como back to him Slowly he struck a match and j lighted one of his tapers As the flame straggled from intense dimness into coin paratiAe brghtness the solemn stone I I wrought chamber became cloarly visible j visi-ble It contained but three coffins each i laid in a separate niche One was that I of Louis Bonds mother one that of his I father and one was his own The last lay heaped over with wreaths and I crosses All the niches wOre large and j I in a manner took from the usual griin ness of such eptacles by boing un I I cramped and commodious of aspect I Gerald had brought a small sconce for I his candle and now set both on the edge I of the empty niche just above the casket of his friend He Avaited nome time in I I awed silence To open the coffin was an act from which he shrank most reluctantly reluc-tantly And jet his sacred oath compelled com-pelled him perform this act There I was only the usual Jock to be pried asunder and for this purpose lie had brought with him a capable instrument Presently he banished his repulsion How can therebe the least desecration he thought when I am only following out Louis own earnest wishes Besides the vow he once < exacted from me there is a new stimulus in Brendas account of that hidden paper j And yet to spend three mortal hours in this dismal vault Ho began already to feel that his ndrve power strong and trustworthy as it was could scarcely endure en-dure so drastic an ordeal Still he must make the effort Looking at his watch he discovered fliat only fifteen minutes of the allotted itfiine had alread passed And yet they Had seemel far more than an hour One stout wrench with his chisel and the coffin was pried apart He soon looked II I upon the calm waxen face of Louis How like and yet how completely soulless I soul-less and irresponsive What hope of any I vital resurrect ipnal sign could possibly be drawn from this pallor and apathy II He leaned closer above the still features feat-ures familiar and yet utterly changed I He forgot the concealed paper of which Brenda had told him while he parted i from the dead mans breast and chin the thick masses of flowers which lay there But he remembered and with piercing force of recollection what he had bound himself of old to usa every mental effort in desiring and yearning after Sonic of the flowers fell over upon the ston flooring of the vm tloose camellias camel-lias and white roses with perhaps a few glossy leaves of either Ho meant to stoop and pick them up when suddenly a strange and horrible thing occurred The light went out and it seamed to him that as it did so a sharp metallic sound rang through the dead abrupt darkness And then something struck him with light yet distinct contact full on the breast He lilted his baud and caught a sfiff square of glazed paper The hidden letter flashed through his brain He has given it to inc himself him-self For the flsttiine in all his brave young life Gerald RaAelow knew what it was to be dazed and half mad wIth terror 7T I c S l I 3 iriLI J < t c I cj j J I IW 1111 f < iit lfif I 1 r 9 = < I j J Ii i = = l < 1 I Ji < 1f = N6 L > i c lf W W < lW tjt 7I i IDf 1 < < f q > f W Itilivjj fiiJjflt mglb 3liIImlllfI 1 WtIfv One stout lvrcltch with his chisel and the coffin was pried apart He reeled backward in the dense darkness dark-ness clutching the letter How he found his way out of the vault he never afterward after-ward remembered Everything seemed to him a blank until he found himself on the grounds of his own estate with veil known trees and paths gleaming all about him and the tacit inscrutable stars glittering down upon him from the mighty conclave of the midnight heaven I CHAPTER I Brenda vondered for three or four hours the next morning why Gerald did not keep his promise and appear Natalie Na-talie passed her once or twice in the halls with a pale supercilious face Repeatedly Brenda went out on the I I piazza and looked with longing eyes 1 inwartl Geralds home whose roofs wero 1 I just laintiy seen aoovu matoea ui grcu eryAt last to her surprise she saw him coming up the lawn from the outer road with a man on either side of him She slipped into the house again and watched the approaching figures from one of the I drawing room windows While she did so Natalie entered the I room I see Gerald Ravelow coming here she broke out with two men in his company Who are they I have no idea answered Brenda turning from the window Why should I have Natalie gave a slight laugh that was like a sneer made into sound Just then steps were heard on the piazza Moved by a sudden impulse Brenda flung open the blinds of the window near which she had been standing This way Gerald she said Gerald entered soon afterward alone But Brenda saw that his two companions waited just outside The young man put out his hand toward to-ward Brenda while he fixed a hard and cold stare at N italic I have a paper he said written a day or twy before his death by your late husband In that paper ho accuses you I of trying to poison him He detected you but said nothing He preferred to die by your hand since he had loved you so well that to live on would have been a horror I quote almost his exact words And there is no doubt about the authenticity authen-ticity of this paper that ho left Bren I I cla here received it from him and placed secretly within his breast after he had been laid in his coffin I found it there In it he also states that not long ago he forced from you a certain I confession regarding a man named Archibald I Ar-chibald Clay and that Jie has reason to I believe you hide at the present time a packet of letters from this man and one or more bottles of poison as well I within a particular cabinet upstairs I I have secured a search warrant and must therefore I At the word search warrant Natalie i darted toward the door Gerald followed I her after a swift sign through the wide piazza window He sprang up stairs I knowing the house so well that the cabinet cab-inet to which his friends letter had alluded al-luded and the apartment in which it j stood were both well remembered by him j But quick as he had been Natalie reached the cabinet before him He saw her kneeling l at one of its open drawers The next instant he saw her lift something some-thing to her lips Almost immediately alter that sho fell heavily backward There had lain a swifter poison here in the cabinet than that stealthy one which had doubtless wrought her husbands death i She was quite lifeless when they picked her up Afterward when rigid examinations exam-inations were made as to her previous life it seemed slight wonder that such a woman should have preferred to end by suicide the final collapse of her evil hopes She had undoubtedly been the wife of a certain disreputable Englishman called Capt Clay and one of whose aliases was Leveridge long before her marriage with poor infatuated Louis Bond From some of the letters from this man found in the cabinet it was only too evident that she had planned Louis murder with his fall knowledge and that the two expected ex-pected at some future day to enjoy the wealth which would thus vilely have been secured During the following autumn occurred Geralds marriage with Brenda greatly to the delight of Mrs Ravelow whose health had now regained its usual gentle state of invalidism Some time before this event Brenda had visited the vault where her brother lay and had first ordered or-dered with her own hand what disarray had been caused by Geralds weird visit and afterward quietly obtained aid for the restoration of the injured coffin i But Gerald could never bo induced to accompany her on either of the several little pilgrimages which her task involved in-volved No Brenda he would say there are memories connected with that place which will haunt me till I die No need of making them more vivid than they arc sure to be already I But once Brenda said Perhaps you are quite wrong in believing Gerald that anything supernatural really occurred oc-curred that night In my hurry and agitation seizing a moment when she was not present I thrust the paper within with-in poor Louis breast It may be that I lodged it insecurely qui1 that the movement move-ment of the coffin afterward displaced it still moro When as you say you disparted the flowers that lay on the breast of Louis the paper may have been half concealed by these while its whiteness corresponded to that of the flowers themselves all being seen in a dim light Hence when the candle fellFell < Fell interrupted Gerald Why do you state thatit fell Brenda smiled ever so faintly Be causeyou had set it in its sconce at the edge of one of the stone niches That it should fall would have been nothing remarkable And when as it seemed to you the paper was almost put into your outstretched hand this may merely have been the natural result its hay jag slid to the floor like some of the flowers that I found there Gerald listened intently and then shook his head with an unwonted gravity No Brenda he said Nothing can ever shake my faith that the dead man miraculously made me an agent of his vengeance beyond the grave Perhaps he did answered Brenda I dont deny it Im not attempting to explain any deep spiritual truth Im only seeking to account for material facts The last who knows may often be but the blind obedient servants of the first I dare say that is true returned Gerald musingly But for many years afterward he adhered to his own private opinions nevertheless THE END I Saltlns Stock But few farmers sal their stock with any regularity Instead of putting salt where their animals can get it at will they salt them whenever they think of it or whenever it chances to be quite convenient one time giving them good salt salting and another throwing them a little which is principally licked up by the stronger animals Stock will do much better when salt is given them freely and in a way that given the weaker onea an equal chance with the stronger The better way is to keep ltwliere all can got at it when they desitst > |
