Show THE FATAL REQUESTOR REQUEST-OR FOUND OUT By A L Harris Author of Mine Own Familiar Friend etc floPvrlgid 1811 Fy Oa11it I 1utUthtng Company I 1803 l A Smith CHAPTER XVII Continued Ive been dreaming ho said to I himself I thought everything had been made quite clear to me about Was lie dreaming still or was there some one In the room beside himself Some one sitting before the writing tablo and bending forward as though The figure had a pen In Its hand but It made no sound as It traveled over the paper The next moment it had raised Its head so that ho saw the face It Is the continuation continua-tion of my dream lie said and rubbed rub-bed his eyes Ho looked again There was nothing there How does that chair come to bo there in Its old place I thought I had pushed it back against the wall and I have no recollection of moving It again It Is very strange He rested his hand upon the back of the chair Oh it was real enough There was no mistake about it But Ie could have sworn he had never moved Ah what In heavens name was that A simple enough thing surely to cause so much amazement andwhatsurcly not tealIn the beholder Only a pen lying upon the blotting pad beside a sheet of paper But tho pen was wet and there were fresh words added to those ho had himself written before ho fell asleep The sheet of paper was the one upon which he had written those vague and disconnected phrases which had caused him so much perplexity per-plexity and unprofitable speculation They had been written irregularly Just In tho same order that they had occupied on the mutilated sheet with blank spaces between each broken sentence Now each blank space had been filled In and it was with perfectly per-fectly Indescribable sensations that ho read the copy as It now stood If you have not forgotten the friend of twenty years ago you will on receiving this letter start at once for Dover which place I expect to reach tomorrow morning There is silted of only a few lines but those few lines seemed to afford him considerable con-siderable satisfaction Judging by tho play of his features Indeed to the two who wore watching him It seemed seem-ed as though the expression which overspread his face were almost one of triumph Doctor he said will you excuse me a moment I havo to send an answer to this by the bearer He spoke rapidly and still that spirit of elation was perceptibleIn his words and actions He seemed quite to have cast off that air of abstraction which had characterized his demeanor demean-or previously He quitted the room leaving his sister and friend tetea tete Now said the latter fo himself Go It Jeremiah Nows your chance Make yourself agreeable for once In your life But dont forget that you were forty four last birthday and you look It every bit Ahem I suppose you are very much attached to your brother Miss Burrltt Attached to him was the exclamation ex-clamation Of courso I amt Exactly soand Im euro its very much to your credit Your brother seems hardly to be himself I dont remember that he was as nervous and shaky as ho appears to be now when I first met himthough he had a lotto lot-to try him and She put her finger upon her lips and gave a nervous glance at the door before she answered sinking her voice to a whisper Ho has been like that over since the funeral He goes and shuts himself him-self up for hours and I know that ho is always thinking of that man who i killed my father and planning how ho can hunt him down and bring him to the gallows I dont mind telling you because 1 know I can trust you but leaning across the table toward hlmI cant help feeling sorry sometimes some-times forthat other man I My dear young lady I agree with i I < The figure had a pen In Its hand that between us which I think will not allow you to deny this favor which I ask I have much to say to you and many questions to put which you alone can answer to my satisfaction If you refuse I shall think rightly or wrongly that you still regard me moro as the criminal than what I once was the friend of your youthS The young man read this through Who had written it Whose hand had completed the broken sentences and given them the moaning which they bad heretofore lacked Coula he have dono it himself while in a state of somnambulism No for tho handwriting hand-writing was not his At a glance he could distinguish tho words which he had written himself Tho words over which ho had labored and perplexed his soul The words which had seemed to cast a slur upon tho memory of his dead father which was now removed Ho turned tho sheet over Thereon There-on tho other side were those words the last probably his father overwrote over-wrote My dear together with date April 23rd He looked again at those mysterious mysteri-ous sentences upon which the Ink still glistened They were written in the same hand l CHAPTER XVIII The Advertisement Next morning a party of throe were assembled at breakfast You dont seem to have much of an appetite this morning remarked Dr Cartwright addressing his host who appeared rather distraught with a tendency to start when spoken to Hows that The young man replied as ho fidgeted fid-geted with his knife and fork That he didnt seem to care to eat anything any-thing somehow At this momentthero was an interruption Inter-ruption A maid presented herself with a letter which had Just como by hand and gave it to her young master mas-ter stating at tho samo time that tho bearer was waiting for an answer A letter and como by hand He started again as though ho had been shot and tho doctor noticed that his hand went up to the breast pocket of his coat as though there were something there he The doctor shook his head as he made this observation Ted Burrltt took tho letter hold out to him glanced at the superscription and toro it open It apparently con every word you have said and I am much flattered by tho confidence you have shown in me But Im afraid its no use talking to him I was the same at his age ho continued but at fortyfour one sees things differently dif-ferently Are you fortyfour Dr Cart wright she inquired Innocently Then you are not quite a quarter of a century older than I am I shall be twenty next month I wish I hadnt been in such a devil of a hurry to be born thought the doctor I wish I had waited another ten or fifteen years or so I wish shed got red hair and a squint or that I was cut out after a different pattern myself Later In the morning he paid a visit to tho lady of tho house She sat up in bed to receive him with her Indian shawl over her shoulders and allowed him to feel her pulso inthe friendliest possible way But whon Dr Cart wrlght had left the room ho shook his head and remarked to himself Un less Im very much mistaken that woman Is dying of Just nothing at all Doctor said Ted Burrltt meeting him at tho foot of tho stairs I am afraid I shall bavo to leave you for an hour or twoa little matter of business you know Dont hurry back on my account i chant miss you in the least Hes off Ill Just go and No he Isnt Why whats ho coming back for Forgotten For-gotten something Ive dropped a letter tho ono I received re-ceived this morning I thought I put it in my pocket but it isnt there I suppose you havent seen anything of the kind lying abouthe cast n hasty glance round him but not seeing see-ing ItNever mind he said After all It is not of much consequence and 1 know the contents Tho door banged again and he was gone A few moments later his sister crossed tho hall I wonder what the doctors doing she said It is very rude of us to leave him to himself In this way Whats that Her eye had boon caught by some thing white lying on the mat at her feet She picked it up and saw that it was a letter the contents of which merely consisted of a couple of lines as follows I Dear SirThe luggage has been claimed Can you call upon me at a 11 bcloclc this morning Yours obediently JOHN SHARP Ni Dr Cartwright did not return homo by tho first train next day The mere mention on his part of such a purpose pur-pose being scouted ns preposterous 1 by hid entertainers III thought you spoke of three day at the least ns tho length of your I visit said his host and I want to have a long talk with you today itj you dont mind Mind said tho doctor Its Just I what I should like They were nt breakfast when this I occurred and the morning paper had 1 Just been brought in Ted Burritt had been glancing over its columns in 0 a careless way with tho air of ono who feels certain that they are not likely to contain anything to Interest him when turning tho sheet his attention at-tention was accidentally caught and held by something which appeared among the advertisements There ho sat his mouth slightly open and a vivid spot caused by excitement or some other feeling on each cheek Anything very remarkable In the paper this morning asked tho doctor doc-tor with an affectation of indifference indiffer-ence but noticing every change In tho countenance before him from behind be-hind his spectacles This remark recalled re-called the other to himself He seemed seem-ed annoyed that ho had betrayed his feelings so openly and crumpling up the paper threw it on ono sldo before answering Nothing whatever There is absolutely no news worthy of the name nameNow thought tho doctor is ho 1 deliberately telling an untruth or what Oh certainly I must get to tho bottom of this Aloud ho merely 1 observed There never does seem to t bo much in the papers nowadays j Now whon I was In the 47th etc Notwithstanding this last remark ho did not forget to take an early opportunity oppor-tunity of examining tho paper I wish I had noticed which pago Iii It was he said to himself as he ran sa his finger down each column In succession suc-cession But I dont see anything like fr ly to account for the boyss peculiar s behavior Oh here you are as the door opened Think of tho devil 66 know and Hullol look you you L very much excited about something 11 What is it 2t I am excited was the answer C1 And youll bo excited too when you C have heard all I have to say SI Dr Jeremiah stared at the young L man in astonishment Then All tc right ho said fire away and astonish aston-ish mo as much as you like L Not here ho answered I want 0 you to come with me to the room that tc was my fathers study and whero we shall be sure of not being disturb fed f-ed as I keep the key myself and SI never allow any ono to enter It rl They crossed tho hall Ted unlock med m-ed 1 the door they entered and ue lock wed w-ed it again behind them 111 Dr > Cartwright looked round him D with considerable Interest He noticed notic-ed the dust now lying thicker than over upon every object small and T great Ho dusted a chair with his pocket handkerchief before venturing F to sit down Then he took oft his spectacles and polished them carefully care-fully Now ho said as he settled d himself Im quite ready to be astonished aston-ished a You asked mo a moment or two 0 back whether I had found tho other e man said Ted meaning of course n the murderer have 1 Quito sure said the doctor still j preserving his equanimity I will give you the wholo story o from the day we parted You know s all that went before Ho began with the account of the 1 burnt letter and the little doctor listened t tened with an interest he found impossible Im-possible to disguise Its a sad pity f it should havo been so nearly destroyed des-troyed was the first remark ha y made because of course it is impossible im-possible to tell now what tho rest c of the contents might have been t Tq be continued |