| Show by SEWARD W hopkins anaila 1 I jack robbin 1 I andric la th two 1 I bwll OB pair carf etc o 0 11 it kj u CHAPTER XVI I 1 cannot in sheer sympathy for the the man put all our conversation into this chapter there was something about his calm bearing his mute ac cep tance ot his fate that to me was sacred his white hand scarcely trembled as he carried a match to his cigar even after he must have been convinced that his race was run his face was ashen and the hand some mouth was set firm and white after the preliminary announce anno ince ment of our discoveries which he ac cepter with a sad bow of his alsto cratic head I 1 said I 1 have here the sworn statements of the man who was supposed to have killed alice gravis court the man who was hired to hill nita barlotti and the man who saved the child from the murdering clan shall I 1 read them or do you place yourself in the hands of the law without further proceed h said quietly with a voice shaking with emotion i I 1 read to him the statement of antonio Sigi notta during the reading be sat he raised a glass of wine to perfectly motionless and when I 1 had his aps firmly replaced the glass on the table and sat waiting proceed he said as I 1 paused the next then I 1 read the statement of luigi bambo and still the doomed man sat perfectly calm the ashen pallor of his face and hands being the only indica eions of the awful tumult that bust have been in his brain when I 1 had finished this he drained the glass again and again sat wait ing proceed he said and this time there was a distinct sneer in his voice there Is another that of my friend charles Sig motta I 1 began to read charles Sig motta s statement was as toll lows I 1 charles Sig motta otherwise known as ane druggist being duly sworn do say and declare that the following statement is absolutely true I 1 have listened to the statements of my brother antonio and luggi bambo and I 1 confess that all that is in them concerning myself Is abao cutely true I 1 was the familiar friend of aalph who as Is well known was a poor man with expensive tastes and heavily in debt when by the of his brother he became the guardian of the child alice and the executor of his brother s will by this in case of the death of alice be fore marrying ralph Gravis court be came sole heir to the fortune of a mil lion he at once plotted to get rid of the child and my own financial feces gitles made me a willing accomplice tor the terms he offered were liberal the plan was this I 1 had a child who had died of smallpox a child of poor italian parents who gladly con dented when I 1 offered to take her away and bury her without expense to them I 1 took this child to gravis court 8 house and took the real alice away first giving her a powerful drug which I 1 expected would kill her our reasons tor making this substitution were that Gravis court feared that some of the friends of his brother and his wife would demand to see the body and it it were known that she died of smallpox this curl osita would no doubt be stifled and then again it provided against a public funeral and viewing of the corpse and the child substituted was so strongly marked by the foul disease that one look would convince the most curious and satisfy all misgivings but there was no trouble the italian child was burled as alice gra viscount viscourt vis court and what followed with the real heiress is truthfully told in my brother st statement though up to the advent of s circus both gravis court and I 1 believed that alice gravis court was at the bottom of the east river Gravis court came to me in great alarm one day and said that a girl who closely resembled his brothers wife was an actress in malegni s circus and demanded to know more about the dis position I 1 had made of alice I 1 reas him and said that the likeness was merely a coincidence and so I 1 firmly believed I 1 knew that my brother had claimed to have a daugh ter nita but I 1 never saw her and now understand why he so carefully kept her out of my way when had gone I 1 got to thinking over the matter and my curiosity was aroused and I 1 went to the circus to see nita my brothers child I 1 was stirred by the striking resemblance she bore to the wife of charles and sought ma to learn more of her told me how antonio had given her to him and seemed to attach no imbor tance to my visit but it seems that he had neglected to read the contents of the red box having no interest in it until I 1 aroused his curiosity the next day came again and aid that had vis cited him and claimed to have proofs that nita barlotti was his niece even going so tar as to tell ot the box and its contents had demanded one hun red thousand dollars tor his silence and promised it to him if he would kill the girl this malegni refused to do saying he intended to marry her Gravis court insisted that I 1 make good my former efforts and also that I 1 kill and obtain the proofs of our former guilt I 1 was so deep in the mire already that I 1 as dented lulal bambo has told in his statement how I 1 employed him to do part of the work I 1 fired the ahot at ma which failed to kill him there Is no doubt that the girt known as nita barlotti is alice gra viscount viscourt vis court and the real owner of gravis courts millions all that I 1 have said la true all foht my brother aid Is true all 1 la ti ue charles Sig motta when I 1 had reading this the was as still a the grave we were all waiting tor geart byirt to speak A he did not but eat there and still the officer said mr Gravis court my orders are to take you to headquarters as a pria I 1 understand was the quiet reply in a moment I 1 will be ready to ac company you he rose and an involuntary e cla mation broke from me hia hair had turned as white as snow he stepped into an adjoining room and so certain were we all that he would not try to escape that none followed him suddenly we heard a pistol shot a groan and a fall we rushed pell mell in the direction of the sound and fauni Gravis court lying on hia bed the bloed oozing from a wound in his temple we strood spellbound with the last scene in the tragedy had been enacted ralph Gravis court was dead the end |
