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Show flBMrM I CONDENSED B: classics I I ! K THE WOMAN IN :t H: WHITE i: m t: 3 By WILKIE COLLINS aaBr flay Condensation by X BjjjS Alice Fox Pitts, New Bedford, Mast. j; H r I William Wllklr MM s4MMMM Collliia, the am or He SvaHP'jHW " luudacnpe nnd Hi ffiW 'Hk portrait painter, Hi '1 $kk YTn" born ,n l-on- LB 5on Janonrr H, HjT V . ,t,MKl (ember 23, 1880. H "r rTff?Wj A((rr ome prl- aam A 3r, fate education at 8 tUfSvyK :&. ,,0'" he aptnl aB $Ji!ffcaB three yenra In aB )U(tafla, n r "Kb hla B VaBftwBBMF 'other. On hla S i19iPEiHK rrtl,rn he Iirrnitie B J$CKaBKiBfHl " cerk villi n aB T$ttHLBH flrm o( c" mrr i fll K'-ft'&lawHHBB c'lnn" Ion- , s&wEJISRfl! Ucn' but rn ,tb" ' aB twiHBHlS IC ,u,"r'1 lnw "' j UiAfSMMMf coin's Inn ondnim cnllrd to the bar .In I'-Sl. Hut he Yrna atlll drlfflui;) he nti not ntlrncted to the lnw, though Slio found bl Mudlca of went use to Vim In Inter dnja. Hf Tlir death of the elder. Colllna In IM7 put the aon pnrtljr In the wny of Mailing hlmarlf, for he phbllahcd IiU father'H life In two tolitmra the next Bflyrnrt He hnit been turning over 111 experience of three yenrx' life In Itnlj-, nnd In 1""0 nppenrrd IiU flrat not el, I tntnnlun, or the Knit of Home." $ "Ilnxll" itn ptibtUhed In 1S52, nnd 'lllilc nnd Seek" In JSUt. He had not -IBJnltrnclcd the nttrntlnn of the publle "(iii jet. The Krcnt -rvrnt of hla life, jBJlioneter, rnme In 1-3I, when he made '(lie ucqunlntnnce of Charlea Dlckena. JT WAS n'closo nnd sultry night early ear-ly In August. And I. Walter Hart- right, master of drawing, aged twenty-eight, was walking from Hatnp-Bstoad Hatnp-Bstoad to London. In one moment every drop of blood In my body wns brought to a stop by the touch of n hand laid coolly on my shoulder. There, In the HJuilddle of tho high road, stood a worn-Bcn worn-Bcn arcscd from head to foot In white varments. She nsked me tho way to Loudon. I told her; nnd wo pnrtcd. H Ten minutes later a carriage passed Hmn nnd a few yards beyond stopped Bnoar n pollccmnn. A man put his head Hpmin tho window and asked: "Have Bjyou seen n woman pass this way a Btvoma. 1b white? She has escaped from my asylum." At a shake of tho HJio'lcemnn'" head, the carrlago drove rapidly on. Bj The next, day I was at Llmmerldge Mouse, Cumberland, In the service of Frederick Fnlrllc, Esq. I was there Bjto instruct his two young nieces In the , Brt of painting,. I found Marian Hal- Bjcumbo to bo dark nnd ugly, but Intel- MBlgcnt. Laura Fnlrllo, her half-sister, uns light, pretty und dependent. They Mfivero devoted to rnch other, and bo Hfore my engsgement was up, I admired Htho ouo and loved tho other. H My feelings wcro tho cause of my Hjknvlng Llmmertdgo hourc. Marian BjHalcombo brought to mo a realization Hcf my own heart. "You must leave," l:o said, "not because you nre only a eaclier of drawing, but because Lau- Ba Falrllc Is engnged to be mnrHcd." B A few days beforo I left Cumber- Sand, whllo walking alone In the eve- iliig, I wns confronted by tho same Maro which had first looked Into mine flpn tho London high road by night. MBWUt I wns startled less by Its sudden eappen ranco than by my Immediate recognition of nn ominous likeness jictwecn this fugltlvo from tho osy- Hum and my fair pupil nt Llmmerldge (fiouBp. Still greater wns my constcr- aatlon when tho woman admitted hav- " como to tho neighborhood for the B)ole purpose of thwarting tho proposed marriage- of Laura Fnlrlle. iHK I left Llmmcrldgo house, and roon pftcr embarked on an expedition to Central America. The same year Lau- rn Falrllo became tho brldo of Sir Byerclval Glydo, Dart., nnd with her ftlstcr went to live nt Bluckwotcr park, Bier husband's country estate. ount Tosco, an audacious nnd domineering tallan, and his wife were guests of ho household. But nil was not as harmonious as nn English country par- ty should be. Lndy Glydo and her sls- Ker, as Insepurnblo nnd confiding ns rver, felt a perceptible coolness rising between them and tho two gentlemen. poolnrss turned to suspicion nnd soon jo fear. K Tr,n It was that Lady Clyde mot She W'imnn In White. Tho mysterious Brerson tolo noiselessly up to her In Bjhe tvillir.t one evening nnd whls-Bpercd whls-Bpercd : "It u knew your husband's Bpecrct, ho would bo nfrnld of you. He BfouKI not dare uso you as he bns used Bfne. I ought tP havn saved you before Bjt van too late." nut beforo the sc-ftret sc-ftret was told there were footsteps in BBfho distance and the woman moved Bftcalthlly away. M Sir Fcrclval learned of tho Krlef In-ervlew, In-ervlew, and wns afraid of hts wife. Br'0 demnndeil, begged, threatened her Bf" 1'U him nil sho know. What had BBVcn it battlo of wits between tho two BBVst?r8 and tho two men became n Bwruuglo of strategy, and the women BBpst the fight. Lady Glydo was 'do-BfH 'do-BfH Into leaving Blackwater park BBVr fAunt Fobco'b London homo. Less BBr"D two weeks later n tombstone In KpuraTirrland bore this Inscription : "Sa-BaaC"1 "Sa-BaaC"1 to tlie memory of Laura, Lady BV Oil my rctuTA from Central Amerlm Uio Bnmo year, 1 heard of tho death. " and Immediately Halted the grave to I approached It, two women came to-wards to-wards mo. Ono was Marian Halcombe. S?.Sf " m' VC"C1, but whcn 8n raised this covering from hr face, there looking at me, was Laura, Lady Clyde. Sho was pnle, nervous and de-pressed-moro perfect than ever In ?VnlteCSCmblnnC t0 U' WInnn ,n Marian nalcombo told mc what she knew. She had found her sister In nn nyslum, nnd In the grave nt our feet wns her mysterious double. Sir I'erclval's boldness and Count rosco's cleverness lind succeeded In exchanging tho destinies of the two women. The circumstance had netted theso two gentlemen some 30,000 pounds, derived from tho cstnte of Lndy Clyde. Tho fortune was gone beyond recall, but Lady Clyde's true Identity might .vet bo established In the face of such evidence ns her death certificate nnd tombstone, nnd tho Incredulity of her friends nnd relatives. This I determined deter-mined to do. Cast urton the world nlone. Ihe sisters readily agreed to allow al-low mo to take up their fight, and I determined that Lnurn should one dny re-enter her father's estate recognized by all. It soon wns apparent that Sir Per-cival Per-cival and Count Fosco were the per-sons per-sons I must light. I worked secretly, but directly, for I hod no funds with which to enrry on n fight through the courts. Tho secret with which the Woman in Wlilto hnd threatened Sir Perelval seemed to me to bo the key to the whole sltuntlnn. Tluough n series se-ries of Inquiries, working nlwn.vs under un-der the wntch of spies, I found It opportune op-portune to look up tho marriage registration regis-tration of Sir I'erclval's parents. I found It In n little country church nnd It wns forged. I was no sdoncr In possession of the knowledge of hl? Illegitimate birth than Sir Pcrclvnl. In furious desperation to destroy the cv Idence, entered tho llttlo church by night, set flro to tho structure, nnd through the agency of his own stupidity stupid-ity and nn old-fnshloncd wooden lock, trapped himself Into nn awful denth. Laura wns free of her husband, but she remained nn outenst n woman dead to her friends nnd relntlves. I was still determined this Bhould not be. My only hope of success lay In Count Fosco, who nlone hnd the evidence evi-dence which could establish her legal existence. Hut to acknowledge Lndy Clyde's identity-would be to admit his guilt of one of the greatest of crimes. My task looked difficult, but on unknown un-known agency came to my nld. Count Fosco wns a traitor to one of the world-wide Itnllnn secret societies, The knowledge enmo to mo by chance, but It served mo In good stead. I went to his house ono night nnd bartered my silence for tho evidence of Laura's existence. Count Fosco, In a long exposition, ex-position, gave the details of his own nnd Sir Pcrclrnl's cunning. Then he left England forever. To clear up the last shred of mystery surrounding the Woman in White, I sought out her childhood homo. I pieced together her story from her old friends nnd relatives. rela-tives. Fnte hnd made her the Illegitimate Illegit-imate half-sister of her counterpart nnd tho chnnce possessor of Sir Per-clval's Per-clval's secret. My Inbors ended, Marian Tlnlcombo nnd her sister, who wns now my wife, returned to the hnppy companionship of thoso days nt Llmmerldge house before Sir Perclvnl's cunning had usurped tho consummation of our love. On tho death of Laura's uncle somo monthH later, her son and mine became the heir of the estate and fortune of the house of Llmmerldge. Copyright, 1919, by the Post Publishing Co. (Tho Boston Post). Copyright In Uio United Klnpdom. the Dominions, Its Colonies Col-onies nnd dependencies, under the copy-Tight copy-Tight net. by the Post Publishing- Co., Boston, Mass , U. S. A. All rights reserved. re-served. Ifouchton, Mifflin & Co., authorized au-thorized publishers. |
