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Show HHHf- mi H 5. HI & i &" H m """ " """ , - H WMWMMMMWMMMMWMWMMBUIlttlUUlMUIIII III 1 I "J THE FATAL REQUEST h OR FOUND OUT j H Dy A. L. Ilarrla Author of "Mlno Own Familiar Friend." eicl H Copyright, IJfl, fry I'mull i'utlliAlns Company, I MJ 0 o p y r 1 p A i , 19 0 1, b y 8 t r t i t t m I A . t H CHAPTER XI. Continued. Hi "Know mo? Of course ho does!" Hb was the reply. "Didn't I buy him of H drunken old Irish woman, and mend Mfl his broken leg for lilni? And do you Hj think ho's going to forget that, though H be la only a duck?" Hi They remained pacing up and down Hi the garden paths until It was quite H dusk; the doctor persistently con- H versing on cheerful subjects, and re- H fusing to allow the conversation to H tako a morbid turn. H At nine o'clock supper was served, Hi insisting of boiled fowl and sail-Hi sail-Hi Hi "You'll tako a leg and a wing and H ft bit of the breast?" said the hos- Hl pltablo llttlo man, as ho piled bin Hb visitor's plate. "You've got a trying B day before you to-morrow," Hi CHAPTER XII. M The Other Passenger. Hi, Tho Inquiry Into the death of Mr. Hj Bllns nurritt was held at tho "Wheat- M ihcaf," In tho long, low room usually H dedicated to tho flowing bowl and tho H promotion of social Intercourse. H Tho soma routlno having been ob- Yi lerved as on that nrovlous occasion. H Dr, Jeremiah Cartwrlght was called Hi to prove the finding of tho body Its H position, appearance and subsequent Hi removal to tho vestry of the old Hb church, and his examination of the Hb remains resulting In the discovery H of a wound, with two orifices, showing H that tho bullet which Lad caused It H bad traversed tho head completely, H Othor scientific ovldcnco followed, H which Is suppressed. H Mr. Kdward Uurrltt was then called, H nd went through tho form (f Idontl- H tying tho deceased as his father, Mr H Silas Burrltt, merchant, of Timber H Lane, City, aged EO. Ho entlroly noga- H lived the theory of self-destruction, H stating that his father, to his certain H knowledge had' not only novcr pos- H, leased anything In tho shapo of firo-1 thing about either of them that helped to fix his attention upon (hem, ho answered an-swered that "the taller and thinner of the two though they were both of them tall and well growod seemed uncommon pertlckler about picking out a carriage to his mind. Ho noticed no-ticed him looking Into sovoral beforo he fixed upon that Identical compartment; compart-ment; and when ho had, ho beckons to him (the guard) and says, 'Look here!' he says, 'mo and my friend, we don't want nobody elso getting In here. Vo want this hero carriage to ourselves till we get to London. Tako this,' ho says, 'and don't you let nobody no-body elso In whatever.' So I pays 'All right, sir,' and lock tho door, and thinks to myself, 'Anybody would think ns It wn3 a couplo of honey-moaners; honey-moaners; Instead . of two elderly gents.' " "Could ho Identify tho body of tho gcntlcmnu who had been shot as tho companion of tho other?" Ho both could and would; except that there had been a sort of a smllo on his Jaco then and ho looked very different now. In fact, ho had struck him (tho guard) In splto of tho tip which tho other party gave him as being by far tho ngreeablor and molt pleasant-spoken gentleman of tho two; and ho had been most uncommon sorry sor-ry that ho had, on recognizing tho body, because, you see, ho had quite made up his mind that ho had escaped es-caped as well ns tho other one. Doing aBkcd to explain hlmsolf, said he didn't see much what thero was to oxplaln. Whnt ho mount was that ho thought that If ono gent got oft scot free, tho other might have dono tho samo. "What did ho mean by tho other having got off scot freo, and what was his authority for speaking as ho-dld7" ho-dld7" Why, It was simple enough Bolng In tho rear of tho train, ho was conscious con-scious of nothing until ho found himself him-self thrown violently on tho floor. HL "Know me? Of course he does." H arms, but bad always been remark- H ablo for an unusual amount ot norv- H I susness, almost amounting to horror, H with regard to anything of tho kind, In H Donscquenco ot an accident, with a H tragical termination, which ho had H snee witnessed. Dr. Jeromlah Cart- H wrlght, recalled at this juncture, hero H statod his Arm conviction that tho H wound had not boen solf-lnfllctcd. Hl which he proceeded to prove, to his H own satisfaction and tho entire bo- H wlldermcnt ot everybody olse present, H by tho aid ot a great many polysylla- H ble expressions and a torrent of pro- H (easlonal phraseology, which swept Q everyone off tholr feet, but which, on H being filtered down for. tho benefit ot H tho unlearned, merely amounted to H the following facts, viz., that tho edges H of tho wound, by which tho bullot bad H made Its entrance, were torn and H lacerated, as well as blackened and H1 burnt by tho action of tho gunpow- Htj der, that tho skin In tho vicinity of H- tho wound wr" blistered, tho .blooding H slight, and I Icily from tho orlflco ot f exit, and tho two openings in the H scalp nearly opposite oach other. H Dr. Cartwrlght, having brought his H evldenco to a conclusion, now gavo H place to another witness, and ono In H whoso power It might bo to holp to H unravel tho rayutcry. This last was H tho guard ot the 4:30 train an in- H telllgont looking man, who, with a H bandage round his head and ono arm H In a sling, bore tokonB of tho Injuries H ho bad recclvod In Jumping from tho H j, train whllo It was In motion. H On bolng questioned as to what ha H j knew ot tho matter, ho rcpllod, with H out any hesitation, that ho re mom- B t bered tho fourth carriage from tho Ienglno woll, and the passengers that It contained In that particular compartment. com-partment. "Was he suro that thoro was more than ono passenger In that compart- H meat ot tho carriage referred to?" Hj j Sure and certain he was. "Thoro ' . were two ot them. He could swear M to It. Didn't one of them, the taller m at the two, tip him handsome to lock m ,tbcm In so that thoy might have tho H 'carriage to themselves for the Jour-Hi Jour-Hi H "And did you lock them In, and aro H Cilto sure that tboy were both to- H gether In the carrlago when tho train H startod?" r B "Certain sure he was. He oca them H boUt tocetber In tho compartment as H the train passed him. Just beforo he H, wung himself Into his van." HI, Blec asked whether there was any- nccovorlng himself, ho Jumped from his van nnd alighted on his foot, but wai struck by a fragment ot something some-thing and knocked down. Ho roso to his foot ngaln, though suffering from wounds In tho hend, hand an knee, and saw n sight the llko of which ho had nover seen before. With his keys In his hand, ho ran up and down tho line, hardly knowing what ho was doing. As soon ns ho began to got his senses back, which had been pretty pret-ty well knocked out of him, ho unlocked un-locked all tho doors of the carrlagos that ho camo to, though they w.ere already unlocked on ono sldo. After he had dono all ho could, ho wont and sat down by tho sldo of tho line, for he began to turn faint and dlrry. While ho sat thero he saw n tall, rather thin, olderly gentleman making mak-ing his way slowly towards him, who limped a little as ho v (ked. As this latter enmo nearer ho recognized him as being tbo samo Individual who had given him tho tip, and told him to koop anyono elso from getting Into tho carrlago. Wltnoss noticed that his fnco was ghastly, and that ho breathed llko a man who had beon running a raco, but naturally put It down to tho tor-rlblo tor-rlblo shock and the fright caused by tho accident. As ho camo up to him, ho (tho guard) spoko to hlra nnd said, "Glad to seo you're safo, sir! hope tho other gent Is tho samo?" Ilut ho only stared at him In a queer, dazod sort of way, without making any answer, a,nd passed on down tho lino. At last, after somo debate, tho vor-dlct vor-dlct agreed upon was; "Wilful murder ngalnBt somo person or persons unknown." Ted Durrltt and his frlond the doctor doc-tor left tho placo togothcr. , "What will bo your next step In tho matter?" askod tho latter. "First, to toko my father's body homo then to look for his murderer!" mur-derer!" CHAPTER XIII. Coming Home. Karly In the evening ot tho samo day Dr. Jeremiah was bidding his now friend "good-byo" as' ho saw him oft from tho station. Tho train puffed slowly out of tho station, and tho last view Ted had of tbo llttlo man showed him standing stand-ing at tho end of the platfo-m and waving his upectacles after him. Ho Evo him a patting salute out of the window of tho carrlago nnd then draw In his head, sank back Into his scat with a sigh and began to review the events of tho last few days. "Wilful murder against some persjn or persons unknown!" And ho had- to break this, ai welt as all that went beforo It, to thosu two women at home. A gronvsomo task! Well, so much tho worso for tho man who had been tho causo ot It all. So much tho worso for him when tho day camo for reckoning up accounts; tho day that would seo him In tho criminals' dock; tho day that would place a nooso round his nock. Anil tho young man felt that that would be a day well worth waiting for, even though it might bo Indefinitely prolonged. pro-longed. Hut he would never rest, and novcr give up, until ho had helped to bring It about; for It seemed to him that revenge would bo Incomplete and robbed of halt Its sweetness unless It were his foot that helped to dog the murderer and his hand that helped to hurry him to a felon's doom. Oh. yes, he must bo an agent, It not tho chief, ot any rato an Important ono. Ho hoped among his father's lettors and papers contained In a scaled packet, which ho carried about IiIb person to como upon something which might help to set his feet In the right track. Then tho thought struck him, If h could And that letter! Tho one that camo less than a week ago! If It had not been dostroyed! And why should It havo been? Unless and ho recalled re-called that, at tho time, distasteful al lusion of Dr. Cartwrlght's unless tjcro wero something comproralslng-In comproralslng-In It! Hut ho rejected tho Idea now, ns ho had then. No doubt ho would bo nblo to And tho letter. It was most probablo that It was Includod among those other papers which wero oven now In his possession. Meanwhile, nt Magnolia Iidgo, tho days had dragged heavily along. Mrs Uurrltt having onco taken to her bed (n recumbent position bolng lookoii upon by her as tho most proper nnd becoming ono In which to encountor nflllctlon) Immediately upon rccolpt ot tho sad tidings had not slnco sufficiently suffi-ciently recovered herself to leavo It again. "Orlcf," sho Bald, "always had a peculiar effect upon her splno, and she didn't know whether It was tho blinds being down, or tho sight of hor widow's cap, but sho couldn't help feeling that sho was not long for this world. Anyhow, thoy must not grieve, but bo suro and bury her by tho slcTT of tholr doar father." All this couli) scarcely bo said to add to her daugh teY's spirits, only, thero was so much to bo done, that sho had, fortunately) llttlo tlmo in which to Indulge Il morbid reflections on her own bchaltA Thero were letters to bo written I dressmakers to bo Intervlowcd, ripd J host of other things, which rausjrbcT dono whether tho house bo qne oli Joy or mourning. ' It was about half-past Vovcn on Tuesday evening when shshoard tho sound ot wheels. Sho hastened Into tho hall and met herrothcr. Tho first glanco showed he tho alteration that had taken plajfa In him. Ho looked very worn atd full of trouble much older, and erne thought, much stornor. Sho had 'been In tho habit of regarding Mm as a boy was ho not barely tbnjo years her senior? now ho looked fa man, every Inch of him. A hasty) greeting passed between be-tween them, ylnd then sho went to preparo herifmothor for bis arrival. Mrs. Hutfltt was dozing, and her daughter hesitated for n moment bo-fore bo-fore rousing her. As sho stood. Waiting, Wait-ing, sho hoard heavy footsteps ascending ascend-ing tho staircase footsteps of men. who wero carrying something ot great weight. Sho know what It was. They cara6 on slowly past tho door of tho room In which sho was. Then, after a short time, sho heard them descending descend-ing the stairs again: tho door ot tho house was closed, and at the samo moment her mothor woko. (To be continued.) |