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Show IP A FELON'S LOVE, j ) BY 11..NRY W. MiSPIULD. CHAITI II 1 It Is norne fifteen years or moro since the quiet hundrum little Tillage of Sledgcmcro becamo famous fur a brief period on account of the torn-Dilution torn-Dilution of a dreadful crime Blcdgcmere Is an o it of tho-way pot In btiitex harlng to this day no railway station within nine ml ot and boasting only two gentlemen a residences resi-dences and a Tlearnge lot nearly thirty tr tho paraon had preached nnl his parishioners had lUtened Tl cro bod been squabbles squab-bles between the Mcar and tho Squire about cbanrel rights Thero had been good reasons and bad nine-day scandals scan-dals had been cherished and nurswl, but nerer beforo had the sober, alow-going alow-going peoplo of the village been so utterly ut-terly startled from their dreamy, every ev-ery day exlitence as they wero on that rarmorablo morning ot tho Itth ot July 18 About 1 alt a mile from tho Squires bouse and on the opprwlto tile ot tho Tillage there v. as a pretty old man-Ion man-Ion called rroylea which hod been occupied for a ronsl Icrablo time by an elderly bachelor named Hughe ery llltlo was known ot him although when he tint came Into tho neighborhood neighbor-hood ho brought with him Introduction! Introduc-tion! to the Squire from whom be rented the houio Considering that be lived almost entirely atone he kept up a loniowhnt largo establishment, Occasionally an elderly maiden lady named MIm Pyccroft who was sup-roied sup-roied to be hit niece came and paid him a three or four months Tlsll, but the old man was ot such retiring bablti that ha could not endure for any length ot time any Interference In hit ways ot life So Miss Pyccrotta Tltlls Invariably terminated In a stormy eruption on his part caused by tome fancied liberty ho Imagined her to hare taken In tho ordering ot the household or by tome grumbling on the part of tho servants who by nn means relltl c 1 her trespaulng upon their preserrce. Mr Hughes epent hit time chiefly among hit books and coins ot both ot which be prided himself upon bavtng a large and valuable collection Hit household consisted chiefly ot a butler, a footman a cook and two maid serranla besides two out-ot door I men the cnarbman and gardener in I atn a. OU11 spot n i 00 taat to get Indoor men serranlt to remain The matter of the houso Terr seldom entertained an I oven deplored having to preside at the two or three annual dinner partlei at which the Squire the Vicar and the local doctor, accompanied by their respective wlvet were hla chief and generally his only guette These dinners were Indeed hut alow affairs for the only pott prandial dlvertlon ever offered waa an lntpec-Hon lntpec-Hon ot Mr Hughea coins which were displayed In their glatt cases all around the drawing room Aftsr the departure ot the guoatt thcte treasures treas-ures were re depotlted In the great oaken cabinets In the library, to He by until the next featlve occasion Among them were many valuable antique gold and illver pieces ana 11 wot a common remark of tbo Squlro when he dlifcd at rroykt that be would not like to keep to much bullion In hit boute for fear of waking up somo flue morning and finding hla throat cut) Habit, however had become n tecond naturo and the possession of theto colna cauted Mr Hughci no anxiety They were not things peoplo could teal ho always declared at tbo real valuo consisted In their antiquity, and It would bo a hard matter to dispose of them 'Hut you might molt them down,' tho Bqtllre tuggeslcd Melt your grandmother down I' Mr Hughes had rcilled Irritably at It tbo very motion ot melting down uch trcoturci for tho itaka of paltry drott were offontlvo to him It It necessary, In order to follow the revelations contained In Himo pages to be particular as to the description de-scription of tho Inmates of Mr Hughes' Hugh-es' ettablUbment at the time the narrative nar-rative commences The cook Mrs oung wu an elderly elder-ly woman who had been Ave yean In her present situation The two maldt, Borah and Anne Dodton, were tiUre, both young womtn and native na-tive ot the Tillage ot Slodgemere. The footman Edward Dartlett waa a youth ot nineteen and had lately been engaged with an excellent two yeaxa character from his former matter The butlsr, 'William Luke wtt a man of over forty years of age who bad entered en-tered Mr Hughea terries about the tame time aa Dartlett In consequence of the difficulty ho had experienced In obtaining tervantt Mr Hughes had taken luka Into hla service without a character The man had been dUcharged by hit lata employer em-ployer for Impertinence and suspected pilfering of wine but Mr Hughea liked hU looks and after cautioning him aa to hla future behavior, consented con-sented to engage him Of th coachman and the gardener it U caretly necessary to say anything any-thing because at th time ot th dreadful event about to be described they were proved to bo In their houses with their respective wlvet and chll-Iztn. On the 13th of July IS Mr Hughes gave one of his aolemn dinner lartlea As usual tie colas were displayed' after dinner and the old gentleman he) 1 forth with more than his c rdlnary teal upon their history talus and merit After the rucste had taken their do parture I uke the I utlcr tMlstett I y I Iwnrd Dartlett rcnotcd tho cases under Mr Hughe supervision and placed Ihem In tho rablneta In tho II brary where they v. ere ordinarily kept. It naa atippoted that Mr Hughes did not retire until long after mldntght. Ho was In the habit of sitting up late onl Jotting do in tho occurrences ot tho day and writing out orders for tbo scrranta to carry out on the following morning Ho was heart by the cook lo bo moving about down stairs after tho clock struck one and the under houie-mald houie-mald Anno Doilmn declared In her evidence that tho henid her matter como upstnlrt and go Into hi bedroom bed-room Just at the great ball clock chime I the three quarters after one This witness moreover declared that she was suffering from toothache on that night anl could get no rest, to tho wu trying lo real herself to sleep Hearing Mr Hughea step on the stain the looked at hsr watch and was ottonlthed to find that It wat to late Soon afterwards tbe clock below struck two and this fact Imprcttcd the tlmo upon her mln I CHAPTI It It On tbe 14th of July the cook Mrs Young wat the first person to come downstairs She called the maldt by rapping on their bed room wall as was ber custom an 1 then knocked at the door of tho room where Udw&rd Dartlett Dart-lett the footman slept. Mr loung came down at halt past six Sho was not In tho habit ot calling call-ing the butler aa he wat generally very punctual In rising On this particular par-ticular morning however, he happened to be unutually late After having lighted the kitchen Are Mrs. Young proceeded to open the library li-brary shutters. Upon doing to the noticed at onre tho extreme dltorder-lines dltorder-lines ot the room A chair lay broken on the floor, an 1 with It a table-cloth heaped with book and other articles aa It It had been dragged suddenly oft ' th writing r,t Upon ntov'lBrts- lis-ation.shs foun 1 near the chair a large pool of Moo,! and'plmNat what looked like human hair Horror-stricken Horror-stricken sho searched on Mors traces of blood were upon the oak boards snd the stone flags of the hall outside. They teemed to lead across to the drawing room opposite, while upon the library door were the smeared marks ot a man a blood-stained band Terrified nearly out of her senses Mrs. Young hsd not tho courage to let tbe light Into the drawing room but, rushing to tho foot ot the staircase, the screamed loudly for help and then tainted Mien the recovered coniclouineii, the found all the servants running about wildly and the learned that her matters body had beon found In the drawing room with the back ot hU tkull beaten In and hit throat cut, I uke, upon hearing Mr Young's tcreama had rushed down ttalra partially par-tially dresicd and without bit boots It nas he who first opened th shutters In tho drawing room and In doing so bad broken a pnno of glais. Upon tho arrlvul of the police I uke appeared so dull and confused to un-ablo un-ablo to give an account of himself and hit doings at tbe time he had gone to bed on tbe previous night that be was arretted on tuspli Ion Moreover, there wot blood upon his shirt and trousers and also upon 1 ! o He declared afterwards that hit socks wero stalnod from bit haling trodden In the blood when ho first came down ttalrt and the other marki tnuit havo come from tbo cut In hts han I when he broke the window In the drawing room His confuted state he owned wat cauted by bit drinking off a bottle of thorry which he had purloined the night before be-fore after the guettt btd left tho dining din-ing room The cabinet! In which the coins had been placed were found broken open and ransacked and no traces of Mr Hughet trettures were to be found Near the body ot the murdered man lay a short New Zealander club with blood upon It. ThU utually hung tn tbe hall with similar weapons which composed a trophy But tbo tact which told most against Luke was a large clasp knife which was known to have belonged to him burled In the dutt heap out tu the hack yard The stslna upon this slso bore witness to the purpose for whlcn it had been nsed At the trial William Uke pleaded "Not Oullty, but circumstances pointed very tusplclstElj galntt him Edward llartlett tbe footman gave evidence which told greatly against the prisoner tkough tho young fellow thowed an evident with to tty all h could In hit favor Under croit-examlnatlon llartlett bad to own that he bad several time heard Luke tty that It was qntu time tbe old beggar his master was knocked In the head snd that It he had a heap ot coins like Mr Hughea ho would sot t long before he sulci H them and wenl sat to Australia." H The day befes- U murder Luke had H been much put out by bis master a finding fault at the way In which th B liter waa kept an 1 he s-tld to Dartle't Hj In tho pantry that he had had enough Jm of Mr Hughe nonsense anil he did H net Intend to ut up with It much M longer llartlett snore that I uke waa Wt much upset throughout the day on M which the dinner tarty had taken 86 place anl hat been drinking freely, jj4 tlnttgh he had not taken enough to 9u make his behavior noticeable JEs The two maids 8arah and Anne H Ikxlion alrn gave evidence but there JK was nothing particular to bo elicited flbo fn m them jag Tho Jury after prolonged trial W brought In a terdlct ot Oullty," and jK W llllnm I uke was rondemned to death W A week before tho execution waa to take place howeicr It waa rumored that tho police lad fresh suspicions and that there was reason to believe that I tike waa not the guilty man after nil So far ill 1 these rumors prove correct that Luke was rcprlered but detained d irlng her Majesty s pleasure. Much to the worlds astonishment suspicion teemed to hrve fallen upon the young footman Kdward llartlett, and still more were people surprised when It was reported that neither he nor Anne Do Iron tho under houso- mat 1 was to bo found The day after the conclutlon ot th trial they had left their retpectlvo lodgings In Iec anl nothing more was known ot them W eekt passed by and still the police were unable to discover dis-cover the sllgl test trace of the misting mist-ing mtn ant woman Sarah Dodton the el ler titter, wat arrested on a charge ot complicity, but tho was soon let nl III erly again at there waa not the tllghtett evidence agalntt her She persisted In her original orig-inal statement that she waa In total Ignorance nf the wlcrraboula ot Edward Ed-ward llartlett and tier titter, Anne and alto denlet any knowledge ol there ever having been any more than ordinary friendship between the pair Had there Seen any love-making between be-tween them Anno the declared would have been sure to confl le In her Meanwhile the ptil lie grew clamorous clamor-ous for the portion of William Luke as fresh evl lenre of his Innocence . cams to light an I circumstances which had been overlooked during th trial an 1 which pointed moat suspiciously suspi-ciously towards the rullt of tho mining min-ing couple were now brought forward I uke wat accordingly pardoned, and his many sympathisers raited money enough to purchase tor him the goodwill good-will of a small business In London Much waa said and much was writ ten to the papers about tbe Inefficiency ot the police How two people could suddenly disappear will out leaving a I trace behind them waa a myttery Iwhteb eautsd not, only perplexity lo j the cblett at'ocottnun. -rnro.ijw, . ... maiss easiness to society In general "A rwwsnl .arwXIJlIIHHUlj r"''lmHl was at last offered for any InrormaUTjo- which might lead to their arrest, and a minute description waa given of them and potted up In every town and teaport ot the kingdom, Edward Dartlett was described as being nineteen nine-teen years or age with fair hair, good features and gray eyes, and five feet Ave Inches In height, Anne Dodton was twenty one year of age of a dark complexion with large haxel eyes, dark brown hair and a clearly-cut profile Her expression waa described as pleating and her stature as ' tall " aho being Are feet seven Inches or thereabouts tn holght. Hut neither the tempting on thousand thou-sand pounds nor the glbea of tbe press at tho failure of the police brought forward any Information regarding the mining couple I dward llartlett and Anne Dodton had disappeared as completely as It tbe earth had opened and swallowed swal-lowed thim up (To bo Continued ) |