Evening Star Newspaper, August 28, 1897, Page 16

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THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1897-24 PAGES. BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN. oe SSS SS (Copsrighted, 1897, by Stanley J. Weyman.) Written for The Evening Star. Co aed m inst Saturday's Star. er XXXVI. I believe that it is one thing to confront with calmness a death that is known to be inevitable, and quite another and a far more difficult thing to assume the same brow where hope and a chance remain. I am not greatly ashamed, therefore, that in a crisis which amply justified all the horror and repugnance which mortals feel at the prospect of sudden and violent dissolution, I fell below the heroic standard, and said and did things, miles impar Achilll. Nevertheless it is with no good will I dwell on the matter; in writing, as in Hfe, there are decencies and indec2ncies; things to be told and others to be implied. Let few words then suffice, alike for the mo- ment when Charnock, holding back the others, wrung from me, half swooning as I was, the admission that I had been te Kensington, and that the sentry was rot mistaken; and for those minutes of fr2n- zied terror which followed, when screaming and struggling in their grasp, row trying to fling myself down and now shrieking pray- ers ‘or mercy, I was dragged to a spot below the hook, and held there by relent- less fingers while a rope was being fetched from the next room. I had no vision, as I have read some have, of the things dane in my life, but the set dark faces that hemmed be in under the light, the grim looks of one, and the scared pallor of an- other, even Ferguson's hideous visage as he hovered in the background, biting his nails between terror and exultation—all these, even enlarged and multiplied, I saw with a dreadful clearness, and a keenness of vision that of itseli was torture. ‘O, God!" I cried. “O, God!” I felt that I could leap out of myself with terror—with terror of what was to come; yet from man I could see no help. “Ay, man, pray,” said Charnock inexora- bly. “Pray, for you must die. We will give you one minute. Here comes the rope. Who will fasten it?” “A fool,” cried a hard, gibing voice, from somewhere beyond the circle. ‘‘No other.” I started convulsively. I had forgotten the girl's presence. So, doubtless, had the conspirators, for at the sound they turned quickly toward her; and, the ring of men opening out in the movement, she became, visible to me. She stood confronting all, ing all. Her lips red, her face white us . her eyes glittering with a strange vild fierceness. Long afterward she told me that the sound of my shrieks and cries ringing in her ears had been almost more than she could bear; that as scream arosé on scream she had driven the nails into her palms until her hands bled, and so, and so only had been able to restrain her- self. knowing well that if she would inter- vene to the purpose her time was not yet. Now that it had come, nothing could exceed the mockery and scorn that rang fn her tone. “A fool,” she cried strident- ly, “has fetched it, and a fool will fasten it! And, let who hang, they will hang. And two of you, aye, you at the back there, will hang them. Why, you are fools. you are all fools, or you would take care that every man among you put his hand to the job, and was as deep as anoth- er. Or, if ycu like precedence, and it is a qvestion of fastening—for the man who fetched, he is as good as dead already—et the hand that wove the noose tie it! Let that man tie it!” And with pitiless finger she pointed to the old plotter, who, sneak- ing and cringing in the background, had al- ready his eye on the door, and his mind on 3 “Let him tie it!” she repeated. u slut!” he roared, his eyes squinting, livid with fury. “Your tongue shall be slit. To your garret, vixen.” But the others, as was not unnatural, saw the matter in a different light. “By —. the wench is right!” cried Cassel, and Keyes saying the same, and another. back- ing him, there-was a general chorus of “Ay, the girl is right. The girl is rght!” At that the man who had brought the rope threw it down. “‘There’s for me,” he said. gloomily, anq, with an ugly gleam in his eyes. “Let the old devil take it up. It is his job, not thine, and if I swing he shall swing joo.” “Fair!” cried afi. “That is fair™’ And “That is fair, Mr. Ferguson,” said Char- “Do: you put the rope round his 7 Ferguson spluttered, glaring from under his wi! “Yes, you!” the man who had brought the rope retorted with violence. “You! And why not, I'd like to know, my gen- tleman?* “I am no hangman!” cried the plotter with a miserable assumption of dignity. But the words and the evasion only in- flamed the general rage. “And are we?” Cassel roared, with a voiley of oaths. “You covenanting, psalm-singing, tub- thumping old quill driver,” he continued. “Do you think that we are here to do your dirty work and squeeze throats at your bidding. este! For a gill of hollands I would split your tongue for you. That and your pen have done too much harm alread: Charneck said. man. And do you, Mr. Ferguson, take up -the rope and do your part. Otherwise We shall have strange thoughts of you. There have been things said before, and it were well you gave no color to them.” I cannot believe that even I, writhing as a few minutes before I had writhed in their hands, and screaming and begging for life, cculd have presented a more pitiable spec- tacle than Ferguson exhibited, thus breught to book. All the base and craven instincts of a low and cowardly nature, brought to the surface by the challenge thus flung in his face, he quatled and cow- ered before the men; and, shifting his feet “Go softly, “I promise,” I said eagerly. "nc breathing hard, glanced askance, first @t one and then at another, as if to see who woukt support him, or who could most easily be persuaded, but he found scant en- couragement anywhere; the men, savage and ill-dispored, to begin, and driven to the wall, to beot, had now conceived sus- Picions, and in proportion as delay and his conduct diverted their rage from me, turned it on him with growing ferocity. “Here is the cock of the pit!” cried Keyes, who seemed to be a trooper and a man of no education, lacking even the oc- casional French word or accent that be- trayed the others’ sojourn with King Lous. “D— him! He would Pave us hang the man, but won't lay a finger on him himself! He is no Ketch, isn’t he? Well, I hang no man either, unless I put a hand on him.” And he pointed full at the plot- ter. A murmur of assent, stern and full of meaning, echoed his werds. “Mr. Fergu- sen,” said Charnock, with grave polite- ness, “yeu hear what this gentleman says? And, mind you, if you ask me, he has rea- sen. A few minutes ago you were forward with us to hang this person. And, among gentlemen, to urge another to do what ou will not do yourself lays you open to comment. It may even be pretended that if your rogue informed, you were not so ignorant of the fact as you have us believe you.” men, It was wonderful to see how the "cre and desperate, caught at that notion; and with what greedy philosophy they turned on the knave who only a few mo- ments before had swayed their passions to | cold voice, taking up the tale, smote on his will. It was to no purpose that Fer- guson, head and hands shaking as with a Palsy, strove frantically to hurl back the accusation. His wonted profanity seemed to fail him on this occasion, while the vio- lence which had daunted men of saner ten peraments proved no match for Cas- sel’s brutality, who, breaking in on him before he had stammered a score of words, called him liar and sneak, and, denouncing him with outstretched finger, was in the ac* to hound his comrades on him, when scmething caught the ear of one of them, and with ery of alarm this‘ man, who stood near the door, raised his hand for ience. Rage died down in the others’ faces, and involuntarily they clustered together. But the panic was of short duration; hardly kad the alarm Leen given and taken, or the lamp which hung against the wall been snatched down and shaded, before the scund of a key in the door reassured the censptrators. For me, who throughout the scene last described had leaned half swooning agairst the wall, listening with what feclings the reader may easily judge, to the contest for my life—for me, who new stood reprieved, afid for the moment safe, any change migtt be expected to be fraught with terror; but whether T had passed the bitterness of death or sheer terror had exhrusted my capacity for suf- fering it is certain that I awaited the event with leck-luster eyes, and, hearing acry of “It’s Mat Smith!” felt neither fear my ear, and in a moment dashed my jubila- tion. There was that in his tone that gripped my heart afresh. “Peace, man!’ he said. “Peace! Is this a time to be bickering? Let us be clear before we separate what fs to be done with this man. For my part, I am not for jetting bi rs 2. “Nor I,” said Smith, speaking almost for the first time. The others, lately so hot and impassioned, looked at the speakers and at one another with a sort of’ apathy. Only Ferguson cried violently, “Nor I, by —! Nor lL We are many, and what is one life?” - “Quite so, Mr. Ferguson,” Charnock re- torted. “But will you take the life?’ The plotter drew back as he had drawn before. “It is everybedy’s business,” he muttered. “Then will you take part in it? You are the first to condemn. Will you be one to execute?” > Ferguson moistened his lips with his tongue, and swallowing with an_ effort, looked shiftily at me and away again. The sweat stood on his face. For me, I watch- ed him, fascinated. Watched him, and still. he did not answer. “Just so,” said Charnock at last. “You will not. And that being so, is there any one else who will? If not what is to be done?” “Put him in a lugger,"’ Keyes cried, “at the bridge. andeby morning—” “He will be taken off at the Nore,” Cassel nor surprise, ror even moved when Smith | answered, scornfully. “And you, too, if, “GO, MAN,” HE SAID, “YOU ARE EREE, BUT REMEMBER—” entered, followed by a woman, and with 2 | you think to get off that way. There are quick glance took in the room and !ts oc- cupente: 2 dt" said Cassel, with an oath. “I thceught that the soldiers were on us. But if they had been, curse me, but I would have sent this old Judas to his place before me!" Smith looked with a grim smile from the speaker to Ferguson, and, raising his eye- brows, “Judas!” said he, with ironical po- liteness, as he laid his cloak and cane ona table. “Is it possible that you refer to my friend, Mr. Ferguson?” “Strangle your friend!” Cassel answered ccarsely. “Do you know that his man there has blown on the thing and sold us?” Smith's eye had already found me where I leaned against the wall, my hands tied. “I see,” he said, coolly. “I knew before that the game was up; and I have —— e scmewhere—and warned some one,” “But I did not know how they had the office.” “He gave it! That is how they bad it!” Cassel retorted. And it is my belief that I:ke man like master! And that that poor Piece there would no more have dared to inform without his patron’s leave than—" He left the end of his sentence to be un- derstood: but Charnock, taking up the tale ard disregarding Ferguson's mutterings, described In a few words what had hap- pened. When he came to the girl's ‘inter- vention in my behalf, the woman who had entered with Smith, and who, though she stemed to be known to the conspirators— for her appearance cavsed no remark—had hitherto remained fidgeting tn the back- ground, moved forward into the room; and approaching the:'gitl who ‘was » sitting mcodily at a table by the fire, touched her ‘cheek with her fingers, and slipping her hand under her chin, turned up her face. To this the girl made no resistance, and the two women remained looking into one another's eyes for a long minute. Then the elder, ho was the same-weman I had seen with Smith at the lady's house in the out- skirts, let the girl’s face drop again, with a little flirt of her fingers. ; “Doris and Strephon, 1 see?’ she said, with a sneer. Chapter XXIX. What the girl answered I did not catch, fer, as she raised her head again to reply, my ear caught the sound of rising danger. Ferguson was speaking; his words, no longer incoherent, a mere frothing of oaths and calling of hideous fates on his head if he had ever betrayed, if he had ever sold, if he had ever decelved, now ran in a steady current of wrathful denunciation. And_the men listened; he had their ears again, he was no longer on his trial. After- ward I learned that while my attention was astray with the woman, Smith, by stating what I had stated to him—namely, that the secretary had used Ferguson as the intermediary through whom to warn Berwick—had confirmed the plotter’s story and at a stroke had restored his position. ‘Whereon, full of spite, and desperately cer- tain that, however exposed he lay on other sides, I at any rate knew enough to hang him, the wretched man had set himself anew to compass my destruction. Deter- red neither by the check he had received, nor by the gloomy looks of the conspiraters who responded but sluggishly to,nis ap- peal, he drove home again and again, and with wild words and wilder oaths the one point on which he relied, the one point that was so dear to him that he could not un- derstand their hesitation. “Waste of time?” he cried. “We would be better employed looking to ourselves and slipping sway to Romney, would we? But you are fools! You are babes! There is no evidence that can swear to you all! There is the evidence, keen to do it! . There is the evidence in your hands! And you will let him escape?” ~ “There is evidence without him,” said King, sulkily. ‘‘Where is Prendergast?” ‘Oh, he is honest.” But where is he? And where is, Por- ter?” “Where is Sir John Fenwick, matter?” replied the man who swered for Prendergast. “He is too high and mighty to mix with us, and will only eat the chestnut when we have got it’ out of the fire! For that matter, where are Friend and Parkyns. They are not here.” “Pshaw!” Ferguson cried, in a rage at the digression. “Why will you be thinking of them? Cannot you see that they are tainted, they are in it? They cannot if they will! And they are gentlemen besides, and not dirty knaves like this fellow!” “For the matter of that,” said Cassel, bluntly, “Preston was a lord. But he sold Ashton.” ‘That word brought a kind of cold breath of suspicion into the room, at the chill touch of which each looked stealthily at his neighbor, as if he said, “Is it he? Or he?" Ferguson seeing on this that he made little progress, and that the men, though they Icoked at me vengefully, were not to be kindled, grew furious and more furious; and began to storm and rave. But Charnock in a moment cut him short. “Mr. Ferguson is so far right,” said he, “that if we let this person go to perfe-t his evidence against us we shall be very foolish. Clearly, it is to set a premium on treason.” < “Then let Mr. Ferguson deal with him, Cassel answered curtly. “He is his man, and it is his business. don't lay a hand on him, and that is flat.” y “Nor I! Nor I!"cried several with eager- ness. God knows if they thought in their hearts to curry favor with me. “¥ou are all mad!” Ferguson cried, beat- ing the air. “And you are a coward!’ Cassel retorted. “Td as soon trust him as you. If you are taken you'll peach, Ferguson! G— d— you! I know you will. You will peach. You are as _white-livered a cur as ever lived!” Then seeing them divided and the most ly : for that had an- bitterness of death I took cor the first time solid land beyond the and black suffocating fears through wi more Billops in the pool than the Billop who gave up Ashton.” “Gag him and leave him here.” “And have him found by the messengers tomorrow morning?” Cassel answered. “As well und better call a chair and pay the chairmen, ard bid them take him to the secretary's office with our compliments.” “Well, if not here, in one of the other pens. Ferguson knows plenty.”” The woman who had come in with Smith laughed. “That might answer,” she said, “if his sweetheart were not here. think she would leave him to sturvi ‘There was a general stir and muttering as the men turned to the girl. “Pooh,” said one, “it is Ferguson's girl.” “And your spy’s sweetheart,” the woman Tepeated. ya ¥ The girl lifted her head and showed the room a face pale, weary and dull eyed. “Ife is pothing tc me,” she said. And the men would have believed her, but the woman, with a swift, cat-like move- ment, seized her wrist and heid it. “Noth- ing to you, my girl, isn’t he?’ she cried. Phen you have the fever or the smalipox on you. One, two, three—” Her face flaming, the girl sprang up and snatched away her hand. The woman laughed—and how I hated her! “He is nothing to you, isn't he?” she said, In a mocking tone. “Yet what will you not give me to save him, my chick? What will you not give me to see him safe cut of this 2 What: “Peace, peate!” cried Charnock. “Time is everything, and we are wasting 1.._Un- less we would be taken, every man of us, we should be haif way to Romney Marsh by morning.” “Wil you leave him suddenly. “Leave him?” ; “Ay. Or, better, let me have two min utes” talk- with him here, and if he comes fo my way of thinking, 1 will answer for “Answer for him?” Ferguson cried, with a sneer. “If you answer for him no better than I did, you will give us small surety.” “Ay, but I am not you, Mr. Ferguson,” Smith retorted, in a tone of contempt, whereat the older man writhed impotent. ly. “This person—Mr. Taylor, or Mr. Price, or whatever his name is—knows me and that what I say I do.” “Well, do—what you like with him,” Charnock answered, peevishly. “So that you stop his mouth.” To my joy the other men assented in the same tone, being glad to be rid of the bur- den. It may seem strange to some that those who had prepared an hour before to take my life should now be as ready to let me go; but there are few men who are eager to take life in cold blood, and kill a man as they would a sheep. Moreover, in favor of these men—on whose memory ‘the assassination plot has cast obloquy not al- together deserved, sice few of them were assassins in the strict sense, and the worst of all, Ferguson, escaped his just fate—in their favor I say it ls to be observed that the fact which they designed, however horrid in the eyes of good citizens, and cer. tainly not to be defended by me, was not in their sight go much a murder’as an act private warfare carri : coun ied into the enemy’s fully I am persuaded was thi: case, that had it been a question of stant hing the king in the back or shooting him from a window, I believe rot one would have volunteered. Let this stand to their credit; to the credit of men whcm I saw and have described at their worst, drunken reckless, ill-combined and worse governed, whose illegal design, had it been accom. plished, must have postponed the Pro- testant succession in these realms, but who, misguided and betrayed as they: were by leaders more evil than themselves, evinced some spark of chivalry in their lives—for all did it in a measure for a cause—and in their sufferings a fortitude that would have become better men and a nobler effort. So much of them. One released my hands, and another, at Smith's request. found him a light, and my new protector bidding me follow him and leading the way up stairs to the bare room at the back whence I had broken out, those we had left were deep in mutterad plans and whis- Perings of the marsh, and Hunt's house, and Harrison’s inn at Dimchurch, before we were out of hearing. Smith's first act, When he reached the rcom above, was to close the docr upon us. This done, he set his candle on the floor. whence its flame threw dark wavering out- lines of our figures on the ceiling—and moved to the hearth. Here, while I stared, wondering at his silerce, he searched for some spring or handle, and finding it, ceused a large piece of the wainscot to fall out and reveal d cavity about three feet deep and six long. He beckoned me to bring the candle and look in, and sup- pesing it to be a secret way out, I did so. However, outlet there was none. The place Was nothing more than a congealed cup- ras 0 nei cup: “Well,” he said, when he had moved the candle to and fro that I might see the bet- ter—his face the while wearing a smile that caught and held my xaze. “Well, what do you thing of it, Mr. Taylor?” I did not understand him, and I said so, trembling. “It is a tolerable-hiding place,” said he. I nodded; to please I would have said it Was a palace. yAnd not a bad prison?" n again, sta! at fasci- nated. I began 10 undermasd, “And a grave?” : De you to me?" gaid Smith, I shuddered. “What do you mean?” I muttered. “Lay a man in there, bound hand <nd foot, and gagged; what would you fi & year’s time, Mr. Price? Not much.” T stared at him. “If they knew of that down stairs,” he continued, stopping to snuff the candle with his then looking askance ro ot en gee wonder? —— ey use . a you think, “What—what do you want?” I whispered to be candid, almost ‘Two pledgzs. | First, that you will evidence against any one here. Tat, of course.” rin?’ he said, in a voice that set me shak- ‘second time—bidden I muttered assent.—I was ready to prom- ise anything. f “And, secondly, thdt you will, when I call upon you, do me a little faver, Mr. Price. It is a small-matter; a trifle I asked you at my lady’s house three days back. Prom- tse to do that "for mre, when I demand per- formance, and in ten. minutes from this bed bes shall leavg the house, safe, free and unhurt.” © “T promise," sala eagerly. “I promise But even while I spoke this seemed to be the strangest,of alj, the things that had happened to me that night—that this man should think ft w while to pledge me under such circumstances; or value at a groat a. promige so igiven. For the pledge was a pledge to do ill, and as soon as he and the pus conspirators were laid: by the heels‘*or tiad fled the country, what ‘sanction remathed to’ bind me? I saw that as I spoke, amd promised—and promised. And would-have promised fifty times—with a reservation that I did so under force ma- jeure. Who would not have done the same, being in my place? + I suppose I answered too quickly to ease him, and so he read my thoughts, or e had it In his mind fiom the first io read me. a lesson; for the words were scarcely out of my mouth before he slld his hand into his breast, with the ugliest smile I ever saw on a man’s face, and he signed to me to get into the cvpboard. “Get in,” he said, between his closed teeth; and then, when terrified by the change in him and the order, I began to back from 1t—“Get ing. “Or take the consequences. Du you hear? I am no Ferguson to threaten and no more.” . I dared resist no longer, and I crawled in, trembling and praying him not to shut me in—not to shut me in! . “Lie down!” he said, gloating or me with cruel eyes—and his hand still in his breast. I lay down, praying for mercy. “On your hack! On your back!” he con- tinued. “And your hands by your sides. So! That is better. Now listen to me, Mr. Price, and think on what I say. When you want to be laid out for good, as you are laid out now, when you are ready for your coffin and shroud—and the worms— then break your promise to me, for coffin and shroud and worms will be ready. Think of that—think of that and of me when the temptation comes. hark you, you fancy,” he went on, fixing his eyes on mine, “and you count on it, that I shall be taken with the others, or escaping, shall be where you need not fear me. Don’t deceive yourself. If a week hence I am in prison, take that for a sign, and please yourself. But if I am free, obey, obey—or God help you!” 5 I know not how to describe with any ap- proach to fidelity the peculiar effect which words, apparently so simple, had on me, or the terror, out of all proportion to the means chosen—for he spoke without oath, violence or passion—into which they threw me, and which was very far from passing with the sound. I had feared Ferguson, but { feared this man more, a hundred times more! And yet I can give no reason, adduce no explanation, save that he spoke quietly, and so seemed to mean all, and something beyond, what he sald. The plans for deceiving him and breaking my word, which I had entertained a moment before, melted into thinnest air while I lay and sweated in my narrow berth, not dar- ing to move eye or limb until he gave me leave. And he, as if he knew how fear of him grew on me under his gaze—or in sheer cruelty, I know not which—kept me there, and sat smiling and smiling at me (as the devil may smile at some dyad men passed beyond redemption)—kept ‘me there God knows how long. But so long and to such purpose, that when’ at length he bade me rise, and, looking closely into my face, nodded, and told me I might go—nay, later than that, wh@p, he had led me downstairs and opened the door.for me and supported me through ittor if the cold air I stag- gered like a @funkén man—cyen then, 1 say, so heavy was the spell of fear laid on me and such his power I dared not move nor stir until he hag twice—smiling the me go. “Go, man ‘said he, “you fre free. But remember. Chinp tie XXX. Few men arécondémned to ‘such an or- deal as that. throvgh; which I bad passed; and though some who read this, and are as remote from*death as the wife, that may be any ddy.and, must be one. day, is from the you lor—though some, I say, and in particulay, those, who never saw blade drawn in, anger in their lyes, ‘but Eave done all theiz, fightijg In the cockpit, may think that.J. cagried it poorly in the circumstances. gnd_with-none of the front the bravado ‘Sultatife’ to. the “occasion, I would have thérh reniember' the old saying, sutor ne ultra, ctepidami, “and ask of a scholar only: a.;seholar’siiwork. I . would have them, remember that im, the shadow of the scaffold, even a man.so gallant by repute as the. Lord: Preston of-that day stooped te be,an evidence; and that in the same situation the family pride of Richard Hampden ayvajled as little as the reckless courage of Monmouth or the effrontery of Sir John Fenwick to raise its owner above the common level. S Simplicifer, it 1s one thing to vapor at the cocoa tree among wits and beaux and another to take the hazard when the time comes; as no less a person than my Lord Bolinbroke discovered, and that no farther back than 14. I would have large talkers to remember this. For myself I am con- tent that I came through’ the trial with my life; and yet, not with so much of that eitNer that anything surer than instinct guided my steps when all was over to the duke’s home in St:'James square; where, ar- riving, speechless and héipless, it was won- derful I was, nat put to the door without more. Fortunately, my lord, maryeling at my failure to-return before, and mindful, even‘in the turmoil of that evening, of the service I had done him in the- day, had given orders in my behalf; and on my ar- rival I was recognized, half dead as 1 was, and (aken to the steward’s room, and being let blood by a surgeon, who was hastily called in, was put to bed; all who saw me supposing that I was suffering from verti. 80, or some injury, though no marks of blows on the head could be discovered That was a night long remembered in London. Messengers: with lights attended by files of soldiers were.every hour passing through the streets, searching houses and arresting the suspected; from mouth to mouth rumors ‘of the "conspiracy flew abroad; at 9 o'clock it was stated and gen- erally believed that the king was wounded: at 10 that he had been seized: later that he was dead. Early’ in the evening the drewbridge at the tower was drawn, and the sentries were doubled; the city gates were closed and guarded; a whole battalion stood all night under arms at Kensington; the council was in perpetual sitting; many houses were lighted from ‘eve to dawn: sor’ since the great panic of Beachy Head in 90 had there been an alarm so deep or widespread. If this was so in the city generally, at the secretary’s residence, whither many of the prisoners. were brought for examina- tion as soon as they were taken, the ex- citement was at its height; the square out- side, then uninclosed, was occuped all night by successive groups’ of sightseers, or of persons more nearly interested in the event. One consequence of this was that, with all this astir without, my case at. tracted the less notice within; and, un- heeded and almost forgotten, which’ per- haps was the Kgtter’for me, I was left in peace, to sleep “ft tle shock and fright T had experiencedy’of Which the severity may be gauged by the that the afternoon of the next day, was well advanced before I awoke, and’ myself in bed in a sat up and k me in amazement. The steep slo] ceiling toward the window, and tened eaves. which ‘projec ‘owet, the latter, soon ap- prised me that. ler the ofa os House; ees the extent “ my. know at are ver, my _ stomach’| presente atte! fer food, and I took it; id my, head ;to swim I ¥ Pecall Phe hae tiaapened to me; aid ris, b ognized ng and th¢. window T. the great and f. le square on which my. wndow ki |. At that and the thoughts ot what I had, 2 and the . ger.I had fel to quakin Sotie: and for a moment, S Seturnea, But preséntly, ‘the ‘e! aspect room much aj me, » I self, and aréssing and finishing I prepared to descend. is ber to see the sight. However, I had no eyes for these, for with a beating heart I among the dejected ers seated along the“wall four whom I knew—King, Keyes, Cassel and Ferguson himself—and I had anything but a mind to stay to be recognized in my turn. I was in the act of withdrawing, therefore, as quickly as I could, when I saw with a kind of shock that the prisoner at the end of the row, the one nearest to me and farthest from the door, was a yirl. It scarcely needed a second glance to tell me that the girl was Mary. The ught at that inner extremity of the hall was waning, and her face, always pale and now in shadow, wore an aspect of gray and weary depression that, natural as it was under the circumstances, went to my heart and impressed. me deeply in proportion as I kad always found her hard and _ self-reliant. But, moved as I was, I dared not linger, since to linger might be to be observed. With a light foot, therefore, I carried out my first intention, and drawing back undis- covered sneaked up the staircase to my room. My cue in the circumstances was clear. Plainly it was to lie close and keep quiet and shun observation until the crisis was past, then by every means in my power— saving always the becoming an evidence in court, which was too dangerous—to de- serve the duke’s favor, and, as ‘o the pledge I had given to Smith, to be suided by the future. Such a line of conduct was immensely favored by the illness to which I had s0 fortunately succumbed. Once back in my bed, I had only to lie there and affect weak- ness, and in a day or two I might hope that things would be so far advanced that my share in them and knowledge of them weutd go for little, and I, on the ground cf the personal favor I had done his grace, might keep his favor, yet run no risk. In fact, nothing could m more simple than such a line of conduct, on which, the western daylight that still lingered in the room giving my retreat a most cnecrful aspect, I felt that I had every reason to hcg myself. After the miseries and dan- gers of the past week I was indeed well off. Here, in the remote top floor of my lord’s great house in the square, I was as safe as I could be anywhere in the wcrid, and I knew it. But so contrary is human nature, and so little subject to the dictates of the sound- est sense, that I had not lain in my bed five minutes, congratulating myself on my safety, before the girl and the wretched- ness I had read in her face began to trou- ble me. It was not to be denied tnat she had gone some way toward saving my life— if she had not actually saved it nd I had a kind of féeling for her on that account. True, things were greatly altered since we had agreed to go to Romfo-d together et nuptias facere. I had got no patron then, nor such prospects as I now had, these trou- bles once overpast. But for all that it trou- bled me to thing of her as I had seen ber, pale and downcast, and by and by I found myself again at the door of my room with my hand on the latch. Thence I went back, Homie comforts. Terms shivering and ashamed, and calling myself, |» SGHWEISFORT, Formerly and doubtless rightly, a foel, and tried by watching the crowd in the square, but timidly, since even at that height I fancied I might be recognized, to divert my thoughts. With so little success in the end, however, that presently I was stealing down the stairs again. I knéw that it was impossible I could pass down the main staircase and through the servants unobserved, but I took it that in such a house there must be a back stairs, and coming to the first floor I turn- ed craftily down the main corridor leading into the heart of the house, and pretty quickly found that staircase, which was as good as dark, and crept down it, still meeting no one, a thing that surprised me, until I stood in the long passage on the greund floor corresponding with the cor- ridor above and found that the door, which from its position shculd cut it off from the front hall, was fastened. Tantalized by the murmur of voives in the hall, and. my proximity;-; Eve the stwier, but the second efork’ ly confirmed the ‘result f the first.; I was letting down the latch as softly as I could, hoping that I-shauld not be detected; when the door was sharp- Jy flung open in-my faee,-al the’ noise ‘the <halb:Marstirom’zne, and in the opening appeared a stout, angry man, who glared at me as if he weuld.ea! me. es “What aré"you doing here?” he cricd, “when twice I have told you— There he stopped, seeing. who. it. was,.., and, ‘Hallo!’ he continued, in a different and more civil tone, “it is you, is it? Are you better?” Afterward I learned that he was Mr. Martin, my lord’s house steward, but at the time I knew him only for some one in authority, and 1 muttered an excuse. “Well, come through, now you are here,” he continued sharply. “But the orders are strict that this door be kept locked while this business is going. You can see as well, or better, from the stairs. There, those are the men. And a rare sét of Frenchificd devils they look! Charnock is in with my lord now, and I hope he may not blow him up with gunpowder cr some fiend’s trick!’ He had scarcely told me when a stir in the body of the hall announcing a new arrival, a cry was raised of “Room for my Lord Marlborough and my Lord Go- dolphin!” and the press falling to either side out of respect, I had a glimpse of two gentlemen in the act of entering—one a stout and very noble-looking man of florid complexion, the other stout also and per- sonable, but a 4rifile smug and solemn. The steward had no sooner heard their names announced than in a great fluster he bade me keep the door a minute, and pushing himself into the throng he went with im- mense importance to receive them. So by a strange piece of luck at the mo- ment that the check of his presence was withdrawn I found myself standing within three feet of the girl whose seat was close to the door. Moreover, the movement Ly thrusting tliose who had before occupied the floor back upon the line of prisoners had walled us in, as it were, from obser- vation. Under these circumstances our eyes met, and I looked for a flush of joy and surprise, a cry of recognition at least, but though Mary started and for an in- stant stared at me wide-eyed, her gaze fell the next moment, and muttering some- thing inaudible, she let her chin sink back on her breast. (To be continued.) ———— A Matter of Custom, From the New York Tribune, Like the prophet, the Zulu belle has little on her in her own country, and sometimes carries her customs and lack of costumes abroad with her. Two of chese interesting persons belonging to a traveling show in Wisconsirf were recently “run in” by the local constabulary for endeavoring between midnight and morning to “do the town” in their stage attire, which was much too scanty to conform to the conventions pre- valent in that respectable commonwealth. ‘The showman, who paid their fines in the morning and delivered them out of durance, explained that in their own coun- try their garmenting amounted to full dress, fit to go anywhere in, and that they were not yet instructed in fcreign ideas of dress and manners. He was al- lowed to carry them off, wrapped up in blankets and followed by most cf the in- habitants of the town, having thus engi- neered an advertising feat of which the most inventive and ingenious press agent might be proud. SUMMER RESORTS. ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. THE CHALFONTE, Atlantic City, N. J. SEPTEMBER BY THE SEA IS MOST DE- LIGHTFUL. lustrared booklet mailed. 2u26-26t Write for descriptive, booklet. Capacity, 300. First season. J. P. COPE, Prop’. a025-200 THE NUTTALL, 182 SOUTH N.S; to $12 Rerwe. Mew. M. M. FARKAM, A. ATKINSON of Washington, D. C. CAROLINA AVE.. THE CLIFTON—ATLANTIC AND CONN, AVES; 3 mipotes’ walk to beach; bomelike family house; $1.50 to $2 daily; to $10 weekly; new man- agement. W. F. SHAW. auls-2w The Scarborough, BEACH FRONT. MARYLAND AVE homelike. TUDOR HALL, Sea end South Caroline avenue. Mrs. M. H. THOMAS, au5-26t Forme’ Baltimore. Baltways extend to ocean pavilion, di: on the boardwalk, Always breesy soe coul” Weel: structed ocean’ view. Syl4tosel5 JOSIAH WHITE & SON. THE OCEAN VILLA, SOUTH CAROLINA AVE- nue, corner of Pacific avenue, Atlantic City, N. J. Mrs. M. E. SUTER, jet Also The ib: Philadelphia. 2m* THE PENNHURST—OCEAN END OF MICHIGAN ave., Atlantic City, N. J.; electric elevator to street level. for titustrated booklet. _Se25-1f MES HOOD. BRADY HOUSE, Arkansas ve, hear the ocean; hendsome sooms; good table; mod.; bovklets free. JAMES garden lawn; rates a. : BRADY. Jel5-1t Hotel Imperial & Cottages. Maryland ave.aud Esptanade. Full ocean view from wide three-story oom bie A first-class family house, With modertte’ prices. every com! fcoce for 250 guest: Large rooms, $2 to $3 oe t rs — oe rn = ar aay; Syke $i8 per weeks SpectaL SEPTEM: RATES. int 22-156t W. KENDRICK. THE ARONDALE, Pacific and Kentucky aves. Ceatral. Near to beach, First-clces cuisine. Special rates to families. y27-tu,th&si9t_—_ Mra. R. H. WILSON & SON. HOTEL BERKELEY. Kentucky ave., 50 feet from board walk. Ocean view from alt tvoms. Steam heat, Sen parlors, rt and conven: artesian water. ete. tor from street level. Special wockiy rates. ‘jock dinners JAMES & GEORGE BEW. m0:130-156t-5 a’ HOTE Finest ‘September. Write for booklet. JauES B. REILLY, Qwner and Proprietor. mhé. EMTLE BRIGHTON, HOTEL AND RESTAURANT, $0. Carolina ave, ‘and beach. Full ocean view. reasonable. S. on Boardwalk. HOTEL MT. VERNON, PACIFIO_AVE_ NEaR {Be bench: extensive” tm events: $1.50 to ber ys to we Send for circular. JAS. 2 G08 aot CHAS WA, IN THE MOUNTAINS. RESORT—MONTE A REST VISTA-ONE MILE from station; one of the hizbest points in the Alleghanies. "No malaria; no hay fever; the house open’ th the year. Address MONTE VISTA, Oaklané, Garrett “Co., Md. au26-th,s,t,Im HOTEL ROYAL, ROYAL AVENUE. Great in all its appointments; hot and cold baths: lithia: water: broad’ verandrs; ‘cool and healthful. For September—$6 per week. . GRIMES, Manager, au2s-2w Front Royal, Va. HOTEL SURREY, SUBURSS HAGERSTOWN.— Batts, electric lights, trolley, fishing; all modern conveniences; Wasbington ceferences; rates, $6 ~ 10,88 per week. JNO. W, FELDMAN, Prop. and-tm” «BOLIVAR HEIGHTS HOTEL, HARPER’S FERRY. W. VA. 1,808 feet. high; duncing. music by harp.amd vio- Up, boat bathiag, fishis teed. Apps early. We MrDOWELL HOUSE, HARPER'S FERRY, W. VA_, open Jnoe 1. Deligh-ful reoms; excellent table; prices. B. KB McDOWELL, Proprietor. LOOK WOOD,” HARPER'S FERRY, W. will open for the season May 15; rooms ij ry; plenty of rbade; table first-class; rates rea- sonable. A. P. DANIEL, Proprietor. | my1-3m mee eee et A ee HILL- TOP HOUSE, HARPER'S FERRY, W. VA.— et eee reso.t is open. Satisfaction rr an Dancing. Gshing, ‘boating: telegraph in house. Apply carly for rooms. T. S. LOV! n my4-6m_ GREEN'S MOUNTAIN HOUSE, HARPER'S: FERRY, W. Va.—Open. Located on Fruit Hill Farm, Blue Ridge mountain, 2. = $5, $6 and $7 per week; $1 and $1.50 per day; medicine! water; conveyaness meet trains. Send for circular. my? CAPE MAY, N. J. MARINE VILLA ANNEX. Finest location at Cape May. Having taken the Tatham and Page Cottages in cnnection with the Marine Villa Annex I am now Prepared to receive my former patrons. I am bot managing the Marine Villa this summer. * aul2-th,s&tudt Mrs. F. HALLENBECK. CAPE YAY POINT. = SAPE BOUSE. On the ead eed vores 3 Blote, vicycles, open eplaces and elect ig Jy1-26t,tu,th&s GEO. J. KROMER. LAFAYETTE DIRECTLY ON THE Electric lights, elevator and all im- ee Tang es Telephone No. @. Rates, tw ys pes PSF JOHN TRACY & 00. TH IE BREXTON, CAPE MAY, N. J. Impreved rnd renovated.” Near the beach. piazzas and sun parlor. Terms moderate. J. A. MYERS. THE ALDINE, DECATUR ST. AND COLUMBIA ave.; enlarged and renovated. Cuisine excellent. THEO. MUELLER. THE VICTORIA, 8d and Ocean aves. 0 yards from beach. Ac- commodates 300. 17th season. S. KEMPE. aul9-th,s,telm THR YORKSHIRE, ‘Third hevse from beach and best ‘bathing ground; bicycle fecommodations; 6 o'clock dinners; terms for Sept. _C. S. HUNT, Mgr. aul4-23t* SPRINGS AND BATHS. ip AS ar yanenaa — THE y ings el is open for season. These ‘celebrated springs are famous for the of rheumatism, gout, kidney affections, dys- pepsin. in its varied forms, and nervousness; ¥ three bours* »ride. to Berkeley Springs vis Band O.. withoat ‘change. For rates and cir- enlars to cuas. FY scx ami A. R. UNGER, Prope. au24-19t* Berkeley Springs, W. Va. Bedford Springs, Bedford, Pa. ‘THE CARLSBAD OF AMERICA. Rates reduced from August 25 to Sept. 15 to $2.50 per day or $15 per week. au21-14a30 3._T. ALSIP, Supt. BEACH HAVEN, N. J. The Engleside. Beach Haven. N. J. pole eee om Poa attermsea trates, myl-117t cies ROB'T B. ENGLE, Prop. SEASIDE—MISCELLANEOUS. rc ry ny RAILROADS. PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. rr. CORNER OF SIXTH AXD & STREFTS. Parlor and Dining Care Har to Hitt 2050 AM. PENNSYLVANIA LIMITED. Fail ‘man Smoking and Observation ). Chocinnatt * and Se Fst ERE Penman nate Past 3 Parlor larrisburg. Buttet Parlor Car Harrisourg lodianap- Butter -M. SOUTH NX EX! p Siceping Cars Washing! to Pu and Har- Fieburg to 8t- Louis ed Cincianatt. Binine Car, 10-40 F-M, PACIFIC EXPRESS. —Pullman Sleeping . for Kane, “Canandaigua, Rochester and sy. except es Elmira and Renovo @aily, Scndag For Willlamaport daily, 3 — . for Will er, Exle, Rut- falo a.d Negara Falls daily, eqcept , Saterday, alo, ton to Bul jnitra daily; for Canan- 10 and Niagara Falle Sat- Pall Wash. ington to Rochester. endeal POR PHILADELTHIA, XEW YORE AND THE 4.00 P.M. “CONGRESSIONAL LIMITED,” all Parlor Ca: ith Dining Ca Battinnons, wr trot timore, dar at ‘700 (Dining Cari. S00. 00, 10% Sith Sleeping Car Washi P.M. for Erie and a mond ta, Special. rd 3 4.40 P.M. daily. Accommodation for — 7.43 AM. daily and 4.25 P.M. week SEASHO! NNECTION For Atlantic City (via Deleware Reg: Fall route, 160 AMA 315 daily; via Market Street’ Wharf, urdays 11.00 A.M i z is nd % For Cape May, 10.00, 11.00 A.3., -M. week Gays, 31.35 P.M. dally A 12S PM Tick corner Ith and G street. and at cet_officen, the station, 6th and B sti where orders can reets, be left for the checkt for, ne checking Of baggage to destination J. B. HUTCHI™SOX, 3. R. woop, General Manager. General Pass. Agent. BALTIMORE AND OHTO RAILROAD. chedule in effect June 5, 1897. Leave Washington from station corner of New Jersey avenue and C st. * For Chicago and Northwest, Vestliuled Limited trains, 10:00, 11:45 a.m., 8:05" p.m. For Cincinnati, St. Louis and Indianapolis, Ex- Pes, 1145 am. Vestivuled Limited, 3:40 ‘p.m., ™m. 11 Hor Pittsharg ‘and Cleveland, Express dafly, 10:00 18:50 p.m. Memphis, Birmingham, Chat- Existol and’ Roanoke, 11:20 vs Cars through. For Luray, 3:40 p.m. daily. For Baltimore, week days, 5:00, 27:10, x7:30, 28-00, E 205, 1 230 p.m. 9:00 a.m., 1:15 For itagerstows, 10:00 sai. and For Boyd and way pots », 5:30, 7:05 p.m. -. pointe, week day 0. 383, 5:30, 5: Sundays, 9:00 am., 1:15. 4: mn. fe ‘ton Junction and way points, # ‘a.m., 4:30, 5:30 p.m., week days; 9:00 a.m., 1 Prot Bay Wid reek Gara, 9:15 4:30 w rm, a.m., 4:30 p. and 3:1 $ by For Bay Ridge, 5:35 a 3 Yosse: Bete ew YORK AND PHILADELPHIA. All trains illuminated with Pintech light. BS BFS BF Philadelphia, New York, Boston an@ the East, week days, 7:05, 8:00, 10:00 a.m., 124 2:40 Dining Car). 3:00, (5:05 Dining Car), (2: night; Slee ‘Bun- Cor open at 10:00 o'clock). a. 240 Dini For Cape May. 12:00 noon, — pres tata "3 ES Baggage called for and checked from hotels and residences by Union Transfer Co. on orders left at ticket offices, 619 Ivania avenue n.w., New York averue and 15th street, and at Depot. WM. M, GREENE, . B. MARTIN, Manager. Mgr. Pass. Traffic. SOUTHERN RAILWAY. Schedule in effect July 4, 1897, All treins arrive and leave at Pennsylvania pas- senger station. S12 A.M. -Dally.—Local for Danville, Charlotte and way stations. Connects at Manassas for Steas- a — Bu — = B a Sunday, and at Lynchburg wits the Norfolk a Westera daily, and’ —. ube any pene ad Ohio ural Bridge and Lexing:an. THE UNITED STATES FAST . Carries Pullman Buffet Sleepers, New York and Washingion to Jacksonville, nuiting at Salis- for “Asheville and Hot ings, N. Chattanooga snd_Nasb- ville, Tenn.. and et Charlotte with Pallman Sleeper Augusta. Pullman Buffet New York to New Oricars, connecting at Atlanta for Birmingham and gun eed Solid train Washington to New Or- leans without change. Sunset ‘Tourist Excursion ‘Thu Front E‘patly-—Local for Charlottesville. M.—Duily. WASHINGTON SND SOUTR- N VESTIBULED LIMITED.” composad of Pullman Vestibukd Sleepers. Dining ‘Cars and Day Coaches. Pullman New York to Ni Fenn sta Achevilia, “Kaoawiile and Ghat songs ew ‘York to Tampa, via Charlotte, Columbia, Sa- ind New York te Mem- via Birmingham; New York to Xew Orleans, via” Atlanta, and Sica ry. _ Vestibuled Day Coach Washington to Atlanta, Southern Railway Dining Car Greensboro’ to Montgomery. INS ON WASHINGTON AND OHIO DIVIS. 10) F @ally and 1:00 and Hi except Sunday, from Herndon, 8:34 a.m. daliy, except Sun- day, trom re. hrough trains from the south arrive at Wash- ington, 6:42 a.m... 2 and 9:25 p. Harrisonbure., 25 p.m. iy, except H ay, aud 8 tn. daily from Charictiesvitie. ‘Tickets. Sleeping Car reservation and informa- tion furnished at =. B11 and 1300 Penorsivanta averue, and at Pennsyivenia railrond passenger sta- ton. 'W. H. GREEN, General Supt. i MM COLP. ‘ratte Manner. A. TURK, Gen. Pass. L. 8. BROWN, Gen. py 4 Dept. sd WASHINGTON, ALEXANDRIA AND MT. VERNON RAILWay. FROM STATION, 13% STREET AND PA. AVE. In effect May 1897. HbiEy Ae Rl ry i of

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