r
,yt
20
TWO OF LUCIA FELA1D0;
AN ITALO-AMEKEOAN BOMANCE.
Written for The Pittsburg Dispatch
By DANTE FREALLI.
CHAPTER L
A QIBIt OF THE TJPrEE TEX.
TJNKISE brought
lamplight to the in
side of the sleeping
car. The porter,
obedient to custom,
r. turned tip the lamps
( in the closely cur-
I tained Tehicle when
' I he found that the sun
M wasshiningontheout-
Jside. The first pass
enger to respond to
the illumination was
TiofMi-1 in nrmprherth
1.
1 A !l$ ' No. 10. She peered
tains very cautiously.
The negro had already passed by, and not a
person was in the narrow passage. She was
encouraged to put her head clear out, but
only for an instant, for how many other
Deeping eyes than her own might be con
cealed bv the two rows of curtains? It was
a head with towsled hair, yet not one to hide
for shame on that account. Not only was
the young face agreeable to see, by
reason of its gentle prettiness, but the un
bound black hair helped it to be almost
beautiful. Any man would have thought
so no matter how neatly general it may be
with wonieu to- keep their tresses snug at
night in braids and coils. In a minute she
ventured to protrude her head again, and
far enough this time to look at the draped
passage from end to end and from roof to
floor. It was when her gaze fell to the car
pet that her eves opened so widely as to
show their white clear around their black;
"and that, dodging back into her berth, the
only proof left o( her presence was parts of
two hands showing white and shapely
against the dark cloth which they clutched
together. She had discovered circumstan
tial evidence of a man sitting or standing
behind the curtain directly opposite. What
she really saw was the fronts of
two gaiters extended from under the
lower e?te of the hangings. They
were too big and heavy to beloDg to a
woman. With their owner's feet in them,
he was necessarilv facing her, and must
have been covertly eyeing her. She gripped
the cloth harder, and gave it a quick little
shake of indignant defiance. When she
peeped again the gaiters were unmoved; but
soon the curtain above them was violently
agitated, and a hand came out below it to
take up a shoe, while simultaneously a
stockinged foot was set down. She blushed
by herself in her seclusion, because the man
had not, after all, been peering at her sur
reptitiously. She laid her head down in its
loose mass of bair on the pillow, and
musinglv convinced herself that her error
had notarisen so much from foolish, feminine
vanity as from wise feminine alertness.
Thus considering, she fell asleep, and
dreamed of various vicissitudes befalling
her as a eirl journeying alone.
Felix Bordenne was not conscious, as he
buttoned his feet into his shoes, of the dis
turbance they had caused to the girl ot the
tipper ten. He dressed himself drowsily,
and then drove the haze of sleep from his
head with dashes of cold water in the car's
lavatory. Other passengers were making
their toilets, in and out of one another's
sight, before and behind the curtains of the
berths; but the girl's extra morning nap
was not broken by the doings of these
lodgers in the condensed hotel on wheels,
and when nearly every other section had
been transformed by the porter from a bed
room into a parlor alcove, she was still a
dreamer on her shelf of a couch.
He was a loquacious man, who waited his
turn at the wash-bowl which Felix was
using. He began to talk in a predictive
way about the day's weather while the oth
er's face was being laved, and he introduced
the Western crops as a second topio before
a towel had dried the unresponsive counten
ance; but on seeing the visage revealed
plainly his manner rose to a much higher
degree of effusive friendliness.
" 'lis or 'tisn't which?" he exclaimed.
"It's the Grand Duke Felix Bordenne, of
Italy, and lookin' it every quarter ot an
inch in the whole six feet of him."
He gave a critical, yet admiring, inspec
tion of Felix, from the dark, handsome
Italian face down to the floor and up again.
"How do you do, Mr. Ferguson?"
The Italian spoke English slowly, after
the manner of a foreigner whose mastery of
the language has been the careful, methodi
cal achievement of a linguistic student. His
pronunciations were correct, his inflections
were but slightly Italian, and his deliberate
formation of sentences was something which
cannot be produced in print The slow exac
titude of speech, with his impressive dig
nity of size and bearing, made him seem al
most repellant of the hearty, garrulous
Ferguson; but there was nothing uncordial
in his smile of recognition, or the prompt
extension of his hand in greeting.
"I'm quoted A 1 in the health agencies, I
guess," was Ferguson's rattling reply, "and
for good spirits there ain't letter A's nor
number l's enough to rate me right or to
write myrate."
He waited an instant in vain for Felix to
laugh, and then chuckled himself, before
using water on his head with a vigor which
combined the elements of a shower bath, a
douche, a plunge and a rousing amount of
friction.
"Where are you goin' to?" he atked, as
toon as he got breath again.
"I am going back to" New York," Felix
replied; "I have gained an appointment as
an assistant surgeon in a public hospital."
"So? I beg your pardon for not callin
you doctor. Clean forgot you was one.
You've no right to be anything hut the
Doge of Venice or a Prince of Colonna
with your well, you're lookin' at your
self." Felix was brushing his hair at a mirror,
and the reflected face surely was an ideal
one of a young man born to no other ex
ertion than that of dominance.
"Ah I Ferguson, you are a blatant "
"Eh?"
"Is the term offensive ? Forgive my En
glish. I mean to say yon are wordy that
is, excessive with your tongue."
"It's all right, old hoss. Wait till I
curry my hair and we'll go to fodder."
They soon had passed through the vesti
bule into a restaurant car, and were seated
together at one of the small tables, renewing
an acquaintance that had commenced in a
New York boarding bouse.
William Ferguson was a commercial
traveler, who retained as many rural Ver
mont characteristics as his acquirement of
city business manners left time lor, and who
was so different from Felix Bordenne that
the dissimilarity had interested them in
each other.
They chatted half way through their meal.
Then the entrance of a man and two women
interrupted the conversation, for the man,
after seating his companions at a table op
posite, called Felix by name and Shook
hands with him.
The traveler who accosted Felix was an
Italian, and a not less unmistakable ex
ample o! his race, but with more fitness for
priganaage than tor lawful pursuits, to
i;
uugc uj uis jooks. jrieiro juunuo was a
awrer from Borne, however, andinhishnmp.
city he had chanced, years before, to know
x enx .Boraenne. upon meeting in a foreign
land.their mutual impulse was to greet each
other as friends, although their intercourse
in Italy had been no more than enough to
make them recall one another's name and
face. They spoke in Italian during their
brief exchange of salutation, and then
Murlllo presented Felix to the women, using
now the best English which his tongue could
acblevr.
- r??-JsM
"Meesis Felando," he said, indicating the
elder of the two.
The woman dreamily lifted her eyes, let
them rest uneasily on the young man, and
then lowered them coweringly. As a phy
sician he comprehended instantly that her
mind was in aberation. She was Italian,
as he discovered by her face alone, for she
did not speak a word. Her visage had
probably been agreeably vivacious when en
livened by an active intellect, but as he saw
it the blankness of dementia had robbed the
features of expression, leaving then no more
than merelv physical shapes. A casual ob
server would have seen in her simply a middle-aged
lady, uncommonly quiet and dis
traught in manner, but to Keen professional
eves she revealed her malady. She paid no
further heed to Felix.
"Mees Felando," Murillo continued, turn
ing Felix so that he faced a girl who was as
full of spirit, mental and animal, as the
woman was empty of it She vas large and
handsome, with a boldness which empha
sized her beauty without thereby making it
the more admirable.
"Miss Felando," Felix murmured polite
ly, as he bowed; but she was disposed to be
cordial, and he was a little surprised to find
her hand extended to clasp his.
Murillo remarked to his fellow country
man, in Italian, that she was an American,
with demonstrative American manners, but
most excellent qualities. He quickly
added, as Felix seemed surprised by his
free comment, that she did not understand
Italian.
"Mr. Murillo likes to talk about me be
hind my back right before my face," she
interposed, smiling favorably up into the
attractive face of the stranger. "May be he
is telling you that I am an Italian who
doesn't know a word of my native" tongue."
"Are you indeed an Italian?" said Felix,
looking incredulously at her; for although
she was dark of complexion, the Italian
conld distinguish in her face no real char
acteristics of his race.
"Oh, yes," Murillo hastily answered for
her; "Mees Felando ees Neapolitan. Thees
ees her mnzaire."
"Mrs. Felando plainly shows her nativ
ity," said Felix, glancing again at the
utterly unresponsive woman; "but I must
believe that Miss Felando's father is an
American."
Relapsing once more into his easier native
speech, Murillo explained that the girl was
of altogether Italian birth, that she had
lived in America, however, ever since in
fancy, and that he was escorting the mother
and daughter to Naples to reinstate them in
the rich good fortune which belonged to
them.
"Ah! Miss Raymond. Howdy do?"
It was the crackling, explosive voios of
William Ferguson. He had eyed the girl
from the instant of her entrance, and now he
crossed the car impetuously to grasp her un
willing hand.
"Oh, Mr. Ferguson," and there was no
encouraging warmth in her response, "you
seem glad to see me."
"Glad to see anybody from Strauss &
Steinberger's. Howdy do? and he picked
up her hand again to give it another shake.
Then he addressed the two Italians: "I've
met Miss Raymond many a time in the
Cincinnati store, where she clerks it. Oh,
we're old friends, aren't we?"
"We are acquaintances, I suppose." she
somewhat sullenly assented; and then,
beaming on Felix, she continued: "I im
agine Mr. Murillo has already told you or
hinted it that he has found in me a long
lost heiress."
"He spoke a few words to that meaning,"
Felix replied.
"Well, I will tell the whole of it to you.
Pray be seated, gentlemen. There now we
are a cozy, confidential party. All my life
until two weeks ago I was Martha Ray
mondadopted by the poor but honest Ray
monds, of a back street in Cincinnati
adopted from, I never rightly knew where,
until Mr. Murillo searched me out The
Raymonds died while I was young, and I
had to go to work for a living. Well, it
turns out that my real name is Lucia Fe
lando, heiress to a big estate left by my de
ceased father in Italy. Mr. Murillo was
employed as a lawyer a confidential ad
viser of the family -to search for the missing
Mrs. Felando and her daughter. After a
long hunt he discovered mv mother this
lady." Here she lowered her voice, but
that seemed unnecessary, for the
woman was gazing vacantly out of the
window, and not paving the faintest
attention to the talk. '"Mother had been
dreadfully unfortunate. We have no de
sire to conceal the truth. She had been in
an insane asylum since a little while after I
was born. She and my father parted volun
tarilyangrily, you know had a bad fall-
lng out, and he went home to Italy without
her. On his dying bed he commissioned
Mr. Murillo to come to this country seeking
us mother and me. So, Mr. Ferguson,"
and she flung her head proudly, "I am not
any longer Marsha Raymond, in charge of
the glove department at Strauss & Stein
berger's, but Lucia Felando, heiress to an
estate near Naples."
"To prove all-a wheech," said Murillo,
"I haf ze docu-a-ments."
"I congratulate you, Miss Raymond
Felando I congratulate you."
And you?" she said to Felix with an
archness sigularly unbecoming in so mass
ive and positive a young woman. "Do you
not congratulate a compatriot on her good
luck?"
"Your luck is surely good," was the re
sponse with which she had to be content
He and Fergnson went back to the re
mainder of their breakfast, and soon after
ward were enjoying cigars together in the
smoking room.
"Marsha's stuck on you," Ferguson re
marced. "What is that?" Felix asked.
"What a pity 'tis you've learned gram
matical English only. Better take a course
of lessons from a Bowery newsboy when yon
get back to New York so's to be able to
converse with the natives. Marsha's stuck
on von gone on yon mashed "
"Eh?"
"Marsha Raymond," Ferguson began
again, and with a slow choice of words, "is
favorably impressed with yon on sight, and
is disposed to fall in love with you."
"Why do you call her Marsha Ray
mond," said Felix, calmly ignoring the Test
of his friend's labored remark, "after she
has told us that her name is Lucia Fe
lando?" The two men looked into each other's eyes
for a hesitant, questioning moment, as per
sons do when mutually doubtful about ut
tering a thought that is in the minds of
AJJ Mitt Raymond, Howdy Dot
THE
both. Then Ferguson responded: "And
why don't you believe she ain't the real
Lucie?"
"Because she does not seem to be of Ital
ian parentage, although you saw that the
mother had the face of my people, and I re
call the father as still more markedly Ital
ian in looks."
"Then you're thinking she's a bogus
heiress?"
"I am thinking so."
CHAPTER 1L
, MOTHEB AND DAUGHTER.
Pietro Murillo's brows lowered after the
departure of Felix and Ferguson, and he
ate his breakfast viciously, as though every
mouthful of food were bitten from an
enemy. He savagely relished the rawest
portions of the beefsteak and drank the cof
fee almost exceedingly hot
"What's the matter?" Marsha carelessly
inquired.
"You-a air xe mattaire," he retorted.
"I? Oh, do tell me why."
"Be-a-cause you talk too mooch wiz Mis
tair Bordenne."
"Too much? How conld I? He's a
handsome gentleman, and a fellow country
man of ours, you know." She"laughed,and
went on: "What is he when he's at home?"
"A Count, but-a no money. Ze Bor
deenes air a proud familee, but very poor."
"Whilst the Felandos are humble but
rich is that it?"
"I am a-sorry he meet you."
"Because I like him? Pshawl How
could I help it? If I'm to be an .Italian
heiress, don't you see.l ought to fall in love
with an eligible Italian. Why isn't Felix
Bordenne exactly the right party ?"
Murillo's eyes flashed up at the handsome
girl across the small table, but their gleam
of passion was not seen by her. Mrs. Felando
observed it, however, and cringed back into
her seat insanelv mistaking it for a menace
to herself. But when he helped her to food
she began to eat, like a docile child, and
was unaware ot anything else.
"Count Felix," Marsha went on, "hasn't
the money to capitalize his title. Lucia
Felando hasn't a title to socialize her money.
But the Count Felix and the Countess
Lucia together would have the title and the
money."
Marsha was nibbling at a piece of toast
Murillo was gulping coffee. He set the
emptied cup down into the saucer so hard
that both were shattered. She dropped the
remnant ot toast, in a nervous shiver, at
the crash of china. Mrs. Felando was for
an instant roused half out of her lethargy.
But the man seemed unconscious that his
anger had resulted in any damage.
"You have a not ze money yet," he
growled, "and eef you take not a-care it
weel nevaircomo to-a you."
Marsha made a cautionary gesture
toward the lunatic, and the meal was
finished in silence. Then they went into
the car in which the two women had a
separate stateroom, and in that private
apartment Mrs. Felando was left to herself.
Her alienation of mind, charactetized by no
violent outbreaks, rendered her a helpless
but not troublesome captive. After be
stowing her, Marsha led the Italian to a
corner of the general car and made him sit
beside her.
"What do you mean," she began bluntly,
"when yon said the money never would
come to me if I didn't take care?"
"I meant zat Bordenne see-a you not
Italiano. He was a suspeecious."
"Was he? Then whv don't every Italian
guess that I'm not tne real thing? And
why didn't you think of that danger when
you selected me to be Mrs. Felando's daugh
ter?" ..
"You-a should be what you call it?
Yes politeec clevair. Weez zis Bordenne
you-a was too too friendly of a sudden."
"Because I liked him. That's my way.
If you didn't think I was the article you
wanted why did you take me into the enter
prise? I didn't force myself into it. It
was all your own scheme. You made my
acqaintance in Cincinnati by mere chance,
so far as I know. You told me one day that
von had come to America to find a misgine
woman and her daughter that a i0t of
property had been bequeathed equally to
them that you had discovered the actual
mother in a publio lunatio asylum, and
that I would do first rate for the
daughter. You shocked me you really did
by your proposition of iraud. But when
you made itclear that Mrs. Felando was the
only living heir that she was snre to die of
her brain disease in a few years that at her
death the property would go to public insti
tutions if there wasn't a bogus daughter on
hand to inherit what she hadn't already se
curedwell, I went into the affair with you
on even shares. It was a business partner
ship, and if I wasn't a suitable girl for the
purpose why didn't you take in somebody
else? Tell me, now why didn't yon?"
Her Heightened color, brightened eyes and
audacious spirit made her a sightly creat
ure, and all through her rapid recital Mu
rillo had gazed raptly in herface. In answer
to her imperative question he said: "I
choose-a you because I loved you. Zat was
why. I loved you."
Surprised by this avowal of a sentiment
which she had not suspected, she was silent
for a moment; but if he thought she was
favorably considering his case he was rudely
awakened, for she laughed amusedly.
"Bo the firm of Murillo & Raymond
wasn't formed for business only?" she said
exasperatingly. "A marriage certificate
was to be added to the documents of co-oart-nership,
eh?"
"I a-hoped so."
"So you consolidated your interests. You
wanted a girl to substitute for the lost heir
ess, and vou picked out one that von fancied
for a wife." r
"Zat ees what I did."
"And now you are jealous of Mr. Bor
denne?" "Zat ees so."
"Doesn't it strike you that you've allowed
your heart to run away with your head?"
"What ees zat?"
"Don't you think you've let your love get
the best of your business sense? For the
sake of securing me for the wife you desire,
you've taken me as the counterfeit heiress,
when you might have found a girl at least
Italian in looks for instance, there. That
one!"
Marsha had meant to be merely provok
ing. Chance provided the illustration of
her meaning. Thronch the car was coming
the girl who had added a moraine nap to
her nicht's sleep in tinner berth ten. Her
jet hair and eyes belonged to sudh an Ital
ian lace as tne old painters Iifced to give to
the Madonna. Murillo turned to look. His
first momentary inspection was covert and
calm, but his quietude was displaced by
agitation so singular that Marsha was
amazed by it He breathed an imprecation,
and kept his eyes fixed on the girl as she
made her way past, unaware of the interest
she was exciting. She had reached the cen-
7y
-?.''
HmBBfCBfeTTflBPAJ
ter of the car when her own demeanor
changed suddenly and completely. That
was when she saf Mrs. Felando emerge
from the private apartment and advance to
ward her.
The cause of her disturbance was the
same that had affected Murillo. It was the
wondrous resemblance between herand the
demented woman. Even Marsha discerned
it as the two approached each other. One
face was young and animate. The other
was aged by illness, if not by years, and
had been left vacuous by the departure of
reason. Nevertheless, the essential likeness
was visible to ju.arsaa.wunc w .uiuuuu,
who had known Mrs. Felando in her days
of youth and health, it was startling.
"My God!" he muttered in Italian, "here
is the'lost heiress of the Felandos."
"What is it yon're saying?" Marsha
whispered, puzzled by his contused and be
wildered manner.
"I a was saying," he Blowly replied,
without taking his eyes off the girl, "zat
she might a be ze real Lucia Felando.
See seel"
Marsha compared the two faces and fig
ures, and saw that in every lineament, con
formation and movement there was duplica
tion. The difference lay only, aside from
the ages, in the presence and absence of a
facially illumining intelligence.
The girl was herself startled by the re
semblance. The color swept out of her
cheeks, leaving them for an instant white,
and then flowed back to redden them. Her
eyes opened to their widest, and her lips fell
apart She swerved aside and sank into a
chair, still gazing intently on the dulled
features and listless figure which neared
her.
"It must be Lucia," Murillo whispered
suppressedly to himself; "and what if she
should recognize her mother?"
"What now?" Marsha demanded.
"I believe zat she ees Lucia. Look a
m a a l -t1& jh A.lwlTI
LT7CIA, LTJCIAl MY DABLINO DATJGHIEBt
see. She ees wondering at ze resemblance."
Mrs. Felando was not conscious of the
girl with whom she touched skirts, and who
was staring up at her with unconcealed in
tentness. "Are they motherand daughter?" Marsha
asked, perplexed and confused by the effect
of the similitude upon the girl and Murillo.
"I don't a-know," he dazedly responded;
"eet ees wondairful."
An awful crash came with no warnings.
The side of .the car where the girl sat, and
where the woman stood, was broken into
fragments. Into the breach waB intruded
the wrenched and distorted front of a loco
motive, from which steam gushed, clouding
densely the wrecked interior. The screams
of women and the outcries of men arose, and
the terror of uncertainty was added to the
disaster of the obscuring vapor.
Murillo groped toward the two persons
whom he had been watching. He did it
impulsively and with no design. He stum
bled over some obstacle and fell full length
along the floor. The steam lifted a little
from the bottom of the car, and he saw the
girl lying limp. She was insensible, and
blood was running red from the black coil
of her hair. Mrs. Felando was bending low
over her, with a face no longer blank, but
full of emotion.
"Lucia I Lucia I" she was exclaiming;
"my daughter my darling daughter 1"
The shock had restored her to a degree of
reason. Murillo comprehended the truth.
Then a fresh inpounng of steam filled the
car full again down to the floor, and noth
ing could be seen.
Murillo crept along until his hands
touched Lucia. She did not stir, and so he
knew that she was senseless, if not dead.
He next took hold of Mrs. Felando, and
she wriggled away from him, as though
seeking to escape from the hands of an as
sailant. It may be that but for her resist
ance, no murderous thought would have
come into his excited mind. But there in
his grip was the woman who, if she lived,
might deprive him of the fortune which he
had almost acquired. The darkness con
cealed them from other passengers, bnt
would not last long. There was no time to
reflect The woman cried out, "Lucia 1
Lucia I" and struggled to get away from
him. He pulled her backward on the floor
and pressed one hand over her mouth. Her
voice was silenced, but on his hand the
breath fell quick and hot from her nostrils.
Thoughts never came faster or clearer to a
drowning man than they did then to Pietro
Murillo. If she remained sensible enough
to maintain her identification of Lucia, his
scheme would be ruined. More than that,
and still worse for him, her recognition of
the real daughter would expose his fraudu
lent substitution of Marsha. But if she
died? Then the counterfeit daughter would
immediately pass current as genuine at full
value. And why was it not as well for this
poor creature to die there as to reach her
frave by the slower but certain progress of
er malady? Both his hands coverered her
mouth and nostrils. She writhed and
rolled, bnt his weight soon fastened her flat
His palms were hot and wet with her im
prisoned breath, and he realized that a
scream would be emitted if he gave any
vent His hands had begun the work of
murder, and it was too late to stop. A
blow, a shot, a stab he thonght longingly
of these means of death; but to forcibly
keep a woman breathless until she died un
der his hands was a repulsive, appalling
deed to do. She soon became helpless, too,
and each spasmodic effort to inflate her
lungs was weaker than the last Finally,
the slim body quivered feebly under him,
the faintest action for breath ceased, and it
was a corpse's face, awry with the torture of
its death, which looked up into his as the
steam lifted slowly from them.
CHAPTER in.
SUEOEET BY VELTX BOKDESNE.
The collision was of no great consequence"
to the general traffic on that railroad, nor
even to the transit of, that particular train.
-? -
The locomotive which had caused the
trouble was rolled into a repair shop, and
the engineer was suspended unf.l an inves
tigation should acquit or convict him of
blame. The smashed car was removed from
the track, and in half an hour the slightly
shortened train was started off, to regain the
lost time by accelerated speed during the
next hundred miles. Borne of the passen
gers who thus speedily resumed their jour
ney were bruised or scratched, but not
seriously enough to intercept their travel.
A well-nigh perfected system of riilroad
management could deal promptly with such
a small disaster. Those who saw the sad
consequences to two hnman beings re
gretted that the elaborate method had not
been preventive, too.
The bodies of Mrs. Felando and Lncia
had been lilted carefully out of the wreck
and carried into a farmhouse near by. A
call for phvsicians had been responded to by
Felix Bordenne, the only medical man on
the train. He examined the two women
with the calm professional quickness. Mrs.
Felando was dead. He inferred that the
shock alone had been fatal, or else that some
accidental covering had suffocated her.
Lucia was breathing with the sound pecul
iar to a person whose brain has just been
violently injured. She was laid on a bed,
face downward, and her hair was cut away
from the back of her head, exposing the
scalp lacerated over a badly fractured skull.
In the group with the surgean were William
Ferguson, who proved an actively excellent
assistant; Marshal Raymond, who helped
energetically in the duties of a volunteer
nurse; and Pietro Murillo, who was a pale
and uneasy witness of everything said r
done.
"How seriously is the young lady in
jured?" Murillo found the opportunity of
asking in Italian.
"Very seriously indeed," was the reply.
"Can she recover?"
"I do not think so."
Murillo turned away. The sight of the
unconscions and apparently dying girl was
toopitil'ul to be seen with composure,even by
one who would be profited by her death. He
quitted the room. But in the next apart
ment he came upon the body of the woman
he had murdered, and the' greater horror
made him forget the other. Compelling
himself to be calmf for there were many
spectators, he passed his lifeless victim with
an inward shudder, and with a mental im
precation on his irresistible impulse to look
at the accusing face. Out in the open air he
was at once controlled by his selfishness,
and he began to estimate the gain or loss
sustained by his plot
Felix straightened up from his critical ex
amination of Lncia's hurt, and said to the
persons who almost crowded the room!
"I shall ask you all to retire. I am about
to undertake a very delicate and difficult
surgical operation. This gentleman," and
he indicated Ferguson, "will assist me, and
we must be disturbed by nobody."
His directions were obeyed, and he and
Ferguson - were left alone with the
subject. The excluded persons saw him get
a case of surgical instruments from his
trunk, which had been left behind aud re
enter the house. They heard the locks turn
to prevent them from intruding into the
rooms where the wounded girl and the dead
woman lay. Their curiosity had to remain
unsatisfied for nearly two hours, or until
Ferguson came outand said that the surgeon
had finished his work. They pressed around
the voluble commercial traveler, and ques
tioned him eagerly.
"It was a wo'nderful job and nothin'
less," he answered. "I'd bet on my friend,
Dr. Bordenne, against any surgeon in the
land for skill, and yet I wouldn't win, be
cause the referee'd decide I was betting on
a certainty. What d'ye 'spose he's done?"
After allowing a second for replies, he went
on: "He found that the young lady's skull
was terribly fractured. A piece of the bone
bigger'n a silver dollar had to be removed
entirely, and a good bit of the brain went
with it. It was a case so he said for a
desperate experiment. If some brain hadn't
been lost, he'd have trepanned the skull.
Now,here's where the genius of my friend
comes in. He bethought himself of the
dead woman in the next room. He made
up his mind to repair the girl's head "with
material from the barely deceased cranium."
Ferguson's flippant yet appreciative ac
count of the singular operation was not in
language anything like the technical re
port which, with names and places omitted,
the surgeon subsequently wrote for a med
ical society. But he described with vivid
particularity which quite satisfied the mor
bid inquisitiveness ot the listeners, how a
piece of skull had been transferred from
one bead tJ the other, and how, further
more, the missing substance of brain had
also been supplied from the same source.
His narrative was just over when Felix re
appeared. He politely declined to discuss
his experiment, and went aside to confer
with the railroad official in control of mat
ters related to the accident.
"What do you wish to have done?" the
man inquired.
"I need two trained nurses to be brought
here as soon as possible," Felix replied,
"and a good medical practitioner. The
young lady will probably die. Her Case is
of an order always pronounced hopeless.
That is why I felt justified in resorting to
an unprecedented expedient I have re
placed the broken bone and the portion of
brain by taking the' requisite materials
from the other woman -bone and nerve mat
ter not yet dead, in a scientific sense,
and which theoretically ought to as
similate with the system of the
patient. I am sad to say, how
ever, that the result will doubt
less be failure and death. Poor young lady!
So pretty, so delicate, that the surgery
seemed a sacrilege. The merest chance of
her recovery now depends on careful treat
ment. Now we must have a good physician
constantly in attendance."
"Certainly. I will bring the best But
you will remain, too? The company will
make your stay comfortable." He was
about to add that the remuneration would
be liberal, but something subtly warning in
Felix's manner checked him, and he said
instead: "Everything possible shall be
done."
"I shall remain," Felix said; "but I am
too deeply interested, too nervously con
cerned, to assume the medical direction of
the case. No physician likes, you know,
to doctor a relative who is dangerously ill. I
feel a personal interest in this young lady,
and" Something like a quizzical ex
pression in the face ot the railroad man
checked the Italian; and he resumed: "It
is likely that I do not speaa: my meaning
exactly in English."
In fact he was not clear in his own mind
as to the precise nature or his zeal for his
patient; nor was the other man mistaken in
vaguely surmising that the helpless, lonely,
insensible girl had aroused more than a
merely professional regard in the surgeon.
"The porter of the oar told me she was
je-
traveling alone," the railroad official said,
"If she had a trunk it has unluckily gone
on with the train. Her handbag is in the
house, however, and in it we might find
something to identify her."
"Should we take such a liberty?" Felix
deprecatinglv exclaimed.
The practical officer had no such nice
ldeasof propriety. He turned out the con
tents of the bag. Among the kw articles of
toilet use, and a small amount of money, he
found a letter addressed to "Miss Lucia
Denning, TJrsina, Wisconsin." The con
tents were an offer of an engagement as a
teacher in a New York school, and it was
evident that the unfortunate girl was Miss
Denning, on her wayto the proffered employ
ment A telegram was at once sent to tne
railroad station agent at TJrsina. In an
hour the reply came that Miss Denning had
lived in the town several years, but that her
relatives were unknown to her acquaint
ances there. A dispatch to the New York
shool brought only the information that she
had been highly recommended for good
character and fine accomplishments, but
nothing about her family was ascertained.
"Did you hear her first name?" said
Marsha to Murillo. "It is Lucia."
"I did-ahear eet," was the reply, "and I
tcll-a you zat she ees Lucia Felando."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Ze resemblance, for one t'ing. She ees .
pre-a-cisely like her mothair was at ze same
age. Ze name Lucia, too and ze lack of
relatives all make-a me sure zat she ees ze
heiress."
He had half a mind to tell Marsha of the
recognition by Mrs. Felando, bnt that would
have been a close approach to his crime,
and even in his own thoughts he had a shiv
ering dread of that topic.
"Well," Marsha said, "what are we to
do?"
"We "shall-a hope zat she will go to
heaven weez her mothair, leaving ze estate
to us."
The physician and nurses who had been
sent for could oot arrive a before the next
morning. In the meantime. Felix Bor
denne stayed continuously at tne bedside of
his patient She did not regain conscious
ness, but her slnmber was not tronblous,and
the dreaded symptoms of fever manifested
themselves only mildly. Her head was
plastered and bandaged, and she lay on her
side, breathing naturally and suffering no
great pain. The pallor of her face slowly
yielded to the accelerated pulse, which sent
the blood into her cheeks, imparting her ac
customed hue of health, but warning Felix
that her temperature was rising slightly. He
tested her warmth frequently and reduced it
with drugs, which he administered by gently
opening her reddened lips and moistening
her parched tongue. At midnight no alarm
ingly unfavorable condition had developed:
Deeming it necessary to change her position
in the bed, he went out to summon Feguson
to help in moving her.
"It is a little later that the crucial phase
will be reached," he said to Ferguson.
"She has rallied from the collapse produced
by the concussjon, and has progressed into
the inevitable period of fever. It looks as
though we might carry her through this
second danger. But after that will come
the test the failure or the success of my ex
perimentthe refusal or consent of the in
serted bone and brain to become parts of the
poor girl's own organization."
Murillo was an eager listener to this re
port "Is it possible that she will recover?"
was his eager question in Italian.
"It is possible barely possible," Felix
replied, "but not probable."
"May I go in to see her?"
"If you will be very quiet."
The three men entered the room. Fer
guson and Felix, under'the guidance of the
latter, gently and carefully lifted the light
form ot Lucia; but the disturbance aroused
her, and for the first time tshe opened her
eves. Felix was supporting her head and
shoulders.
"Do not be alarmed," he said; "we are
taking good care of you. And seel Here
is a lady with us."
Marsha Raymond had stolen into the
apartment, and was standing beside Murillo
at the foot of the bed. Lucia's bewildered
gaze tnrned slowly from the reassuring, face
of Felix to that of Marsha, and seemed to
see comfort in the presence of a woman; but
when her eyes fell on Murillo she instantly
became agitated and clung to Felix in
affright,
"Don't let him smother mel" she cried.
"Oh, he choked mel He tried to kill mel"
"Do' not be afraid, were Felix's soothing
words. "Nobody shall harm you. We are
only making you comfortable.
He was astonished and sorry to see this
outbreak of what seemed to be delirium.
On laying her down he turned her face
,away from the disquieting Murillo, so that
whatever hallucination had been incited by
the sight of him might pass away, and beck
oned Slarsha to come to her. Marsha obe
diently placed herself close to Lucia, and
even caressingly held her hands.
If the attention of the others had not
been diverted from Murillo. his perturba
ation would not haye passed unobserved.
He turned alternately white and red, his
frame trembled and he turned half around
in a checked desire to escape from the room.
Had Lucia seen the murder? That was im
possible. The steam had enveloped the
crime completely at the time of its commis
sion. Besides, she had then already been
Tht Rightful Beirm Appears.
injured and rendered unconscious. Yet her
present outcries about smothering, choking
and killing, and her terror upon seeing him
who bad done just these things, implied a
knowledge of the murder. There seemed to
be something abnormal or supernatural in
the accusatory demonstration, and he almost
fell in a faint before he was able to assume
an air of unconcern. t
Felix knew that restful sleep was essential
for his patient. He had already given small
hypodermic injections of morphine to her,
and now he mada her swallow some of the
narcotio drug. The effect was quick, and
again she was slumbering quietly. Then
thethree men withdrew to eat a luncheon
which had been prepared for them, leaving
Marsha to watch at the bedside.
Sitting in the dimly lamplit room, gazing
on the Madonna face of the real Lucia Fe
lando, the counterfeit Lucia Felando pitied
her and despised herself. After a few min
utes she could no longer bear the sight
She went to the window, where she screened
herself with the curtain from the view with
in, and stood peering into the darkness
without Stealthy footsteps made her turn
her eyes back into the apartment It was
Murillo who had entered alone. The cur
tain hid her, and he concluded that she had
gone out He went on tiptoe to the vial of
morphine, uncorked it, and carried It
quickly to the lips of the unconscious Lu
cia; but Marsha's hand stopped him, and
for a moment they stood silently facing each
other.
"Do not-a heender me," he hoarsely whis
pered. "You want to kill her?" Marsha tremb
lingly asked.
"Eet mnst be done." .
"It shan't be done."
"She weel die anyhow."
"Then there's no need of murder."
nh f'fXT
('But before- she die she my toU--!
She doesn't know sheisLueia
He hesitated, and tlipn rnu)lved
to give
his urgent reason for silencing Lucia. "She
stem to a-kuow zat I keel Mrs. Felando.
Yes yes; wben-a she say don't smother-
don t chose she mean what X do toJtirs.
Felando. Hushl No noisel How she-arJ
Know? jaay it oe zat ze aevn teu. tier.
xutue-a must oot ipcac again.
Heput'the vial toward Lacla'i lips, but
again Martha prevented him. "No mur
dering with my consent," she whispered.
"I agreed to inherit a fortune that hadn't
any other claimant, and share with you.
Likely I'd go ahead with the scheme if this
irl would die; but you can't tempt me to
e a murderess."
"You needen't. I weel do eet." -
"No you won't Be satisfied with taking
Mrs. Felando's life. I'll keep that secret.
Perhaps I onght to. seeing-I'm a kind of ac
complice. Bnt I'll only do it on condition
that you let this girl die by herself.".
The delay thwarted Murillo's purpose,
without further altercation, for Felix en
tered the room.
"I will relieve, you now," he said politely
to Marsha.
"And I will relieve you," said Ferguson
in an undertone to Murillo. but with an
emphasis which might or might not have,
expressed a suspicion that the Italian was
more than merely meddlesome. "Morphine
isn't a thing to fool with," and he took the
rial from the other's hands.
CHAPTER IV.
A OEKEEAL UNDEESTASDIKO.
William Ferguson did patrol duty the
rest of the night He assigned himself, as
a volunteer policeman, to a beat extending
from the windows to'the door nt the room in
which Felix Bordenne was shut up with the
patient. Ferguson regarded it as a good
time to keep wide awake and active. He
was positive that Marsha Raymond was not
Lucia Felando. He was almost sure that
Murillo and Marsha were in a plot to sub
stitute her for the Italian heiress. He'
vaguely snspected that Murillo had meant
to drug the wounded girl with themorphine.
He made a slimmer of a pnpa.i that the
death of Mrs. Felando meant guilt of some'
degree tor Jiiuriuo. with no desire or
ability to sleep, he walked with his per
plexed thoughts, guarding the room against
possibly intrusion, and speculated upon the
mystery which prevaded it He spoke
several times with Felix, and learned from
him that no change had taken place in the
girl, but he saw no other person until, just
at daylight, Marsha emerged from the
house. She had heavy eyelids and the
slightly flushed complexion of one ho has
spent a sleepless nieht, but that did not pre
vent her from being handsome, and nnder
any circumstances Ferguson had an appre
ciative eve for feminine comeliness.
"Good morning, Miss Raymond," he said.
'"You're looking a mighty fine girl."
"What mases you can me Miss Ray
mond," she responded, with a touch of
sullenness, "when you know I'm Miss
Felando?'
Ferguson was readier with questions than
with answers. "What was up between you
and Murillo when I came into the room last
night?" he said. She did not reply. "The
deuce was to pay between you and him.
What did it mean?" Still she was mute.
"Look here. You're a good enough sort of
girl better'n I am, 1 guess. Bnt you are
doing some deviltry. You know It, and I
know it but I ain't aware of the particu
lars." "You're talking nonsense," was Marsha's
response.
"Then why don't you talk sense? If you'll
confess to me, I'll confess to you. What I
guess you've done is to palm yourself off for
an Italian heiress. Don't get mad. I ain't
at all sure about it, you know, and mebbe,
being a hustler myself, I'd have gone for big
boodle the same way you have. But it's
never best to break up one's conscience, yon
know. Strain It but don't smash it alto
gether. Now you are Wanting to tell me
that it isn't any of my business, anyhow-
wen, it isn't; bnt i uue you i. used to tell
you so whenever I struck Cincinnati, didn't
I? There's something serious in this affair.
I doa't know what it is, but I want to. Let
me into it, Marsha, and I'm your Mend and
counsellor from the word go to the finishing
jump."
Marsha was contemptuous ai the begin
ning of this earnest appeal, but at its end
she was regarding it sedately. It did not
move her to make a confidant of the voluble
Ferguson, however, and the went away
from him without a further word of re
sponse.
Not much more than Ferguson or Marsha
had Murillo slept He had a bedroom on
the ground floor of the farmhouse, and into
it he carried bis satchel, containing the doc
uments establishing the identity ot Marsha
as the mining Felando heiress. Soma of
the papers were honest, others were fraudu
lent, uut logemer mey were wen calculated
to effect the purpose of the schemer. They
made evidence of the loss of an infant'
throngh the. insanity of the mother, already
estranged from her husband; the existence
of the mother until discovered in an ob
scure asylum and the growth of the
child into the TOung woman knows as
Marsha Raymond. The Italian lawyer had
come' to America to find the two lost per
sons, and, after getting one, he had counter
feited the other. He had kept the bagful of
writings close and safe, andr upon lying
down for a short sleep toward mornfng.he
placed them on the bed beside him. Bat
when he awoke they were gone- Daylight
was in the room. To look into every corner,
and under every cover, was the flurried
work of & minute. The satchel had disap
peared. Be had not undressed himself on
going to bed, but his hair was tousled, his
-wvuab wi tw iuuiuii.u. nuu uo nw w uu-
tidy to present himself before others as he
was. uni his loss made him careless of his
appearances. He strode through the hall
way, and, hearing voices in the patient's
room, entered it demonstratively.
Lucia Felando was sitting up in bed, sup
ported by pillows. Around her were Felix,
Marsha, Ferguson and several others. She
had a perplexed expression and a mystified
manner, but no signs of fevered delirium
were visible, and she spoke with a voice
which, although weak, had a coherent com
mand of words.
"I feel very strangely," she was saving to
Felix, "but I suffer no pain. I remember
nothing since I was sitting in the car.
Something struck me on the back of the
head, and I knew no more."
Murillo was glad to hear that, for she
could not, then, have witnessed his crime.
"Can you tell me your name?" Felix
asked.
"Lucia Denning."
"And where you lived?"
"TJrsina, in Wisconsin."
"Where are yonr relatives?. We would
like to communicate with them."
"I have no relatives that I know of. .J
was abandoned to a foundling asylum when
an infant Afterward I was taken into a
religious school, and I grew up without
knowing anything of my family. That is
X seem to remember I think T am con
fused." -
Her hands fluttered uncertainly up to her
head, and then were passed over her eyes,
as though to brush away some obstruction
of visage. Up to this point she had spoken
clearly, bnt now her speech dropped into
confusion. Felix felt her pulse, and fonnd
that it had quickened.
"You must not talk too much," he said.
"Only, it you know how to direct us, we
woulu be glad to bring any relative to you.
Try for a moment to recall yonr past, and
then we will let you rest agaiu."
Lucia opened her eyes wide, and stared
straieht at the wall onnoiti. tbnmrh or.
,pectlng to diseern clearly in the figures of
ui iuc pupcr lumeiuiug mai was inaisuncuy
formed in her miifd.
"There was a house like a villa," the
dreamily began; "A garden Was around it,
and green slopes were beyond tie garden.
A vineyard was ofT,one way, and mountains
the other. The people wore the dress of
peasants of Italians.''
She stopped abruptly, Her forehead was
Unwriakled, and .the perplexity had de
parted from her visage.
''What have I hM Httu?" ikW mar.
nini. . "0, that I. rk wW
IkMwrrtlMtl
"What?
Felando."
MitfllM-
kk&wj
',
r;r
?'
i
.Italian recollection ft tfae mesBisglesV
utterance ot a disordered mind. Manila
knew that she had brlfly bat correetly de
scribed the home of the Felando in th
neighborhood of Naples. Alarmed a he
WSJ. hft Still WAS AtfimnAsu? annnoli fj wn
der how she could picture a seene which her
eyes had never looked on, for ho wassara
nuu never been in Italy. Harafca coa-
rX. , , ,B mreateaing sign ! Usance ia
ifciaa looks, too, and Felix was aatarally
"n.11 The mention of his native laad.
BHSdenly she was distraught as befere,
and-her aspect reminded Murillo ot clair
voyant exhibition, which he bad seen, aad.
i i-T0, v th" . Phenomenon ia seeesd
sight had been produced. a slight rier
straightened her figure for a moment, aad
then her relaxed hands pressed her bead as
though a neuralgia spasm hurt her. TJpoa
reopening her eyes they rested on Murillo.
"He smothered me," she cried, throwing;
out both hajfnldly toward bim, and A
the same time shrinking back against the
pillows. "He choked me. Pietro Marlllo
he did it Don't let him touch me. I am
insane, they say. It was the loss ot ay
daughter that crazed mf. But don't let
him murder me. Helpt llelpl"
"She ees raring merely raving," Murillo
interposed. "You a do wrong, Bordeaae,
to let her talk."
Ferguson moved befere the girl, thu
shutting from her view the man whose
presence excited her, and quietly asked, of
"What is your name?"
Anita Felando," she replied.
"Not Lucia Denning?" ",
"No; Lucia was my child's aaart.' I
Anita, wife of Daman Felando. Wiet m
I saying? I am Lucia Denning, of eoeme.'
O, my head-it is all wrong. Wkt baa
happened?" With that she relapsed into
unconsciousness. ,
"Withdraw, if vou nlease." nM,ltill
"we must afford her perfect quiet" ,
A train was stopping at the ttatiea a
hundred yards away, and from it caate toe
physician and two nursea who had"BeH
summoned. Fergnson met them, andteok
the medical man at once to a coawltetioa
with Felix, who gave ia detail all the par
ticulars of the case. He set forth especially
the restoration of brain matter by the trans
fer of a fragment from Mrs. Felando, aad
described the cerebral symptoms whiek has!
just been manifested.
"Look here, gentlemen," Ferguses, broke
in. 'a ain't swgieal, medical or seiestitle.
But I can be inquisitive, anyhow, aad
here's some questions I'd like to haye ye
answer. There's a part of the dead wesaaa'a,
brain in the girl's head, aia't there?" w5?
"Yes," Felix assented. &
"Your intention was to let that inoarteiL
portion grow into eeaaeetiea with whot be
longed there?"
'IThat was the fetkra hope."
"Now, what is it that yoa eJl a kypot "
thetical query? I guest I eaa ferawlate,
one. Suppose your experiment to be alwe'
cess; suppose the girl is aetually hoginnliie
to use some of that woman's brain; smayesa
her confusion of memory is caused by-" the
mingling the mixture the the " '. -The
attempt to state his theory preyed too
much for Ferguson, bat be got Mr' enough
along with it to ooaveyhls dwb(k,.
stantially to Felix, who said: "YobeWeTe
that the girl k oommeacisg to eapKeV-ta
inserted Brain along with her own, aad'tkai
her fecollectidn of an Italian home is a frag
mentary transfer from the meewryof the
woman?" -
"That's jarf it" -
"Her fear of Murillo? Her deeWatfeM
that he smothered aad choked her? "VFa
are we to unders'aad?"
"Keep still," Fergw sati
It wa the appmek of Marti feat safe
him enjoin silenee. '
"Comefeere Marsha," he said to her, as
he took Felix a little away from the strange
physician. "Yon're a pretty geed girl. I
told you so awhile ago, and I oJere to
swap confessions with you. Now, here'a
mine, Isneaked Into Murillo's reoBa,tts4
his gripsack; and appropriated the eeatesss.
There were papers to shew that yea're Laets
Felando. That's confessing fm. a thief,
isn't it? Well, I waat you to own so that
you're an importer. MarilJo likely tM
yon thatyoa were the heiress, aad y were
willing. Tea didn't eeseeet the Awe"
yon were jast williag to get rieh. t ww.
you know that the real Laek FsJswtek'
lying U there voa'w gfajt te aefAsstho "
train to us."
right?" Marsha skwly aaswered.
'TUBMiatsiB you've been led rate1sL
limits of a business deaL"'
"No; I wealda't rob the rightftl hefews
knowing she was alive, as rd kaewraail
TUU1UU MIUUU HMUraimir
"As you kaow Marilto to be?"
"As I know Murilk to he."
A commotion at the nubnJ
caused a diversion. A. (mla kuf .ii ,
the trouhleftfjtf it aaa ia its deaartW.
A fflaa wss run over aad killed, jfe wit
nesses said that be h4 Ma aorossihaak
fora, clumsily leapiBtfoa the awviar.eir -slipped
off, and was "aMwglei te deaiu .f
might have been either taieide or a tee '
rfed attempt to essase, for the bh was
Pietro Murillo.
Sotiwrewsaoe4to mfe a paa
mentof MarshtfeUew her sensors repent
ance, especially m she gsye aM to the ettae
ljshment of iaefa ia. her Meatity aad
rights. It is as owteta that MshawW
quite legally oaasfe her mm u mvt(
Ferguson as it js that Laeia wiH beseta
the Countess Berdsaae. 2erLaekMeer
ereo. who ueaa as aeltayaa&tra as
neariwmea se gave to her
server.
1KB JatD.
Copyrighted. 1880. AH rights reserve.'
mm mm twm
The Craze rer Thees Fast SlflWaJiaSseafc
Anurleaa Weaea. "ife"
.New York WorW.l . -$&
No woman is hajy nowadays tMkM she
can say her fnjtn m a real aeaa-ade
prayer raj one that has heea wed fctTeea
tnrles by seme heataea Tark whewas
denbtless kneeling on it when fetor the
Hermit breathed aasttheauw agaiaet thsa
and Kiehard the Lioa-Heartod otevetasai
with his good sword. The lieeagrakyof the
thing does not seem to strike these pretty
nineteenth century Christiaas.
One or them a very rieh oae., H gees
without saying has a rag whioh she prises
very highly, booawe o? the asystfa e
sien of fear hems' heath worked ia k.
These are symbolic of the fear hones that ser
ried Mohamet thronth tae air gb hk fkare
journey to Meeoa.
L '! SO Sot know a greater ImssaaW
luxury, than Atkiasea's eebgBS-.
twenty-&ve year I have never heea
oat It" tw;
1 8k.' Rolled Gold R
ri.
&ft&iifeJ
,ax
Chased Rlar.
Bymall, Twenty cents
ItiiaLW
"Kins'.
BrMU..
.Tea ce
. Sana Klar.
By matt. Tktrtr cents
attPsmieat.
DOMlac
' Mali, Hat seats!
tfrnHUXHteeat
Wm mPMm Mil .Wa iImm HfMM tO B0 1
roUeSMia. Awe itae sr nsnuvr Osel
w wm iae isoTB n w? vy
n mil Bill.! In AHHT to low
;M aaaaflafae ox JmwvtV!
ItttaOtl
??
KBeawbrMunlfe.asd that yMoasjhtXtol
heprctetdfo.Miy pouity booaWf-
wouldn't SH) with hisa verr far -i.fl
--J -J-
saefeS
yOSja
iSi
HsF I
I
'i
at
i&i
A t --l.-rc J. . '.i.iiR'J.
Jiv
iMf&fcF
'- -j. kr rj-L'-4
BBggilg
liSM