2
THE TIMES, NEW BLOOMFIELD, PA. EEDHUAItY 22, 1881.
TRACKING A CRIMINAL,
Oil
Paul Webber, The Detective.
'
v
CONTINUED.
SHE became still more pale, and Web
ber heard her murmur these words !
" I will not speak 5 no, I will not say a
word. I won't have blm hanged."
" "Ns strange how you and Langley
differ In opinion," snld the detective.
" You say, ' I do wish to know he is In
prison, but I do not wish to know that
he Is hanged, ' while It Is not half an
hour ago he remarked to me, ' I do not
wish to know that she is In prison, but
I do' wish that she was dead.' "
"Ah I did he say that ? He would
like to know I was dead, would he V"
"And to be quite sure of It by killing
you himself."
" How could he kill me.? He is in
prison."
"Nothing can be simpler; and I don't
mind admitting that, at this very mo
ment, you are ia great danger from
him."
" Why should he take away my life?
What have I done to him ?"
" What have you done ? Well, for
one thing, you have betrayed him to the
police."
"He doesn't know I did."
" Oh, yes, he does, I told him."
"You told him?"
"Yes, it was my only way of quieting
him."
"Shame shame on you !" she cried.
" The Inspector promised that If I told
where he was to be found, he should
never know who gave the Informa
tion." "And the inspector has kept his
promise. But I had made no promises
of the kind, and I said to him what it
suited me to say."
" Then I am a dead woman if he again
escapes."
"Prevent him from escaping, by send
ing him for trial on a charge of murder.
He has got such a character, that, once
prove murder against him, and he will
not escape the gallows, be sure."
" But they might acquit him ?"
" Impossible. There is no mercy
shown to a twice-escaped convict, who
spills blood, especially when he has such
a reputation as Langley's."
" True," she said "quite tme."
" Then speak ; confess all, If you
would live."
" Certainly, I wish to live, oflicer ;
but how will you save me ? He is taken
Is in prison and yet you yourself say
that I run the risk of being killed by
him!"
" You want to know how much you
are to have for betraying him. Now ; is
not that what you want to say ?"
"Of course, officer, I ought to have a
reward for Queen's evidence against a
murderer."
" Now just you listen to me. After
hearing who it was had betrayed him,
Langley still hesitated about coming
with me, as you can well understand.
So, in order to decide him, I gave the
man my word of honor that you and
your husband should meet face to face
before to-day's sun went down."
" Face to face with him I" she shriek
ed. "And you know that he means to
kill me!"
41 Certainly. Why should I have had
any consideration for you ? When I
gave the promise, I had not even seen
you."
She reflected for an instant, and then
she said, " Will you keep your word to
him if I give the information you
want?"
" I cannot possibly break my word,
because I have already given It. But if
you afford the information I want,
instead of letting him come here into
your cell, you shall see him in the visiting-room,
with stout iron bars between
you. He will be able to say to you all
be likes, insult you at his ease, but he
.will not be able to touch a hair of your
head."
Webber having prepared his victim,
now set to work in earnest. His very
first question showed the whole drift of
his interview. He began, and tLs
woman listened with the closest atten
tion. "One night in October, a young man
was assassinated in Taggart's Inn, which
ia near Clare Market, where you and
langley were then living. What can
jrou tell me about this murder, which so
far, has not been found out ?"
" But how does it happen "
She had spoken thus far, when Web
ber continued, " That I am asking you
anything about the matter ? It is very
simple. This morning Langley, In a
moment of drunkenness and excitement,
admitted his crime."
" Theu, If be has done that"
" It is not enough," replied the detec
tive. " Justice demand evidence, proof;
and I come to you for the evidence and
for the proof."
"Ask me what questions you like,"
said the woman. "I will answer what
you choose."
" How long had you known the per
son killed by Langley ?"
" I didn't know him."
" Had you seen him often ?"
" Only the day before, and that was
the first time. I was going along the
Strand, when, he touched me on the
arm. He said he knew me, and would
get me work If I wanted it. I said
I did, because I had then thought of
giving Langley up to the police. He
said If I would give him my address he
would let me know when I could have
It. I asked him was he a foreman of a
wholesale house in the City, and he
said yes. I then gave him the address."
"And next day he came ?" '
"No, next night. Langley was out
and I asked him in."
" Did he speak about work ?"
"No, he began praising my good
looks; and"
Well, what did you say ?"
" I told him to go away, but he would
not, and he sat down."
" Well ?"
"After a quarter of an hour, during
which he kept talking, and I answered
never a word, but continued my work,
he got up, and went away. As he went
out, he kissed his hand to me, and said
that he would call in the evening of
next day, and take me to a theatre."
"Did you reply?"
" No, I was afraid to say anything,
for fear one of the lodgers might tell
Langley. My husband was watching,
and you know the rest, since he told
you what happened."
" What time was it when Langley
came in ?"
"About nine o'clock."
" Did he say, as he entered ' I have
killed your lover ?"
" Yes, something like that."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing; I was too frightened to
speak. He seemed to be mad, I never
Baw him look so terrible."
" Was there any blood on his hands ?"
"No, and I remember I looked for
some."
" Since then have you ever thrown
this murder in his teeth?"
" No, I never dared to speak about
it," she replied.
" Has he never mentioned it again ?"
" Never."
" Can you tell me the exact date of
this affair ?"
"At the end of October or the begin
ning of November."
" I want the exact date."
"I don't know it sir."
" Did you ask the man his name ?"
" No, I don't think I did. I fact, I'm
sure I did not."
" Describe me this young man as near
as you can."
" He was of middle height, as I think
I have already said, darkish, with thin
moustaches. That's all I can remem
ber." " Of course you could not tell what he
had about him ? He took nothing from
his pockets, that you can remember ?"
" Yes, he took his purse out, and offer
ed to advance me some money. I told
him I did not want his money, and to
go away."
" Can you describe this purse ?"
" Well, it seemed more like a pocket
book than a purse a pocket-book with
an elastic round it."
" Do you remember what color it
was?"
"Bed."
"There can be no doubt about it,"
murmured the policeman ; "theevldence
may not be quite complete ; but, as far
as it goes, it admits of no doubt what
ever." "Are you satisfied with what I have
said, officer?" she said, timidly, and
coming closer to the detective.
" I satisfied?" he said, savagely ; "not
at all. I did not want to be certain that
Langley was the man ; but, being that
man, why duty is duty, and I must
doit."
He got up from his seat, and added,
" Now pull yourself together to meet
your husband. Before half an hour is
over, you and he will be face to face.
Don't go near the grating."
The words fell upon her like Ice. She
shrank, and shivered.
" The iron bars are strong !" she cried.
" Swear to me that the Iron bars are
strong!"
" Well, if it will afford you any satis
faction, I'll swear they are. Good-bye !"
" Good-bye !" she said, in a sad voice.
'
Two oflicers conducted Langley to the
visitors'-room.
This chamber is so contrived that a
prisoner and his visitor cannot reach
each other. Two lines of iron bars,
forming a passage, separate those who
thus meet-if meeting it can be called.
Langley was taken to the prisoner's
part of this room.
As It had been promised to him, his
hand-cuffs had been taken off.
Apparently this Samson of a man was
perfectly resigned. Between his cell
and the visiting room be showed no
signs of curiosity or interest in what
was going on, and he replied very quiet- j
ly to the questions put to him.
"Whioh door will she come in at?"
he asked, suddenly. He had already
seated himself upon one of the wooden
seats fixed against the wall.
The young Jailer pointed to a door on
the other side of the double Iron caging
which was fixed along the center of the
room.
The convict raised hi head. He began
to see that he had fallen into a trap.
" But If she comes in there," he said,
and his voice' was already less calm
"how can she reach me here ?"
" But she will not be on this side of
the grating," said the younger of the
two Jailers, injudiciously.
" Hal she will not be on this side of
the grating ? So, I'm sold I" he scream,
ed. "She was to have been near me.
No Iron bars was to keep us apart.
There wasn't a word said about them.
What, do you think I would have given
myself up, if I'd known how you meant
to serve me?"
" You will see your wife, and say what
you have to say to ber through this iron
grating. To tell you the truth, she
herself bargained that it should be so."
"She did! Why?"
" I suppose because she is afraid to
come near you."
" If she's afraid me, it's because she
knows she has wronged me."
" Very likely ; but that is no reason
why she should wish to be killed."
" What if I promise not to harm a
hair of her head ?"
" You can't answer for yourself. A
word, a look, is quite enough to put you
in a boiling rage."
A quarter of an hour afterwards, Sun
flower, shown the way by one of the
female warders, entered the other side of
the visitors' room, and, without glanc
ing at ber husband, she sat herself down
on a chair, as far away from Langley as
possible, and waited.
The female warder had left the apart
ment, and the terrible pair were alone,
face to face.
As for the convict, the moment his
eyes fell upon her, he rushed to the iron
grating, and stretched his arms to their
full length towards her. For a moment
his appearance was terrible, then his
face softened, and his eyes filled with
tears. That mysterious something which
surrounds and spreads from the woman
or child we love, produced its effect
upon Langley. His was but a boast
that he would kill Sunflower. One kind
look from her, and his angry, trembling
hand would have been arrested high in
the air.
For some moments he said nothing.
It was enough that he could look upon
her. As for the woman, prepared for
reproaches, insults, she was simply
amazed, stupefied, by his silence. Her
dominant thought became the fear that
he was meditating her some Injury.
She narrowly scanned (he iron grating
to see that the bare were secure, when,
as he leaned against them, and they
showed no signs of yielding, she smiled.
" You are not afraid of me, are you,
Sunflower?" he asked.
"Well, it wouldn't be wonderful if I
was. There hasn't been a day since I
was your wife that you haven't ill-used
me."
" Don't turn on me now I'm down,"
he replied sadly. " I know I was hasty
and jealous, but it was all because I
loved you so much."
"Oh, I know all about your love,"
she said, in a bitter voice, " When a
man says, I love you,' to a woman, he
fancies that she ought to bear with any
ill-usage. The more you beat her, the
more you crush her, the better pleased
she ought to be. Love 1 it's not love
which makes a woman hate the life she
Is living!"
" Then you were never happy with
me, Sunflower ?" he asked, speaklngin
a softened tone.
"Happy with you ? I tell you I never
had a happy hour with you from the
day I came to be your wife to this very
morning and I'm not afraid to say
it!"
" You need not be afraid to say any.
thing, Sunflower, for behind these rail
ings I can't hurt you."
"All the better. This is about the
first time I've ever dared to speak the
truth to you without running the chance
of Iosing-my life."
" Go on ; say what you like, Sunflow
er, I'll listen quiet enough."
She had no heart. She said what she
liked, as he had told her to say. She
opened before him all the old wounds ;
she cast into his face the memory of
every cruelty to her of whioh he had
been guilty. She paid him back iu
twenty minutes all the Insults and ill
usage Bbe had suffered through three
long years. She was implacable, merci
less, without even the shadow of pity
in her heart.
He heard what she had to say, never
uttering a word. At last, when she
stopped, he said, " Then you never cared
for me at all?"
" Never!" she said. "If I said I loved
you, it was because I stood in danger of
my life if I told the truth." '
His head sank, and it was only after a
long sllonoe that he said, "If I break
Jail again, will you take me back will
you give me one more chanoe ?"
"Never !" she replled.bltlerly. " Every
thing between us Is at an end. I'll live
bo more as I have lived. I'll tremble
no mere for my life, and I will be free
In a new land and with a new name."
Every word ground upon his heart,
but he only said, " I had a good deal to
say to you, but I don't know where to
find the words."
" Words !" she said ; "if you wanted
to help me to blows, you would not be
much troubled to find them."
"But I can suffer myself, I tell you,
Sunflower."
His habitual dark complexion was
now very pale. Sunflower drew baek
and trembled. She knew what that
change upon his face presaged. How
ever, he said in the quiet tone in which
he had spoken throughout their inter
view, "so, if I get away, and come to
you again"
She interrupted him, and said, " You
will never know what has become of
me."
"Then I'm seeing you for the very
last time?"
" The very last."
" In a few days you will be free ; while
as for me, I shall be at Portland. Chaps
at Portland do sometimes see their wives.
Won't you ever come and Bhake me by
the hand?"
" Never never once. "
" Still, it has been your fault that I
am what I am a convict. If I had
never fallen In love with you, I should
never have been . sent to jail, and I
should not now be going back to Port
land." " Then you should never have fallen
in love with me."
He continued in his quiet voice, "Aud
if, instead of being sent to Portland, I
am sent to the gallows for killing him
who was your lover, would you come
and say a last good-bye ?"
"No," she said.
" Wretch 1" he cried, and leaping at
the bars, he seized and shook them but
without bending the iron.
The woman's first movement was
toward the door. But when she saw
how all his efforts made no impression
on the railing, she stopped, came up to
the second line of ironwork, and fairly
laughed at him In a whirl of scorn.
"Ha! how you would break me up
like a toy If you could get at me!" she
said, In a cruel voice. "But I am out
of your reach. I am no longer your
plaything. Don't worry yourself, Sam
son, because you can't worry me. Ah,
roar, but you can't get at me ; your in a
safe cage at last."
This last taunt gave, no doubt, to
Langley a force almost superhuman.
He seised one of the bars with both
hands, and gave it a wrench with
savage suddenness it yielded, and bent
towards him.
In a moment her fear predominated.
She uttered shriek upou shriek.
Another jerk, aud the bar would have
given way. A moment, and she noted
that the second line of bars were much
weaker than the first.
The wild beast might get at its prey,
after all.
But the force of human nature has its
limits. Langley had suffered so much
during some hours five, at leastthat
even his strength gave way. His blood,
violently shooting along his veins and
arteries, flooded his quivering brain,
and he, staggering, let go the bar, and
fell heavily, senseless, to the floor.
CHAPTER XIV.
And what has happened to Margaret
and Austin Sivory while the exigencies
of this narrative have led us away to
scenes with which apparently at first
tbey had little or nothing to do ?
The day after the dinner, at which
Webber put In force that terrible test of
the knife with which Forbes had been
slain the day after, about three in the
afternoon, AuBtin Sivory was once more
in Park street, and knocking at the
door of the bouse under the roof of
which was now to be found all that
made life endurable.
" My cousin is really ill," said Ellen
Fotheringay, who received him, "she
can see nobody."
It was in vain that Austin pleaded for
only a moment's interview. All en
treaty was In vain, and he left the house
in a state almost of desperation. He
went at once to the Westminster Palace
Hotel, that he might talk about ber if
he could not see her.
But Mr. Varli, who until that day
bad been so talkative, gracious, hospita
ble, had become cold,, cautious, cere
monious. He now responded by the
merest monosyllables, and became en
tirely silent wben questioned concern
ing his sister.
Austin Sivory became thoroughly
alarmed at the change in his newly
found friend. At the same time he
searched eagerly for any cause that could
have produced this change.
After much Investigation and patient
thinking, be persuaded himself that he
had found the true cause.
" The fortnight's grace he gave me In
which to find the money I owe him on
that terrible bight's card-playing has
long since past, aud be finds, no doubt, ,
that I am taking the matter very coolly. '
He expects to be paid."
This conviction taking full possession
of his understanding, his great anxiety
was to find a means of discharging the :
debt of honor as soon as he possibly ',
could; for he saw clearly that If the
brother chose, he could prevent blm'
from seeing Margaret.
What should he do ? He could not
very well go back to the German baths ;
and, again, the season was over, and he
might have his Journey for his pains.
The next day, and Webber positively 1
refuRAil in spa 111 in
By this act Austin Sivory was reduced f
to despair. The contemplation of what
was to become of him horrified the man.
The only two persons with whom he .
bad passed the last two months of his
life suddenly abandoned him, appar
ently quite without justifiable motive.
"And yet," he pondered, "she heard
me in silence she almost encouraged '
me to speak. HadnotVarll interfered,
perhaps she would have answered. And
she left me abruptly, without a word of
explanation, at the very moment when
my hopes were raising me to a heaven I
of happiness," . 5
Like a soul in agony, he -moved up "
ana aown tne streets until he arrived
before Margaret's residence. Then, rais
ing his eyes to her windows as he passed
them, he eaw her half in the shadow of f
one of the curtains. Then, for a time,
he was demented, and his old audacity '
came back to him.
He ran across the street, entered at '
the chance open door, ran up the stairs, !
jjuhucu yam jueu r oinenngay, wno
endeavored to bar his passage, rushed 6
I 1 1 .1 . - . f
iuiu lue uuck urawing-room, ana iouna
himself face to face with Margaret.
This was the day after the arrest-of
Langley by Webber, the detective.
As Austin Sivory ran forward, Mar
garet came quickly in advance, doubtless
with a word upon her lips in reference
to his daring to force his way into her
apartments.
But he gave her no opportunity to
speak. Seizing her hands, so that she
could not release them, he poured Into
her ears a declaration of love, which was
simply an avalanche of mental exalta
tlon, entreaty, and despair.
After a time his words became more
distinct, somewhat reasonable, and he
said, " I live only when near you. If
you were gone from the world I should
kill myself. I have missed the good
road in my journey through life. I have
sinned, and I look upon myself with
horror ; yet have pity on me, for you
can regenerate me. Even a kind look
from you will make me a better man.
Believe me, dear Margaret give me
credence, if only for pity's sake. I d;
swear that my words are but the portra!-,
of my soul. Surely, a man who suffer
as I now suffer who weeps as here yoi
see me weeping surely he merits, a(
least, a little pity, though he can fin
no love." 'j,
Here he stopped, for his flooding tears
and sobs were suffocating him.
Margaret, meanwhile, experienced a
strange feeling as she heard this lan
guageone so new to her, that it was a
revelation.
Graham Forbes had spoken kindly ;
but his utterance had never been moved
by passion. Phrases of love she now
heard for the first time in all ber life. -,
Let the truth be spoken. She bad
hitherto only thought she loved; now,
all unknown to her, the great passion
was taking her life prisoner.
Austin continued.
" If you had determined to see so little
of me to refuse to receive me again, a
few Weeks being past, why .did you
ever let me see you at all ? Why did
you welcome me ? Did you not read In
my eyes that I loved you ? You knew
that my heart and life were no more my
own, but yours. I offered you both,
and, silently, you took them I You took
these my life and my heart; and you
have no right, for the mere sake of
caprice, to play at football with them.','
She answered, in a sweet, soft voice,
" I have done you wrong."
The tone of voice gave Sivory hope,
and be began again to plead his case as
only such a man could. At this moment
Ellen brought in a letter from the super
intendent of the police which stated that
all suspicions had now been removed
from Austin Sivory. Having read this
letter she came to bis side and said :
" I have caused you much suffering
forgive me, and never ask me to explain
the past, I have wrongs that I have done
you to repair, and I will repair them."
Scarcely bad she uttered these words,
than she broke into a flood of tears.
Continued next week.
" I don't wanUhat Stuff."
Is what a lady of Boston said to her
Viiiatuinti whim hn hrnncht homn finmA
meuicine 10 cure ner 01 kick ueau&cue
and neuralgia which had made her mis
trah1 fnr fourteen veara. At th first
attack hereafter, it was administered t
ber with such good results that she con
tlnued its use until cured, and was si
enthusiastic In its praise, that she In-,
duoed twenty-two of the best families in
her circle to adopt it as their regular
family medicine. That "stuff" is Hop
Bitters. Standard. 7 2t