lllllllllillllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll‘" i‘" ii” [[llllllllllll Vol. X. Publication Office, 93 William St. New York. Copyrighted l89l, By Beadle and Adams. No. 478 u...“— -——- —.-... - _ "‘ BY JAMES ROWE. If I believe that. as for ev‘ry sea By mighty winds upheave'l there is a calm, For ev‘ry soul bowed low by misery There is a soothing and uplifting balm, Is it not well for me? If I believe that the “ All-Father" loves All who delight in deeds of charitv— That he a blessing gains whose voice oft moves In tender words of heartfelt sympathy— 18 it not well for me? If I believe that I can daily be To some poor truant from the path of right, Or soul discouraged bv adversity. As to toe storm-tossed is the beacon-light— Is it not Well for me! Yes! yes, dear God. if I these things believe, And act through all Life’s day accordingly, Full well I know that when has come its eve I shall exclaim, exclaim exultingly: "I‘was well for mel ’Twas well indeed for me! Her Enemy to the End; The Challoné' Mystery. BY RETT IVIN WOOD, an'rnon or “ran waosoln amazes,” “A nascsaous WOMAN,” “0., mo. CHAPTER VIII. nnncuvn rnm'r. “ His eyes are like the eagle’s, yet sometimes, Liker the dove’s: and at his will he wins All hearts with softness, or with spirit awes.” —HouE. Mas. Faunca did not wait for permission, but passed swiftly through the open window, and approached the couch. The sin le lam had burned low, and now flickered fitfu ly, sen - in weird shadows trooping over the carpet. A beIn of thick shadows that gloom-shrouded fig- ure tself a red, with its black garments, and the thick black vail mufiiing head and shoulders and effectually concealing every fea- IF I BELIEVE. l ture. Ethelind could only stare after her in wonder and tenor. Pausing near the head of the bed, Mrs. Faunoe stood motionless, looking down at the sleeper. Some muttered words that sounded like endear- inge ithets, fell from her lips. Presently she her vail aside, with an impatient move- ment, and, still keepin her face in deep shadow, touched her lips to Co onel Falkner’s forehead. The lamp gave an expiring flicker, at the same instant, and went out a together. From the direction of the couch came a smothered cry, but before Ethelind could gro her way through the thick darkn, Mrs. aunce was again beside her. “ Thank you, Miss Erie,” said the woman, in a strange, hollow voice. “ You have done me a greater service than you are aware. I shall not forget it.” She was gone before Ethelind could collect her wits sufficiently to reply. The fri htened girl passed into the chamber, shut and astened the window, and groped her way to the chim- ney~piece, where she had seen a lamp and matches standing, earlier in the evening. Havin struck a light, she approached the bed. Co onel Falkner’s eyes were wide open, a strange look of wonder and eagerness in their clear depths. “ Who was in the room just now?” he asked. She dared not tell him. “ I have been here all the evening,” she an- swered, evasively. “ I thought—I fancied—" He broke off abruptly, and a heavy sigh es- caped his lips. ‘ What did you think?” she impulsively said. “ It seems so strange, so wonderful," speaking in low, husky tones, and pressing one hand wearil to his forehead. “ I must have dreamed it, for ima 'ned that the grave had given up its dead, an she was here, right beside mel" “ 0f whom do you aki Of Olympia?” “ Yes—of Olympia ’erne.” Ethelind drew back, a sick feeling of dread and horror coming over her. Had she really seen a ghostl—or what was the explanation of the strange scene that had tranSplred! “ Are you sure this Olympia Verne is dead?” she asked, presently, with blanched lips. “ Sure?” “Is it not possible that you may have been deceived l" He shook his head. “I saw her in the coffin, with my own eyes. There could have been no mistake. Oh, my Godl it is too terribly certain that she is dead, and lost to me forever.” He turned slowly and painfully away, but Ethelind caught a glimpse of his face, and saw that it was fearfully distorted with anguish. “ Ah, how passionately he must have loved that woman,” she thought. Resuming her old position, she dropped her throbbing temples on her hands. In vain did she try to reason out the singular scene to which she had been a witness. Had Mrs. Faunce known and lcved this man, long ago? What did it all mean? W'hy had her secret visit called up the memory of the dead Olympia? It all seemed so strange, so in- explicable. The waning hours of that long ni ht were hours of turmoil and heartache for t e miser- able girl. When at last the cold ay dawn crept sluggishly into the room, her ace looked hastly and worn, as if by the passage of years. ‘olonel Falkner himself soon observed her bag— gard expression. “ It was very good of you, Ethelind, to kee ) this wearisome vigil,” he said kindly. “ But fear you have overtaxed yourself.” She murmured some inaudible reply. “Go, now, and lie down, my child. If I want anything, I can ring for one of the servants. ’ “Child l” For her life she could not help echoing the word, and her tone was a bitter one. “Colonel Falkner, wh do you persist in ap- plying that hateful tit e to me? Child, indeed! his mornin I feel that I must outrival the Wandering ew himself in point of years." A pitying smile trembled about the corners of his mouth. “Forgive me. I find it hard to realize that you are no longer the inexperienced school-girl your father confided to my guardianship, five years ago.” “ Suffering has made of me a woman.” will " I i i l l‘r‘il l lily, ,, ' lllllllgl'ii, . fighting”, H, .. "h i ’1' his I . it” ill"? l l Hui 4" ,vh,‘ll\}‘,',”,§m“l" I text-tut ‘w 1’” ’ l' it"m'l l - i. “In ‘ h‘h‘lfli‘ll' ? . “will i. is ‘l 2‘ -':t l Mi *1 'l ‘;l l Nil.“ :ll‘ll l; .l l w“ l“ v ii i i ‘ W ‘I l’ II' l. ;' of» li‘ ll', ‘ )I ,l, ,M‘ . i‘Hi ‘ Nil-lint. : . *" y l‘ l' ,Hli will! i ,i, . 4, him, mil 1; li‘l'l‘liii‘ ill} imp H“ I i ,, . Ethelind could only stare after her in wonder and terror. “ True. Again I crave your pardon.” She rose, and moved proudly away, without venturing a reply. But, the instant she gained her Own room, and had secured the door, she threw herself on the bed, and burst out crying. The telegraphic dispatch Mrs. Falkner had sent to Vincent Earle at New York reached its destination in due season, and during the course of the day—the second subsequent to the at- tempted murder—Mr. Ferret, the member of the detective police, for whom she had asked, made his ap ce at Glenoaks. He proved to be a small, quiet-looking man of forty, with a thin, smooth y—shaven face, and piercing light-gray eyes that had an odd knack of seeming to read one through and through at a lance. rs. Falkner received him in her own room. She looked nervous and excited. There was something in the thought of having a police- officer in the house that well might have troubled a more hlegmatic person than Mrs. Falkner-— especial y which was her case, if this happened to be the first experience of the sort. ” Of course,” she began, turning a shade paler, as she pointed him to a chair, ‘ of course you come prepared to work in our interests, or you would not be here at all.” “I shall do what I can, madam,” was the grave reply. “ Very good. Pray make your investigations as quietly a». possible; and, ab0ve all things, spare my son any unnecessary catechising. He is too ill to be troubled.” Detective Ferret turned his gray eyes quietly upon her face. “ I know nothing of the case, as et, madam, not evt-n the smallest particular. Vho is to de- tail to me the circumstances that have already come to light?” “ I will.” Making a determined effort she went over the case carefully, so far as she was acquainted with it. Not a word was said concerning the sex of the would-be murderer, however, as Colonel Falkner had never spoken of his own discovery that it was a woman. The detective listened attentively. “ It is pro or to inquire, here at the outset, if your suspic ons are directed against any par- ticular arson?” he said. Mrs. alkner replied in the negative. “ I am not aware that my son has an enemy in the world. And yet, robbery could not have been the motive that led to the crime. Nothing has been missed from the house—neither money nor trinkets.” ” You expect me to discover the guilty party, and bring him to justice?” “'I do. An attempted crime of this nature is not to be passed lightly by.” “ Very well. As I said before I shall do what I can.” He rose as he spoke. “ With your permission, I will now go the round of the premises.” “ Certainly. If any of my servants can be of use to you, you are at liberty to command their services.” ' “Thank you. I prefer to make my own way among them, just at first.” He searched the house thoroughly, but with- out finding any evidence upon which to base a possible theory to account for the attempted murder. Then he went outside. All the ap— proaches to the veranda roof, and of course the roof itself, were carefully inspected. The only clew discovered here was the print of a shoe in the dust that had accumulated on the iron steps leading up from the terrace. But whether the print had been left by a large shoe or a small one it was impossible to tell, as the steps evi- dently had been dripping with rain at the time it was made, and the track had been elongated beyond its original dimensions. Mr. Detective Ferret began to grow inter- ested. “Gleam of light the first,” he muttered, his gray eyes brightening. “ And a precious faint gleam it is! But crimes have been traced home to their perpetrators, before now, on evidence more trifling than this may prove to be.” Having vainly searched for other footprints Mr. Ferret at length re-entered the house, an at the end of two hours had ingratiated himself so marvelously in the good graces of the ser- vants, from the housekeeper down to the lowest scullion, that he knew nearly as much of the private history of each and every individual composing the household as did the persons themselves. In the earl twilight he passed into the grounds to wa k and ruminate. The chamber- maid had told him that the window of an auto— room, just beyond the chamber Colonel Falkner had occupied that fatal night, and lookin out, like it, upon the veranda roof, had been ound wide 0 n the next morning, though she remem- bered aving closed it herself just revious to retiring. He was revolving this fact in his mind, as he strolled down one of the dusky side paths, and vaguely wondering if, in spite of the toll- tale footprint, the culprit must not be one of Mrs. Falkner’s own household. Suddenly he stopped short and uttered a faint “ Halloa!” The figure of a man gliding stealth- ily through the shrubbcry, a short distance be- yond the path,attracted his attention. Mr. Fer- ret stared at him, then rubbed his eyes and stared again, this time recognizing the stalwart, manIlIy figure of Raymond Challonerl “ umph!” the detective ejaculated to him- self. “ This means something. Mr. Challoner would not be stealing away in this fashion un- less lie had a secret to keep. I will follow, and, if I can, find out what it is.” CHAPTER IX. EAVESDROl‘PING. “ Begone! i will not hear thy vain eXCUSc. But as thou lov'st thy life, make speed from hence.” —Saaxssrmas. Passmo one thicket after anosher—all of which were passed in turn by the detective shadowing his footsteps—Raymond Challoner paused, at length, in an open glade near the avenue gates. Here stood a swarthy,Jewish- looking individual, leaning against a tree-trunk with the air of a man waiting for something or somebody. “ Here you are at last, shir,” said the stran- ger, starting forward the instant his wandering gaze fell upon the figure of the young man. “ You don’t cornea minute too shoon, at me shay, for your own good." “ Hush!” Raymond exclaimed, in an angry voice. “I got your message; but I didn’t come here to be threatened. What do you want?” Mr. Ferret drew as near to the speakers as he dared, and crouching down behind a clump of evergreens, impatiently awaited the answer. It came speedin enough. “ What do I wantsh‘l We of no use for you to be asking such questions, shir. You knowxh very well that I wantsh mine money.” “ Fool! You shall have it, in due time; only be patient.” “I’ve waited and waited and waited, shir, but no good comesh of waiting,” retorted the Jew, sullenly. “ I must have mine money- ish.” “ I told you that you should. IIGVI.” “ I can’t be put off forever, shir; you knowsh Ican’t. Bishness is bishness, shir. Where is the nishe young lady with a bagful 0’ money you were going to marry?” Raymond drew back with a muttered curse. “And so you heard that the marriage had been put off, and that’s what brought you down to Glenoaks in such haste?” “ Mine interests must be looked after, shir,” was the dog ed answer. “ Thernsh a good deal at shtake. ou’d better tellsh me, fair and Be reasonable, square, whether there lab to be marriage at all, or no. “ Of course there is to be a marriage. It has been delayed a few days by the sudden indispe- sition of Miss Erie. But it is to be celebrated in church, on Sunday morning.” “ Shunday, and no mistakesh i” “ Yes.” “ The da after to-morrow l” “ Yes. on have no need to question me so closely; I do not wish to deceive you.” An ugly chuckle came from the Jew’s lips. “ It wouldn’t be besht for you to tr that game, shir, and 1 think you knowsh it. oman likesh to cut his own throat.” Raymond was trembling. “ Come this way,” he said, suddenly, in a husky voice. “ I have more to say to you; and this thick shrubbery could easily afford shelter to eavesdroppers.” He drew his com nion toward the middle of the open space, an their conversation was re- sumed in a lower tone—so 10w, in fact, that Mr. Ferret found himself unable to distinguish an- other word. Ten minutes later they separated. The Jew went out at the gate, muttering discontentedly to himself, and Raymond Challonerhurried back to the house. Mr. Ferret followed the latter. On the'terrace steps, as they drew near, stood Mrs. Falkner, a lace shawl gathered over her shoulders. A pained, troubled look was on her face,which the fading light brought out distinctly. Raymond walked straight up to her: and the detective, true to the instincts of his profession, fell behind, screening himself behind a conven- ient trellis. “It is fortunate that I met you, Mrs. Falk- ner,” said Raymond, speaking in an agitated voice. “I was on my way, at this very mo- ment, to solicit an interview.” Mr. Ferret saw her turn, and look fixedly at the young man. “ What can I do for you, Mr. Challoner?" she asked. “ I wish to consult with you concerning my— my-—marriage. Ethelind avoids me so persist. ently that I am unable even to exchange a. word with”her. Of course there will be no second de- lay? “ The marriage is indefinitely postponed; I thought you so understood it.” Raymond gasped for breath. “But I did not so understand it!” he cried, hotly. “ And I cannot submit to unnecessary delay. The state of Ethelind’s health can no longer be a plop for postponing it.” “ The events that have transpired in thishouse are sufiicient excuse,” Mrs. Falkner haughtily retuined. " To me it seems Wicked and un— seeme to talk of marriage and merry-making, when a shocking tragedy has been so immi- nent.” “ You do not seem to consider my disappoint- ment.” “ Propriety must be observed.” “ I’ropriety !” came the fierce response. “ What care I for the empty forms of' society when they separate me from the woman I love?” “ You have only to wait a reasonable length of time for the consummation of your happi- ness.” “ I cannot wait! Oh, Mrs. Falkner, prove yourself my friend in this emergency, and do away with all delay.” “ Impossible. I have consulted with my son, and he agrees with me that the marriage must be indefinitely postponed.” “ Good Godl Is Colonel Falkner also in league with those who seem determined to 0p— pose me?" “ It is to this unseemly haste that he ob- jects.” “ I know,” exclaimed the young man, writh- ing like one undergoing torture. “1 have not been blind, all these weeks! Colonel Falkner’s reasons for advocating delay are transparent enough. The murderous attack on himself has nothing to do with them. He hopes the mar- riage will be given up altogether, and then he can himself lay claim to the hand of his beauti- ful ward.” “ Mr. Challoner, I am ashamed of you i” was Mrs. Falkner’s indignant response. She was turning away when he laid arestrain- ing hand on her arm. “ Forgive me, Mrs. Falkner. I had no right; to make such a remark. But misery has driven me beside myself.” She drew herself haughtin aloof. “ Now that the subject has been broached, we may as well come to an understanding. At the first I favored your marriage with my son’s ward, but I do so no longer. Have you not seen that Ethelind does not love you, and only accepted you in a moment of pique or jealous frenzy?” “ Love" will come of itself, when she is once my wife.” “ Not if her heart is given toanother, and such is, I fear, the case.” “ Humph! A romantic attachment, of which, a year hence, she will herself feel heartily ashamed.” ‘ “ She certainly ought to be cured of her folly before binding herself to another,” Mrs. Falkner coldly said. “ Why, the more thought of this marriage drives her to the verge of despair and insanit .” “ She should have weighed all this before he- trothing herself to me.” “ True—true.” “ I cannot release her from the engagement.” Mrs. Falkner gave her head a haughty toss. “ And I, for my own part, cannot force the gr! into a marriage so abhorrent to her feelings. ou,must plead your cause with her—not with me Hastil gathering up her shawl, she walked into the ones, without another word. And af- ter a brief delay Raymond Challoner followed her, his brow knitted, his lips compressed. Mr. Ferret gave vent to a suppressed whistle when at length he emerged from his temporary hiding-place. A new theory in regard to the attempted murder was dimly penetrating his brain. In spite of Raymond’s self-control, he had heard enough to feel convinced that the young man was insanely jealous of Colonel Falk- ner. Might be not be the guilty person? There was the open window in the anteroom to be ac- counted for. He might have stolen out at it for the purpose of misleading suspicion, and in his terror and agitation forgotten to close it on his return. Two things, at least, were clear: first, that Raymond was jealous of Miss Erle’s guardian; secondly, that he stood in pressing need of money, which he had looked to the contemplat- ed marriage to supply—his intended bride being an heiress in her own right. The footprint in the dust remained unaccount- ed for, by this theory, unless Raymond had de~ scended the steps for the express purpose of thr0wing suspicion upon some outside party. “ The young man will bear watching,” thought the detective. “ He may know more of this mystery than anybody else.” An hour later he was sitting in his own room, thoughtfully pondering the subject, when a ser- vant entered and said: “ My master has been told that you are in the house, sir;and he would like a moment‘s con- versation with you.” Mr. Ferret rose with alacrity. “ Am I to go to him at once?” “ If you please, sir.” “ Very well. You may precede me.” When he was ushered into the chamber where Colonel Falkner was lying, the sick man half-rose on his elbow and looked at him earn- estly. “ It was my mother—not me—who summoned you to Glenoaks, Mr. Ferret,” he said. “ I am aware of that fact, Colonel Falkner.” “For my part, I would rather you had not come.” The detective manifested some surprise at the frank admission, and Colonel Falkner added, abruptly, after a pause: “ The affair was not serious enough to require an investigation. None should have been at- tempted.” “ Mrs. Falkner thought differently.” A suppressed sigh broke from the colonel’s lips. At length, fixing a still more intense gaze upon Mr. Ferret’s face, as though he would have read his very thoughts, he said, in a low voice: “ I have a request to make—one with which I trust you will comply.” “ It is only necessary to state it, sir.” “When you (IISCUVPI‘ a positive clew to the mystery you were called here to unravel, will you come to me with the evidence before speak- ing of it to any third person i” It was the detectives turn to stare, and he did. with all his eyes. “ you would not even except Mrs. Falk- ncr? “ I would except nobody,” was the answer. “ Very well. Icannot refuse compliance with so simple a request.” “Thank on. This is a pledge between us, and I shall old you to it. Now you may go.” Colonel Falkner dropped his head on the pil- low with an expression of unmistakable relief. His eyes closed, but a spasm of physical or men- tal pain caused the firm lips to quiVer, ever and anon. “ The mystery deepens," muttered Mr. Ferret, as he slowly picked his back way to his own room. “Colonel Falkner evidently wishes to shield somebody from public exposure. Who is ii—Ilaymond Challoner or another?” (‘IIAI’TICR X. THE TELLTALE SHRED HF i'llAI‘IC. ‘ l'll kecp this secret .\s warilv as lll( ac that deal in poison chp poison from lllcil‘cliiltlro n." » \Vlinsrru. DETECTIVE FERRET began his investigations, the next morning, by again going over the veranda roof, and carefully observing every window opening upon it. Of thes'c there u ere two besides those belonging to the anteroom, and to the chamber in which Colonel Falkner had slept that fatal night. It would have been a con‘iparatively easy matter for Raymond Challoner—or anybody else in the house—«to steal out at one of the win— dows and in at another before engaging in the crime that had been attempted. “ The Colonel’s door was not fastened, they say—the assassin might have gone stalking into the chamber without lot or hindrance,” thought Mr. Ferret, as his keen gray eyes roved from side to side. ' ‘ \I. “ But my theor of the crime 3’ . «J 57 . 21km J" 17; ‘2’ m v ' - k‘ 1" < , Starts In Our Next!