Newspapers / The Weekly Raleigh Register … / Nov. 12, 1884, edition 1 / Page 1
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life 6... 1 By P. Jf. HAp. ADYXTRTISIKG BATES. : Advertisements will be inserted for One Dollar per square (one inch) for the first and Fifty Cents for each subsequent publication. Contracts for advertising for any space or time may be made at the office of the , RALEIGH REGISTER, Second Floor of Fisher Building, FayettevUle Street, next to Market House. . . omcx: . Fayetteville St., Second Floor Fisher Building. RATES OP BXJB8CRIPTiOK : One copy one year, mailed post-paid .. ....pi 00 One copy six months, mailed post-paid 1 00 jgr- No name entered without payment, and no paper sent after expiration of time paid for. i' I '!., 1 VOL. I. RALEIGH, N. C., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1884. NO. 38. m Q77 ii ir V A SECRET. (Indianapolis Journal. Iiovv can I make you love me more?" A thousand times she asks me this, j Her lips uplifted with the kiss That I have tasted o'er and o'er, Till now I drain it with no sense Other than utter Indolence. . ( $ -; How can I make yon love me more t" A thousand times her questioning faee Has nestled in its resting-place '; : r uahswered, tin, though I adore This thing of being loved, I doubt N ot I could get along without. ' " -j 'How can she make me love her more Ah ! little woman, if, indeed, -1 might be frank as is the need Of frankness, I would fall before Your very feet and there confess My love were more If yours were lessi" MARK STRETTON. observed, an ob Warren's Diary of a Detective. A tire suddenly burst forth late onei win ter evening in the stables attached to a l:i nre house on Wimbledon Common, then in the occupation of David Stretton, Esq., a retired merchant of large wealth. I hap ji'Mied to be not far off, and, as in duty hound, hastened to afford what assistance I eould. By great exertions and good for tune, the fire was confined to the stables, which were totally consumed; and being, like most Yorkshiremen, pretty skilful an the management of horses, I succeeded in -aving two verv valuable fillies, which, frenzied by the flames, and plunging wildly, couid not be brought out till, with considerable difficulty and danger, I had . managed to blind them tp the red glare of the conflagration. There could be no doubt the fire was accidental a groom had let fall an open lighted lantern upon a heap of loose vtniw: and being satisfied upon that point, I was about leaving, when I was told that Mr. Stretton wished to speak with me. Obeying the summons, as a matter of course, I, in two or three minutes, found myself in the presence of David Stretton, Esq.. an aged invalid, very nearly used tip by the fret and fever of nearly fifty years of successful trade. Air. btretton was by no means of.a niggardly disposition, as the present he made me gave twenty golden proofs. The fillies I had mainly helped to -avc were not only of great value, but his especial pets: and he would not, he said, for anv sum, that they should have been injured, much less burned to death. Be sides the master of the house, there were in the drawing-room two gentlemen whom I had noticed at the fire, and a Miss Clara Yignolles, Mr. btretton s niece This lady was plain in features, which were somewhat coarsely marked by smalt- pox, and could not, I guessed, be much less than thirty ; but there was an expres sion of sweetness, of mild good nature about her clear brown eyes, and placid mouth, which was pleasing at first sight, and would, I was quite sure, improve upon acquaintance. Miss Yignolles was. I ject of sedulous attention to the elder of the two youngish gentlemen, whom I heard addressed as Monsieur Morny. I supposed him, from his name, to be a .Frenchman and from his fierce moustache a ntilitaire moustaches in those days not beijng such common civilian appendages as now. - In deed, a gentleman with the heroic baptis mal name of Achilles, which I afterwards knew to be his, could not have properly been anything else. A tall, well-set-up personage was M. Achilles Morny. His face, was a hard, handsome one; his com lexion a swarthy saffron; and his dark eyes were full of light not light from heaven, was clear to my practiced ken at a glance. Mr.-Stretton, the younger man, and Mr. luvid btretton s nephew, was unmistaka bly .of home growth. His complexion was as fair as that of bis cousin, Miss Vig nolles; his eyes and hair bright brown like hers; the ensemble of his countenance presenting a much more striking contrast to that of M. Achilles Morny than even the difference of contour and color, in its aspect of intense nervousness, dejection, timidity, which, in an Englishman of suf ficiently vigorous physical health, could not but strike the beholder with surprise. He looked me sharply in the face upon hearing my name mentioned by his uncle, ami as quickly withdrew his gaze, a slight -lor flushing his fair, pale face as he did '-.. Had I been professionally engaged in . any affair with which Mr. Mark Stretton was ever so slightly ' connected, I should have felt a curious interest in those symp toms of $ mind disturbed. As it was, they excited but a momentary curiosity, and vanished from my memory, till revived by subsequent events. M. Achilles Morny did not honor me with the slightest no tice, wilich, as matters turned out, was fortunate. Five or six months had slipped away, and I was passing along Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly, when my attention was chal lenged by a violent uproar in the first floor fir . . . . TT 41 n t oi .0i. ii in mat street, up new uue ui the windows, giving egress to volleys of glass and crockery, flung out upon the, pavement by a woman, who, whilst doing so. screamed "Murder! murder!' with miirht and main. I hurried to the streetdoor, and knocked peremptorily till it was opened by the landlady, a Mrs. Parkins, whom I knew to be the, widow of a naval officer, eking out a scanty pension by letting furnished lodg ings. She explained, that the furious hub bub going on up-stairs was merely a vio I' nt quarrel between a foreign gentleman and his wife, who occupied the first floor. The lady, who was of a very jealous tem perament, suspected her husband of an in trigue with a Miss Vignolles Yignolles! Vignolles!-' I interrupted; "the name seems familiar to me.'' "The husband, Monsieur Morny '' "Morny! Vignolles! I remember now. ' K.u-use me. Pray proceed." " From what I can make out," resumed Mrs. Parkins, "the husband, in changing . his dress for dinner, left a note in the waistcoat heput off, which Madas&e Mor ny. chancing to pounce upon, found to be from a Miss Vignolles, and at once gave way to a torrent of invective rage, accom panying ;the same by smashing every breakable thing of value upon the floor,' or by hurling it out of the window." This explanation was given during a par-! nai mil in the marital storm, which again broke forth with augmented fury and re-i ,'newed cries of "Murder! On m'etrangleJ Murder! Help!" &c, &c. Remarking fthat I was bound to ascer tain personally the cause of those frantic outcries, I ascended the stairs two or three" 'it a time; the landlady, meanwhile, secur ing the door with bolt and chain against lie intrusion oi tne moo, rapidly collect ing outside. I passed into the back first floor room which communicated by folding doors with the front apartment. The violence of the altercation going on prevented my entrance from being noticed, and I paused to ask myself whether I had a legal right to interfere. I saw that not only a furious conflict in words was going on, but a bod ily struggle for the possession of a note, wnicn, as l came upon the scene, the gen tleman was on the point of wresting from the lady's clutch. This was not the kind or degree of violence to justify cries of murder; and I was about to mike a move ment in retreat when the man turned round by the swing of his successful, effort to se cure the paper, and brought within mV view the reflection of his face in a chim neyjmirror, which At the same moment re vealed my presence to him. I at once recognized the M. Mornv I had seen at Wimbledon Common. Fiercely confronting me hp nat-prl wlin I whs, and what I did there. II am a police officer: and I am here because I heard cries of murder, which is sued from this room." The lady, a fine creature, in a frenzy of rage, rushed by him towards me. 1A police, are you?" she exclaimed. My God ! that is what I wish. This man is aj wretch a monster! He is trying to seduce " " Silence !" thundered M. Achilles Mor ny, catching her by the arm, and swing ing; her away with such force that she fell over an ottoman on the floor. "Silence, fooir h? added with deadly malignity of tonic, as he seized and raised her; "or, by all the devils, thou shalt repent of it !" rear queued the woman s rage, and she bust into tears. '"And now, sir.will you besrone." said M.jAchilles Morny, turning fiercely upon me, "or must I kick you from my apart ment?" f If the lady is willina to declare upon oath that she is in fear of personal vio lence at your hands, I will take you to the nearest police-station at once." j y You take me to the police-station, you cursed English d$g!" ''Do you, madam, apprehend further personal violence from thisman?"! asked. Iso no no " sobbed the woman; "I was violent wrong. It is a man-and wife quarrel. Go away go !" f'And quick! in one moment !" shouted the husband; "or, thunder of hell, I shall help you down stairs! Like this, do you see? Ah, the devil!" He had seized my arm to help me down stairs, and was unpleasantly surprised to find himself tripped np and sprawling on his back. 1 laughed and walked away. Inj the passage below I found Mrs. Parkins awaiting me. She said Monsieur and Madame Morny had resided in her house about six weeks only, and that such scenes asi t-had witnessed, though not always so Mplent, were of frequent occurrence. What was she to do? I could only advise her to get rid of such undesirable lodgers as quickly as she could, and then left the huse, outside of which a small crowd of curious fdlers were still assembled. (Extraordinary ! tery extraordinary! thought I, that such a person as this Mor ny appears to be should have obtained a footing of intimacy in Mr. David Stret tqn's family! The wife's suspicion, that hp is engaged in an intrigue With Miss Vignolles, must be the coinage of her own jealous brain. The supposition was simp ly absurd. Far likelier that the lady call ing herself Madame Morny was her ; pre tended husband's mistress, and that the handsome Frenchman was wooing Miss Vignolles for his wife. A pity if that were so ; but certainly no business of mine. j M. Achilles Morny could not forgive the outrage I had inflicted upon his personal diignity; and, chancing to see me about a week-afterwards, as he much the worse for vine was leaving Crockford's Club-house, St. James's Street," he seized the opportu nity of taking a little pleasant revenge. He had recognized nae by the glare of the gas-lamps before I noticed him, and, sud denly shaking off his companion's arm, he sprang down the club-house steps, and, with arms akimbo, hurtled full at me, with the intention of tumbling me upon the sloppy pavement (it had been raining all day), or better still, into the roadway slush, by accident, as it were. He nearly succeeded, too would have done so, en tirely to his own satisfaction, I have little doubt, but that he was half drunk. As it happened, I just managed to step back clear of his rush, and, unable to check himself, he went headlong across the pave tnent, slipped, stumbled, fell into a heap pf slush-mud, and, quite unable to regain bis feet, wallowed helplessly therein, till picked up bv his friend and one of Crockford's porters. The mud . and slush-soused spectacle .which he presented was so irresistibly lu dicrous, that the volleys of abuse he sput jtered at me were quite powerless to check ithe malicious merriment it excited ; and it (seemed that the marr must have gone mad iwith rage had not Mr. Mark Stretton, iwhom I had not at first recognized, com pelled him, with the porter's help, to reen ter the club-house. f I had not gone far when I was overtaken jby Mr. Stretton, junior. ! " May I ask Mr. Waters," said the young iman, abruptly, "where he became ac quainted with Monsieur Morny? and how :he has contrived to make an enemy of that gentleman?" "My acquaintance with M. Morny is of ithe slightest,"! answered ; "it happened ithat I witnessed a disreputable scene be tween him and his wife. That is all." j "He has no wife," was the rejoinder. ; "Would to God he had ! You must mean iAdele St. Ange, a fine brunette, some I thirty years of age." 'Yes; a nne brunette, as you say, out not, I think, so old as that." "Mademoiselle St. Ange bears her age well." Having said that, Mr. Mark Stret ton was silent for a minute or two. looking me in the face the while with anxious in quisition. "You have a reputation, Wa ters," he resumed, abruptly, "for singular acuteness and daring in your profession." "Iam sometimes fortunate. Quite as often the reverse. "I have vital need of the services of a sagacious, resolute man. Yet I see not," he added, checking himself, "yet I see not how any degree of skill or resolution could help mel At all events, it's ill talk ing in this, wretched weather. Some other time, perhaps; good-night." Another faint gleain of light was thus thrown over what I could well believe was a very gloomy business. Achilles Morny must, in some way, have got young Stret ton in his toils most likely by" pillaging him at the gaming-table and was now making use of that evil influence to ob tain the hand of the amply-dowered Clara Vignolles. Else what meant, "He has no wife would to God he had?" It might be, too, that Mark Stretton himself loved his lady cousin ! No, that was not likely. She was four or five years his senior, and young men seldom get crazed by charms of which thirty winters, to say nothing of small pox, have marred the bloom and beauty. The affair would no doubt run its course without, or in despite of my as sistance, should it be asked for, to its natural termination a mercenary ; mar riage, desertion by the foreign husband, followed by years of unavailing regret and bitter self-reproach on the part of the wife. A true story, old as rascaldom, common as woman's faith and folly. I erred in supposing that my aid would not be required in a matter which seemed quite out of my line. It was near upon the close of that year's autumn when my attention was caught by the following paragraph in a morning paper, copied from Felix Farley't Brtttol Journal : "Deplorable Accipkkt. We deeply re gret to announce that Mr. David Stretton, of Bellcvue House, Wimbledon Common, near London, who had been for some time past residing at Clifton for. the benefit of his health, fell, on Tuesday evening, at near dusk, from $he lofty cliffs which beetle over the Avon. He was watching the play of the fading light upon the Leigh Woods op posite, from the very edge of the preci pice. Some portion of the ground gave way suddenly beneath his feet, and, una ble to spring back, the unfortunate gentle man toppled over with a loud cry,, and fell headlong down the face of the cliff. This, it will be seen, is the account given of the fatal accident by Monsieur Morny, a French gentleman, the only person within eight or hearing of the deceased-when the catastro phe occurred. The lamented gentleman's large property is said to be bequeathed to his nephew, Mr. Mark Stretton, and his niece, Miss Clara Vignolles, in equal por tions. The verdict was, of course,. " Ac cidental death." I need not dwell upon the vague doubts, suspicions, which, knowing what I did of M. Morny, arose in my mind as I ran over the above paragraph ; and I turned eagerly to the report of the proceedings at the in quest, which, considerably condensed, was given in another column. Only one wit ness besides M. Achilles Morny had, I found, been examined a Mr. Leonard Bayton who deposed that when it was quite dark be heard not one cry only, but several, of horror and' despair, it seemed to him, from about the spot where the ac cident must have occurred. He hurried in the direction of those cries, but could see no one, and after searching about for some time he. resumed his way homeward. This evidence had passed without remark ; in fact, the only pertinent question put to the witness Morny was this by one of the jurymen: "How," if it was dark at the time of the accident, could the deceased have been watching the play of, light up on the Leigh Woods?' Beforepl. Morny, "who was much agitated, Mr. Stretton having been his intimate and attached friend,' could answer, the coroner, refer ring to his notes, .said the witness Morny had stated it was dusk, not dark, when the catastrophe occurred. This explana tion must have been held to be satisfacto ry, as a verdict of accidental death was at once and unanimously agreed to. Strange ! passing strange ! Late in the following week a hurriedly scrawled note, directed to me, was deliv ered at Scotland Yard. It was signed "Mark Stretton," and expressed an ur- j gent request that I would write at once to Bellcvue House, Wimbledon Common, stating where he, JIark Stretton, could see me privately on the morrow. I lost no time in posting a reply, ap-. pointing the Fox Tavern, Kingsland Road, as the place, and two p. ra. as the hour of meeting. Arrived there, he was to ask for Charles Smith, and would be shown into a private room. I had been at the rendezvous about ten minutes, when a hack-carriage drove up, and Mr. Mark Stretton presently entered the room. I started with uncontrollable surprise. Mark Stretton was the spectre of his for mer self. The paper upon which I am writing was not whiter than his face, his eyes glared with unnatural fire, and his whole frame shook as with ague. I had ordered brandy-and-water, and as he dropped into a chair. I pushed the untast ed glass towards him. He emptied it without a word, and nt a gulp. The strong spirit partially restrung his nerves, and he said, huskily,- " Waters, I am in a fearful strait! Will you stand by me?" "Be calm, Mr. Stretton," I replied; "and when I am informed of the nature of the fearful strait you speak of, I will frankly state whether I can stand by you to any useful and just purpose." "You refuse; to commit yourself! I feared so, and I care not! you shall know all ! It can, at worst, but hasten the inevitable catastrophe. Have you seen in the papers," he added, with quivering eyes ami tongue, "have you seen in the. papers an account of the death of of " lie broke off abruptly, bursting into a passion of tears. "You were about asking me, Mr. Stret ton, if I had not read in the newspapers an account of your venerable uncle's death? I luire done so, and have formed a strong opinion upon the case." "Ard thai opinion is mmt be--that the verdict lied; that . my uncle was foully murdered !" "That is going too far. Permit me, however, to ask if M. 'Achilles Morny is a suitor for the hand of Miss Vignolles, and if that suit was opposed to the wishes and will of your deceased uncle." "Yes yes yes!" cried Mark Stretton, springing to his feet, and striking the table with his clenched fist at each iteration. "Cljarn, infatuated simpleton! engaged herself to Morny several months since. That engagement became known to my uncle just four days before the 'accident' at Clifton ; find he emphatically declared in Morny's presence that he s-hould, at once, so alter his will that Clara, if she fulfilled her pledge, should not have a farthing." ' "How, then, happened it that Morny was walking amicably with your uncle upon the evening in question?" "That was a lie of Morny's! They were j not, could not be, walking together. I have no more doubt than of rav own life, that Morny, seizing a favorable moment, stole behind, or treacherously accosted my uncle, and after a struggle, brief but des perate, of vhich the cries were heard by Bayton, hurled his victim over the cliff, unseen by any eye save God's." "Unseen by any eye save God's! There can be no proof, then, to justify the terri ble conclusion at which you have 'arrived ! And let me ask, Mr. Stretton, how it hap pened that you did not present yourself before the inquest, and contradict Morny's sworn assertion, that your uncld was an attached and constant friend, with whom he was amicably conversing a few mo ments only before the deceased fell over the cliff?" "I dared not." replied Mark Stretton, with a shudder, and relapsing into nervous weakness; "I should not now," he added, "dare confide the truth to you, but that I am resolved, come what may, shame in famy an ignominious death to myself, that Clara Vignolles shall never wed the murderer of her good, kind uncle. ened with shame, infamy, an ignominious death, if you but hint a suspicion that j your uncle met with foul play! Who is it i that can menace you with such tremendous I penalties? Morny?" "No other. Waters, my life my inno cent life innocent in purpose, if not in deed is in his power! A word of his would consign me to the gallows! You start back amazed repulsed indignant! But, at all events, you will listen in a can did spirit to what I have to say before condemning, abandoning me !" "Certainly I will; and. if you please, let the solution you have volunteered of this confounding business be as explicit as possible." "I will be thoroughly explicit. You are aware that my late uncle was never mar ried, and that I and Miss Vignolles have been for many years the acknowledged heirs of his wealth. One wish dear to his heart was that I should marry my cousin Clara, in order that the property might not be divided. Neither of us was desir ous of carrying out our uncle's wish, or whim, in that particular; and as to my self, I, with the perversity common to spoiled youth, must needs fall in love with a young lady who had nothing but a pure mind and a charming person to offer in exchange for money-riches. " "To which exchange your uncle pe remptorily objected, and the course of true lovq ran awrv. as usual. I under stand." "You are, to some extent, mistaken. My uncle did not insist upon carry ing out his own will in that par ticular; but having a high respect for the lady whose name had lest remain unspoken he stipulated that the constancy of my attachment should le tested by time and absence say a twelve month to be passed by me in the United States of America New York principally j in which city important matters of busi- j ness remained unsettled, which my pres- j ence there might help to wind up. I sailed with a light heart," continued Mr. Stret- ton, "from "Liverpool in the New York liner Xapoleon, and after a pleasant voy age, reached my destination in health and safety. The commercial affairs I hud to settle occupied me some five or six months, during which period I had an abundance of idle time on my hands, whilst awaiting instructions from England ns to how I should deal with certain cases and propo sitions. That fatal leisure led me to the hells of the Empire City, where I met, and soon became intimate with, M. Achil les Morny, a Belgian born, of French ex traction, who had come to North America in search of reputedly wealthy relatives, whose progenitors had emigrated to Lower or French Canada in the time of Louis XV. If he succeeded in clearly tracing his ancestry amongst the simple 'habitans' of that I know nothing he altogether failed in levying money-contributions up on them, which, of course, was his sole object in seeking them out. Disgusted by his ill-success, M. Morny came to New York, with the hope of better luck at the gaming-tables of that wealthy city. He was again disappointed, being, in fact, but a sorry gamester, and utterly unfitted to cope, if only from the excitability of his temperament, with the cool, clever Yankees. I myself won considerable suras of him; and at last he was fairly done-up, reduced to his last dollar, and he asked me for the loan of means to enable him and Adele St. Ange whom I then sup posed to be his wife to return to Brus sels. The request was readily granted, and he was set up upon his 'blacklegs' again; he being, as I had often heard hinted, and now fully believe, an arrant cheat, though generally au unsuccessful one." "There are more cheats of that class than outsiders would readily believe," I remarked, whilst Mr. Stretton moistened his fevered lips. "Morny," continued Mr. Stretton, "Morny had gained sufficient experience to refuse risking the loan he bad obtained of me in the New York hells. The sim pler folk of Montreal and Quebec would, he hoped, be less difficult to fleece. He pro posed, therefore, to return to Europe tin Canada, and suggested that I might ac company him upon so exciting a pleasure trip as far as Quebec, as I should have nothing to do till letters reached me from j England, which could hardly be under ! two months. I at once agreed to- do so." A feeling of reticence." Mr. Stretton went on to say, "disinclined me to travel in my own name with Monsieur and Madame Morny; but the excuse I made to them was, that my uncle might be angry if he should hear that I had been amusing my self in Canada, when I ought to have In-en patiently awaiting instructions in New York. The name I assumed was that of Matthew Skinner the initials being the same as those marked on my linen. The Mornys suggested no objection, and we set off together in high spirits. Our first halting place was Montreal. I did not join with Morny in his forage among the small deer of that city ; not, certainly, de terred therefrom by any scruple of con science, but because the ennui which had driven me to gaming in New York, was banished by the novel and picturesque as pect of the city and its motley population, and I required no coarser stimulant. I tire you, perhaps, with these details?" "Not at all, sir. Pray tell your story in your own way." "Arrived at Quelec, on the Sarnt Law rence, at which place the Mornys were to embark for Antwerp, and where we re mained three weeks, the old feeling of las situde came back upon me with as much force as ever, and after 'doing the heights of Abraham,' the scene of Wolfe's victory, half a dozen times over.-1 was fain to seek such excitement ns the Quebec hells might afford. Accursed infatuation ! miserable imbecility!" he added, with a burst of passion, "to which I owe it that I 'have since been the vassal of a man I hate and loathe the boid slave of my uncle's mur derer!" I remained silent, and Mr. Stretton, soon sufficiently mastering his emotion, re sumed : "The play-den which Morny and I chief ly frequented was an apartment on the first-floor of Le Coq, a tavern in the lower town, so close upon the edge of the quay, that a quaint balcony built out, as it were, from the room in which play was carried on, projected over the Saint Lawrence. This balcony was a favorite snioking place in fine weather for the gamblers during intervals of active play, or when fevered by the vicissitudes of the game. The frequenters of Le Coq were chiefly second otthird-rate merchants, shipown ers, sea captains, and the stakes, as a rule', moderate. Amongst other Quebec nota bilities, ef a minor degree, was one Aimfi Bonteinps, the son of a shipowner. He was a slight young man, of excitable tem perament, sudden and quick in quarrel. whom losses, if at all considerable, lashed into ungovernable fury. Few, in conse ouencc. liked to play with him, and the less so as he was known to be ready with ing I had by that time cast off all Eng lish habits of reverence for Sabbath and home sanctities one Sunday evening I dropped in at Le Coq, where I found Bon temps, Morny, and a stranger, whose name I afterwards knew to be Leroux. Morny and Leroux seemed to be in a very dismal mood ; they had, I found, been playing at hazard with Bontemps, and had lost con siderably. -That which quenched them had, of course, lent him fire, and he bouncingly challenged Monsieur 1 Ameri canI had given myself but to be a citi zen of the Union to recover his friend Morny's losses. I, too, was in rollicking spirits, having in the course of the after noon imbibed a considerable quantity of wine, and unhesitatingly accepted the challenge. The game was to be simple hazard ; that is to say, as you well know, nn even bet upon the color, red or black, of n card turnpd up alternately by each player. It was my first turn to call, and placing a twenty dollar note upon the card, I cried 'Rouge!'" "One might soon lose a fortune. Mr. Stretton, at such play as that." "True, and Bontemps, though a rash gamester when the fit was on, hesitated to accept if. He did so, however, reassured, probably, by my flustered, not to say in toxicated, condition, which even at so blind a game gave promise of victory to the more sober player. 'Rouge !' I won. The play flew on, with fiery speed, its rapid al ternations of gain and loss, together with the stimulants we swallowed, exciting us almost to delirium. Night fell, and, de clining candles, the table was removed to the balcony, and we played on by the light of the brilliant Canadian moon: and stars. Morny and Leroux watched us with eager interest, especially when after about two hours play, fortune declared decisively on my side. I had not only wou Itack all that Leroux and Morny had lost, the whole of the" money Bontemps had brought with him to. Le Coq, but he was indebted to me over 100. Still fast and furious the cries of 'Noir! rouge! rouge ! noir !' succeeded each other, Bon temps' curses mingling with my triumph ant laughter, till he was in my debt quite 800. 'Malediction !' he exclaimed, start ing up and glaring at me with blood-shot, fiery eye9, 'you must be in league with the devil!" I laughed derisively, and shuffled the cards afresh. This was too much for the hot-blooded young man. 'Cheat! rascal! villain!' he shouted, and struck me with his open hand upon the cheek, 'you have robbed me!' It required but such an outrage to completely madden me. I sprang upon him with a scream of rage struck, seized, pinioned him, and with an exertion of maniacal strength, hurled him oyer the balcony into the deep, swift river beneath. 1 saw the body cut the water, and disappear beneath the glittering sur face; then the sudden revulsion the flashing consciousness that I was a homi cide quelled in a moment both strength and rage; my brain reeled, and I fell upon the floor in a swoon, the next seven or eight hours are a blank to me, except so lar as memory recalls the chaotic images of a fevered, drunken dream, from which I awoke to find myself whirling along in a close carriage with Madame Morny. The first words she uttered instantly recalled the shame and horror of the preceding night, and I listened with a beating heart to what she had further to communicate. I had killed Bontemps; there was no doubt about that; his body had been picked up by some boatmen after it had been about two hours in the water. Meanwhile Morny, aided bv Leroux and Jean Pipon, landlord of Le Coq, had borne me away to a place of concealment till a carriage could be secretly hired to convev me over the Canadian frontier. 1 was now on my way thither, and had left Quebec close upon four hours. Having been only known in Canada as Mr. Skinner, Madame Morny thought there was but litfle danger of ray apprehension, if I kept as much as possi ble in -doors till her husband joined us, when it would be prudent not to delay our departure for England. This was the sub stance of her communication, with this ad dition that the money left upon the table which I had won had been employed by Morny to purchase the connivance of Pi pon and Leroux at my escape. We reach ed New York in safety, and about ten day afterwards Morny joined us there, bring ing with him a printed bill, offering a large reward for the apprehension of Mat thew Skinner, supposed to be a native of Baltimore, in the United States; and a long statement, cut ont of a Quebec news paper, giving the examination of Achilles Morny, Jean Pipon, and Antoine Leroux, before the Quebec magistrate, touching the death of Aimf Bontemps. The hand bill I have mislaid if I ever had it in my possession ; the extract from the newspaper I have brought with me. Read for your self." I did so -with growing disquietude the evidence given by the three men differing widely from Mr. Stretton's own version of the affair; and unquestionably, if true, fixing him with the crime of wilful mur der. "My account of the dreadful occurrence is strictly correct,' said Mr. Stretton, per ceiving the bad effect the reported evi dence produced upon my mind. 'Morny, it is true, persists that his testimony was softened in my favor, but he is a prince of liars and traitors." "My experience has generally led me to distinguish the tone and language of can dor and truth from those of fair-seeming guile and falsehood, and I may say that I believe you or, at least, that my belief strongly inclines that way. Were it not o my duty would be a plain and very painful one, the death of Bontemps having taken place in a British possession." "I knew that I incurred that danger. Do you think," he added, in a low, shak ing voice "do you think that, supposing I voluntarily surrendered myself to the Quebec authorities, and the witnesses per sisted in their evidence . as set forth in the Quebec newspaper, that I should be con victed of the capital offence?" "There can be no doubt that you would. Still, magna et teriXm and I perceive, or fancy I do, a slight gleam of light, indica ting that the dark cloud maw have a silver lining." ! , "For God's sake do not mock me with false hopes 1 What, except conviction for the minor offence of man-slaughter, can I hope for? And why do you . so intently scrutinize the piece of newspaper?" "A suspicion surmise rather glanced across my mind, which, for the present, I must keep to myself. What may be the title and the exact date of the newspaper from which the report has been cut?" ."TV Quebec Gazette. The date of the the of poor Bontemps' death was Au gust 14th, last year. Why do you ask these questions?" "For my own satisfaction. How was it that Morny did not bring you the whole newspaper?". . "I do not remember to have heard; but say, again, why these questional" mise or hope which has dawned upon my mind. Miss Vignolles, I presume, does npt even now share your opinion of M. Achilles Morny?" "Very far from it. His addresses and speciousness have fascinated, enthralled her; and I dread every day to hear that he has induced her to privately wed him un der some lying pretext or other. Private ly, of course, to avoid the scandal of mar rying whilst her uncle was scarcely cold in his bloody shroud." "M. Morny has, 1 suppose, fleeced you handsomely since your return from Amer ica?" "Enormously. In truth, he has treated me like a slave." "Exactly. You have not made a confi dant, of the youug lady you spoke of ?" "I have not even seen her since my re turn to England. Homicide as I knew myself to he, I dared not, Mr. Waters. It would have been another and worse crime to have continued an intimacy which would have damned the future of nn amia ble girl, by linking it with that of one whose life is a forfeit to the law, and which dread penalty may at any hour be enforced. I have rather permitted her to think me capricious false ; another heavy addition to the burden of shame and grief wnich bows me to the dust. But 1 will cast it off," he continued, vehemently, "if life goes with it, sooner than Clara shall be the scoundrel's victim! The horrible secret stifles, kills me I'll be poisoned with it no longer ! At the worst, it will be but the sacrifice of a year or two, more or less, of shameful, hateful life !" "Those are sounding sentences, Mr. Stretton, very easily uttered. Much more easy to say than to act out the resolution they express. Will you be here again at seven this evening?" He would dine at the Fox and await mv return. It was so settled, and I went my way. It would have been imprudent on my part to have prematurely excited the hopes of Mr. Stretton, with reference to the printed statement alleged to have been cut from a Quebec newspaper. The more, however, I reflected upon the subject, the stronger my suspicions grew. In the first place, 1 bad noticed that the lines of the newspaper column were precisely parallel on bothsides of the slip of paper: now, it is rare indeed that half a column can be cut out of a newspaper without running into and shearing off some portion pf the matter on the other side. This, in addi tion to the curious circumstance that Morny had not brought the complete news paper to Stretton at icw lork, suggested the possibility that so wily a gentleman might- have concocted the pretended re port, got it printed on a slip resembling a portion of a .newspaper column, indiffer ent matter being furnished for the other side, which would in such a case be struck off with perfect evenness. Any one who had a sufficient interest to serve might easily do this, aud I was now" off to con firm or dissipate my suspicions, by exam ining the files of newspapers at the North and South American Coffee House. The handbill Morny could also easily have managed. It was at all events worth while to make inquiry. The file of Quebec papers I found to be j had imperfect, especially so about the time of Bontemps' death; and I was informed by j a waiter that the missing numbers had ! been stolen by sonic undetected visitor. Achilles Morny, for a thousand! was my instant conviction, and I will tell the read er why. Neither of the English Quebec papers on the file was printed with the same type as the slip which I held in my hand, containing the report. Moreover, the files of the French journals published in Quebec, and those of Montreal had been plundered of the same numbers or nearly so ; and the New York journals made no mention whatever of the catastrophe at Le Coq. This last fact was not, however, of so much importance. Moreover, in an affair involving such tremendous issues, it, upon further reflection, occurred to me that as I was bound to make assurance doubly sure, it would be well if I could not find the missing papers in London to send direct to Quebec for them. The worst was, that in those slow old days I could not receive a reply iu less, than three months. There was, however, no pressing urgency for obtaining the papers, except that in the mean time Achilles Morny might espouse the niece of the venerable gentleman whom Mr. Stretton believed the said Morny had murdered. Was it certain, too, that the completest demon stration of Morny's turpitude, in falsely accusing her cousin of such a crime, would induce Miss Vignolles to break off the match? By no means certain. The glaze the artful scoundrel might put upon his motives in the matter for example, a wish to drive his friend and relative from the society of gamblers and blacklegs, by com pelling him to acutely feel the possible consequences of such base companionship would, perhaps, impose upon the weak ness and credulity of a plain woman on the shady side of thirty, in love with a specious, handsome man. Too probably I feared. Besides, I had another arrow in my quiver, which, if critically used, would might, I should say prove a fatal one. "I have nothing, at present, to say, Mr. Stretton, in answer to your look of anxious inquiry," said I, pressing the proffered hand of the terribly agitated young gentle man, "except that the faint gleam of cheering light I spoke of, has widened brightened, since I left you. It will be useless to press me for more than that at present. However, take heart and cour age ; to do so, whatever may happen, will do you no harm. Above and before all, Mr. Stretton, keep a strict, constant watch upon your cwisin, Miss Vignolles, and in form me if you decide to place yourself in my hands without an hour's delay, and without committing yourself, remem ber, with M. Morny, if there is any likeli hood of this abominable marriage taking place." Mr. Stretton promised to do so, adding, that he placed implicit confidence in me: and with a lighter heart than beat in his bosom when lie arrived at the Fox, he left the tavern. I could not, with all ny diligence, find the missing papers in London, and wrote, therefore, to Quebec for them. I called, not long after my interview with Mr. Stretton. on Mrs. Parkins, in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly. Her quar relsome lodgers had not left ; though, since she had ascertained (how she did so, I never knew ) they were not man and wife, she had given them peremptory notice to quit without delay. The truth was, 'the Mornys paid well; and Mrs. Parkins dearly loved herself remaining severely immac ulate; provably so. if need lie to dabble fore they engaged her apartments, they had been travelling in Scotland, as man and wife. Before leaving, I had, to a great extent, made a confidant of Mrs. Parkins, who had undertaken, upon cer tain distinctly understood conditions, to carry out my instructions. The next day I forwarded her an old Times newspaper, which contained a resume of a celebrated case, the decision in which confirmed the law or custom of Scotland, according, to which any single man who acknowledged a single woman to be his wife, becomes, ipso facto, that woman's husband. Five or six weaks passed away before I again saw Mr. Stretton. He sought for me at Scotland Yard. I chanced to be there, and we were soon engaged in anx ious consultation. Miss Vignolles, he in- iormed me, had definitely promised to marry Achilles Morny on that very day week, and would listen to no remon strances on her cousin's part against that disgraceful, fatal step. "The villain him self," he added, "defies, mocks me and and you were right, Waters; I have not the nerve to deliberately face the scaffold when it looms distinctly in view,, bravely as you have heard me mouth of doing so." "A very human weakness, the 'avowal of which shows courage. By-the-by, were not M. Morny and Adele St. Ange travel ling together in Scotland at the beginning of the summer?" "Yes. Why do you ask?" "For my own satisfaction, I again tell you, sir. Where is the marriage to take place?" "At the Bellevue House, by, special license." "Is M. Achilles Morny in the habit of addressing Miss Vignolles by letter?" "Yes, frequently." "Could you manage to procufe me of course, without the lady's knowledge a sight of some of these missives?" "I could; will by to-morrow, if you de sire it." "Some one or other of them may be of service. I have nothing more to say at present, Mr. Stretton, except that you may rely upon me to the full extent of my re sources, zealously exerted." The next day I received a packet of let ters, the. love-missives of M. Morny ad dressed to Miss Vignolles. What a spe cious, artful rascal. they showed him to be! But though exceedingly warm, impassion ed that is to say Warmth, passion, were, to a certain extent; successfully simulated I was disappointed at not finding some disparaging allusion to Adele St. Ange. I had hoped that Miss Vignolles might have expressed some jealous contempt of that ladyi. the reply to which would have blown the ardent passion of St. Anire to consuming flame. As it was, I did not sec that I could make effective use of them. Still, as I was going to see -Mrs. Parkins, it might be as well to take the two fiercest of them with me. Mrs. Parkiins was punctual to the ap pointment, and informed me that our clever scheme, promising as it looked, had completely broken down. She had ap prised Mademoiselle St. Ange that M. Morny was certainly about to marry Miss Vignolles an announcement which, as we calculated, threw the lady into a frenzy of rage. Better still, when the mental tempest had in some degree sub sided, and St. Ange could listen to reason, she was elated beyond measure to hear, to read for herself iu the Times, that if, when she was travelling in Scotland with M. Moray, he had only once introduced her as his wife to witnesses that could depose to that fact, she was his lawful wife to all intents and purposes. "Man Dieu .'" she exclaimed, "he ditl so, once, twice, twenty times, and notably in Glasgow, at " M. Morny's loud rat-tat at the street door checked her speech, and Mrs. Par- " I do not understand! You are threat- I pistol as with tongue. One Sunday even- "Be calm, young man, be calm. It is probable that I am mistaken in that sur- with marriage and other correlative mys teries. This, 1 t.pprehend, was the solu tion of their long stay at No. 1 1. This by the way. I had a long conversation with Mrs. Parkins, which afforded me many inter esting items concerning the Mornys; an especially interesting one being, it struck me at the moment, that" not very long be- kins made a hasty retreat. A loud, fierce altercation ensued be- j tween the "happy pair," which gradually grew milder till their voices could no lon ger be heard below. After having dined, M. Morny left the house, as was his wont, but looking more lifted up, Mrs. Parkins thought than usual. He was hardly goue when the first-floor bell rang. Mrs. Parkins answered it, and found the lady seated at dessert, her eyes flashing with exultation. "My good Mrs. Parkins," said she, "I wish to say to you that Morny, whom, with all his faults toward me, I still regard with tenderness, has convinced me that We never passed as man and wife in Scot land ; he, the cunning rogue, having been nt the time quite aware of the droll law which prevails there. I cannot, therefore, le his wife. It is a great misfortune for me; and it. is time, I have reflected, that our unfortunate lUiix, which upon its discovery so justly scandalized you, should cease." "He has your consent then, Madame, to marry Mies Vignolles ?" , kilKlm, yes! What, after all, could I do? Achilles will be very rich; and he has promised me a moderate sum to re-establish myself as a modiste in Brussels. It is the best part for both of us." "I remarked," continued Mrs. Parkins, "that it was probable the English lady's fortune would be strictly settled upon her self.' "No no no!" rejoined St. Ange, with a burst of scornful triumph; "not one penny will be settled upon herself! She adores Achilles he is her god; and she will joyfully surrender to him, not only her mature person, but her immense riches. Poor fool!" and again she laughed vi ciously. "You think then, Madame, that the marriage will be an unhappy one?" "My word of honor, no!" replied St. Ange, checking her vivacity, and speak ing with pretended seriousness. "My word of honor, no; only it does seem silly for a wife to reserve nothing for herself out of so large a fortune. Nevertheless, Achilles will be a kind husband ; which is lucky for her, as she will be quite at his disposition. ' Her rich cousin, too. Mr. Mark Stretton, is Morny's slave." "Mr. Mark Stretton!" , "Yes, my good woman, Morny's slave; but that is a subject upon which I must not say another word. Enough that it is true perfectly true. But we shall not be too cruel with either of them. That is to say," again attempting to repress her rampant insolence of triumph, "that is to I say, Morny will be kind towards his wife, I and have consideration for Mr. Stretton. I Enough now, Mrs. Parkins. I wished to make you to quite understand that the i Scotch story I told you was pure imagina i tion. that is all. We leave your lodgings i early on Wednesday next. Good even- i ing!" " . ' "I left the room," added 3Irs. Parkins, "in a manner stunned, feeling that some Scotland (though I myself have strong doubts whether that custom applies in the case oi two aliens) she was his lawful wife. He believing that, a compromise took place. St. Ange is to permit the solemni zation of Morny's marriage with Miss Vignolles, in order that he may get her fortune, which chiefly, I understand, con sists of personals, into his hands. That prime purpose effected, the duped Eng lish woman will be abandoned. Morny, with his legal wife, St. Ange, as he and she believe her to be, will be off to the Continent, to avoid the penalty attached to bigamy, still keeping his fearful hold upon Mr. Stretton. That is about the es- sence of the programme agreed to, depend upon it." i "Gracious Heaven 1 And will you not be able to defeat the infamous plot?" "1 do not think 1 shall. Time, 1 fear, will beat me. I shall, however, do i what I can; and do you, if you please, in the mean time, keep me instantly inform ed of any movement on the part of yonr precious lodgers." A disastrous, most afflicting turn of affairs this However, as I had, as usual with me, been gradually worked up by the swayings of conflicting action into taking an entirely personal interest in the affair almost as much so as if Mr. Stret ton and Miss Vignolles had been my brother and sister I resolved, and to a certain extent succeeded in neither losing heart nor hope. Finding, after much cogitation, and viewing the matter in every possible light, that I was about at the end of my tether, I bethought me of consulting a shrewd old lawyer of my acquaintance, the chiefs of the force refusing, as a rule, to give direc tions or advice in cases involving tangled questions of law, and in which police in terference is not indisputably recognized. One of the results of that long and very depressing consultation was, that I fonnd myself wandering about the docks the fol lowing morning, in search of ships which hailed from Quebec. They would be nu merous, and if my conjecture was well founded as to the newspaper forgery, soma one amongst their crews would surely be able to tell me whether or not Aime" Bon temps, the son of a man of position in that city, had been, the year previously mur dered by drowning. The search was a tedious one, and for a long time only so far successful that no one from Quebec that I met with had ever heard of a gentleman being flung out of the balcony window at Le Coq, and drown ed. At last I was directed to the Old Ship Tavern, Wappirig, where I should be sure to find Jean Philippe, skipper of the brig Marie, a Quebec man,' who knew everybody there. I found Jean Philippe, but unfortunate ly, he was very muzzy with liquor, and in that mulishly-cnnning mood of mind com mon to many persons of his class when in such a condition, which renders it impos sible to elicit a plain answer to a plain question. Such men always fancy you arc pumping them for some concealed, selfish purpose, and wonderful is the fence with which they dodge and evade your quer ies ;. and to aggravate the annoyance, this fellow believed himself to be a humorist. "Do you know a M. Bontemps and his son Aim6 Bontemps, at Quebec?" "Suppose I do, and suppose I don't: what then ?" "Can you tell me if 'the son Aim6 Bon temps is dead or alive?" -"Well, one or other he is sure to be." "Was Aim6 Bontemps drowned during the autumn of last year?" "Was Aim6 Bontemps drowned during the autumn of last year? I should say, being as he was a wild sort of young fel low, he was hanged the spring before." This last repartee elicited a roar of ap plause from the company, one of whom whispered to me that I had better see Jean PhilipiK: early the next morning, when be would be sober, and readily afford me any information I required. I acquiesced in that suggestion, and was leaving the Old Ship Tavern, when Jean Philippe hiccuped out, "I say, Mister De tective, you see I've fathomed you, old fellow. I say, what odds will you bet that Aim6 Bontemps was drowned when the Yankee pitched him out of Le Coq into the river, or what will you take that young Bontemps only had a good duck ing? Eh? Come now." "I shall bet nothing either way, but will do myself the pleasure of seeing you early to-morow." I had not, the reader will have ob served, said a word about "Yankee" or "Le Coq" in Jean Philippe's hearing, and the shadow of a doubt no longer- rested on mv mind ns to the trick played upon Stretton by Achilles Moray. Still, positive evidence thereof .was in dispensable. I went in quest of Jean Philippe early the next morning, and found that the Mario had sailed with a fair wind on the previous afternoon, about two hours after I left him. This was exasperating, and that exas peration was increased twenty-fold when, upon my return home, I found a note from Mr. Stretton, to the enect f bat it was all over with him and his sacrificed cousin, Clara. Morny, in consequence of a hint he had received that an attempt would be made to prove him a married man according to the law of Scotland, had cast off all re serve, insisted that the marriage with Miss Vignolles should take place the very next day, and threatened, in the event of the slightest delay or demur, to forthwith de nounce him, "Sir. Stretton, as a murderer. Mademoiselle St. Ange had, moreover, been brought to Bellevue House, and had solemnly assured Miss Vignolles that no such pretended Scotch marriage had ever taken place. "Clara fully 'believes her, and urged alike by her liking for Morny and her fears for me, yields to the scoun drel's overbearing insistence; further de claring that if I should be mad enough to voluntarily surrender myself to justice, her marriage should not in consequence be de layed for one hour. Thus, you see, that if I could summon up resolution which ; God help me, I cannot do to brave a shameful death, the fearful sacrifice would be made in vain ! Hopelessly beset as I am, I have a kind of superstitious reliance upon you. The accursed ceremony will commence at eleven o'clock. j Will you sec me before then? M. S." Mrs. Parkins, thought I, must have been babbling about that Scotch dodge ; but there is no time for reproaches or regret. I must see the. lawyer again. I arrived at the Bellevue House at a lit tle after ten the next morning. My Ting at the garden gate! was answered by Mr. ; stretton, himself, who bad watched lor j me from a window. He looked an image ; i of despair, agonized by self -reproach. j "Clara," he gasped, rather than said, i persists in ncr aeierminauon v marrv . dreadful mischief was on loot ; but oi what j Moray. Still, wonderful as is the nscend- nature exactly 1 could not comprehend, i ancv tte a( i nnrv he. has aeomred over her. h would. "It is so plain, nevertheless, that he i am positive, after what has passed dur- wiio runs uiny rcau no uieuuiug. , .ueic St. Ange convinced Moray, much against his will I dare say, by the case reported in the Times, that according to the custom of i Concluded u fourth page.) ing the last twenty-four hours, but for her fears for me, insist, at least, upon de- ( - t:"v '''i- 't '
The Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 12, 1884, edition 1
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