|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 66
On these visits Maitland and I talked but very little, and while I
was spying nothing of interest occurred--i. e., nothing of interest
to him--or, if it did, things of interest to me prevented my
observing it. On several occasions he alluded vaguely to things he
had learned which he said he should not divulge even to me until the
proper time came.
Things went on in this way for about two weeks. I visited Maitland
daily, and daily the little lady in the next room wove her spell
around me. If, as I am inclined to believe, thinking a great deal
of a person is much the same thing as thinking of a person a great
deal, I must have adored her.
One night, about a fortnight after Maitland's change of abode, I
found Alice in a terrible state of excitement upon my arrival home.
She met me at the door, and said Gwen needed my attention at once.
I did not stop to hear further particulars, but hastened to the
sitting-room, where Gwen lay upon the lounge. She was in a stupor
from which it seemed impossible to arouse her. In vain I tried to
attract her attention. Her fixed, staring eyes looked through
me as if I had been glass. I saw she had received a severe shock,
and so, after giving her some medicine, I took Alice aside and asked
her what had happened. She said that Gwen and she had been sitting
sewing by the window all the afternoon, and talking about Maitland's
recent discoveries. At about five o'clock the Evening Herald was
brought in as usual. She, Alice, had picked it up to glance over
the news, when, in the column headed "Latest," she had seen the
heading: "The Darrow Mystery Solved!" This she had read aloud,
without thinking of the shock the unexpected announcement might give
Gwen, when the sudden pallor that had overspread the young woman's
face had brought her to her senses, and she had paused. Her
companion, however, had seized the paper when she had hesitated and,
in a fever of excitement, had read in a half-audible voice:
John Darrow was murdered. --The assassin's inability to pay a
gambling debt the motive for the crime. --Extraordinary work
of a French detective!--The net--
But at this juncture the paper had dropped from Gwen's hands, and
she had fallen upon the floor before Alice could reach her.
THE EPISODE OF THE TELLTALE THUMB
CHAPTER I
When Disaster is bigger than its victim its bolt o'erlaps the
innocent.
It was some time after Gwen had fallen before Alice had succeeded
in getting her upon the lounge, and then all her efforts to revive
her had failed. She had remained in the same nerveless stupor as
that in which I had found her. I asked Alice if she knew why this
announcement had produced such an effect upon Gwen, and she returned
my question with a look of amazement.
"Have you forgotten Gwen's promise to her father in this matter?"
she replied. "Has she not already told you that she should keep
that promise, whatever the sacrifice cost her? She is, therefore,
entirely at the mercy of this M. Godin, and she is also obliged to
advise him of this fact, if she would carry out her father's wishes.
Is this nothing for a sensitive nature like hers? If she has any
love for anyone else she must crush it out of her heart, for she is
M. Godin's now. Surely, Ned, you are not so stupid as your question
would indicate."
"We won't discuss that," I rejoined. "Let us go to Gwen and get
her to bed."
This done, and the sufferer made easy for the night, I glanced at
the article which had so upset her, and read its sensational
"scare-head." In full it ran as follows:
THE DARROW MYSTERY SOLVED!
JOHN DARROW WAS MURDERED!
The Assassin's Inability to Pay a Gambling Debt the
Motive for the Crime.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|