THE EVIL GENIUS.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 58, 9 March 1889, Page 6

THE EVIL GENIUS.

BY ELIZA A. DUPUY,

Author of " The "White Terror," " Warning Voice," "The Secret Chamber," &c, &c. CHAPTER XX. A MIDNIGHT MYSTERY,

The summer moon was shining brightly when she arose, and slowly and pensively 'returned to the house. She found Mrs Wilkins preparing to go in search of her, and ;she said in explanation of her anxiety : •The dew's bin falling some time, Miss, and you don't look strong enough to stand much. I'vo got a nice cup of sage tea ready for you, and if you'll drink it I think it will be good for you.' • Thank you, Mrs Wilkins, for the kindness of your intention ; but you have taken more trouble than was necessary on my account. lam afraid that I must be ungrateful enough to decline the sage tea, as I never drink anything of the kind.' 'La sakos ! but it's the beat thing in natur' for weak and ailing people. As to the trouble, that's neither here nor there. The tea's made, and you'll drink a little of it, I guess, and you really look as if you want ■ something to strengthen you. And that 'minds me ; I hope you ain't afeard to sleep in a room by yourself; for the only one tit to put you in is that one j'ining the libr'y where old Mr Horfcon used to sleep hisself. 'Taint so far off from me and Tom, ios the back window looks out to our part of the house, and if y©a was to call out in the night we'd hear you easy enough.'

' When I am. at home I sleep in s room alone, Mrs Wilkins, and I do not think that I shall be afraid to do so here, though the place is strange to me. There is a good lock on the door, I suppose ?' ' Oh, yes : the fastenings is in the best of order, for Wilkius is something of a locksmith, and he 'tends to that, as Mrs Hawks 'lows him something for. keeping things 'bout the house in repair. You'll excuse him for not coming to speak with you again, Miss, for he's dead tired with working all day in -the harvest field, and he's gone to bed half-an-hour ago.' ' Has Mr Wilkins no one to assist him ?'

•We don't keep n hired man. The place ain't large, and with help now and then, Tom manages to get along very well since .Sammy lefo U3. " Sammy lived with us from the time he was a little fellow, but he got above farm work, and was sent away to school. Then he studied law, and now he's doing business for himself down to Nowport." He's the junior partner, and I guess he does a good deal of the work without getting much of the profits, as is apt to be tha case when young men like him gets into business with a long-headed man ■what's got a good start. But Sammy don't complain; not he. He says tiiab his turn ■will come some clay, and then he'll show the stuff he's made of.'

Inez'vaguely wondered if ib was honest or reliable stuff, but as the future of Wilkins, junior, was of the least possible interest to h6r, she made no comment on his aunt's communications.

She was really glad to retire to the room prepared for her, and even consented to taste the nauseous beverage Mrs V/ilkins hastened to bring in to her, though she declined doing more than that, in spite of the good woman's praises of it as the best remedy extant for nearly every bodily ailment to which flesh is heir.

' With a disappointed look she took up the cup and asked: ' Can I do anything more for you, Miss Xopez? You have only to speak to command me.'

' Nothing more, thank you. I can wait on myself, and I have night-clothes, brushes, and combs in m}' satchel. I shall be asleep in ten minutes after 1 get into bed.

' I hope so, Miss,; and I'm sure that nothing will happen to disturb you. The dog barking around the house is the onlysound I hear at night, but he'll not disturb you, for Tom ha 3 shut him up in a outhouse to' stay there till you go away. He's o mighty smart dog, but he's too sharp to ]be kept around when strangers is on the place.' '"Will he not be needed as a guard tonight ? He could be shut up in the morning again before I am ready to go out.' 'So he might; bub Tom has pub him up, and I gue3S he'll have to stay where he is all night. / wouldn't go after him for my right hand, for as well as he knows me, Ripper would be likely to jump at me, and nearly tear me to pieces if I went nigh him after he's been shut up a spell. He ain't; to be trusted nohow.'

With this assertion, Mrs Wilkins nodded, and was about to leave the room the eyes of iier young guest suddenly fell upon a small enamel picture on which the full glare of the lamp fell. For a moment she thought it was the face of Nina Gordon looking down upon her from the Avail, but a second glance showed her that the dress of the portrait was of a fashion of a past day, and arresting fche departing steps of Mrs ■Wilkins, Inez asked:

• Whose picture is that ? It is sh-angely like a young girl I have lately met.' • That.! Oh, she ain't one of the famiiy ; but she was a greafc favourite with your grandpa, I've heard toll; and when a great painter came here to take the pictures of his darters, Mr Horton would have Anna Moore's painted at the same time. It's always hung there since my time, just as the old gentleman placed it himself.' • Who was Anna Moore, and how came my grandfather to be so fond of her ?' ' She was only the housekeeper's darter, bub she v/as pretty, and smart, and Mr Horton had her eddicabed with your ma and Mrs Hawks, but when they all growed up, poor Anna found oub that she was spiled for people of her own sort, and them that was above her wouldn't look at her as one o' themselves. There was some.sfcrange things told about her, bufc I dorrfc mind, 'em much now, it's so long ago ; and she's been married many a year ago to some man in "Virginny that they say has made a fortin'. Some people's borne with a silver spoon in their mouths, you know the old saying is, bub I guess that Anna Moore found some bitter in the portion it held before a good time came for her.'

' She had trials, then, before she was prosperous?' The woman shook her head mysteriously :

' Yes, many hard trials; but'tain't good to rip up old stories, and what folks said of her shouldn't be repeated to a young thing like. you. Good-night, Miss Lopez ; I hope you'll have only pleasant dreams in the old house that will be your own some day, nay husband says.' The door closed on her, and after a faint cry given to the uncertainfjy of Mr Wilkins's prediction proving true, Inez took up the lamp and examined the face which had so struck her. She saw that the resemblance between the picture and Nina Gordon lay in the peculiar eyes, and the colour of the hair.. The turn of the head was also the same, but the mouth of Anna Moore ■was sad and earnest, while that of Nina wa,s mocking and mirthful. * Strange,' she muttered, ' that the girl who is using every effort to supplant me in my aunt's favour should look so like one •who was reared with her and my mother. Miss Gordon knows nothing of her family, and Mr Wilkins evidently hinted ab something wrong about the original of this picture. I wonder if the two can be linked together in any way. Bub lam too tired to think about it, and all the thinking I could do would not help me to a solution of the mystery.' Thus thinking, Inez prepared herself for repose. She locked the door, lowered the lamp, and eeb it in the fireplace j t'Ken, after.

praying devotedly, she took refuge in the comfortable bed with its lavender-scented linen, and composed her mind to sleep. Wearied with the varied- excitements of the day, Inez soon fell into a sound slumber, which must have lasted several hours, for when she awoke she found the room in. darkness, and she started out of her sleep with the consciousness that someone beside herself was in the aoartment.

She was certain that she could distinguish a faiut sound of breathing not far distant from her bed, but her terror was so extreme that she had no voice to cry out and give the alarm, even if Wilkins and his wife could have heard her in their distant room.

Inez lay .nearly breathless with fear and excitement, dreading what might happen next, when suddenly the door of the library was thrown open,and a stream of light flashed across the darkness.

A suppressed voice said : ' Hist, Jemmy; what are you .doing in there? Come back, and lotus away; There is nothing here; that cursed fellow has been too for me, and the papers are gone.' To this another voice replied in guarded tones:

''There's somebody in this room. I found a Limp burning, and a woman's toggery lying around. She's awake by this time, I dare say, and yon had better say something to her to keep her from giving an alarm. If anybody should find out about this nocturnal visit wo might get into trouble.' ' Diablo,!'■ exclaimed the first speaker, 'that is.a bad lookout. I shonldn't like to do anybody a violence, but if old Wilkins cornea out with that brute of a dog, I shall be compelled to use my six-shooter in selfdefence. You speak to the woman yourself; tell her to keep quiet, and we'll, go away from here no better off than when we came. Let her understand that we are not housebreakers, and all we came for was a bundle of papers that can't be found.' By this time Inez had regained a portion of her self-control, but in the irrepressible ■excitement of the moment she forgot the danger in which herself might be placed, and eagerly spoke from the darkened corner in which she lay : ' Who are you, and what use did you intend to make of tho papers to which you refer ?' . •

• Good heavens ! that is the voice of Miss Lopez herself. What on earth brought her here ? Come out of that, Jemmy, and let me speak to her.' Inez saw tho outline of a head in the faintly-illuminfxl doorway, but a large slouched hat concealed the features of the man's face, and he was evidently making an effort to d/rguise his voice : ' Don't be ! Jfraid, Miss. lam not coming into your room, and if you will only be quiet we will go away, and no harm will bo done. I must explain to you, Miss Lopez, that the errand that brought me here is cne of deep interest to you. I hoped to serve yon—l swear I did—or I would never have undertaken such a job as this.' 'In what way, sir?' asked Inez, in as firm a tone as she could command.

' I will toil you. In a hole cleverly concealed in the wall of that room I hoped to line! the last will executed by your grandfather, and restore it to you—on certain conditions, of course, for I do not pretend to be entirely disinterested in the affair. It has been taken away, but lam sura that I can follow up the party that has gained possession of it, and make him produce it at the same time. That is, I will engage to do so for—a consideration.'

' You must confer with my father on that subject, sir, and now I beg that you will leave this room at once, and I promise not to raise an alarm. 1

'It will be better not to do so, Miaa. If you can answer one question before I go, I shall be very glad. Do you know if Sam Wilkins has been on these premises lately?' ' Ho was here a few hours to-day, and was alone, I know, in the library. Do you suspect; him of taking the will from its hiding-place ?' ' That's neither here nor there. I shall settle with him about that. Remember that I am on your side, Miss Lopez, and I'll see justice done you yet. Good night. If you will keep quiet about this nocturnal intrusion, I will promise profound secrecy on the part of my friend and myself. I may as well tell you that we effected an entrance through the dome, and we shall make our exit the same way. lam only sorry that we failed to-get what we came for, but you need not lose heart; the will shall be forthcoming yet—l pledge my word to that.'

The door was softly closed, bub no further sound came, and after recovering from her perturbation, Inez vainly bried to comprehend the singularity of the adventure'through which she had just passed. She slept no more that night, and when the early morning light penebrabed to her room, she arose and made her toilet, that she xnighb investigabe the condition of things in the library. She found nothing amiss. The sides of the lanbern-Kke dome were constructed to open on hinges, to admit air into the room, and through one of these the nocturnal visitors had doubtless effected their entrance and escape. The books they had removed from the shelf still lay upon the table, and the recess in the wall was open. Thus Inez became convinced that the place indicated in her father's dream had actually been the hiding place of the document it was so important to her to find. Bitter and vain were the regrets she felt that she had been so dilatory in following up the clue that had been furnished to him. Had she possessed more faith in it, and acted more promptly, all might have been well; and poor Inez wept) aTfew bitter teafs over the disappointment of which she must be the bearer on her return home.

She decided that it would be best to say nothing to Wilkins or his wife of the strange occurrences of the night, as she might thus unveil to them the real purpose of her own visit to Oakland.

She felt inclined to trust the assurance of the person who had spoken with her, that he was a friend to her cause, and she vaguely hoped thafc he would recover the will, and restore it to its lawful owner.

Inez tried to recall the tones of his voice and identify, them, but the effort was vain ; yet he seemed familiar with hers, for in spite of the terror, he had recognised it as soon as she spoke, and had called her name. (To he Continued.)