BLIND JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 91, 18 April 1890, Page 3

BLIND JUSTICE.

(By Heien Mathers.)

CHAPTER X. The Sfcyrian had tho grave to rise as I c tored bheu room, bb in the very tone of J greeting I observed a change, and ku< that he already distrusted me. His appetite, however, was in no way ( fected, for he put away vast quantities _ butter, cheese and milk, looking at mo \vi a kind of pity as I made my moderate m< of coffee and bread.. When he had h'nishe he leaned across the table and looked i) full in the face, a tough, resolute-eyed f< low, who might have passod for a brigar whose only law was his own will. ' Seth Treloar was murdered,' he sau ' Who murdered him ?' I neither turned my eyes away from hin nor answered save by shrugging my shou ders and shaking my head. 'He was killed first, then thrown dow that trap-door ' (he pointed to it). 'Wh was he killed ? I repeat who killed him ? 'That is what lam trying to find out I said. TheStyriaa looked'at me with eyes tha searched my very soul. ' You do not know be said. •I do not know.' * Does anyone know t said the Styrian, * Seth Treloar.' TheStyrian laughed harshly. 'Of coursi —but the man wlio killed Seth Treloar V' '1 believe Seth Treloar killed" himself.' 'And whOithrew him down the trap door?' / . ' Another person—for reasons wholly un connected with his death. . The Styrian sat rigid, and concenfcratec in thought. *It is a story,' he said,.. "A man dies, is thrust into a cellar. . If he died by hie own hand, why nob bury him ? To whoso ad vantage wae it to hide him 1 Whoever did so /aueb surely have come under suspicion V I said nothing ; tho filling of my pipe occupied me. ' You are playing the fool with me, , sa the Styrian in a hoarse guttural voico, ' but 1 the truth I will have, even if it cost your life.'

I laughed contemptuously at his melodramatic tone.

* It is not my life that is in question,' I said, ' but that of, as 1 believe, an entirely innocent person. The manner of Seth Treloar's death did avousa suspicion, end the person accused is uowin prison.' I paused., 'Found guilty?' said the Styrian. 1 Under sentence of death,' I continued, ' bub that person no more murdered him than you or 1 did.' • Who was the person ?' said the Styrian.; ' The woman," I Raid, • with whoso por-v trait you fell in love, and whom you. have 7 come all the way to week ; the woman,' I added slowly, ' who waß his wife.' '; ; h

The Styrian thrust buck his cliair, leaped to hia feeb, and turned, on me with the ie-, rocity of a mad bull. ■' His wite — his vjije 1 You are mad, and' a liar! She was hia sister; he would trot have dared to fool me co !" ' : if

He literally towered over me, his great' stature seeining; to rise bighor with thb 1 wrath and fury that swelled thim-; liis'J clenched list involuntarily moved ; to -laW; with crushing force on ray huad, but I did, not etir, and with ah oath lie dropped it by hi 6 side, thoughhis features I'omaiaed dark and convulsed-with passion. "•

'Hβ lied to you,' I said qnie tty; *;hpiwaS' always a liar and a rogue. Anil he wanted; to make her sometjufig worso,, hiraselfjv So far Dβ meant honestly by yc»»,' fcuift' : ]i£ wpuld lrave taken her to you, and sold- heir 1 as bis sister —if she would have l< it him,' '■■''• -. .■* And fcfie killed him when he t'6ld'lie"r':ow his intention, , said tho Styrinn moi'eciilmly, 'and hid him yonder? She miTst be a : '; strong woru'an, and her will mv.it -be as' ■ eti'oug as her heart.' Ho 'snatclnfd'?afc..a '~ slender gold chain hanging round 'his throat, and drew out a lookefc, which he opened, and looked at with a frown that » g-radually softened into extraordinary tun-? dornoss and love. ■ 'She did right,' he said suddenly and; passionately. • * The man was a and liar; it wtts not her fault that he deceived toe, and ho deserved all he got; she iiisst have been i\ good woman to bo so aogiiy ■;■ and he is doad. She is' free now—feet--'; He stopped suddenly as one palsied by..;p.: sudden thought; for some'moments he dJ(I not speak; th>en striding over to me, seized my arm atid, shaking me violently, said

'Where is she 2 Speak! O God! She is in prison. She is to die— to diii for killiog that scoundrel ?'

'She did not kill him,' I saiu , . 'I told' you that before. But she will bra hanged: all the same. , ' '; A

Aβ 1 spoke I released myself .with & sudden exercise of strength that sent him reeling backwards, and aoeuiod to astonish him. . ;'. .• . ■ '■•.'' ..'-",: ii'sM

'Tell me the truth,' ho naid, with more: respect in hia tone than he had hitherto showed me. 'Yori do not believe Ivor, guilty, and I forgive her if eho is.' ' I could have smiled at his sulfcan-Jike assumption that Judith was absolutely at 1 his disposal, but the grandeur of his siin» - plicity impressed me, and I began my story ■ without loss of time. • : >i

Hβ heard the account of Troloar's mar- j riafje life without much emotion, though j he occasionally gave yenb to an expression*' of disgust, hub when I broaght Stephen upon the scene he became tramjforraad into j twi enraged man who Eees snatched from j his starving lips the morsel he hungrily covets.. •

•And she loves him, she adores him, this miserable fisherman ?' he cried.

I shrugged my shaulders. 'Who can answer for a woman?' I said.: 'AIL women love, cqmforb, and,;as you aay, he ia poor. And she is not ,his wife,' I added, narrowly watching his working face; ' if by any miracle you could cave hor, who knows but that—' I did nob complete the sentence, but 1 saw he understood roe. ' VVifa to one. man, niiitrees to another,' he said, bhe words dropping harshly and slowly from his lips, ' so> that is bhe woman I've come all this way to find—bub go. on with'the story, there will be more surprise yet.' .. ';.. ;M . --V %Mi I .described Seth a return to Smuggler's Hole, his disappearance, the\ departure of Stephen and Judith next Morning, her reuurn to the hut fov a few moments, and her strange conduct, in _ the train, where I waa eye-witness to'ttae incident of the box of arsenic. and the effect produced on Stephen when ho bast&d it. • ■ (At this point the Sfcyrian laughed contemptuously, as a fire-eater might at one who dreaded fire.) X went on bo relate ho\? [ recovered the box that Judith had thrown out of the window, how I traced her as the woman who had left a man bidden away at. Smuggler's Hole, howl had caused her to be brought back to England and pub on her trial, how she had been condemned on circumstantial evidence to death, and how only a short time, now would elapse before tha carrying out. of the sentence. I then gave him a succinct account of the events of that night, as related by Judith herself. ; The Styrian had nob asked a single question during the recital, bub I had read first ecorn and then flab denial in hie face when I described bhe dose of arsenic'found'in the dead man'a stomach; he even waved his hand impatiently, as if to motion awivy an absurdity, but when I had ceased to speak he began a very vivid cross-oxaminatiou of me. ■:. "■. ■. ' ' ! ': :■" '■'''.;. ; _ \ ■ ' You are sure that the potion she gaye him was harmless, beyond keeping hnn asleep for twenty-four hours V \ V ■ 'Qn.ita.Bui;e.' '■ .' ■: . V 'Thorb was no traoa o£ poison found in the stomach besides araenic V

•None. , . ~ , i ' She did nob bruise or injure him when, she hid him in the cellar?' ■■ '' ■ ' There was nob a mark or bruise ot an£ kind on him.' 'It would be dark when he came to hie . senses, there would be no light by which he could see the trap-door above, and his anna wore bound; did the rope hang i» such a manner that in the dark he would strike against it or touch it ?' ''No. By lifting his hands he could touch it—not unless.' ' How could a bound man do that ? 'Ho could have shifted the cord easily— la any othsr man of half his muscular • strength could have done.' 'Always supposing thab.be had noiiV _ swallowed enough arsenic to kill a dozen -nen,' said the Styrian, whose'excitement , ncreased jeach moment, though he made visible ettbrts to subdue it. ' Arsenic that was never administered by lis wife, , I said, boldly, ' bub by—himself. , 3od knows by what a man s able to take a life-destroying drug and . ihrive on it, but you ab least should know, «, lince you carry a box with similar con,enbs to the one he carried, nnd without vhich, and poseiblv for lack of it, he lied. , ' \ ' , ' '"' • -'

I was not prepared for the eflecb of my vild ehot, which had yet hit truth in the . luli's-oye, or the Sbyrian's face belied him. lis eye's quailed before mine as I pushed > iy advantage remorselessly. ' i r ou can sco her,' I said, ' and yon urill. fou know that he died of either too much r too little of a powder both you and he eem to be ablo to take with impunity, and ou will go with me at once before a magiarate and swear the evidence which will lear her.'

' You talk like one mad,' said the Styrian ullenly. 'In one breath you say men thrive jn a poison, in the next you confess that jeth Treloar died of it. How do you reconUβ' the two sbatomen te ?'

' I hope to do so before I am much older,' said coolly, for by now I saw what his line ould be, and decided on my own. For *a moment he looked disconcerted, jien rose and went to the window, where. b stood gazing out and thinking deeply. . 'I must see her,' he said ab.last; 'take eto her.' I shook my head, and went on noking. 'Bub I say you shall,' he said, striding ose up to me with a look of absolute urder in his face. ' Not I; unless you are going to give evi--3i)CB tbat will clear her.' 'How can I do that?' he cried angrily. • You can do it,' I said ;' and you will. fhat! Yon will stand by and see a woman mged for a murder that you know she did 3b commit, for want of a few words that mnofe possibly hurt you? Shame on you! rid who knows but that' in her gratitude > you—' • : '"You said she was fond of the other fel-

w,' aaid the Styrian sullenly. ■'•' '-Was, man, ivas— but who will answer v what a beautiful woman is? VI will see her,' said the Styrian with iubboro lips, 'and then 1 will tell you. ; he cannot be far away, and if you refuse • i tsdie tae, that fool who brings you food ill guide tae to her. , • Find him,' I said curtly, ' and go. . But the Styrian lingered. ■ . •Will they admit me V he asked. 'Not without me,' I said iridiirerently.« 'Then.you-will come too,' he said.' ?See sre,-1: am rich, lam not ill-looking, I love or, I would take her away from a shameful eath to give her such a home as she never teamt of. Is it, likely that ehe will re- '. iS6'?' "■■ " ' ■''■ ' :'■''' "v '-''"'' ■;■ ''' ■ ■"'■h ■ ''

i! I looked at the man, then thought of ■> . I tephen. Many a woman not cast in Jα- . 0. bb's mould would hesitated be-v t< cccii, the*:rich matt of-."many flocks and •;..•■; !l jride and the poor tiuheMnan whose daily i|?' I cad and life were at mercy, OF the. )i ayes. ■■-■■~ ■■" '" '■ ■"■•■.' ' \ ' _ . .;:,,";'; ....'" -, ' J will take you to her,' I eaid. ' And I pposinij that ehe.ehould refuse V I 'Coined he said, and that nVaS all fcKe an- \ ; : Brer I got as he stalked along *»c cliff bp :fire me.' , ■. '■ : ' -,' ; -. %I '■"■': {To be Continued.) ,';■-..'.•.■..-. '