THE BRANDED FOOT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 93, 21 April 1902, Page 6

THE BRANDED FOOT.

OF A MONSTROUS FER^IMtION fRAUU

(Bra Famo

CHAPTEE L.

THE POISON BEGINS TO WORK.

For once, at least, the wicked woman had been defeated by her own craftiness; for in her scheming soul she credited Mrs Sehuyler with equal craftiness—when, as a matter of fact, that lady had gone straight to her apartments without so much as a suspicion that anybody might follow her. As she sat trying to recover her composure, and berating herself for taking such a risk as to follow Mrs Sehuyler by daylight, Jane asked herself if there could be anything suggestive of danger in Mrs Schuyler's

demand. After some minutes of thougnt she answered this question in the nega-. tive. "She is more grave than usual, thought Jane, "but that is only the effect of her disappointment in Hilda Krafft, our convenient scapegoat. As Fannie says, she is eating her heart out over that girl's manifest wickedness. There is nothing the matter that need alarm us. It has been a day of triumphs. I caii see but one thing more to accomplish to have our course cleared of every obstacle." Mrs Sehuyler deposited the diamonds in her safe and then started for the drawing room. In the corridor she met Hilda. The girl's exquisite face, so innocent, and transcendently lovely, thrilled her aching heart to its depths.

"I am inclined to think that you should never wear anything but white, my dear," she said, as they •went on together. "This dress is particularly becoming to you, and those lovely roses -enhance the whole effect to the highest degree."

"Sir Franklin sent me the roses," Hilda responded, smiling and blushing. "I would not have presumed to gather them myself, madam."

"It would have been no presumption, child," exclaimed Mrs Schuyler, "for you to gather any flowers on the place that you wanted. lam going to telegraph ray modiste to forward another airy white dress."

"Oh, not for me, please!" cried Hilda, and then stammered a bit in her distress and earnestness. ' "You mustn't, Mrs Schuyler, for I must leave Pinemere "

"Excuse me, my dear," interposed Mrs Schuyler, "that is exactly what you must not do. I wish you to remain more than ever, but your services in future will be rendered wholly to me. I have decided to offer yoii the position of companion to me, and I hope you will not break my heart by refusing it. I shall see to it that you are not subjected to any disagreeable experiences.'"

It was perfectly clear that she was alluding to her "daughter," but she could not quite bring herself to mention the girl directly by name.

Hilda answered, tremulously

"You are wonderfully good to me. It would break my heart to go away from you; and if I can be of any use to you I will gladty remain, unless Sir Franklin -"

Again Mrs Schuyler interrupted.

"Frank will reconsider his decision and not leave us to-morrow, I

am sure."

"Oh, but he must go," said Hilda, with surprising earnestness, and she dropped her voice to a whisper and added: "He means to go to New York to-morrow for the sole purpose of finding" the woman who calls herself Hester Millburn."

For one moment Mrs Schuyler looked surprised. Then she clasped her hands devoutly.

"Thank God!" she whispered

A moment later they entered the drawing-room. Fanny was not only angry, but she was vastly surprised to see them together for the second time since the scene in the boudoir, when, to her knowledge, Hilda had been convicted of outrageous falsehood.

That beautiful embodiment of unholy fraud was still angrier when she could not fail to observe the admiration that Hilda aroused in all the others.

"She ought to be put down —the Dutch upstart!" thought Fannie, "and she shall be put down! I'll tell this high and mighty knight that she's a liar, and that Mrs Schuyler Icnows it."

This seemed to be easy of accomplishment, for Gresham, having- simply in mind the deference that her accepted position in the household demanded, had placed himself near her. As long as she was acknowledged by Mrs Schuyler to be her daughter, he felt bound to pay her a certain amount of respect and attention.

So Fannie turned to him and remarked, muffling her voice behind her fan:

"What a pity that Miss Xrafft's beauty is not symbolical of her character."

Sir Franklin locked composedly at the fair maligner. Not a muscle of his face betrayed the burning contempt he felt for her underhand thrust.

"I agree with you." he responded, deliberately misunderstanding hei\ "Tt is a pity that Miss Krafft js not as beautiful as she is good; but if she were, her beauty would make that of others seem hopelessly plain. I presume it is better that we should be ciOTitent with her face ps it is, since it is already incomparable."

Fannie blushed hotly, and he turned away, unwilling to "make her suffer further by knowledge that he observed her discomfiture.

Not so considerate was Gordon. That young man had been standing so near that he had heard the remark and repartee, and it gave him mi. .r. enjoyment. Mrs Schuyler's announcement of dinner gave him an

rs Author)

""Who? Mrs Schuy—'

CHAPTER LI

THE BLACKEST DEPTHS OF CRIME.

This was Jane Beaseley.

opportunity in the general movement to speak to the young adventuress aside.

"It doesn't pay to spar with Gresham," he chuckled, "unless you want to get knocked out." The girl controlled her features, but took the advice, for she had no mind for a struggle of wit where she saw that she could not win.

The events of the evening were such as ordinarily take place in a home of wealth, but it was only moderately late when the party broke up for the night. According 10 custom, i'annie went to -Mrs Scnuyier'-iS room before re-

tiring. Mrs,. Sehuyler spoke very briefly of Gordon's proposal, and as briefly announced t-Jlie removal of the diamonds to her safe.

Fannie was startled, but she quickly controlled her features, for she riot only saw that protests would be vain and dangerous, but she also reIlected that now the diamonds would be out of Gordon's way.

'■ 1 can tease them from lifei* if I should really have to have thein/' she thought

" I am so glad you Kate locked them up, mother,*' she gushed aloud, " i'or I have really come to be quite fearful that ihey might be stolen from m3 r room: We have found thslt all persons are not as honest as they seem, you know." '■Stop!" excaimed Mrs Scluilyer, sharply, fearfully stung by whits Fannie thought was a shrewd allusion. •'I must get to sleep at once,"- she added, "and you must say g-oOd night."

The girl gave her a most affectionate caress and withdrew, not at all conscious that Mrs Bchuyler's response had not been as wai-m and spontaneous as usual.

There was one thing; however, that Fannie had not accomplished— the matter of Gordon's cheque. Somehow she had not found the courage to speak of it before she was dismissed.

She spoke to Jane about it when she reached her own room, where, of course, her mother was waiting for her.

"I'll get it for him to-morrow, anyway," she said, "in spite of hex 1 lieartsickness over Hilda Krafft. And I have every reason to be content with the day, for I have spurred Donald to asking for me and Mrs Schuyler has consented;"

Jane, thinking of another matter, paid no attention to this information.

"How did she look when she went to her room?" she asked

"Silly fool! Has your infatuation for that penniless spendthrift driven all else from your head?" tt "Oh"' cried Fannie, suddenly remembering, and her eyes blazed with malignancy sufficient to satisfy Jane. "You mean Hilda Krafft? Well, she looked just as you said she ought to —pale and dull—so much so that Sir Nuisance commented on it and begged her in quite a lover-like way to get a good resting. I thought, too, that I heard him say something about going back to New York to-morrow, but I must have misunderstood that: It would be quite impossible you know." Fannie was rambling on without noting that Jane was not listen-

in"Dull aha pale!" the woman echoed, approvingly. "Dull and pale. Good! she will sleep soundly long before the stroke of midnight."

"And she will awake —" Fannie did not finish, for Jane, who had been searching in her medicine chest, stood up at this point with a small phial in her hand. Fannies cheeks whitened a bit, and Jane finished the sentence for her in cold, passionless tones: "She will awake ailing or well, according as the record of her own body speaks for or against her life, I go prepared." With these, terrible words she pointed significantly to the phial. Then she proceeded" methodically to empty a portion of its contents upon a tiny square of white Silk. An hour later she stole forth upon her deadly errand.

It had been glorious summer weather ever since- the arrival of Mrs Schuyler and her guests at Beverly, but on this night the stars were veiled as if the heavens cared not to look upon the.foul crime that was working its steady course in the great mansion known as Pinemere. As midnight approached the wind arose and set the tres to sighing.

Never was gloom more dense, never was thei weird blacknesss of night so weirdly revealed as in the chamber where Hilda lay unconscious, her slumber doubly heavy by reason of the drug she had unwittingly taken. A single spark of sulphurous light olowed sullenly at one end of the couch on which she lay-

It burned so dully that at first it made no more than itself visible in the gloom. Then, the flame reaching the wood, there was a momentary gleam, of yello# that gave way immediately to the further fumes of sulphur that was yet unconsumed at the match's end.

In the instant faint glow that was created by this yellow beam was revealed a "dark-robed, masked figure kneeling by the bed and holding the match in her hand.

Having gained entrance to the chamber in the way described, in advance of her daughter, she was now engaged upon what was to prove to be the most nefarious feature of her whole malignant design.

As the yellow flames again licked at the slender wood of the match she held, she bent closer to the bed and cautiously raised the coverlet. One little foot appeared in the murky light. Jane held her breath and her gaunt figure quivered with excitement as

It was but an instant.

she brought iMfcE fend Head closer aid strained her eyes to see.

A puff from her lips and the flame was extinguished, leaving the rooih in its former dense darkness.

One listening might have heard h faint rustle as Jane crushed the niatch in her palm and thrust it into her skirt pocket. Silently the coverlet was thrown over the bared foot.

Another moment, and another sulphurous gleam appeared in the gloom, this time wavering over the fair face of the unconscious victim.

As the ghastly blaze flamed up, the door by which Jane had entered was gently and noiselessly pushed open by some hand within the adjoining robin-

Jane, intent upon her examination, bent over the sleepirig girl and heard nothing, saw nothing but the beautiful face on the pillow. Steadily the door swung open, a man's face appeared, and then a man's full form.

For a brief moment the man paused, watching. Then, with 'the hoiseloss swiftness aiid certainty of a cat springing upon its brey, the man advanced, Seized her by the arms, and swung her away from the bedside.

Terrified beyond measure, jariedid hot lose her presence of mind.

She realised witti the first touch upon her arms that everything depended upon her concealing her identity.

Heedless of the burn she inflicted, she crushed the blaming- ma-teli in her palm, and stilled the cry that rose to hfer throat.

The moment she stood there in the darkness and silence, face td face with her unknown assailantj was by far the inbst terrible one Jane had known iii the whole cdurse of her wicked life.

Could anything prevent him from dragging1 her before the household who might be aroused by* a single cry, and unmasking- her.

In that probable event was there any possible device to save her from swift and overwhelming disgrace.

Thoughts like these were tearing through her maddened brain, when her assailant broke into a fierce, whispered inquiry:

" You fiend of hell! " he hisseu". "What in the name of the devil, your master, are you doing here? If I find that you have harmed a hair of that innocent girl's head—' —"

Jane interrupted him. Her courage was wholty restored by the sound of that familiar voice, and her composure was not long in following her courage.

"Beggar yourself!" she sneered. "Make a scene, do! arid reduce yourself to beggary! I shall be no worse off than you, my sturdy accomplice. Don Gordon penniless, and Jane Beaseley penniless, will amount to about the same thing, I reckon. No, not the same, for Jane Beaseley is energetic and resourceful. She'll not wait long for money, while the exquisite gentleman will have to hire out as a bargain counter clerk, or depend upon the hospitality of his friends. Oh! you needn't give yourself any anxiety! Stop shaking me! I haven't hurt the girl. I had no intention" of hurting her. My errand here is innocent enough to pass the scrutiny of your tender conscience." "Shut up!" he growled. "Do you want to precipitate a scene and exposure by arousing her?" In the darkness Jane grinned contemptuously at the idea of awaking Hilda, but she made ho resistance when he whirled her about and fairly dragged her into the next room. When the ddor was closed she composedly resumed: "I was about to tell you that I tpdk a faiicy to satisfy myself in regard to that imagined likeness to the )ate Eobert Schuyler's portraits by s"titdying- the girl's features when tHey were in absolute repose." Gordon gave a grunt of incredulity. "If that was all," he" sata, "why weren't" you provided with a prdper light?" He' could iiot hate dreamed how swiftly the woman's mind acted under the stress of emergencies. Even while, he was speaking she reviewed the situation, and decided that he could liot have seen her while she was stooping at the foot of Hilda's bed. So she answered readily: "If you had not interfered so witlessly j^bu would have seen a 'proper light.' As a rule, I look before I leap. I don't jump at people until I know what they and I are about. If her eyes had opened, a lighted match would have confused her simply, and it would not have betrayed me. See here, stupid!" As she finished speaking she struck another match. "How'thoughtful of you,'* he sheered, "that yoii do not use the snap kind." She made no retort, but ignited a small taper which she had drawn from her pocket and set' it on a chair. Then she coolly tried Her pincers oh the key, thus showing him her whole method of procedure. For .a moment Gordon was silenced, but he was not wholly convinced, for he littered one word in a tone of sus^ picious surprise. "Masked!" "If she had waked, do you supposes it was my intention to inform her that I was Hester Millbdrn?" she sharply demanded.' "How was I to know that she would not awake?" Without waiting for him to reply she took up the taper and moved again towards Hilda's chamber. Gordon stopped her. "fsTo you don't!" he said roughly. "I won't have you go back there." "Very well," and Jane shrugged her shoulders. "Some other time." "I don't understand this businass," he exclaimed, his suspicions of foul intent rising again. "What do you care about the supposed resent blance? Fannie said distinctly " Jane laughed. "How childish you are!" she said. Then she slipped off her mask, looked him squarely in.the eyes an 3 spoke again:

"Fannie also said that the whereabounts of the real May Schuyler was known to her. She chooses to keep her secret even from me. Very well. I choose to get that secret. I shall investigate in every direction till I do get it.. That is niy way, as you know well enough."

This imposed upon him. He knew1 it was her way. With a sudden thrill of alarm he cried:

"Well, what do yxra conclude? What of SGsS Ifrafft?"

(To be continued.)

Jan<* started with indifferent mien to leave the room by the way she had entered..

"I might have spared myself the trouble I have taken and the fright you gave me," she answered. "We have nothing to fear from Miss Krafft. I am convinced of that." She turned around sharply, for he was close behind her, held the taper close to his face and demanded: "But what if we had to fear her?" He turned pale, hesitated, and pushed the candle angrily aside. "What's the use of asking foolish questions?" he said. They were then in the corridor, where Jane promptly extinguished the light. He stood by in the darkness until she had closed and locked the door, thus leaving it as she had found it. Then she went away.

A little later Jane entered Fannies boudoir and found the girl huddled in a shivering heap on the floor. "What is the matter?" whispered Jane, hoarsely. Fannie could hardly command her tongue, so fearful was the terror that possessed her. "Somebody followed you!" she managed to say. Jane quaked with new alarm.. Her lips parted in an attempt to laugh, but it occurred to her that somebody besides Gordon might also have seen her enter the chamber, somebody who might have overheard her damning conversation with him. "Go on!" she commanded, her heart sickening- with doubt. "I couldn't see distinctly," Fannie answered, shiidderihgly, "but as I stood in the dark, watching and listening for any dangerous sound, I suddenly became conscious of a crouching form half-way up the stairs. It flashed over me that somebody had seen you going upstairs, and was in the act of removing his or her shoes " Jane was suddenly relieved. Gordon had come upon her in his stocking feet; as she had observed at the time. "Don't be alarmed," she smiled, "it was only your dear Donald. We had ah interesting time of it together." Then she told what had happened. "He must have been on the terrace smokiiig," she concluded. "I noticed a smell of tobacco. Probably he caught sight of me as I was going up the winding stairs and recog-nised me by my gait. I did not look dawn, as my mind was wholly absorbed with the bedfOOms I had to pass. When you saw him he must have paused to take off his shoes. I asked him no questions, as his operations were wholly a matter of indifference to me." "Thank goodness," exclaimed lannie, "it was nobody else! Tell me about her! What did you discover? What did you do? Is she May Schuyler?" As she asked these frenzied questions she stood up. Till then she had not been able to control her limbs. Next moment she pressed her hands to her lips to smother a startled cry. She had read the answer to one ot her questions, at least, in Jane's eyes. The girl staggered to a couch and sank upon it. "At Pinemere!" she shuddered. "And acting as my servant! I could riot have believed it possible! I cannot believe it'now!" : "You'd better make up yoiif mind to believe It," responded Jane, with a grin of ferocity. "If I had wished to doubt it, I could not. In the hollow of her foot is a tiny mark pricked in India ink. It was done by somebody who knew his business, somebody hired by Hester Millburn, so that there might be a permanent means of identifying the girl." "What is the mark?" asked Fannie> breathlessly. ; ~;„-, "It consists of the initials M. b. Do you need anything more in the way of evidence?" Fannie was speechless. "F'rotaably," Jane continued, -with blood-curdling coolness, "nobody ever saw that mark except Hester Miliburii and the mart who made it. She couldn't see it herself without great trouble and the aid of a mirror. Probably she was etherized at the time of the markings and so has no memory— —" At last Fannie found utterance. "WTiat have you done?I*1 '* she whispered, j Jane answered in the same cold fashion, as if no emotion whatever stirred within her. "By this time to-morrow," she said, "May Schuyler will be out of your path." . rj There was a moment of silence. Bad as she was, the girl was yet tod young to stare murder in the face without flinching. - ' She shuddered as she sat under the spell of her mother's malignant gaze. "Suddenly?" she whispered. "Not exactly," answered Jane. "She will rise feeling on! of sorts, but she won't be ill enough to excite alarm either1 in herself Or others. Gradually she will feel worse. By dinner time she will be unmistakably ill. A physicia-n will be summonedI shall recommend that Oourse if they appfeal to inc. I shall tell them frankly that I cannot assume the responsibility of taking care of her. The p>hy6ician will diagnose the case as a heart difficulty, By midnight she will be—dead!" Jane hissed this last * awful word with concentrated fury.

Then she grasped Fannie by the arm and added:

"I have decided to make no halfway work of it. It is doubtless true that the commodore's improvement amounts to little, but we will, be on the safe side. As soon as the end of Hilda Krafft is assu/ed, I shall go to New York."