CHAPTER XXV.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 158, 26 June 1886, Page 7

CHAPTER XXV.

T)l£ J I \ VL. BLOW . t was a deadly blo\. ! A blow like thnt Which bwo jpintc itna\v"r<>s trom o'.t the MQftt, Oinhes Bj nwfl <i r>m t,ntm huh st rat poalc luto a void of cold and hunyinjj wuvus. The di&trust which I felt for Mrs Pollard. I was so great time 1 uns still uncertain as to whether she had given me the light a^divsa I I therefore piocoederl to carry out my oi'iginal design and wont at once to (ho telc-graph-oflice. Tfie mo=>sngo I sent was peremptory, and in tho course of half an I hour th's ans-wer was leturnod: — ' "Person drsciibed, found. Condition ! critical. Cotno at once. ' I There v,is n Uam that left in fifteen ' minuted. Tho'JMh 1 had ]iiti como fm>n ! Bohton, T did not, hewhite to letuin at once, i By six o'clock of that, day 1 olood before the ' house to which I had bcr'n divocled My ' lirsfc si^ht of it &tmck me like de,ir.h God, | what was I about to encounter? Wh d j sort of a bpot was this, and v* hat w,n.o the doom that had befallen the child committed to my caro ? Numb with horror, I i\mg i the door-bell with difliculty, and when l\ was admitted bvamm in rho guipo of an oflicer, I folu something like an in^tia taneous relleJ, though I saw by his cou'ite I.1 '.- i ance that ho n<.id anything but goo'l ne»\a to give mo. " Are you the gentleman who telegraphed from S ?" ho uskod. 1 boned, not feohiiji able to speak. " Uelative or fiicud ? ' ho went on. " Friend," I m-inagod to reply. "Do you gne^s what has happened ?" he inquiied. " I dare not," I answered, with a fearful look about me on walls that more than confirmed my suspicions." " Miss Meirmm is dead," he answered. 1 drew a deep breath. It was almost a relief. " Come in," he said, and opened the door of a room at our right. When we were seated and 1 had by careful observation rrnde sine "\\o wore aloni\ I moiioned for him to go on. He immediately complied. " When we received your telegram we pent a man here at onco. He had somo difficulty in entering and still more in finding the young lady, who was hidden in the most remote pait of the house. But by perseverance and somo force he at last ob timed entiance to her room, where he found— pirdon my abruptness, it will be a mercy to you for me to cut, tho sfcwry short - that he had been ordered hero too lato ; the young Judy had taken poison and wa3 on tho point of death." The horror in my face reflected it=elf faintly in his. "I do nnt know how she cime to this hou^e," ho proceeded ; " but &he must have been a pcr&on of groat purity and couratro : for although she d'v:d almost immediately upon his entrance, she had time to .say that she had proforred doalh to the fate that threatened her, add that no one won id mourn, hor for sbo had no fiiends in this country, and her fabhor would nover hear | how pho died." I epvaner wildly to my feet. '" Bid she mention no names?" I askod u Did she nob sxy who brought her to this hell of hells, or murmur even with her dying breath ona word that would guide us in fixing this crime upon the head of her whs is guilty of it?" " No," answered the officer, "no ; but you aro right in thinking it was a woman, bub what woman, the creature below evidently does not know."

Foiling that the situation demanded thought, I competed myself to the beat of my ability. ■'lam the Rev. David Barrows.of S ,'* said I, " and my interest in this yuung girl i-< pmely that of a humanitarian I hava never seen her. 1 do not even know haw long >ho hue been in thU country. But 1 le.ctrntd ihatu girl by the name of GraoQj Mei'iiam had been beguiled from her board*. ing-place here in this city, and ieaiing thftt come terrible oviL had befallen her, I tele« graphed to the police to look her up." The officer bowed. "The number of the b >avd ing- place V* askfd lie. I told him, and not waiKng for any furi her questions?, demanded if I might se<* th« body of tho young girl. He led me ut once to the room in which; .t lay, and B'ood icjpecttuliy at the door whilo I went in iJone. Tho sight I saw hish 'is never left me ( >o wiieie I will, I sea over b* fore me that pure young face, with its weary look hushed in the repose o£ death it haunts me, if accuses in®. It iikb ny» wlic i; i-s I/he noble woraanhcKKi (hit mftjht have blos?omc;d fiom this sweet; bud, J.ad ir no\, bren lor my pusilammity .md lovo oi life? But when I try to an■jffei 1 , lam stopped by that image of death,, wit'i its poaled l?ps and closed eyes never tit opjn again - never, never, whatever my longing, my anguish, or nay despair, but the woiht shock was to come yet, A=< I loft tho room and went, stumbling down the stairs, I wag met by the officer md led again into the apirtment I had. Jh>t entered on the ground floor. "There i* yomr-one hi; re," he began^ " whom you may like to question." Thinking it to bo the woman of the houee, [ advanced, though f-omewhat re»luorantly, whbn a sight mot my eyes that m'idc me fall buck in astonishment and oread It was the figure of a woman. iJre-^cd Ml in grey, with a dark-blue veil drawn lightly over her features, "fTf.od (Jo i! ' 1 murmured, "who is this ?" ' Tho woman who brought her here," ob-orved tbiH officer. "I'airell, there, has luit found her." And then I p-sreoivrd darkly looming in tiiM htavy du-k l ho rorm ot another man, w hn^<-, unforiFcioui -itnl bucineag-'.ikQ air nrnoliimed htm to be a member oi the force. " tl^v namoi- Sophie Preston," the officer c nt\nutri, motioning fo tne woman to throw n;> her veil ''Sl)e i< a h *rd character, and -one day a\ ill have to answer for her njM/y crnnes." Meanwhile I stood rooted to the ground ; the name, the face were scrange, and neither that of her u hotn 1 had inwardly accused of this wrong. " I should like to ask tho woman :': ' I commenced, but he- re my ey-'R fell upon her term Te was tall and it was full, but it «.'.« not by any means handtome. A feartill po c sibiliry crossed my mind. Ap«. pro.iching ths woman closely, I modified lqv question. '•Are you tho person who took this-\-3ung lady from her boarding place?" J asked. " Yes, sir," was fcho reply, uttered in. -innoMi but by no mnns cultivated tones. " .-»nd by wlnt urfc-< did you prevail upon rhlsjo.in^.ind confiding creature to leavq her ooi/ifoctable home and go out into the - r ie^t- with you '•" noc spook, "hot-miied, O heaven, v ' at depths ot depravity opened before me i;. that ' '• An<sv/ei % r' tho ofßcor cried. " W'-l], sir, 1 told Jier," she now replied, '* i h it I w a-- such an.i =.uch a relative, grandmot'.er, I flunk i &aid ; and being a dutiful child " 'duf [ wes new up closo to her side, anol lesnmcr to her veiy ear T intenupted hor.' '• T 11 mo nn winch &ido of the hall was the n.-iour inlo v.'«ich jou veiit." " The right,"' answered, Avithout the l\" s t =<how ot he-itiition. " WiAiit',' 1 I returned ; " you hive never b^en there.' 1 S!i p lojk'jd friyhtonrd. "U.rir," -J.p uhi-pererJ, "hnshlhush* If you know -" And there she stoppedund ii'ptintly cifci; o'oud, in a voice that \irm d mo 1 bhouli \n ike nothing by^press*. i>g njy eiT-p'.cious J^ tb.id time and " t m thi* nl<" ,_>, "liuud tho >oung lady irom. her honv 1 a. id 1 bro'ioni. her hoic." Ifitiaa enmin-;! act I ha'llave to answer for iL o We ill urn sue n .•• kl-nov.k 1 - nov. and then " T-tu^, \\i(h m\ knowledge of fill f\e- ms^te'i'^ uh'ch lay behind this pitiful >.ii<j;<dy, lioi meaning \s"-^ evident. \ I'rilua '-ho ha 1 lecenvd pxyment suffi- (\ >«) in,- tho ].uni-?hi-n nr po.-.-ibly awaiiing lie 1 ' or v.hetl.ar the h ir J be^n inahteoed laf'i » -inn n-j, the u^pnnpibiSily of another,. •-lv m <i^ o\i,ii'n!l',' re o v«>d to sustain her l.) 1 of abdu'jtic >- toih.- tnd. I T-1.0 k.ok --ii.' ra\c mo n*-, tne completion (if !r r aord- i 'tci-i'iol ?hi" oonvicti^n, and ! t.oc filing suilj ?i -utly or my duty to di-puto her at Iho pic«(.iiu time, I took i al'"a 1 '" in';);?., or her doU-imination, and outI %\ intlj, it not mu'riidiy, accepted her con--j ie^-ii'i as ti m . 1 thoiciV'K' rotie.Ucd fiora her tide, and bei')g anxious to avoid the coroner, who i -was likely to enter at any minute, I con* finc'd my-elf to \sking a iuw hading questi'ioc;, which being an.swernd in a manner "eomin^ly trunk, I profjo^ed myself satisfied ->■> ich the result, -ml hastily withdrew.