The Lights o' Gotham; or, The Gilded Villain — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. No, 302. —_—— -=- It was quite an ordinary thing for wealthy Western men to, ‘* Heaven is my witness, I did not do it!” drop in in this uncéremonions fashion, and the clerk, having, He remained for some moments overcome with emotion; given him the proper change, assigned him to a room far more ‘then, with tears in his eyes, he bent over the corpse, and, sumptuously furnished than any which Baxter had ever seen in kissing the pallid lips, in 4 choked voice, murmured: his life. | Poor Allie! Poor Allie!” It was with a curious feeling of self-satisfaction that the latter, | ‘Suddenly he sprang again to his feet, and gazed affrightedly having undressed, crept between the sheets. At six o’clock he) about him. had had not a penny in his pocket, not a crust to eat; now a ‘“Thev must not see me here,” he exclaimed, in terrified ac- was rich, and lodged in the most fashionable hotel in New York. | wants. “ They will say that I have murdered him. They will True, he had condemned his soul to perdition to accomplish the ‘condemn me out of my own mouth—the threats I made against change, ‘but/he did not repent’of the bargain. _ |his life—the wish I uttered for his death. Heaven knows I’ve He slept as soundly as if his conscience was not loaded with ‘got all over that; but who will believe me, poor, misera- the most detestable of crimes, and was up at eight o'clock ID | ble tramp that 1 am? She alone will believe me—Allie, whose the morning. Huis first step, after having made his toilet, WS jeart will break when I tell her of it. She is an angel. But to purchase a morning paper, and he smiled grimly at perceiv- 7. uct tell her now. I know where she lives. She will be up ing that no mention was made of the murder. If it had been ‘yet awaiting his return, and alas! he will never come back to yet discovered, it must have been too late for publication. He nal any more.’ next partook of a hearty breakfast, and, having had a dozen ; ecards with his alias seul written on them by the man in the) He brushed the tears from his eyes. . “ Re, Barat Ss | t hotel, he examined the directory, and, having ascertuined Mr. B x GOrw HOE ouch the) body,! ne oon tne? pie: ; inform the police. They must find it as the murderer left it. ' — eee —— oe $< _ - ad ’ PO ENO SSA Cet cae om | be f fr ll suspicion, if I wish to hunt down his ‘To No. — Fifth avenue!” he exclaimed, as the vehicle | 1 MUSE DO iFF OS, AROMA SNe dashed off ‘murderer. Poor Ernest!” he added,addressing the corpse, ‘‘for- ~ give me for leaving you thus, but here, over your dead body, | OHAPTER $V. I register a solemn vow in high heaven not to rest night or day until I have avenged your murder.”’ THE DRUNKARDS VOW. He took off his hat, and raised his right hand on high as Out in the snow, in the open square at the foot of Rector | je took the oath; then he turned to walk down Rector street, street, lay the two bodies, one of the murdered bank clerk, the | murmuring as he went along: other of the unconscious drunkard, ‘‘Poor Allie! Poor Allie!” Fifteen, thirty minutes passed since the tragedy was commit-|} yes Alice Minturn was awaiting her husband’s return. ted, and no one came that way to make a horrifying discovery. | She had been ill, but was now couvalescent, and sat in a rock- At the end of that time a slight motion was visible in Tom the) ing-chair, in her plain but neatly furnished sitting-room, rock- if toper’s form; he was gradually recovering consciousness. The ing her blue-eyed, golden-locked babe to sleep. q motion became more determined, and then he rose to a sitting _ The clock on the mantel-piece struck the hour of nine as she posture and stared blankly around him. cast a wistful glance at the door, and then turned her gaze to the uy There was a big bump on his forehead, which throbbed pain- | table, where her husband’s supper was neatly spread. | fully, and his senses were somewhat scattered. The effect of} She rose from the rocking-chair, and placing the now sleep- the blow, however, together with the cold and wet, was to dis-| in, child in the cradle, approached the window, and gazed into sipate, to a great degree, the fumes of the vile liquors he had} 4). darkness without. ie been drinking, and he was probably more sober than he had) _,, How I wish he would come home!” she exclaimed. “Sup- gee for ee spre : OR BPP | pose something should have happened to him—I should die!” ecould not at first remember what had taken place, or what} 1, turned deathly pale, and pressed her hand to her heart. 4 had happened to him, but he felt that vague impression of the | At the same moment there was a faint, timorous ring at the nearness of something which overcomes us in the presence of | aon Dall the unknown dead. He groped about him with his hands, and | : an icy chill ran through him as his fingers came in contact with | BUCS Ghd 05, DEF ied parson at Siren eee 2 eae ee tha atiil warm bode Gf thenudihiored clark: cher husband had a night-key, and as she lived on the second | . ' “I know now,” he exclaimed, springing to his feet as a flood | floor, the few friends who came to see her generally rang twice. | She was therefore somewhat surprised on hearing a heavy, of recollection burst upon his mind. ‘I had been drifting | ; : down this way. I had just come out of the saloon on the cor- | lumbering step ascend the stairs and stop at her door. A mo- ner there when I heard the cry for help. Oh, curses on me ment later there was a knock, but so faint that she scarcely . why was I too drunk to be of any service? I suppose it’s all’ heard 1t. over now, the poor man is murdered, and the murderer——” | ‘To makesure, however, she opened the door, and started back, He interrupted himself with an ejaculation. with an ejaculation half of surprise, half of terror. ‘“‘Tt was John Baxter,” he said; ‘‘that very man I saved from On the threshold stood Tom, the toper. a suicide’s death. Oh, villain, villain! It would have been bet-| ‘‘Do not be afraid of me, Alice—Mrs. Minturn,” he said, ter to have let you hang yourself. But who is his victim?” pleadingly, to her. ‘‘ Please let me come in.” He approached the body witn a feeling of awe, and stooped; he momentary surprise and terror had already left her, and over it to try to distinguish its featnres. it was in a sincere voice that she said: ‘Tt seems to be a young man, but I cannot see the face, it is} ‘‘ You are welcome, Tom Brewster.” 7 too dark. Ah, I have it!’ The tramp slowly shuffled into the room, treading gingerly on ; He remembered that he had some matches in his pocket. He/| the carpet, for fear of spoiling its pretty pattern, and, having % drew these forth, and, after several ineffectual attempts, suc- closed the door, advanced until he stood in the center of the _ ah room. f | | ceeded in striking a light. He held the lighted match so that. the flame should illumine the dead man’s face, and, no sooner It had been years since she had seen Tom Brewster, and since Ly had he looked at it, when the match dropped from his nerve-| then she had heard that he had gone to the bad. His path in 4 less hand, and, sinking on his knees beside the corpse in the | life lay apart from her husband’s; he could bring her no news ) snow, he raised his face toward the inky vault of heaven and! from him. She attributed his visit to a maudlin impulse of his fervently exclaimed: | besotted brain, and her heart was filled with tender pity for the / ’ a eae" Nt = 7 7 «/ we toe * aR = ah oy - aT ‘ — | - ee — v 7 °y 4 ” 3 ." - - OKS.cCOm £ ~ - wt ke r , - ~ : “hw : . A ‘i Big ne ca, oa: “'comicbo