Rose Mortimer; Or, The Ballet-Girl's Revenge — page 148: what you’re looking at

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

Clara started as she read through this letter, dated many years previously. ‘‘The late earl was married, then,’’? she said mus- ingly. ‘‘ Not only married, but I suppose had issue by this marriage. I must seeinto this. My haughty cousin Spencer must look to himself now, for I much fear if his. title to the earldom may not be question- able. In any case I shall secure this letter. Informa- tion shall be taken upon the matter, and I will consult old Martin when he shall be in a fitcondition. He was the friend and confidant of his master, and I doubt not that he shared some portion at least of this secret with him.” The letter was put aside with other scraps which Clara had collected, and the search was once more resumed, In her rambles over the death chamber the next thing which caught her eye was a deep blood stain upon the right side of the bed. It had probably passed unnoticed by less interested persons than Clara St. John. It was in a part of the room farthest from the win: dow, and the bed threw a dark shadow upon the floor, covering the fatal evidences of the assassination. ‘‘The earl must have leant over here after he was struck,’’ said Clara. She stooped down to examine it closer, and found that the stains proceeded further along. There was one inference to be drawn from this. The murdered man had doubtless struggled from his bed after the assassins had left the chamber, and their victim for dead—strugeled along, leaving a track of his life-blood as he went. But for what purpose ? This she determined to discover. She observed the blood ceased, and collected in larger quantities by the foot of the little carved cabinet. \ This, therefore, became the object of her searches at once, The closest scrutiny at length discovered to her that a bead moulding at the bottom of this cabinet was nothing less than the front of a flat shallow drawer. The very simplicity of the contrivance foiled all attempts at discovery, which was made in the present case by pure accident. Clara eagerly opened the drawer. The first objet which caught her eye was a packet tied with a ribbon, which was blood-stained. It had been put there by the dying earl at his last moments. Bold as this woman was, courageous and undaunted in her criminal path through life, she could not repress a shudder of horror as she thought of the death throes of the last person who had touched that packet. As she turned from the drawer, stooping still to the eround, she saw that the train of blood did not’ even eease there. She followed it out. It led to the side of the wall, a narrow recess, the top of which was filled by the portrait of a young and beautiful girl. This was some eight or ten paces distant from the bedside. The earl must then have been much stronger than his assassins had imagined when they left him. Was it not possible that he had had thetime to leave some further evidence of the guilt of his mur- derers ? He had. The most conclusive. Evidence the most damning. Clara paused by the recess and examined it with great eagerness. But nothing could she discern. ROSE MORTIMER ; OR, A Chinese folding screen—made on the English fashion—leant against the wall. Clara had looked all around, and failed to discover anything, when she moved the screen to examine the ingenious work upon it more closely. Suddenly her eye lighted upon the wall thus laid bare. An exclamation of horror burst from her in spite of herself. In large red letters, traced in human gore, and doubtless by the hand of the dying earl, were written these words :— ‘‘ SPENCER BELLISLE MY MURDERER! * EDGAR BELLISLE, ‘* EARL OF SLOEFORD.” CHAPTER LVII, MERMET’S ESCAPE— DANGERS—THE RESCUE— THREE HUMAN CORPSES—GRACE WALGRAVE— DEATH — THE WATERMAN—THREATS—A BOLD STROKE FOR SAFETY—MERMET DEFEATED—A RASH SPEECH—THE WATERMAN’S TOMB AND. THE SUICIDE’S GRAVE. WHERE is Mermet the Arab necromancer all this time ? We left him struggling in the water and nearl drowned. a loi Flying to the rescue of the would-be suicide, he had chanced to upset the boat, and all appeared lost now, The waterman had seen the body of the drowning girl rise to the surface of the water for the third time, and had boldly jumped in to her rescue, It was a tough struggle, but at length the hardy waterman had succeeded in dragging the body to the top of the water, and he struck out with something less of fervour than at first. But arrived near the boat, he was not a little terri- fied to find it capsized. The necromancer struggled violently with the keel of the boat, but all he could do was to keep himself above water. At length he got a better purchase as a waye came rolling along and aided his purpose. Over went the boat and underwent Mermet. Down, down, till it appeared as if he had reached the bottom. But he rose again, struggling frantically with the water, He clutched at the edge of the boat, which had now righted itself, and dragged himself up. At first he was half blinded by the water, but as he rose above the side of the boat his vision grew clearer, and he saw that a human form hung with equal desperation to the other side. With catlike agility the half-drowned necromancer scrambled into the boat. He thought not now of his danger, but, leaning eagerly forward, caught hold of the hand of the drown- ing man. The hand was caught immediately in a deadly tight clutch, and a weight hung upon the necro- mancer, which threatened to drag him over into the water. “* You’ ve—got—the girl?” he gasped, as he strug- gled violently. ** Ye—es.”” A faint and futile effort to nod accompanied these words. He was well nigh exhausted, and a few seconds more would have rendered his chance of salvation highly doubtful. But the necromancer had a fortune at stake, “(EOMMMICLOOOL ES COM