Manfred's Quest: Or, The Mystery of a Trunk — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

~ es A, OP _- —— <— aie —s _ _—. — © os r = ras —_ pao al - os - - 7 - a -- , —* rs : Hae =. MANFRED’S QUEST. ery that increased his interest, and caused him to study the _ stranger even more carefully. On her veil he discovered a spot, and he managed to get close enough to, in a seemingly careless manner, establish the fact that the spot wasa drop of blood, a mark that had evidently been made by a bloody finger. The train thundered on, and the detective continued his observations, and his mind revolved several plans for ad- dresssing the veiled lady. A feeling had come over him that there was a tragedy connected with her coming aboard the train. Her excited manner, evident nervousness, and furtive glances at her fellow-passengers, together with the discovery of the blood-stain, caused the detective to form a thousand theories in his mind. At length the train stopped at the last station before driving along to New York, and the lady turned to our hero, and in a low, tremulous voice asked: ** Does this train stop at N——?’’ ‘© No, madame; this is the last stop.” The lady sprung to her feet, seized a small hand-satchel, and started for the door, when the whistle shrieked and the train started. The lady still continued to move rapidly toward the door, when the detective leaped to his feet and followed her, and on the platform caught hold of her just as she was about to spring from the moving train. The cars had attained a pretty considerable momentum at the instant. ‘© My dear madame, you would be certainly killed if you leaped from the train!” © Oh, why did you not let me leap?” ‘¢ Are you desirous of committing suicide, madame? If s0, I’d adopt a bee horrible method than jumping from a railroad train.’ The lady spoke in an excited tone, as she said: ‘‘T could have leaped safely, and now I will be carried all the way to New York.’’ ‘‘ Tet me see,’’ said the detective, °* to have you let off at the next station. to carry you away to New York.”’ The two were still standing on the platform, the train was under full headway, and thundered along with the usual rattle and roar, when suddenly there came a gust of wind tearing through a cut from the river-side, and the lady’s veil was lifted from her face, as the swaying of the car caused her to grasp the rail-guard with both hands. The veil was only lifted aside for a second, but within that second the detective had discovered that the passenger -was not only young but very beautiful, and also that her mebbe I can arrange It- would be a pity face wore a frightened look, and that she was as pale as a | corpse. ‘¢T will speak to the conductor, miss, if you. desire it,” said our hero. He did not address the mysterious passen- ger as madame after the raising of the veil by the treach- erous gust of wind. A moment the lady rs aa to think, and then she said : ‘*T am very much obliged, but since I have made a mis- take, I will have to be content. It does not make much difference; I will go on to the city. ”’ ‘¢-You had better enter the car,’”’ said Manfred. A furious storm had broken over the scene, and the rain commenced to fall in torrents. The detective opened the car door and caught hold of the lady’s arm. He could see that she was trembling like as aspen leaf. ‘‘ Tt is very provoking,” he said, in a consoling tone. ‘©Tt don’t make much difference, after all,’’ answered the lady, and she re-entered the car and resumed her seat. During the time the two had stood upon the platform Pa outside the car, the detective had been making close ob- servations, and upon their return inside he still continued his study. He was deeply interested. At length the train neared the city, and the lady rose from her seat, leaving her satchel or, rather, what was nothing more than a small, well-worn reticule. At last the train ran into the depot, when the detective encountered the greatest surprise of the night. upon her arrival in New "York, ‘being fully convinced that she was connected with some startling event. When she left her seat he did not follow her, as he expected her to return, as the train was still moving at a rapid rate; and, besides, the lady had left her little reticule on the seat. Manfred sat and watched for the veiled lady’s return, and was still so engaged when the cars came to a sudden halt. The train was in the depot, and the en had not re-— turned. Our hero at once went to look for her, but she had most mysteriously disappeared. He waited some ten or fifteen. minutes, but she did not return for her reticule; and when he made inquiries of the train hands, he could not find one that had seen her. Manfred hovered round the depot for over an hour. The brakeman had taken possession of the reticule, and later on had turned it over to the detective, and the cars were run out on a side-track, but not a glimpse did our hero catch of the mysterious passenger. ‘¢ Well, this is a most singular disappearance!” he mut- tered, and he proceeded to inquire at the baggage-office if a party answering the mysterious passenger’s description had called for baggage. The baggageman had not seen her, and the detective was at length compelled to give it up, satisfied that, for the time being, he had been baffled. Upon reaching his apartments in the city, Manfred opened the reticule; but, alas! it was empty; there was not a single article in it—not even a letter, a thimble, ora card; and he muttered: ‘© Aha! I see. She meant tosteal away, and she has left no trace behind?’ From the hour the detective misssed. the fair girl in the cars up to the time that he ran across the trunk in the baggage-room, he had not been able to trace the mysteri- ous lady passenger; and when he was loitering around the baggage on the day as described in the opening chapter of our narrative, he was on different business; indeed, all in- terest in the girl had almost passed from his mind; but upon hearing the baggageman’s exclamation, and upon beholding the trunk, all his former interest revived. From the very first moment that his eyes fell on the trunk he felt a singular interest in it, and a suspicion crossed his mind that he had seen the owner upon that stormy night on the West Shore Road. ; The singular interest of the baggageman was also a re- markable fact, and the detective was deeply interested in all the former had to say about the mysterious trunk. ‘‘Tt is strange,” he said to the baggageman, when the latter had related his second dream. ‘** What is strange?’’ ‘That your mind should run so continually oo that trunk!” ‘‘ Yes, it is strange; and, as I told you, it haunts me, & voice seems to come continually from it, saying, * Open me! open me! open me!’ ”’ “boo ks.com