The Halfpenny Surprise, Vol. I, No. 20 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

THE RIVER * Yes; I have doctored myself for years. would be better than seeing him suffer so.” “Perhaps you are right,” answered Sir Percival, with asigh. “Ill get it for you.” There was a medicine chest in the room, from which he took a phial, labelled “Chloral—poison.” He handed it to his brother, who said, ‘I'll mix him a glass of brandy and water; you can then let half a dozen drops fall into it.” “Don’t you think it would have a bad effect?” asked the baronet, sharply. ‘No, beneficial. You are nis father, and in a case like this should prepare his medicine yourself.” The brandy was mixed by Flinter ; but if the baronet could have seen the sinister expression of his face, as he bent over his task, he would not have consented to administer the poison. Sir Percival began to drop the chloral into the glass, when Flinter clutched his arm, and, pointing to the window, exclaimed, “ Look there!” In his excitement, the baronet spilt half the contents of the phial into the mixture, without noticing it. “What was itP” he gasped out. “T thought I saw that face at the window; but I was mistaken, no doubt, through nervousness.” Corking the phial he replaced it in the medicine- chest; then, raising Bob’s head on his arm, he placed the glass to his lips, and said, “ Drink this, dear Bob, it will send you to sleep.” He did so, docilely enough, when Flinter lifted him up and placed him in bed. “Tt has taken effect already,” he observed, after the lapse of ten minutes; “now we can have a quiet chat, Percival.” ‘“What about?” wasthe ungraciousreply. “I don’t want.to be startled again as I was just now.” “T’m sorry I did so; but it has dawned upon me that perhaps Charles Holmes might not be dead after all.” Anything “T wish you wouldn’t try to unsettle my conviction that he is dead,” said the baronet, testily. “T don’t wan’t to live in a fool’s paradise, to receive a rude awakening. We are both in the swim, recollect, and I have a perfect right to speak out.” “What are you driving at, man?” “Simply this; Charles Holmes was born and bred in this house. Are there secret doors or panels in it, let me ask?” “Not to my knowledge; but there is supposed to be a secret chamber, known as the Monk’s Room. I cannot say whether it exists or not.” “Did Charles Holmes discover it, think you? ” “ Really I am no solver of puzzles.” “No, yow’re eminently practical, I know; but it’s just possible your step-son may have escaped death by either bullet or water. If he knew of the secret hiding- place, he could easily have played himself off as a ghost upon us. Besides, I’d like to know who the Co. is in the firm of Lister.” “J know a man who would find out all about that.” “Then lose no time in putting him on the scent. And now Iam going to take a dose of chloral to send me to sleep, and restore my nerves.” “You don’t think what he has taken will injure Robert? He’s been a very troublesome boy, but I don’t want to lose him, for all that.” “Injure him, no! Toconvince you I'll take a double dose to what you gave him.” Producing the phial from the chest, he poured a stiff dose into a glass. “ By the way,” he said, pleasantly, as he took up a decanter of port wine, “have you any cigars handy, Percival, my case is empty P” Sir Percival went towards a shelf, when Flinter swiftly emptied the chloral into a long-necked vase, and filled the glass with wine. Lighting one of the OF DEATH. 7 cigars given him he extended his hand, and with a Judas grip, said : “ Good-night, brother, pleasant dreams. I’m off into the bed myself.” He was soon sleeping soundly, the vagabond life he had led for years having seasoned him against the ill- ae of over-excitement, and benumbed his conscience, 80. The baronet, however, could not woo slumber readily. He kept dozing, and waking up with starts and many a shiver as if expecting to see some sight that would once more freeze the marrow in his bones. To such a state of trepidation had his nerves brought him that he dared not move from his chair even. to replenish the fire. Spectral shapes, mere creatures of the imagination; phantasms evolved from the brain seemed to float about the room, playing hide and seek . In corners and in the folds of the heavy curtains. He cast many a furtive glance towards the bed where his son, the only hope of his house, was lying, so still and motionless. “ He sleeps soundly enough, poor lad,” he muttered, and the prevailing silence was so profound that the whisper of his own voice startled him. “T wish I had not been over persuaded by Richard into giving him chloral. Ugh! it is a deadly drug.” The weary hours sped by on leaden wings for him, until he inwardly cursed the night and wished for the morn as he had never wished before. With the first streak of the grey dawn he rose and faced the bed, with a premonition that all was not right. He ap- proached it with swift strides and terror laden eyes. One look at that still form and white set face, and the unhappy man uttered shriek upon shriek of mortal agony. CHAPTER III. A STARTLING ACCUSATION—DOCTOR MERTON SPEAKS HIS MIND—THE APPARITION—THE BRIBE—MURDER OF THE DOCTOR—FLINTER RECEIVES A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD—DESTRUCTION OF MONK HOUSE BY FIRE — FRANK LISTER TELLS THE BARONET A STRANGE STORY. “Wat's the matterP” asked Flinter, awakened by that bitter anguished ery. “You—you have murdered my boy!” hissed out the baronet, pointing an accusing finger at him. “TI; how?” “ You suggested the chloral; oh, fool that I was not to see through your fiendish artifice. You pretend there was a face at the window to distract my attention while you zu “Stop,” eried Flinter, angrily, a steely glitter in his eyes, his cruel mouth twitching with passion. “Dare to accuse me openly of so foul a crime, I, who have helped you to riches through crime while I be- came a vagabond, an outcast, an Ishmael, and I'll strip you of your ill-gotten wealth and give you instead a convict’s jacket to wear. This is no idle threat, Percival. I swear to do it by all the powers of evil if you provoke me!” “Hush! in mercy’s sake, hush!” said the baronet, in pleading whispers. “I was beside myself and knew not what I said.” “'There’s somebody knocking at the door. Attend to it, Richard. I’m not fit myself.” With a sinister smile, in which triumph and contempt co-mingled, Flinter opened the door. “ Fetch a doctor instantly,” he said to the servant, “but don’t alarm your fellows. Now go, and use your utmost despatch.” Having quelled his brother and reduced him to. a state of abject submission, Flinter took the direction of affairs into his own hands. “Ts he dead?” moaned out the unhappy father. * Again reprinted and now ready, Nos. 1 and 2 of “Jack Easy’s Schooldays.” A Coloured Plate given away. Price One Penny. comiclooks.comn