The Argosy — page 114: what you’re looking at

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

100 Anne Hereford. Man 18 “TI cannot believe—I never will believe—that George Heneage was capable of committing murder. His whole nature would rise up against it: as his father said in this room a few hours ago. If the shot did come from his gun, it must have been fired inadvertently.” “The shot did come from his gun,” returned Mr. Edwin Barley- “ There’s no ‘1f’ in the question.” “Tam aware you say so; but it was passing strange that you, also with your gun, should have been upon the spot. Now, stay !—don’t put yourself in a passion. I cannot help saying it. I think all this suspense and uncertainty are killing me!” Mr. Edwin Barley dragged a chair to the side of the bed, anger in the very sound. I felt ready to drop, lest he should see me through the slit in the curtain. “We will have this out, Selina. It is not the first time you have given utterance to hints that you ought to be ashamed of. Do you suspect that I shot Philip King ?” His tone was so stern that, perhaps, she did not like to say ‘‘ yes” outright, and tampered with the question. ‘Not exactly that. But there’s only your word to prove that it was George Heneage. And you know how incensed you have latterly been against him !” ‘‘Who caused me to be incensed? You!” ‘‘There was no real cause. Were it the last word I had to speak, Edwin ”—and she burst into tears—‘“ were I dying, I would assert it. I never cared for George Heneage in the way you fancy.” “TI fancy! Had I fancied that, I should have flung George Heneage out of my house long ago,” was his rejoinder, spoken calmly. ‘ But now, hear me, Selina. It has been your pleasure to declare so much to me. On my part, I declare to you that Heneage, and Heneage only, killed Philip King, Dispossess your mind of all dark folly. You must be insane, I think, to take it up against your husband.” ‘Did you see Heneage fire?” she asked, after a silence. “No. I should have known pretty surely that it could only be Heneage, had there been no proof against him; but there were Philip’s dying words. Still, I did not see Heneage at the place, and I have never said I did. I was pushing home through the wood, and halted a second, thinking I heard voices: at that very moment a shot was fired close to me—close, mind you—not two yards off; but the trees are thick just there, and whoever fired it was hid from my view. I was - turning to search, when Philip King’s awful scream rang out, and I pushed my head beyond the trees and saw him in the act of falling to the ground. I hastened to him, and the other escaped. This is the entire truth, so far as I am cognisant of it.” It might have been the truth; and, again, it might not. It was just one of those things that depend upon the credibility of the utterer. COMICDOOKS. Com