Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 793 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

2 : ’ 2 — =... I em a - e ee ee ee + eo + a aliens ~~ while from bis lips fell over and again the words: ‘‘ Dead! dead! my child is dead.” Crumbs had at once dispatched the coach- manu for the family physic:an and told him also to bring back with him a particular friend of the master’s, one who often dropped in to play chess with him, In a short while this friend, Mr. Wheatley, arrived and found the grief-crushed father still seated in the chair where he had fallen, clutchiug the letter, yet unread, in his hands, while the cook and Jule had borne the body of the beautiful girl to her room, whither the doctor was at once taken. “Read it, Wheatley. Tell me what it means, for 1 cannot see a line of it,” said Mr, Car- roll. Mr. Wheatley took the letter and read in a slow, low tone as follows: “**My Own Loven FaTurr:— ‘* Oan you ever forgive the horror and grief which I will cause you oy my mad act ‘** But, it must be, for I am tired of life, with every- thing around me to make life worth the living. ***T cannot tell you my secret, for he must do that, and will, when you call him to you, telling him that Iam dead—that I died by my own hand. ***T deceived you last summer, and I had not the courage to tell you. * *Do not blame him, for it was my own romantic ma<iness that made a secret of it. *** To-night I feel deepest remorse, and am deter- mined to end my life. “** Forgive me, father, and Heaven cheer you in your grief. ‘<I wrote to him to-day, so he will soon be here to tell you all. “*VYou will find much of my money in the safe gone, but then, of late, I have given a great deal to charity, and it was mine to give. te | our pee ae CHAPTER VIII. THE DOCTOR’S THEORY, Wuen Mr. Wheatley fiuished reading the let- ter the poor father bent his face in his bands and groaned: “i Bh! why did she do this? My poor child a suicide? hat secret can she have that would drive her to this? ‘‘Is it Leo Leffingwell that she refers toin this letter, her last words to me?” ‘‘My dear friend, who else knows of this let- ter she bas left?” quickly asked William Wheat- ley. ‘‘The butler, Crumbs, took it from the table and handed it to me.” ** Cau he be trusted?” ‘Oh, yes; but why?” ‘**She hints of a secret as ber reason for taking her own life, and this would imply, pardon me for saying s0, that she has sought to hide some disgrace, ‘* This must not go forth to the cruel world, so let it be thought that she took her own life from no dread ot shame, but from a degire to no longer live.” ‘* My good friend I thank you, for no dishonor must be cast upon her dead name, I will not let this letter be seen.” ‘ST will call Crumbs and explain to him that be must say nothing of this letter,” and Mr, ‘Wheatley rung the bell for the butler, ‘*Crumbs, you handed your master a letter found upon the table?” ‘‘ Yes, sir.” ‘‘ Did any one else see it?” ‘* No, sir, for the cook was looking after Jule, who was just coming back to her senses.” “ Crumbs?” ‘Yes, Mr, Wheatley?” ‘* You must say nothing about this letter, for it will only cause unkind remarks to be made bout your poor dead young mistress,” ; I understand, sir, and I will not speak of t. “You will not lose by this decision on your part, Crumbs.” “T thank you, sir.” ‘* Now let us get your master to his room, and ask the doctor to come in to see him,” The poor man offered no resistance, and soon the physician stood by his bedside, ‘‘ There is no hope, doctor?” ‘‘ None, sir, alas! ‘¢ But I remained to help Jule whom the shock has made really ill, } ‘* Now, let me see after you, Mr. Carroll,” “ Ah, doctor, Lonly wish that the shock had bereft me of my reason, or killed me, that I might not suffer as I do,” : The doctor gave him a soothing drangys and - then called Mr, W heatley asice, and sa “Tell me all you know about this terrible affair, Wheatley,” Dick Doom in Chicago. “TI can only tell you that Jule discovered her mistress dead in the chair and half swooned away.” “She drove the knife into her own heart, Wheatley, just as her mother did,” ‘* Her mother!” gasped Mr, Wheatley. ‘* Ah! I should not have spoken, but I sup- » a8 you were Carroll’s most intimate riend, you knew about what is a secret to others, **No, I knew nothing of a former tragedy in the family,” ‘* Well, her mother married Carroll at the de- mand of her parents, because he was very rich, having strock 4 rich in California. ‘* She was led to believe that the man she did love was dead, and one day she saw by a paper that he was alive and had made a fortune, but was living a bachelor somewhere in the Kast, “She that night wrote her busband, whom she could not but admire and respect, a long let- ter, telling him of her discovery and that she would not live the wife of one man while loving another,and so ended what to her would bea most wretched existence, ‘*She drove a knife to her heart, just as Clarice has done, and was found by her maid, by a strange coincidence, seated in her chair fully d , as ber daughter was, ‘* The shock nearly killed r Carroll, but he rallied for the sake of his child and leaving Cali- fornia came to Chicago to go into business.” * This is terrible, yet I never heard of it be- re. ‘‘It has been little known, I believe, but Carroll told me of it and asked if I feared that any great grief would cause his daughter to do the same, ‘*Of course it will now all come out, and she will be said to be insane, to have inherited ber disease from her’ mother as beyond doubt she has, and which some grief has brought out,” ‘*Have you any idea, doctor, of any grief which Clurice has bad?” asked Mr. Wheatley cautiously. ‘*Do you know of ber baving been rescued cron. burnicg hotel in St. Louis eight months ago Ob, yes,” ** You knew her rescuer?” ‘“* Yes, Leo Leffing well, a splendid fellow, for I met him here at dinner several times.” * Do yoy know anything about him?” ** Well, no, nothing more than that be wasa cattle-king in Nebraska, and a dashing, hand- some fellow, rich and courtly.” ‘You knew that he spent the summer up on the lake where Clarice was visiting?” ‘* Yes, I heard so.” ‘‘ Well, let me tell you that I heard something about the man,” ‘ Indeed, and to his detriment?” _ ‘¢ That remains to be seen, for he ts married,” ‘¢ Ah! can this be possible?” ‘¢ So [ was told, for a rumor has been going the rounds that he left the lake-shore about the time that Clarice did, and started home, ‘A telegram came for him, it is said, which called bim to his wife who was dying. ‘‘This telegram was forwarded to the friends of Clarice, by tbe landlord of the hotel, who did not have Leffingwell’s address, and they sent it to the care of Mr, Carroll. ‘‘Now my idea is that Clarice opened it, to re-send to him, and discovering just what it was, in her love for the man and grief at his deceiy- ing her, took her own life. ‘This is my theory, though I may be wrong,” ‘‘ And you may be right, doctor; but I would not spec of it,” “Oh, no, let it be thought that she had in- herited madness from her mother, and was not responsible for her act.” “ Yes, itis better so, far better,” sighed Mr. Wheatley, and he brushed a tear from bis ey for gris welled up in his heart at the fate o the beautiful suicide, , | CHAPTER IX, THE BEAUTIFUL SUICIDE. A THRILL of borror ran through polite society in the city of Chicago, when it became known tbat Clarice Carroll was dead. At first all manner of rumors were afloat as to the cause of her death. Some said that she had been murdered by burglars for the jewels she wore. Others averred that she had been poisoned by the doctor by mistake. Another rumor was that she could not sleep and had taken an overdose of morphine, At last the truth became known that she had been found dead in the library of her elegant home, & dagger driven into her heart, shall, know the secret to which my dead gir. 5 That she had taken her own life people had said at first was preposterous, for why had she done so? Without a reason she certainly had not done 80, No, it was the work of burglars of course, who had been surprised in their work. But then the iron door of the safe in the li- brary wall had been found open, all of her jewels were there, as she bad taken them off and laid them away and not a thing had been disturbed, Money in plenty was there, and yet not a dollar had-been taken, so the sorrowing father hai asserted, This then showed that it was not the work of burglars, At last the truth went the rounds, that she had taken her own life, But why? No one could answer, or would if they could, Then some one who had known Mr, Carroll in the long ago, recalled the circumstance that the mother of the fair suicide had taken ber own life, and without apparent cause, or if there was cause it had been forgotten by the narra- who gave the story to an enterprising news erret. This cast the mantle of charity over the act of Clarice, until another newspaper man, not to be outdone, came out with a sensational state- ment that Miss Clarice Carroll had been receiv- ing devoted attention through the summer from & man whom sbe bad every reason to love, as he had saved ber life, but whom she had too late discovered was a married man, Here was the * reason” in a nutshell, for the mad act of the young girl, and the last was ac- cepted as the facts of the unhappy affuir. To ber grave Clarice was borne one bright autumn day, when the sun, 7¢ warm, had melted the early snow which had fallen, and the birds which had lingered in the cold North were singing merrily in the trees. A vast concourse of people attended the fu- neral, most of them drawn by curiosity to see the elegant house and its surroundings, some with a morbid desire to gaze upon the dead face of the fair suicide, others from a passing acquaint- ance with the Carrolls, and a few from heartfelt sympathy and grief, Mr, Carroll bad roused himeelf from his pros- tration and had gone, attended by his devoted friend Wheatley and Doctor Langley. He bad uttered no word as they lowered the elegant coffin from sight, and only when the ave was filled in and hidden beneath flowers ad he said softly: ‘* Let us go now, for all is over,” Back to the desolate home they went, Mr, Wheatley accompanying the sorrowing million- aire, and together the twosat in the library that ho the scene of the daughter’s mad act, and ed of the dead, The childless man was strangely calm now and he seemed never to tire of telling his friend of his beautiful daughter. ‘“* Wheatley, I must soon solve this mystery or I will go mad, ‘*'You must help me in it, too, for yoy know all, you bave read all the papers have cruelly said, and you have the letter that she wrote, so help me to clear away the clouds,” ‘*T will do all in my power, my dear friend; but what would you bave me do?” ‘+ Find that man,” was the stern rejoinder. ‘*Mr, Leffingwell?” ‘*- Yes, Leo Leffingwell.” ‘‘Do you believe that he is a married man?” ae do not know; I am unable to understand ita ‘* He saved Clarice at the ri:k of his own life he returned to me papers worth nearly a hundred, thousand dollars, and her jewels, ay nals placed us under everlasting obligations m, “T sought him out at the hotel, found him about to go West and urged him to remain, “TI brought him to my home and I felt that he loved my child ere he had known her 4 week, ‘‘ I then saw that she regarded him with the same affection. -— ‘‘T did not ask him if he was married, and he said nothing more about himself than that he lived in Nebraska and had a Jarge ranch there, ‘Then I went to Europe, and Clarice went upon the lake, ‘‘ Leffiingwell returned from Nebraska and nt the summer there. ‘‘ What bappened there heaven only knows; but my child is dead, by ber own hand, and I wish you to find Leffingwell for me, as I apr *pooks-com ‘ : 7 v