Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 793 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

ON 94 yop ye er” Dick | alludes in her letter to me, and which I cannot ** "ou have looked?” even guess at. : | ‘Yes, my friend Wheatley went over all with : eae find him for me, Wheatley, ,will ne, to oe seal could find a clew to prove that you not ¥7as not suicide, i Samuel Carroll had spoken in a low, but ** And her money, for she kept that separate earnest tone, and his look and words indicated | did she not?” his sufferings, ** Yes, and considerable of that was gone, for cs Mr. Wheatley was a man of leisure, a bachelor, | I had given her fifteen thousand dollars in rents 4 ii Olrederrl hiieme. "To eT" | Of fle Wee gone, eb she bad give 30 i arice Ca self, ’ He was a well-preserved, handsome man for | charity.” ; BY forty-five, who had a handsome home not far ‘** You are sure of this, sir?” ; from the Carroll mansion, and a large income Tee” | to sustain it. : ** What proof have you, Mr. Carroll?” If, as rumor had it, he had offered himself ‘““My dear sir, a man who came here and and been refused by Clarice, it had not broken | killed a girl for money would not have content- fis off their friendship, and the young girl thought | ed himself with ten thousand dollars, when I had " eo a man Leffingwell for you,” said William a es er ey aude Seppe, Revel but i eatley. then lamtrying to find some proof thatit was | But even as he spoke the butler brought in a | not suicide,” " card and handed it to his master who said ex- ‘‘Mr. Leffingwell, 1 have proof that it was Doom in Chicago. Ce.) | 4 ¥ citedly: suicide,” ta ‘* My God, Wheatley, he is here,” ‘* Indeed, sir?” y ‘‘'Yes, wait,” . CHAPTER X, Samuel Carroll arose and left the room. why LEO LEFFINGWELL, He sought the parlor where William Wheat- WAS THE card brought in by Crumbs had on it: ey Maat oe Saleh with the a to ie uate : nd whi en n the i “LEO LEFFINGWELL, site dead girl,” ick eget a hw hia tg ; ‘“ SUNSET RANCH, ** Mr, Loffingwell, I can trust you?” ‘“’ Nebraska.” **With your life, sir.” | 7 ' “Read this letter then, for it was written by a ‘*Oh, show him in at once, Crumbs,” cried | poor Clarice the night of her death; it was writ- aa Mr, Carroll, and as the butler disappeared Mr. | ten here in this room at my dosk there, and left moe Wheatley said: upon the table at your side.” 43} ‘*[T will be near if you need me; but I will ‘‘ Her letter?’ gasped she visitor in amaze- gi. | leave you alone with Mr, Leffingwell now,” m ent, ‘* Yes, but it is not knownto the public that she wrote a letter. ‘* No, no, I hid that secret from the cold and callous world, ‘* But, read it, please.” Leo Leffingwell opened the letter and read it slowly to the end, When he had finished it a sigh escaped his lips, and he brushed his band across his eyes, ‘* Well, Mr, Leffingwell?” ‘¢ There is no doubt now, sir.” ‘* That she took her own life?” ‘* Yes, sir.” ‘¢ You see that she refers to some one in that letter, and yet calls no name?” 66 Yes, sir.” Mr, Carroll made no reply and William “ Wheatley departed by one door as the visitor . was ushered into the Jibrary by another, Mr. Carroll tried to rise to meet him, but a after a second effort sunk back and was silent, Be : Entering the room Leo Leffingwell glanced quickly about bim, and as his eyes fell upon the occupant he walked rapidly toward bitin, | He certainly was a very magnificent specimen aA of manhood, tall, erect, dignified and courtly. He was dressed in black and carried a slouch | hat with broad brim in his left hand, which . was gloved, his right being bare. His face wore a very serious, anxious look, | and there was a quiver in bis voice as he said: | ‘* Mr, Carroll, you have the deep sympathy in f a your eo of one who loved her as dearly ms tp vo know to whom reference is made?” M as you do, : O, sir, S Samuel Carroll grasped the outstretched band, “Will you tell me?” cA, drew fhe owt fo a seat near him and looked 2 by my duty to go a sir.” ) ~ intently into ace, 0, then, is it of whom she speaks?’ a The sunlight shone full upon it, and the dark, “Tt is of me, sir.” wore . a> earnest, dreamy eyes met his own unflinchingly, ** Ab! you confess it?” Banya, | ** Leo Leffingwell, you loved her too?” ‘*T must do so in duty to her, to myself and to aes ‘‘ More than my life, sir, did 1 love her.” you, Mr, Carroll.” ‘ Se ‘You have heard of her death?” ‘** And she speaks of an act done) a secret?” a ‘*T saw by the papers that she was dead, and ‘Yes, sir,” | oe would have come at onca.to you, had I not been ** You know what that secret is, what act she ie WeDo sed oo etor pep ene As had Soar none Sad ya to take her own life?” i e ow that she er own life oO, Mr, Carrol, _“T have seen a number of conflicting stories, ‘* Leo Leffingwell, I am ready to hear from 9 gir, from her having been killed by burglars to your lips the truth, tear my heart as it may 2 her T barilly Ende otic Samet tenner? | weil grief, my name, if so it be, with ms | | # = peepeep ss to . was the truth?” ‘Yell me what that secret is which drove my 3 N | Bat there was 6 ct ety and that alone at yon Eubwrtns he apr Toe oN Sa would the motive have been.” ‘*fdo, Mr. Carroll, and I will tell you the > a ‘*Was nothing taken, sir, from the safe, for | whole truth of the secret that has taken her i a no om that it was open when she was | from us who loved her so,” and the strong man Zn The. safe is there in the wall, as you seb, sa bead Teceef Racont Caroll. sipcchane hin’ eax. for a at . the a N= api a S open a combination lock whic Vi. _ Clarice and I alone ew the key of. CHAPTER 1. fe ‘* Her jewels and her money she kept there as THE SECRET, Bo 1 always made it the repository of mine,and | THm manner of Leo Leffingwell seemed to srs she came here to the library, before going up to | convince Mr. Carroll that he was to hear some- Shs her bed to put them away, as was ber habit. thing of deep and serious import about his Poe f ‘* She ey the safe, put the jewels in the | daughter, eB « box, and then God only knows what happened, The man’s face had become pale, and he looked ae 2) oe a waa open oar heey found in that sie coont? eg a re hn aot the | tin 4 ° stea e r 8 “me Leo Leffing well did not start from thechair,| Bu he abook off all nervousness by an effort, ai but simply passed his hand over the velvet arm | and said: | ME. ‘ina ere —_e - Mite as oom »y am tell you this righ ba caused your Bs, “pf e éthing, though there was one large diamo he pe Pan tnrahich i> you'a pase’ ot Mohn uf ay out of the necklace, as though it had been lost | life, yee eG out.” ‘¢ Some hile traveli th bah Nt - years ago, while traveling on the ie ae <, and was all of ber other jewelry there? frontier, I ped one night at the home of a ye “And on bonds and money which you say oe yp heb ce caer oF, eight ay youkept there” ” “*She was a lovely girl, and bad been edu- ae ss : 85 - Nothing was taken,” eated at a school in the East, up fo her sixteenth > -aaly a { Sys , Ph Eoae in ee ea Oe) ae meme Ay ie we a rer eS — atte [a Ma eS | ; ie aliaiie dares eit a hat See | Label? when her mother died, and she went to er frontier home to keep house for her father. “The next morning I started upon my way, but had gone but a short distance when I beard hoofs coming on my trail, and turning beheld this girl. ‘* She at once told me how she had overheard a plot of her father’s cowboys to kill and rob me, and I was to be ambushed a stort distance ahead of where I.then was, **'W hile we were talking about the best trail for me to take, the cowboys, three in number, came in sight, and suspecting that I knew their intention opened fire upon me, “*Tt was a hot fight, and two of them I killed, the third running away. ‘*But I was seriously wounded myself, and ee have bled to death but for that young girl. ‘*She carried me back to her home,, anG through the weeks that I hovered between life and death nursed me most tenderly. “ve ) ‘** But for her I would have died. ‘When at last I was able to go my way I could not be blind to the fact that she loved me. : ‘* Three months after I got a letter calling me to her as her father was dying. ‘*T wont, and the dying man, supposing that I must love his daughter,placed her hand in mine and bade me vow to make her my wife, ‘*T could not refuse his dying request, I loved no one else and so I promised, ‘* We were married and I took her to my home and she made me a 200d and loving wife. ‘* But less than one year ago, when called East, [ met your daughter. ‘*] saw her in the dining-room of the hotel in St. Louis and felt that she was the woman I alone could love. ‘*T returned to my hotel late that night to find it on fire, rushed to the room [ had seen you en- ter and you know the rest. ‘*T tried to act honorably and stay away, and you came to me and I could not resist your invi- tation, ‘* T went to the lake-shore in the summer de- termined to tell your daughter all. ‘‘T lingered day after day before I could do so, and when I did tell her that I was a mar- ried manI could pot resist telling her that L loved her alone, ‘Then she frankly tga aa love for me, and I needed little urging not to go away from her, to still remain near her, ** At last you were expected from abroad, and I escorted her home and left her, ‘*T went to my home to find my wife dying, for she had been thrown from her horse and fatally hurt, ‘* She had had them telegraph for me to various places for me to come to her, ‘*T arrived in time to receive her farewell, and to hear her words: *** Teo, I never was the love of your life, | ‘*** When I am gone, seek that other love and be happy,’” | ‘* Poor child,” murmured Samuel Carroll. ‘* Yes, for she was little more than a child, sir, and a noble, true little woman, “Tt was after ber funeral that a cowboy came with the mail, and then, by_& strange coincidence I learned that the one I did love, soem Cano had died soon after my wife’s eath, TEA ‘* What my grief was you can well know, Mr. Carroll, At once I started here to see you, but a tele-’ gram received at the railway station called me to the bedside of my mother who was living in Omaha, | ‘* [ could not, to stop over, refuse such a call, _ muchas [ longed tomeet you and learn the whole ~ truth about my lost Clarice, a ‘**T went to Omaha at once, to the side of my mother, and found her dying, ‘‘It was another cruel, bitter blow, Mr. Carroll, for the wife I had been deeply attached | to was gone, the woman I idolized had died by her own hand, it was said, and my mother was = dying. i ny rT T scn tall that we had been estranged for . Rr he years, for she had married a second time, anda; = wild, perbaps willful boy, my step-fat / driven me from his home. : ND ‘But I made my way in life,andlateronha@ written my mother of my success. __ ah ae ‘‘ She replied witb all a mother’s devotion for Ey her son, but her husband refused toallow herto correspond with me and only when she was dying. — was she permitted to send forme,” _ es yaa ‘* A cruel, bad man I should say he was,toparé mother and son,” Mr, Carroll said, 4 3h ** Yes, sir, that is just what he was, in Pv. 4 ow , he ere é LN qm . y = , a ‘ f 4 yf + A roy. Te »«™ a c : ay ? ; ; ’ ¢ ‘, Fe ke , “ty : ee ak. pics ’ > ee re 4 . , ‘ Or gale i Ae 4 @ | @ 0 9 fae, bs NY) fy A a, a wT, i, ys