Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 853 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

~ z % ~~ a ae ts . a >” ‘ ws: PY : ~ an “ -& A ‘ 4 ‘ >. & a > a -* rooms the thought of further trouble and gufferin The fact that the youth, claiming to be —» ~ 2 ue > +4 Xe ; = % « & b * _— = — - - « et . , ‘aay edd “) iow! ; —_— ) as a § ** For what?” **Can you not guess her motive?” ** Ah! she feared I might betray her?” aes.” *“'That, she having escaped the gallows by turning state’s evidence, and having got- ten the boy out, I would be left to my fate, and to save myself might tell all that I kenw ?” ‘“*Tt looks that way certainly.” ‘*Do you not know it to be?’ ‘*T was simply engaged for the work.” What work?” ‘*To give you the poison.” ** Yet you did not?” "Noi" ‘Well, I got my money and do not have to carryon my soul the weight of having taken your life,” ‘That means that you are a villain yet not a murderer,” ‘* About that.” “Well, whatever you arg,or what your motive may or may not befeathank you, and I wish that I could repay you.” ** You can,” “How?” ‘*Make a clean breast of it to me, of all you know about that woman and her crimes, the boy and his deeds, and all that you can tell me.” ‘* By Heaven, but I will! ‘Yet why would you know?” **Tam Dick Doom, the detective.” ‘‘Great God! you know all,” cried the prisoner, in alarm, But the next morning the papers came out with the statement, that Wirt Westley had committed suicide in his prison cell by taking poison which he had mysteriously concealed about him in a way that had defied all search. CHAPTER XXII. LED BY A WOMAN. Ir was a dark night, the rain was falling steadily and the wind whistled aroumd the eaves of the large mansion of Lake View Hall and sighed among the pines and cedars that sheltered it. It was the night upon which three mys- terious happenings took place in Chicago, the robbery of the safe in the private office of Lawyer Beall, the clever escape of Loyd Granger from prison, leaving in his stead a young and beautiful girl to occupy his cell, and the abduction from her home of Mrs. Granger, the mistress of Lake View Mrs. Granger sat alone inher beautiful rooms, engaged in writing a letter, She had dismissed her maid and was seemingly very much occupied in the work before her, for she often held her pen up from the paper and became lost in a deep reverie, She was a handsome woman of forty-five, with a good form and anair of refinement BpOnt her that stamped her as wel!-born and bred. ‘‘There were lines about her mouth an a look in her eyes that revealed how deep] she had suffered in her life, in wedding a man she had devotedly loved and believed all that was noble and true, to find him to be unworthy of her, cold, designing, false and willing to destroy her happiness to wed another, | Incarcerated in an asylum as insane by her husband, the anguish she had suffered had been great indeed. At last getting her freedom, through her husband’s sudden death, she had returned to - her home, shown her right to claim his fortune, and devoted her life to one of luxurious enjoyment, _ Now, as she sat there in her handsome did not come to her. . y ~ <= : eT oes y eh ; r ‘ ae ate °% ‘ oe - _ * - * bats 5 : b eat ok Oe - ‘ a ws * a led 2 : ~~ o Rant’ J . 4% « ag . - - . Dick Doom’s Kidnap ee — re, 7h r o- ! ‘ be . 4 - : ’ : . A / ” ° > > . o - ae So . ‘ pat | we , Oe )) BA yr hed . f +f Ss \ — } j . i ¢ - . ay ie i ‘4 A « al ‘ BA An” J * ea A. 7 2 = . «a : 7 3 a" ‘ 1! ‘eke hy “> ba _ we Seer : ¢ . ‘ = Wee ; spat or eS EEN ae oe he Stet: ees ee oe Sd —— a —_— 5 - -< = ae | = ' — - - 4. ——" (= . : her son, lay in prison awaiting trial for murder, did not, for some reason, cause her great unhappiness. The old house with its weird history, shunned by many as though it were a plague-spot, appeared to hold no terrors for her. That day she had received a letter, and she was answering it as she sat there at the desk. The letter read: “Are you not willing, now that you are nearing old age, to ease your conscience by aiding me to keep from the gallows one who bears your name, one who is on the threshold of youth, and who will Icad a different life should he get free from this place, this living tomb? ‘*You possess wealth untold, and if you will donate a few thousands to the rescue of your poor, unfortunate son, you will be happier in your declining years, and not have the horrid phantcm before you of your own flesh and blood dangling at a rope-end, the life choked out of him. ‘*Remember that there is such a thing as inheriting evil as there is good, and what my father was. ‘Could I be an angel with a devil for a father? ‘‘T ask you to save me from death, to set me free, and I will go far abe from here, never to come near you, or make a demand upon you again, for you know that I dare not trust myself within the clutches of the law here. ‘Will you try me once more and rescue me, putting out only a few of your many thousands to that purpose? ‘‘lask it for the sake of my childhood, which you so tenderly cared for, not to let me die like a dog. ‘*It is my last and only appeal, the appeal of one who is dying, one who looks down into an open grave. ‘‘-Your unhappy Son, sé LoyYp. ”» This letter had been delivered that day in person, a young girl had brought it, and tbe mistress of Lake View had told her that she would answer it, and to call on the morrow for the reply. Now she was answering it, and as she thought and thought, she suddenly cried: ‘Yes, Ido not want his life on my con- science—T will rescue him.” CHAPTER XXIII. THE MIDNIGHT VISITORS. As Mrs. Granger, with her heart touched by the letter she had received, and behold- ing in her mind the gallows loom up before her, and Loyd Granger standing upon it, decided that she would once more lend a helping hand and aid the unregenerate youth to escape, as she sat there, pen in hand to write him a letter, the last she would ever write him, telling him that, for the sake of the young and beautiful girl who had that day brought his letter and pleaded so eloquently for him, she little dreamed that there was a plot against her. She did not see through the ‘darkness and the rain, a carriage drive up to the outer gate. She did not see two men get out, followed by a muffled form that looked as though it might be a woman, There was a low, whispered conversation, then the padlock of the gate was broken, by the blow of some instrument brought along, and the three entered the grounds. They tramped along the gravel drive, un- mindful of the pelting rain, and, with rub- ber-clad feet ascended the broad steps to the iazza. ~ i Halting at the door the muffled form that looked like a woman, gave a few directions, and a sound followed like the cutting ofa saw. | ‘ ~~ er " : : J 1 . ore . id be per Knock-Out. ¢ q * - . ie pd, ix dap. Ps 5 4 This was kept up for some time, and when it ceased a square block had been taken out. of the door. A hand was then thrust through the open- ing and the key in the lock was turned, the: bolt shot back and the three entered. A dim light burned in the hall, for the butler was superstitious about the piace and always kept a lamp lighted in several] parts. of the old mansion. The muffled form led the way up the broad stairs and halted her companions at a@ door that led into one wing of the mansion. Leaving them there she glided away down the hall and entered another door. She moved as silently as as a cat, making: no sound whatever, Entering the door she found herself in am ante-room, A door beyond was open and through it streamed a bright light. | On tip-toe she went toward it and glanced through the half drawn portiere. ‘‘There, not five feet from her, sat the mistress of Lake View, engaged in writing, or rather thinking. Her back was toward the midnight. marauder and she saw her not, suspected not her presence, The hands of the intruder were raised and held out before her, Then the fingers moved lightly, and through the room began to steal a strange, sweet odor that was overpowering. It pervaded the room where Mrs, Granger sat, environed her with its fragrance and stole away softly her senses, There came over her a delightful languor, she seemed sinking away into dreamland and the head drooped forward, then rested upon the desk and the mistress of Lake View Halk Was unconscious. Her maid had retired to .hér room across. the hall, to sleep through the night unless. a bell from her mistress called her. The butler was in his quarters, the cook in her room dreaming end no one suspected that a crime was being committed there im that elegant home, When the head of the woman drooped the woman behind her quickly turned to a window and raised it, forshe too began to feel the languor of the fragrant drug. Standing there a moment she inhaled the pure air, and then stepped to the sleeping woman and placed a handkerchief, scente with the dreamy perfume, under her nose, Quickly she stepped about the room, look- ing into drawers, picking up here and there out a large roll of bills. The men were there awaiting her call. ‘Come, sir, for she is unconscious. ‘*T will pack up a few things for her, while you wrap her in the blankets you brought with riage,” | ‘The men obeyed in silence. . They were hard-faced fellows, hired for gold, wrapped up snugly, and one man bore her down the stairs, the other following with a hastily-packed grip. | Out of the mansion they crept, the woman closing the door behind them, and so on out to the waiting carriage. “A good night’s work, and if the one I sent to the lawyer’s home to get his keys has done his work as well, then I am the one who controls the situation,” muttered the rolled rapidly away. CHAPTER XXIV. THE PLOTTER AT HOME A WoMAN sat in a well-furnished room im an humble-looking home in a secluded tad _ e ae ~~ °* a e on is oA Pe. «= - — lp ae ee Dt .: 7 + ~ * . jewelry, and opening the writing desk, took Thrusting them away, she went to the | door and opened it. you and bear her to the car-— evil work, and willing to seli their souls for The form of the unconscious Woman was — woman as she entered the carriage, which. : i a “ 5 ‘Vat -'.* ae, < Sa” te co ‘ . # _ “VY i” } 1’? , r : vr, oe ae et . ; 7 : 4 “ _ : ™ es - ** * +7 adie f *~ ~~ ' rf ‘ $ =, A os ne eee 2 : 4 wy. WE chews “+E ~~ le il te in > - - ~- i _ a" 9° * a, ee. -_ v e. F—