Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 197 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

finished my narrative yet, and ere that comes to an end, you may see cause for altering your opinion of my abilities.” | “TI beg pou to bring it to an end as soon &s possible, for it is growing most wearisome,” said the little woman, hiding a yawn with one phump band. Jasper Quigley laughed softly, as though amused by her coolness. “T shall not detain you much longer, little one. I mean to face my cards on the table and let you see for yourself that I really hold an iavincible hand. ‘“‘ In less than six months after your marriage with Martin Luther Wesley, my plans were complete, and only lacked the one finishing touch, which I gave with a degree of pleasure which I may safely leave you to imagine. “I had succeeded in poisoning his mind against you, and making you believe him a devil of evil rather than the holy saint the fool- ish fellow thought himself, I admit frankly that nearly every word which I breathed into your ears and his, during those busy days, were lies, without the slightest foundation in truth, “Tf you ask my object, that is easy told. I hoped to drive him into seeking a divorce from you, on the proof of your infidelity which I had so adroitly manufactured, yet without my agency appearing in the effair, no matter how closely it might looked into. But in that I failed. Not that the poor fool doubted the truth of what was laid before him, nor that he loved you too dearly to drag your fair name in the mire, but because the doing so would be to cast a stain upon the name of which he was so proud, because the shadow of your sin would be refiected upon himself. ‘Though I do not mind admitting now that all the evidence which I furnished him was manufactured out of whole cloth, as the saying goes, had he brought the suit for divorce as repeatedly urged him to do not a judge or jury in the land but what would have granted him the dissolution asked. Andso had you acted on my advice. But you each refused to profit by my industry and ingenuity, and I was forced to alter my plans. If I could not_marry the di- vorced wite of Martin Luther Wesley, then I would win his widow.” “ And for that you murdered him!” cried the woman, her eyes widely distended with horror, “He did not commit suicide—” ' ‘*No—as none should know better than your- self,” was the swift retort. ‘‘ I intended to kill the poor fool, but you forestalled me—” ‘A lie! as base as your own black heart!” “Of course!’ the rascal said, with a sneer. “T did not expect that you. would acknowledge the deed. You would be very foolish to do so, even to so true a friend and ally asI. But de- nial upon denial, though piled as high as yonder mountain, cannot alter stern facts, and I hold here the proof of your crime—proof so positive that even now, after all these years, I could bring you to the scaffold, simply by publishing the evidence ed by your dead husband!” Jasper Quigley paused with these words, as though for a reply from the woman whose wild eyes were staring so strangely into his glowing orbs: but not a sound came from her lips. She sat like one turned tostone. Her face was white and ghastly. Her limbs seemed rigid. Was this conscious t, or simply stupor brought on by ne S is monstrous charge? Watching her as closely as.a hun cat might watch a mouse just beyond its reach, and vetatien tise his lips with his tongue, as though loth to lose even the slightest taste of the re- venge he had waited and plotted for through all these years, Jasper Quigley spoke once more: “You remember that he was taken suddenly ill, and how positively he refused your kind offer to act as his nurse. He would give you no reason for your refusal, though you asked him; but that same night he sent for me—poor fool! he believed me his best if not his only friend on earth—and told me a wondrous tale. “There is no need for me to Png it at length, as he told it, for, judged by t after events, you must have known it all, even before it came to my ears. poison, administered by your hand—” ‘No! no! he did not—he could not have be- lieved that!” cried, almost shrieked, the tor- tured wowan, her face distorted with horror. ‘‘T¢ is another of your horrible lies! Say that you are lying—that he, my poor husband, did not believe me capable of such a monstrous crime!” Jasper Quigley laughed harshly, bending for- ward and rubbing his hands together with a satanic glee written upon every feature. Now he was enjoying the revenge for which he had waited so long. a] Pet Flamsteed saw this devilish grin, and with a strenuous effort of will she recovered her composure, resolved to foil him so far as lay in her power. Jappet Quigley saw the change, and read its meaning eright, but he was not greatly discon- certed. Though she might. hide. it in part, he knew that she was suffering enough to satisfy even his malignancy. “Whether true or false, be sure that your Revolver ———— | ' ' | I | | a ae ' ' ' | ' ' ' e light of | 7 Enough that he _ solemnly assured me that he was dying of slow | — ge —— ee husband believed the grave charge which he confided to me in secret, first exacting my sol- emn pledge that I should never betray his con- fidence, unless a certain contingency was. to arise: of which more hereafter. ‘You may refuse me credit for so doing, but though he was playing directly into my hands, this accusation shocked me so greatly that lI tried my best to convince him that he was wronging you; but. you remember, how obsti- nate he could be when he once took a notion into his head, and all I could say failed to shake his belief. And when he went on to give me his reasons for so believing, even I could not deny that the case looked terribly black against ou. ‘IT will not pain you by repeating them now, for they are all set down in careful detail in the document which I now hold, and which you shall read before this interview comes to an end. Enough that they are clear enough to condemn you before any impartial jury—where you shall have the chance to confute them, un- ess you and I can come fo terms. ‘There was only one other let into the terri- ble secret, and he only partially; the family lawyer, whom Wesley summoned for the pur- pose of drawing his will. Even he would have been kept in ignorance, had he not flatly re- fused to draw up the instrument as Wesley de- sired it, Asit was, the honest_old fellow tried to defend you, and in doing so, angered Wesley so deeply that he sent him away and intrusted the writing to me. ‘*You remember what the will which was read at the time contained; well, that was of my doing. Wesley never dictated that closing clause, which said that you should forfeit the wealth left you unless you married me, thus making fullif tardy reparation for the wron done me before your marriage with him. And yet, greatly as you were angered and surprised hen, Rees indignation would have been in- rib tenfold had I produced the genuine will. “That left you one dollar with which to buy mourning for your dead husband! Andif any person should express surprise at the amount of the legacy, you were enjoined to tell them all that occurred on a certain evering—which was thé one on which he swore you administered the first dose of poison to him in his medicine. Surely the alteration I made was far preferable to that!” ‘*“No—ten thousand times no!” cried Pet, her eyes flashing. ‘For then there would have been something to work by—a clew, if never so slight, to the mystery which every line of that atrocious producers shadowed forth, which cast a frightful cloud of suspicion over me, and caused all my fair-weather friends to shrink away as though the taint of leprosy had fallen upon me!” “It was all very sad, no doubt,” added Jas- ae Quigley, with a repetition of that sneering augh. ‘“‘ Very sad, but by no means as bad as it might have been, had I thought best to press matters to a crisis, instead of contenting myself with throwing out an occasional hint and dropping a word or two here and there where I felt sure they would do the most good,” “‘And by doing so you ruined your own plans. Despite your diabolical cunning, you could not entirely conceal the double part you were playing. Rumors of the truth came to our ears, and to that fact you owe the cold reception you received when you came to us with your crocodile tears and fulsome expres- sions of sympathy.” Jasper Quigley listened to this swift speech with a smile, but there was.an ugly light in his eyes which belied the impression he wished to convey. ‘*That I was playing a double part, of course you knew when I gave my evidence before the coroner’s jury which sat on the corpse of your husband—” “Tt was false from beginning to end—the evidence you gave them!” cried Pet Flamsteed, once more rallying. ‘‘ That, even more than the cunning hints which you scattered around on all sides, centered the suspicion upon me—” Jasper Quigley cut her passionate words short _ with an impatient wave of his hand. “False, of course, since you were acquitted, or rather not charged with the crime af all, since the jury brought in a verdict of suicide.” A wild light suddenly filled the dark eyes of the little woman, an ces from her chair, she raised one hand above her head, speaking swiftly: “Until this day I never once doubted but that verdict was founded on truth—now, as heaven hears me! I believe my poor husband was foully murdered, and that you, Jasper Quigley, was his cowardly assassin!” The arch-villain seg ore shorhys but never even changed color at this emphatic accusation, “Doubtless you would be glad to believe as much, and still more happy could you induce the world to share in the impression. It was murder, not suicide, and I hold the blastin proofs—evidence which poor Martin furnish me. before his death. He knew it all, knew that he was dying from poison, knew whose the hand which was cunningly and at the same Rob, the Red-Handed.. ee —— eee ee @ —— —S oe es ee eee ee ee oe time relentlessly cutting short his thread of life—” ‘Yet he kept you.by him—he did not de- nounce you?” ‘*‘Why should he deprive himself of the ono friend left him in his dire extremity?’ asked Jasper Quigley, with uplifted eyebrows and wondering countenance. Surely he believed in the truth of the terrible revelation he was making, else he was a won- derful actor! The poor woman saw that he held all the trumps in this Unepersie game, and with a sick- ening faintness at her heart, she sunk b into her chair, staring at the exultant wretch with a vague dread of the blow which she felt could not be much longer in falling. ‘* After all, there was something of the hero in the poor devil,” resumed Jasper Quigley, closely watching the effects. of his cunningly chosen words. ‘“‘He knew that he was being poisoned, yet he made no sign save to the one true friend whom he knew he could implicitly trust. He refused to take any antidote, refused to call in medical assistance, or even to refuse the draught which his lowing wife was careful to bring and hold to his lips evening after evening-—-” megs —demon of evil!” shrieked the poor woman, driven almost beside herself. “ Say that you are lying now—Merciful heavens! surely that was not the vehicle of death!” “Why ask me?” laughed the scoundrel, sur- prise written on every feature. ‘“‘1 have only surmise to guide me—you must have cer- nty. With a bitter groan the tortured.-girl sunk down in her chair, burying her face in her hands, convulsive sobs shaking her slight frame in every fiber. It was a sight to move a stoic, yet Jasper Quigley gloated over her agony, licking his lips and rubbing his hands tojether in devilish glee at the exquisite torture he was inflicting upon this frail woman. “Tf not,” he continued, in that cold, even tone thaf was so exasperating, “then poor Wesley died under a mournful delusion. I was with him on the day which was the last his assassin allowed him, and he had a strong pre- sentiment that he should never see the sun rise again. When he told me this, I laughed at him, but one cold reproof was sufficient to check me, for, after all, my mirth was forced and something told me that he spoke naught but the truth. : } “It was then that he told me in plain words what before he had only vaguely hinted at: that you were poisoning him !” The arch-villain paused here as though in hopes of Wwitmessing another passionate out- burst on the part of his tortured victim, but only a low moan escaped her lips. For the time being she seemed utterly crushed. Yet he saw that she was not beyond the reach of suffering, and with devilish malignancy he promepa the barbed arrow still deeper into the leeding wound. ““T implored him to call in a doctor, even at that late stage of the case, but he coldly re- fused. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I have wei the matter well, and considered it in all its bear- ings. Life is not worth the trouble of living, especially since life to me means death to her. A doctor would see at once that I was bein poisoned, and then the horrible truth mu come out. Though she hates me and is surely com ng my death, I shall never lift a hand against her, unless she tries to_profit by ay. death in one certain way—then I will turn my hebl to avenge my wrongs.’ ‘Those were his very words. I have not for- gotten one of them, for the terrible fulfillment of the belief he expressed that day, imprinted them indelibly upon my memory. ‘‘He gave me then the paper which I have already alluded to more than once, swearin me. to the strictest secrecy, unless after h death, you were to attempt to marry again; then I was to produce it and let the law e its course. ‘That same night he died. You know what followed. The traces of poison could not be concealed, and there was an inquest. As one of his most intimate friends, as well as one of the. last who had seen him alive, 1 was sum- moned before the jury, to throw what light upon the sad affair f uld. You know how I did my best to screen you, knowing as I did that you had murdered him, having that damn- ing proof in my breast-pocket at the very mo- ment when I was staining my soul with perjury on your behalf—” : : ‘Stabbing my honor ahd casting suspicion upon me with your every, word!” cried Pet, bitterly. Jasper Quigley langhed softly, but made no direc reply to this charge. Thanks to that evidence, the verdict was one of suicide while suffering from a painful ilmess that temporarily rendered him 1e. But few there were who believed this, and when the strange conditions of the will were read, that vague suspicion became almost a certainty, and at last I began to taste the sweet fruits of my long and cunning plotting, for your friends fell away from you, and the papers. JOO €om (E cS (Elo)