Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 501 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 oe’ > — « ‘3 ingsteel Steve. He gave a rather reluctant consent, and the drive was so arranged. The telegram was duly dispatched, with an immediate reply requested; and it came, from Long Beach in less than an hour, to the follow- ing effect: ‘“‘Be under no alarm, but be doubly on guard. May be with you at any hour, but am ona good scent. 5... They then made their descent upon Miss Raw, who seemed in nowise overawed at the im- ressively family nature of the visit, as it might e called, and scowled at the baby with evident disfavor, if not with positive animosity. “T don’t like young~’uns, an’ ain’t squeamish about sayin’ so,” was one of her opening re- marks. ‘' Least of all, heirs!” And she rung in her 2 with an unction that would have been a credit to Seven Dials. They bad already, with the exception of the nurse, helped themselves to seats in the little dressmaking-parlor. ‘* Indeed!” retorted Mrs. Willard. ‘* Well, Miss Raw, Mary can then step out on your porch with baby, since he seems so objection- able, while my husband pays you your bill. And we can be careful about annoying you with our company in the future,” Miss Raw straightway began to draw in her horns, or to smooth down her false front, which was much the same thing. ‘*Oh, ma’m, 1 didn’t mean no pertickler of- fense,” she mumbled. ‘‘ Leastwise—you kin let the babby stay eff he’ll promise not to spew or squack,” But, at a sign from Edna, Mary withdrew, notwithstanding that her crowing little charge seemed decidedly opposed to his elemination, Miss Raw received the amount of her bill, and the interview was fairly under way. CHAPTER XXVI. MISS RAW NAMES HER TERMS. EpGarR WILLARD lost no time in directing Miss Raw’s attention to the significant words at the bottom of her bill. For the first time in the visitors’ experience, the woman seemed to lose her iron assurance, though it was but for a moment, “ That ?” she stammered, after an awkward pause. ‘‘ Oh, yes, that!” ‘*Suppose you explain it to us, Miss Raw,” said Edgar, somewhat encouragingly,. Miss Raw was herself again. ‘““Oh, that ” she repeated, slowly. ‘‘ Well, to tell the truth, Mr, Edgar, when I writ that I wasn’t altogether decided-like in my own mind.” ‘*You are not telling the truth at all, Miss Raw; for you didn’t write it.” She gave him a quick glance, that was enough, and then said, sullenly: ** Well, Mr. Edgar, eff you allow to know more ase it than I do, what air you up to, any- wa “‘IT am up to discovering the exact truth of the matter, and your demand afterward. She drew a pair of old-fashioned mitts from her pocket, put them on, straightened herself bolt upright in her chair, stiff as a poker, and seemed to be expectant. He went on, coldly: ** Those words were not only written, but also inspired, Miss Raw, by a man whom IJ chance to know something about—a Mr. O'Meara,” ‘Wrong, Mr. Edgar!” she snatched out, cor- rectingly: ‘* by Count Omeerando, as high-toned a gent as I ever see.” “*T begin to understand, And you doubtless made his acquaintance through Miss Libby Webb’s introduction?” **'Yes, Mr. Edgar, I did.” ** You must have exchanged some confidences with that man, for him to have ventured on such a written demand in your name,” “Wrong again, Mr, Edgar!” emphatically. **Seraphimer Raw swops secrets with no man on airth—no, nor with no woman nuther.” “That is well; suppose you explain,” ** Mebbe I will, and mebbe I wont.” *T shouldn’t like, Miss Raw, to remind you that you happen to be the recipient of my bounty—understand that I use the word bounty because strictly correct—and shall only do so if actually compelled to,” ** Oh, ’'m no account, I suppose! I’m nothin’ but a poor forlorn an’ lone pauper woman, with- out no nat’ral pertector!” **T hope you won’t make me impatient, Miss Raw.” She glared, but’ was docile, ‘* Well, the second time that swell came here e was alone, Miss Libby had told him, it seems, of my connection with the estate.” ** With my ong you mean,” “All right, Mr. Edgar. ‘I hear Mr, Willard pays you six bundred a year,’ says he, ‘That's my business, count,’ says I. ‘True enough,’ says he. ‘But do you know some secret what he’d like to know? ‘ What I know I do know,’ says I. Then he larfed. * Look here, Miss Raw,’ says he. ‘You, I’m purty sure, know some . secret what Mr. Edgar would like mightily to know, 1 ov my Boag hev a secret of his what he wouldn’t hev known for a fortun’, Now, suppose we Jump our claim ag’in’ him, jest as eff é ‘ you was a-makin’ it all yourself. He’d tumble to the dodge an’ it’ll jest be you actin’ under my instructions, ’stead of me,’” ‘¢ Well, well!’ interposed Edgar, impatiently. ‘* You finally struck hands with him and the compact was made? That is it, is it not?” ‘* Sort of that way, sir.” ‘* Well, Miss Raw, you then virtually admit ine you have a secret knowledge to dispose re) y **T don’t never admit nothin’.” **Do not trifle with me, woman, or it may be much the worse for you,” ‘* Lor’ bless you, Mr, Edgar! who’s a-triflin’?” ‘*'You do know something as to the existence or non-existence of a twin brother—as to my murdered grandfather having left behind a twin brother, in his own exact image, whom the world had never suspected or heard of before.” Miss Raw bristled up even straighter and more stiffly than before, if such were possible, ‘Good Lord-a Massy, sir!” she exclaimed, in unaffected astonishment. ‘‘I don’t purfess to know nothing of the sort. The ideahr!” Both Edgar and Edna felt a secret sinking at heart. Was it only to be proved that Springsteel Steve had been no less at fault than they; that the woman was simply O’Meara’s dupe, with no secret at all in her possession worth the tell- ing? ‘* Listen tome, Miss Raw,” continued Willard, with renewed impressiveness. ‘* You evidently know and have seen the strange persovage who appears to be the exact image of my mur- dered grandfather?” ‘‘T don’t say asI hain’t seen the—the inder- vidooal,” she reluctantly admitted. ‘‘Ts that personage a living, flesh-and-blood being, in your opinion, or a ghost—a spirit?” ‘*T don’t take no stock in ghosts!” contemptu- ously. ‘That for sperrets!” And she so far poe her ramrod rigidity as to snap her ngers. © Good! you then admit the substantiability of the strange person under consideration. You have also doubtless remarked his life-like resem- blance to my deceased grandfather.” ‘** No person could help remarkin’ that.” ‘¢ How then do you account for this person’s extraordinary likeness to my deceased grand- father, unless on the theory that he is a twin- brother, kept apart from the knowledge of the world until recently?” ‘““T don’t account for nothin’.” ‘Woman! who and what is this man?” ‘¢T never said I would tell.” Both Edgar and Edna drew a long breath of relief. She did know the answer to the last question, us was quite evident, and the secret was for sale. “* We're getting down to hard-pan at last,” Willard resumed, with much cheerfulness, ‘¢Miss Raw, you have something to sell that I am willing to buy. What is your price?” ‘‘ Wait a minute, Mr. Edgar,” said Miss Raw, with wholly unexpected affability, ‘* You ought to first understand just what I promise my secret to be worth. You've treated me like a white woman, an’I don’t keer eff I do do the square thing.” ‘Well, what do you promise the desired in- formation shall be worth to me?” ‘¢Tt will be worth jest this; It will take you right off, teetotally, out of that false-hearted scoundrel Count Omeerando’s power, and render the future prosecution of any for Miser John Willard’s murder an absolute impossibility !” This was positively startling, The woman, in her impressivenes', had even managed to ex- sar herself in the uncorrupted vernacular, ut this was as nothing compared to the import of her words. Edna turned pale, while Willard was painful- ly aware of a cold sweat standing out on his forehead. “How can yeu imagine me in that man’s power?” he asked. ‘‘T don't imagine it, and be didu’t say you were. But I saw through the hypocritical skunk from the first, even when he thought me his instrument. Pd throw him over as [ would a dog! When you deal with me, you deal with me alone |” There had come a rough sincerity in Miss Raw’s manner, ‘Trust in her,” whispered Edna. Her husband nodded. . ‘‘ Well, Miss Raw,” he continued, “I take you at your word. As dealing with you alone, and provided your secret prove worth to me asmuch as you claim for it, what is your demand for its revelation?” Miss Raw knitted her brows. © ‘* What’s the hull estate wu’th, at a cash val- leration?” she asked. Willard was again taken aback, but he replied after a pause: brid hundred thousand dollars, I have been ar Very well, Mr. Edgar,” said Miss Raw, with a resumption of her cast-iron placidity, “you kin have my secret for jest two hundred thousand—an even half.” Edna felt like fainting, while her husband burst into a sort of hysterical laugh. - i | t ll f \ ~ ‘ Jing : : ie + ae ee hom ' Ns) - *.. ys A wo’ . a AY Vee Ah Peat Se RR ee Pm ce ott Sea A tne g aN Ee? i —_—_—_—_—— eee" et “You're crazy, Miss Raw!” he exclaimed; ** you're not in earnest!” But she wasn’t crazy, she was in earnest, and all the talk to the contrary had no more effect upon her than water spraying upon adamant, A fresh misfortune was in store for the young couple. ‘*Why, where is Mary, with the baby?” ex- claimed Edna, on coming out on Miss Raw’s cottage-porch. ‘‘What can have become of them?” Sheriff Langley, who was conversing with an- other man a short distance away, was appealed 0. ‘*Bless me, Mrs, Willard!” he exclaimed, after acknowledging the doul lo greeting; ‘* was it your child that the young woman had tiene on the porch a short time ago?” ‘Yes, yes! what of them?” “Why, a gentleman in a close carriage beckoned them to bim a few minutes ago; then be playfully snatched the child from the wo- man’s arms; pulled her in, too, when she leaned forward to protest; and then they were all driven away, I thought the gentleman the child’s parent, and the whole thing a joke.” Edna uttered a piercing sbriek. CHAPTER XXVII. THE CHILD KIDNAPPED, “My child! my Willie!” screamed the un- bappy mother. ‘* He is gone—stolen!” few more explanations from the astounded Langley left no doubt as to both child and nurse having been surreptitiously spirited away. Nor was there any doubt, from such rambling but fairly accurate description as he was en- abled to give of the ed ease jocular gentle- man in the close carriage, that O’Meara himself was the abductor. Instantly there was a hue and cry. Even Miss Raw, who had followed her visitors out up- on the cottage porch, was the picture of speeci- Jess indignation and dismay, The sheriff darted off in the direction of his office, to put in motion such inquiry and pursuit as were at his disposal. Edgar supported his all but frenzied wife back into the Surrey, which had been in| waiting on the opposite side, which was the shadiest side of the street, and drove off to the railwa and telegraph station like the wind, though wit no definite idea as to what to do. In a brief space of time the entire business portion of the community was agog with the story of the abduction, with such garnishings as busy rumor chose to furnish. But cbild, nurse and abductor had disappear- ed, without leaving a trace, and that was the long and short of it. It chanced to be fair week at White Plains, when the streets and outlying roads were un- usually thronged with vehicles of every descrip- tion, so that a close coach of the particular kind described by the sheriff would not have been noticed in any event, and the abductor had had a good ten minutes in which to organize his subsequent plan. A train for New York that he might have taken was followed up by telegrams, but with- out result. Swift messages were sent to Tarrytown and other points on both the Northern and the Hud- son River roads, but with equally unsatisfactory returns. The infant beir of Willard Manse had been successfully kidnapped, An hour after the initial alarm, Sheriff Lang- ley entered a private parlor in the Standard ouse where Edgar Willard, haggard and anx- ious, was awaiting news at the side of his pros- trated wife. Edna started up eagerly from the sofa on which she bad sunk, but Mr, Langley cc uld only shake his head hopelessly in reply to ber wild stare of inquiry, and she subsided into her re- clining posture with a broken little moan, “Took here!” exclaimed the kind-hearted sheriff, half-desperately; ‘‘ there’s no use takin on this way. he child’s bound to be recovere sooner or later, or the affair will be unprece- dented in the history of Westchester county. ma’m, and you, too, sir!” ‘*T’m doing the best I can, sir,” replied Edgar, while Edna only looked up with the calmness of despair. ‘‘iagree with you perfectly—that our child must be sooner or later restored to us, and the kidnapping villain brought to justice. But in the interim—” He could say no more. ‘“‘ A sudden thought strikes me,” said Langley. ‘Are you sure of the nurse’s honesty? Might sbe not have been in collusion with that hound?” Edna shook her head, ‘‘Mary had been with me long before Willie was born,” she murmured. ‘‘She adored the child, and was vastly contented with her place.” ‘¢ Still—however, you are sure this man you call O’Meara is the kidnapper?” ‘“‘No doubt of it,” replied Willard, shortly. ‘The man is my bitter enemy, who has repeat- edly endeavored to blackmail me—about the only enemy I have in the world.” ‘Oho! 1 wish Ihad paid more particular at- tention to his face. You are sure yon’ve recog- m That is all ’'ve got tosay. So docheer upa bit, | . : ‘e a ee pe ee om” a