XYZ.

a STORY TOLD BY A DETECTIVE,

BY THE AUTHOR OF

•MTHK IHAVENWORTH MURDER," "A STRAXGE

DISAPPEARANCE," "THE SWORD OF

DAMOCLES," ETC.

CHAPTER IV.

IS THE LIBRARY.

y B Benson was really dead. The fact ■ feeing announced, most of the guests with jjetf, In ten minutes after he fell the B " wa3 comparatively clear. Only the fgjfjous members of the family, togethe* •nth the gentleman I havo already mentioned, remained behind; and even of Sese the two ladies wore absent, they having followed the body into the adjoining ,L)in where it had been reverently carried »«r the attached Jonas and another servant whose face I did not see. " A most unlooked-for catastrophe," burst from the lips of Uncle Joe. "Did you ever •aspect he was a victim to heart disease ?" he now asked this time with looks directed toward the:doctor. "No," came from that gontloman in a short, riiarp way, which made Hartley Ben aon's pale f»ce flusn> though his eye did not waver from its steady solemn look toward the door through which his father's form had just been carried. "Mr Benson waa sound through and through a month ago. I know, because I examined him previous to his making his will. There was no heart disease then ; that I am ready to take my oath upon.'1 Hartley Benson s njcid look unfastened itself from the door and turned slowly to ward the sombre face of the speaker, while Uncle Joe with an increased expression of distress looked slowly around as if he half hoped, half feared to behold his favourite nephew advance upon them from some Bhadowy corner. . "My father consulted you, then?" said the former, in his slow, reserved way. "Did not that evince some suspicion of disease on his part!" "Possibly; a man in a despondent frame of mind will often imagine lft has some deadly complaint or other. But he was Suite sound ; too sound, he seemed to link. Your father was not a happy man, Mr Benson." Therewainomeaninginthe tono,andl was not surprised to observe Hartley draw back. "Why," said he, "do you think—" "I think nothing," broke in the doctor; ! "only"—and here he brought down his hand vigorously upon the table—"there has been prusaic acid in the glass from which Mr Benson drank this evening The smell of bitter almonds is not to be mistaken." An interval of silent horror followed this announcement, then a vehement " Great Heaven I" broke from the lips of Uncle Joe; while Hartley Benson, growing more and more rigid in his bearing, fixed his eyes on the doctor's face and barely ejaculated'!

"Poison?"

','Lsay this," continued the doctor, too intent upon his own theory to notice either the growth of a terrible fear on the face of Uncle Joe, or the equally remarkablo ex pression of subdued expectations on that of the son, "because long experience has taught me the uselessness of trying to hide giicn a fact as suicide, and also Inecause, being the coroner of the country, it is my duty to warn you that an investigation will have to take place which will require cer tain precautions on my part, each as the sealing up of his papers, etc." "That is true," came from the lips of both brother and son, over whom a visible change had passed at the word " suicide." " But I cannot think—" the former began in an agitated voice.' " That my father would do such a deed," interposedl the latter. "It does not seem probable, and yet ho was a very wretched man, and grief will often driro the best of us to despair." Uncle Joe gave his nephew a strange look, but said no more. The doctor went quietly

on: "I do not know what your father's troubles were, but that he committed suicide I greatly fear, unless it can be proved the acid was token by mistake, a conclusion which does not seem probable, for from the smell of the decanter it is evident the acid was mixed with the wine, in which I now remember advising him to take the nightly powder T prescribed to him for quite a trivial disorder n few dayß ajjo.' The only thing that puzzles me is, why, if he meditated death, he should have troubled himself to take this powder. And yet it is certain he did take it, for there is still some of the sediment of it remaining in ths.bottom of the glass." " He took the powder because it was al ready in the glass," broke in Hartley, m a heavy tone of voice. "My sister put it there before she went up-stairs to dress. I think she was afraid he would forget it. My father was very careless about small matters."

"He was careful enough not to poison anyone else in the family," quoth the ■dOCTDr. "There was scarcely a drop left in the decanter; he took the whole dose.' _ "I beg your pardon, sirs, but it ia suicide you are talking about I" cried a "Voice suddenly over their shoulder.", making them all start. Jonas, the servant, had entered from the inner room, and unseen by .all but myself, had been listening to the last few words as if his life depended upon what they had to say. "If it is, ivhy I have a bit of an observation of my own to make that may help yon to settle the matter." '* You ! What have you to say ?" quoth the doctor, turning in surprise at the con fident tone of voice in which the man spoke. . *

"Not much, I amsure," cried Hartley, to whom the appearance at that moment of his father's old servant was evidently most un irelcome. "That is for you to judge, gentlemen. I ■can only tell you what I've seen, and that not ten minutes ago. Mr Hartley, do you mind the man in the yellow dress that waa flitting about the parlours all the evening ?" "Good Heavens !" burst in uncontrollable agitation from Uncle Joe; and lie caught »lw nephew by the arm with a look that called back the old rigid expression to the lattor'a face.

I "Yes," was the quiet reply! "I remem ber seeing such a person." "Well, sirs, I don't know as you will Hunk anything of it, but a little while ago, I was walking up and down the balcony outside there, when I happened to look into this room, and I saw that man in the yellow dress leaning over this very table, looking .'into the wineglass Miss Carrie had put there for master. He had it in his hand, 'and his head was down very close to it, but

what he did to it or to tho decanter cither, I am sure, sire, I don't know, for I was that frightened at seeing this spectre in tho room master had kept locked all day that I just slipped off the balcony and ran round the house to find Mr Hartley. But you wasn't in the parkur, sir, nor Miss Carrie neither, and when I got to this room thero was master lyinw dead on the floor, and everybody crowding around him horror struck."

"Humph I" ejaculated the doctor, look ing at Uncle Joe, who had sunk in a heap into the arm-chair his nephew abstractedly pushed toward him.

" You Bse, sirs," Jonas resumed, with great earnestness, "Mr Benson, for some reason or other, had been very particular about keeping his own room to-day. The library door was locked as early as six this morning, and he would let no one in with out first asking who was there. That's why I felt so dumbfoundered at seeing this yellow man in the room; besides "

But no sooner had the good man arrived at this point than he stopped, with a gasp, andafteraquicklook atHartley, flushed!and drew back in a state of great agitation and embarrassment. Evidently a suspicion had just crossed the mind of this old and at tached servant as to whom the Yellow Domino might be." "Well, well," cried the doctor, "po on ; let us hear the rest."

" I—l have nothing more to say," mumb led the man, while Hartloy, with an equal display of embarrassment, motioned the discomfited servantto withdraw, and turned as if to hido his face over some papers on the table.

" I think the man in the yellow domino had better be found," quoth the physician, drily, glancing from Hartley to the depart ing form of the servant, with a sharp look. " At all events it would be well enough for us to know who he ia."

"I don't see—" began Uncle Joe, but stopped as he perceived the face of Hartley Benson slowly (composing itself. Evidently ho was as much interested as myself in ob serving what this not-easily-to-bo-under stood man would say and do in this suddon crisis.

We wore not long left in doubt.

"Doctor," he began, in a slow, hesitating tone, well calculated to produco tho effect ho desired, "we unfortunately already know who who wore a yellow domino this evening. My brother Joe " "Hush !" implored his uncle, laying a hand on his nephew's arm with a quick look of distress not lost on the doctor.

"Brother ?" repeated tho latter. " Tardon mo, Ij did not know Ah, but I do ro member now to have heard that Mr Benson had another son."

The face of Hartley grew graver and graver, "My brother has been alienated from my father for some tirno, so you have never seen him here. But to-night ho hoped, or made mo think ho hopod, to effect a reconciliation; so I managed, with my sister, to provide him with the domino no ceasary to insure him an entrance hero. Indeed, I did more ; I showed hima private door by which he could find his way into the library, never suspecting any harm could come of son and father meeting even in this surreptitious way. I—l loved my brother, and notwithstanding the past, had confidence in him. Nor can I think now ho had any thing to do with the " Hero the voice of this inimitable actor broke in well simulated distress. Hp sank on a chair and put his hands before his faco. Tho doctor had no reason to doubt; this man. He therefore surveyed him with a look of grave regard. "Mr Benson," said ho, "you have my profoundest sympathy. A tragedy liko this in a family of such eminont respect ability is enough to overwhelm tho stoutest heart. If your brother is hero " " Dr. Travis," broke in tho other, rising and grasping tho physician's hiind with fin appearance of manly impulse impressive in one usually so stern and self-contained, "you are, or were, my father's frieud ; can you or will you be ours ? Dreadful as it in to think, my fathor undoubtedly committed suicide. He hod a great dread of this day. It is the anniversary of an occurrence harrowing for him to remember. My brothor —you see I shall have to break tho secrecy of years—was detected by him in tho act of robbing his desk throo years ago to-night, and upon each and overy recur rence of tho day has returned to his father's house to beg tho forgiveness and restoration to favour which ho lost by that deed of crime. Hitherto my fathor has been able to escape Mb importunities by absenco or tho address of his servants, but to-day he seomed to have a premonition that his children woro in league against him, notwithstanding Carrie's ruso of tho ball; and tho knowledge may havo worked upon him to that extent that he preferred death to a eight of tho son that had ruined his life and made him tho hermit you have seen."

Tho doctor fell into the trap laid for him with such diabolical art.

" Perhap3 ; but if that is so, why is your brother not here? Only a few minutes could have elapsed betweon the time that Jonas bhw him leaning over tho table with the glass in his hand and the moment when yon and your sister entered this room in face of your father's falling form. He must have been present, therefore, when your father camo from his bed-room, if not when he drank the fatal glass ; why, then, did ho take such pains to escape, if actuated by no keener emotion than horror at a father's suicide ?" "I do not know, I cannot say; but that ho himself put the poison in the 'decanter I will not believe. A thief Is not neces sarily a parricide. Even if he were in great straits and needad the money my Father's will undoubtedly leaves him, he would think twice before he ran tho risk of making Carrie and myself his natural enemies. No, no; if my father has died from poison, it was through a mistake, or by tho cdminiatration of his own hand, never by that of Joe Benson's." "Ah, and has anybody here present dared to charge him with such a deed!" With a start both gentlemen turned ; an accusing spirit stood before them. "Edith!" broke from Hartley's lips. "This is no place for you ! Go back ! go back I" " My place ia where the name of Joseph Benson is uttered," she proudly answered. " whether the words be for good or evil. I am his betrothed wife, ac you know, and again I ask, who has dared to utter an insinuation, however light, that he, the tender son and generous brother, has had a criminal hand in hia father's awful death ?" "No one! no one!" essayed Hartley, taking her hand with a weak attempt at soothing. "I was but saying "

But sho turned from him with a gestures of repugnance, and taking a step toward the doctor, looked him entreatingly in the face. "You have not been expressing doubts of Mr Benson's youngest son be cause he happened to wear a disguise and be present when Mr Benson fell ? You do not know Joe, sir; nobody in this town knows him. His own father was ignorant of his worth ; but we know him, Uncle Joe and I, and we know he could never do a deed that could stamp him either as a dis honourable or a criminal man. If Mr Benson has died from poison, I should as soon think this man had a hand in it as poor exiled brother." And in a burst of uncon

trollablc wrath and indignation sho pointed with a sudden gesture at tho startled Hartley.

But that worthy, though evidently taken aback, was not to bo caught so easily. "Edith, you forgot yourself," said he, with studied self-possession. " Tho horrors of this dreadful occurenco havo up set you. Ido not wonder at it myself, but the doctor will not so readily understand you. Miss Underbill has been strangely attached to my brother," he went on, turn ing to the latter with an apologetic smilo that inado Uncle Joe grind his teeth in silent wrath. "They were engaged previous to the affair of which I have just mado mention, and naturally sho could never bring herself to consider him guilty of a crime which, onco acknowledged, must necessarily act as a bar of separation between them. She calls him*a martyr, a victim, an exilo, anything but what ho actually is. Indeed, she seems really to believe in his innocence, while we " —ho paused and looked up at his sister Carrie who had entered the room—"while we," he went on slowly and sadly, taking this new ally softly by the hand, "know only too well that the unhappy boy was in every respect guilty of the crime for which his father exiled him. But that is neither here nor there ; the dreadful subject before us is not what he once did, but whether his bcinc here to-night has had anything to do with my father's death. I cannot think it has, and yet "

The subtle inflection of his voico spoko volumes. This great actor had evidently been driven to bay.

"0, Hartley!" camo in atorrilied cry from his sister; "what is this? You cannot think, they cannot think, Joe could do any thing so dreadful as that?" while over tho faco of Edith passed a look of despair, as she saw the countenance of the doctor slowy fill with the gloom of suspicion, and even tho faithful Uncle Joe turn away as if he too had been touched by the blight of a secret doubt.

"Ah, but I wish Joe wero hero himself!" she cried with startling emphasis. "Ho should speak, evon if it brought ruin amongst us."

But the doctor was a man not to bo moved bj so simple a thing as a woman's unreason ing emotion. " Yes, tho Yellow Domino would bo very welcome just now," he allowed, with grim decision.

" That he is not here is tho most damn ing fact of all," Hartley slowly observed, " He fled when he saw our father fall."

"But he shall come back," Edith vehe mently declared. "If ho doos, I shall need no further proof of his innocence," .said Uncle Joe. "Nor I, so that ho comes to-night," re turned tho doctor.

" Then be satisfied, for horo ho is," I ex claimed from my retreat; and drawing tho mask over my face, and hastily enveloping myself in tho yollow domino, I stepped forth into full view of tho crowd around tho table.

CIIAPEER V.

THK YELLOW UOMINO,

A minoled sound of shrieks and exclama tions greeted mo. "Joo!" cried Edith, bounding forward. But I waved hor back, and turnod with a aovoro gesture toward Hartley Benson. "What aro your reasons," I demanded, " for thinking the poisoning that has taken Elaco hero was tho work of tho Yellow 'omino ?"

"Do you ask mo?" ho retorted, after a momont's pause, during which my voice echoed through tho room, waking strange gleams of doubt on tho faces of more tlum ono porson present. " You wish to dnro me, then? he hissed, coming a stop nearer.

" I wish to know what tho Yellow Domino lias tlono that you or nnyono should con sider him as responsible for the tragedy that has hero taken place," I steadily replied. "Arc you not my brother, then?'he cried, in mingled rago and anxiety. " Was it not you I met under the evergreens and supplied with a yollow domino, in order to givo you tho opportunity of seeing our father to-night and effecting tho reconcilia tion which you had so long desired ? Arc you not he who afterward followed me to this room and hid himself in tho closet from which you have just come, all for tho purpose, as you said, of throwing yourself at your father's feet and begging pardon for a past of which you had long ago re pented ! Or aro you some reckless buffoon who has presumed to stop into the domino my brother left bohind him, and careless of tho torriblo trouble that has overwhelmed this family, come horo with your criminal jests to puzzlo and alarm us ?" " I am tho man to whom you gave tho domino, if that is what you wish to know, Hartley Benson ; and I am the man whom you led into the ambush of this closet for such reasons as your own conscience must inform you. If tho Yellow Domino put poison into Mr Benson's wine, then upon mo must lie the. burden of the conse quences, for I alono havo worn tho disguise of this mask from the moment wo met under tho evergreens till now, os I think may bo proved by this gentleman you call Uncle Joe, and this lady you ad dress as Edith."

This mode of attack had the desired effect.

"Who are you?" burst from Hartley's lips, now blanched to tho colour of clay. " Unmask him, doctor ; let us see tho man who dares to play us tricks on such a night as this !"

" Wait I" cried I, motioning back not only tho doctor, but Uncle Joe and the ladies—tho whole group having started forward at Hartley's words. " Let us first make sure I am tho Yellow Domino who has been paraded through the pnrlours this evening. Miss Benson, will you pardon me if I presume to ask you what were the words of salutation with which yo.u greeted me to-night!" "Oh !" she cried, in a tremble of doubt and dismay, "I do not know as I can remember ; something about being glad to see you, I believe, and my hopo that your plan 3 for the evening might succeed." "To which," said I, "I made no audible reply, but pressed your hand in mine, with the certainty you were a friend, though you had not used the word ' Counterfeit.' " " Yes, yes," she returned, blushing, and wildly disturbed, as she had reason to be. " And you, Uncle Joe," I went on: How did you greet the man you had been told was your erring nephew ?" "I said: 'To counterfeit wrong when one is right necessarily opens ono to a mis understanding.' " "To which ambiguous phrase I answered, as you will remember, with a simple, ' That is true,' a reply, by the way, that seemed to arouse your curiosity and lead to strange revelations."

" God defend us !" cried Uncle Joe. The exclamation was enough. I turned to the trembling Edith. " I shall not attempt," said I, "to repeat, or ask you to repeat any conversation which may have passed between us, for you will remember it was too quickly interrupted by Mr Benson for us to succeed in uttering more'than a dozen or so words. However, you will do me the kindness to acknowledge your belief that I am the man who stood

with you behind the parlour curtains an hour ago." " I will," she replied, with a haughty lift of her head that spoke rnoro loudly than her blushes.

" It only remains, then, for Mr Benson to assure himself I am tho person who followed him to tho closet. I know of no bettor way of his doing this than to ask him if ho re members tho injunctions which he was pleased to give me, when he bestowed upon me this domino."

" No—that is—whatever they were, they were given to the man I supposed to be my brother."

"Ha, then ; it was to your brother," I re joined, " you gave that hint aboutthe glass I would find on the library table, saying that if it did not smell of wine I would know your father had not had his nightly potion, and would yot come to the library to drink it —an intimation, as all will acknowledge, which could have but the one result of leading me to go to the table and take up tho glass and look into it in tho suspicious manner which has been reported to you."

He was caught in his own toils and saw it. Muttering a deep curse, he drew back, while a startled " Humph !" broke from the doctor, followed by a quick, " Is that true! Did you tell him that, Mr Benson ?"

For reply the now thoroughly alarmed villain leaped at my throat. "Off with that toggery! Let us see your face! I shall and will know who you are." But I resisted for another moment while I added : "It is, then, established to your satisfaction that I am really the man who has worn tho yellow domino this evening. Very well, now look at me, one and all, and say if you think I am likely to be a person to destroy Mr Benson," And with a quick gesture 1 threw aside my mask, and yielded the fatal yellow domino to the impatient hands of Mr Hartley Benson.

The result was a cry of astonishment from those to whom tho faco thus revealed Mas a strange ono, and a curse deep and loud from him to whom tho shock of that moment's surprises must have been nearly overwhelm ing. "Villain !" ho shrieked, losing his self possession in a sudden burst of fury ; "spy ' informer ! I understand it all now. Yon have been set over mo by my brother. In structed by him, you lmvo dared to enter thin house, worm yourself into its secrets, and by a deviltry only equalled by your presumption, taken advantago of your posi tion to poison my father and lling tho dread ful consequences of your crime in tho faces of his mourning family. It was a plot well laid ;.but it is foiled, sir, foiled, as you will kco when I have you committed to prison to morrow."

" Mr Benson," I returned, shaking him looso as I would a feather, " this is nil very well; but in your haste and surprise you have mnclo a slight mistake. You call mo a spy; s<o I am ; but a spy backed by the United States Government is not a man to bo put lightly into prison. lam a detee tivo, sir, connected at present with tho Secrot Servico at Washington. My business is to ferret out crime and recognise a roguo under any disguiso and in the exorciso of any vilo or decoptivo practices." And I looked him steadily in tho face.

Then indeed his chook turned livid, and tho oyo which had hitherto prosorved its .steadiness sought tho floor. "A detective !" murmured Miss Cnrrie, shrinking back from tho cringing form of tho brother whom, but a fow hours before, .she had doemod everything that wus uoblo and kind.

" A detective !" echoed Edith, brighten ing liko it rust! in tho sunshine

"In Qovornmont employ!" repeated Undo Joo, honoring mo with a Btaro that was almost comic in its mingled awe and

surprise,

"Yes," I rejoined ; " if any ono doubts mo, I havo papers with mo to establish my identity. By what moans 1 find myself in this placo, a witness of Mr Bonaon'a death, and tho ropositor of certain family secrets, it is not necessary for mo to inform you. It is enough that I havo been horo for n good hour, posted behind that curtain; that I hoard Jonas's exclamation as ho withdraw from the balcony, saw Mr Benson come in from his bedroom, drink his glass of wine, and af forwards fall at tho feet of his son and daughter ; and that having been horo, and tho witnossof all this, I can swear that if Mr Benson drank poison from yonder decanter, ho drank poison that was put into it before either ho or tho Yollow Domino entered this room. Who put it there, it is for you to determine ; my duty is done for to-night." And with a bow I withdrew from the group about mo and crossed to the door.

But Miss Carrie's voice, rising in mingled shame and appeal, stopped mo. " Don't go," wud sho ; " not at least until you tell mowhoro my brother Joseph is. Is ho in this town, or has he planned this deception from a distance? I—l1 —I am an orphan, sir, who at one blow has lost not only a dearly beloved father, but, as I fear, a brother too, in whom, up to this hour, I havo had overy confidence. Tell mo, then, if any support is left for a most unhappy girl, or whether I must givo up all ho[>es of even my brother Joo'a sympathy and protection."

" Your brother Joe," I replied, has had nothing to do with my appearance here. Ho and I aro perfoet strangers ; but if ho is a tall, broad-sliouldered young man, shaped something like myself, but with a ruddy cheek and light curling hair, I can tell you I saw snefi a person enter tho shrub bery at tho southwest ccrner of tho garden an hour or so ago." "No, ho is horo!" camo in stnrtling accents over my shoulders. And with a quick leap Joe Benson sprang by mo and stood handsome, tall, and commanding in tho centre of tho room. " Hartley! Carrie ! Edith ! what is this I hear ? My father stricken down, my father dying or dead, and I left to wander up and down through tho shrubbery, whilo you knelt at his bedside and received his parting bless ing ? Is this iho recompense you promised me, Hartley? this your sisterlydovotion, Carrie ? this your lovo and attontion to my interests, Edith ?"

"6 Joe, dear Joe, do not blamo us !" Carrie made haste to ioply. "Wo thought you were here. A man tats hero, that man behind you, simulating you in evory regard, and to him we gavo tho domino, and from him we have learned—"

"What?" sprang in thundoring tones from the young giant's throat, as he wheeled on his heel and confronted mo.

" That your brother Hartley is a vil lain," I declared, looking him steadily in the eye. "God !" was his only exclamation as ho turned slowly back and glanced toward his trembling brother. " Sir," said I, taking a step toward Uncle •Too, who, between his eagerness to embrace the new-comer and his dread of the conse quences of tills unexpected meeting, stood oscillating from one side to the other in a manner ridiculous enough to see, " what do you think of the propriety of uttoring aloud and here the suspicions which you were good enough to whisper into my ears an hour ago? Do you see any reason for altering your opinion as to which of the two sons of Mr Benson invaded his desk and appropriated the bonds afterward found in their common apartment, when you survey the downfallen crest of tho one and compare it with the unfaltering look of the other!"

"No," he returned, roused into sudden energy by tho start given by Hartley. And advancing between tho brothers, ho looked first at one and then at the other with a long, solemn gaze that called out the colour on Hartley's pale cheek, and made the crest of Joe rise still higher in manly pride and assertion. "Joe," said ho, " for three years now your lifo lias lain under a shadow." Accused by your father of a dreadful crime, you have resolutely re fused to exonerate yourself, notwith standing the fact that a dear young girl waited patiently for the estab lishment of your innocence in order to marry yon. To your family this silence meant guilt, but to me and mine it has only told a tale of self-renunciation and devotion Joe, was I right in this ? was Edith right? Tho father you so loved and feared to grieve is dead. Speak, then : Did you or did you not take the bonds that were found in the cupboard at tho head of your bed three years ago to-night ? The future wel fare, not only of this faithful child but of the helpless sister, who, despite her belief in your guilt, has clung to you with unwaver ing devotion, depends upon your reply." "Let my brother speak," was the young man's answer, given in a steady and nobly restrained tone.

"Your brother will not speak," his undo returned. " Don't you eeo you must answer for yourself? Say, then: Arc you the guilty man your father thought you, or are you not? Let us hear, Joe." " I am not I" avowed tho young man, bowing his head in a sort of noble shamo that must have «ent a pang of anguish through the heart of his brother. " Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" camo from Edith's lips in a joyous cry, as she bounded to his side and seized him by one hand, just as his sister grasped tho other in a burst of shame and contrition that showed how far she was removed from any participation in the evil machinations of her elder brother. The sight seemed to go^d Hartley Benson to madness. Looking from one to the other, ho uttered a cry that yet rings in my memory : " Carrio ! Edith ! do you both forsake me, and all because of a word which any villain might have uttered? Is this tho truth and constancy of women ? Is this what I had a right to expect from a sister—a friend ': Carrie, you at least always gave mo your trust— will you take it away because a juggling spy and a recreant brother have combined to destroy mo?" But beyond a wistful look and a solemn shake of tho head, Carrie made no response, while Edith, with her eyes fixed on tho agi- Uted countenance of her lover, did not oven seem to hear tho words of pleading that were addressed to her.

The fihoek of tho disappointment was too much for Hartley Benson. Clonchingiii hand upon his breast, ho gavo ono groan) nnguisu nnd despair, and sank into a chair, inert and helpless. But beforo we could any of us tako a step toward him, beforo the eyes of tho doctor and mino could meet in mutual understanding, ho had bounded again to his feet, and in a burst of despera tion seized tho chair in which ho sat, and held it high above his head. " Fooln ! dotards !" ho exclaimed, his eyes rolling in frenzy from faco to faco, but lingering longest on mine, as if there ho read tho true secret of his ovorthrow, as well as tho promise of his future doom, "You think it is all ovor with mo—that thoro is nothing loft for you to do but to stand still and watch how I tako my dofeat. But lam a man who noveracknowledges defeat. There is still a word I havo to say that will make things a little nioro oven between us. Listen for it, you. It will not bo long in coming, and when you hoar it, lot my brothur declare how much enjoyment he will ever Ret out of Ills victory." And whirling tho chair about his head, ho plunged through our midst into tho hall without.

For an instant we stood Btupefied, then Carrie Benson's voice roso in one long, thrilling cry, and with a bound she rushed toward the door. I put out my hand to Stop her, but it was not uocessary. Boforo she could cross tho threshold the sucldon, sharp detonation of a pistol-shot was heard in tho hall, and we know that the last dread ful word of that night's tragedy had been spoken.

Tho true secret of Hartley Benson's action in this matter was never discovered. That ho planned his father's violent death, noono who was present at tho above interview ever doubted. That he went further than that, and laid his plans in such a manner that the blame, if blame ensued, should fall upon his innocent brother, was equally plain, es pecially lifter tho acknowledgment wo re ceived from Jonas, that ho went out on the balcony and looked in tho window at tho special instigation of his young master. Hut why this arch villain, either at his own riekorntthatof the manho hated, folthiinsolf driven to such a revolting crime, will never bo known—unless, indeed, the solution be found in his undoubted passion for tho beautiful Edith, and in the accumulated pressure nf certain secret dobte for whoso liquidation ho dared not apply to his father. I nover rovealed to this family tho true nature of the motives which actuated me in my performtinco of tho part I played that fatal night. It was supposed by Miss Carrie and tho rest that I was but oboying instructions given me by Mr Benson ; and I never undoceived them. I was tooinuohnshamodof thocuriosity which was tho mainspring of my action to pub lish each and every particular of my con duct abroad ; though I could not but con gratulnto myself upon its results when, somo time afterward, I read of tho marriago of .Too and Edith.

The counterfeiters wero discovered and taken, but not by mo.

[THE KXD.]

A Sharp Customer.

The following capital story is worth re peating; : Some dayß since the trains on the North London railway were all late, and consequently every platform way crowded. At one of the stations an importunate pas senger attempted to enter an already over crowded first-class compartment, butonoof the occupants stoutly resisted the intrusion : thereupon the importunate one said, "I will soon settle this," and called ft guard to the carriage door. Ho then requested tho official to ask two of the occupants to pro duce their tickets, which proved to bo third-class ones. In spito of the delinquent* protesting thero was no room in the train elsewhero, they were ejected, and the impor tunate one took their place. Tho other pas sengers were naturally rather indignant, and seeing thie, the successful introder said : " I am very Borry to havo had to turn those two gentlemen out, especially as I heard one say they wore already late for an important engagement in the city j and I am all the moro sorry seeing that I only hold a third-class ticket myself."

Schoolmistress (pointing to first letter of the alphabet): "Come, now, what letter is that?" Young Amorican: "I shan't tell you." Schoolmistress: "You won't! But you must. Come, now, what is it ?" Young American: "I shan't tell you. I didn't como here to teach you—but for you to teach me. v

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, NOVEMBER 17, 1883.

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