ebar her
mother and herself from any inheritance at his death; as he had
bequeathed his entire estate to his adopted son Prince. Unfortunately,
she learned where the will was kept, as during the interview, persons
in the next room distinctly heard the peculiar noise made by the
sliding door of the iron vault, where General Darrington kept all his
valuable papers. She disappeared from Elm Bluff about sunset, going
toward town; and last night at ten o'clock, when I left you and rode
home, I saw her lurking in the pine woods not very far from the bridge
over the branch, near the park gate. She was evidently hiding, as she
sat on the ground half screened by a tree; but my horse shied and
plunged badly, and when she rose, the full moon showed her face and
figure distinctly. There was something so mysterious in her movements,
that I asked her if she had lost her way; to which she curtly replied
that she had not. I learn from Burk, the station agent, that her
actions aroused his suspicion, and that instead of leaving town, as she
said she intended, by the 7:15 train, she hung about the station, and
finally took the 3:05 express this morning. He said she had begged
permission to stay in the waiting-room, but that at 2:30 A.M., when he
went back to open the ticket office, she was nowhere to be found; and
that later, he saw her coming down the railroad track. She must have
gone back to Elm Bluff after I passed her on the road, and effected an
entrance through the window on the front piazza, as it was found open;
and the awful work of robbery and murder was accomplished during the
storm, which you know was so frightful that it drowned all minor
sounds. This morning when the General did not ring for his hot water at
the usual time, it was supposed that he was sleeping late, but finally
old Bedney knocked. Unable to arouse his master, he opened the door,
and found our old friend lying on the floor, near the fireplace. He had
been dead for hours, and close to his head was a heavy brass andiron,
which evidently had been snatched from the hearth by the murderess, who
must have dealt the fatal blow with it, as there was a dark spot on his
temple, and also on the left side near the heart. The room was in
disorder, and two glass vases on the mantel were shivered, as though
some missile had struck them--probably a heavy ledger which was found
on the floor."

"How horrible! But no woman could have overpowered a man like General
Darrington.