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ne 7s aneneetaniiienees —
: THE BRIDE OF THE TOMB. OL
a ’ She took up the shovel, and opening the door of the stove, pulled -
the ing owt a quantity of blazing fire-brands and scattered them recklessly
“upon the bare floor, tossing one so close to the body of old Peter
y and & that his shock of red hair was ignited and burned with a disa-
Lsoeite greeable stench. ,
1 ed th Mrs. Vance turned away with such a laugh asa fiend might -
Bette rave loved to hear, and hurried from the house, leaving the door,
riohié which she hastily unlocked, partly ajar.
4 eG “Tt does not matter,” she thought to herself. ‘‘ No one will
ae ! discover them. The old shell of a house will ignite from the
hot ‘ prands directly and burn down to the ground.”
it fs ta - Drawing her veil tightly over her face she hurried away over
is tho lonely road. About half a mile from the old house she met
bari’ 4 man riding on horseback towards the route she was leav- ~
ing int ing. He scrutinized the solitary woman keenly, but could make
nothing of her thickly shrouded features, and rode onward.
chofk «Some wayfarer,” she thought. carelessly, and hurried on,
ce eager to leave the hated vicinity of her double crime.
a
go tol CHAPTER XXV.
re ante. Mr. SnEeLToN’s first impulse, after his interesting interview
atiful” with Mrs. Mason, had been to rush into town, secure a squad of
) wort? yolice, and make an immediate raid upon the house of which he
nose? &. had heard such suspicious tales.
wo Had he obeyed this hasty prompting of his mind, all would
redisi? have gone well, and this story of mine might have been concluded
iroyet § in_a very few more chapters.
whert® But the famous detective in his eventful career had usually
_ found it advantageous to think twice before he acted.
body He did so in this case, and his second thought resulted briefly
_ ‘$n this: He did not consider that he had as yet sufficient to war-
senlus i rant him in taking the step he at first proposed to himself.
; He had no actual grounds for suspicion except the fact that Doe-
hrild? tor Pratt and Harold Colville had entered the house, and remained >
ind k= there a seemingly rather long time for a professional call from a
-- busy physician whose time was limited. Se
ht to Mrs. Mason’s information was all gained from the oftentimes
gverc! ~ worthless gossip of a country neighborhood, and could scarcely
be depended on as reliable evidence. The mysterious case of the
ook ante young girl who had been befriended by the worthy woman might
Thewi® have no connection with the old house and its inhabitants as he
ginlit!. shad hastily concluded at first.
ig tote Considering all the circumstances, the cautious detective de-
termined to wait before taking any decided step, and in the mean-
ghoul — time to learn more of the mysterious house if possible.
ot Tis pursuit of Pratt and Colville in the next few days took him
om fie in entirely different directions, but resulted in nothing satisfac-
antes Ory. .
iD Th the meantime Mrs. Mason’s gossip about the old house and
wet vis its wicked inhabitants haunted him persistently, He could not
f my? rid himself of the thought. It abode with him by day, and in ©
his sleep assumed the guise of night-mare. The old house actual-
x a
vou