United States or Kenya ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
But evil days were at hand. One day, Philippa and I were lounging in the patio, when I heard the young hidalgos or Macheros, as they are called talking as they smoked their princely cigaritos. 'Sir Runan Errand, said one of them; 'where he's gone under. A rare bad lot he was. 'Murdered, replied the other. 'Nothing ever found of him but his hat. 'What a rum go! replied the other.
I had killed William Evans. My wife had killed Runan Errand. How, then, could Runan Errand have been killed by William Evans? 'Which is absurd, I found myself saying, in the language of Eukleides, the grand old Greek. Human justice! What is justice? See how it can err! Was there ever such a boundless, unlimited blunder in the whole annals of penny fiction? Probably not.
'And where are you staying, Philippa? I repeated, to lead the conversation into a more agreeable channel. 'With a Mrs. Thompson, she replied; 'a lady connected with Sir Runan. 'Very well, let me call for your things tomorrow. I can pass myself off as your brother, you know. 'My half-brother, said Philippa, blushing, 'on the mother's side. The brave girl thought of everything.
I was to wait at home till Philippa came over from Mrs. Thompson's, and I was also to hang about the road from the station, and challenge Sir Runan to mortal combat. Can duties clash? They can. They did! Philippa's 'things her boxes with all her properties arrived in due time. Philippa did not.
The very next day I again broached the subject of foreign travel to my mother. It was already obvious that the frost would not last for ever. Once the snow melted, once the crushed mass that had been a baronet was discovered, circumstantial evidence would point to Philippa. True, there was no one save myself who could positively swear that Philippa had killed Sir Runan.
True, she had been secretly married to a man under a name which she knew to be false. True, she had given birth to a baby whose later fate remains a mystery even to this day. True, her hands were stained with the blood of Sir Runan Errand. But why speak of Redistribution, why agitate for Woman's Suffrage, if trifles like these are to obstruct a girl's path in society?
Weldon, several Eminent Advertisers, and the crew of the Mignonette, he felt that his present task was a light one. He had to see the murderer, William Evans; the murderess, Mrs. South, or Lady Errand; the accessory after the fact, Dr. South; the victim, Sir Runan Errand; and Mrs. Thompson, the owner of the key on which the case for the prosecution hinged.
In a boycotted print you don't know but you may miss an account of how some fellow was hanged for what I did. I believe two people can't be executed for the same crime. Now, if any one swings for Sir Runan, I am safe; but it might happen, and you never know it. Dear Philippa, ever thoughtful for others!
'I myself can write M.D. after my name, I replied, and you are related, I think, to Sir Runan Errand? 'We are connections, she said, not taking the point of my sarcasm. 'His conduct rarely astonishes me. When I found, however, that this lady, your sister, was his wife, I own, for once, I was surprised.
I had wished her to sleep so long that the memory of her deeds on the awful night should fade from her memory. She seemed likely to do so. All the time she slept I felt more and more secure, because the snow never ceased falling. It must have been thirty feet deep above all that was mortal of Sir Runan Errand. The deeper the better. The baronet was never missed by any one, curious to say.
Word Of The Day