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Was He the Man?

OUR SERIAL.

BY F. L. DACRE, —o— Author of "A Phantom of the Past," "Tronholme's Trust," "The Doctor's Secret," "A Loveless Marriage," "Sir John's Heiress," etc.

CHAPTER V.—Continued. ••This terrible news appalle.l mo more than tho charge against myself, for of that I felt sure that I could clear myspK as easily as I had done in Paris. During tho journey from Cherbourg to St. Malo I learned the b.iro particulars. News of Kathleen my guards could, or would not, give me. Arrived at last after a journey that I can only remember as a mental chaos, I was at once taken to tho Hotel de.Ville and locked up to await my preliminary examination at oho hands of the juge d'instruction.

tunity for committing his abominable crime. "From St. Malo a faint clue led mo to Havre. Thence I followed him across the Atlantic, to New York, and there, after a weary chaise of many months, in a riverside slum, I at last stood face to face with the man I had sworn to kill, if 1 could not give him up to justice.

"I flew at his throat like a bulldog, and as I closed.with him I saw the gleam.of steel in the gaslight. In a moment he had buried his blade in my; shoulder.

'."I spent a sleepless night, and on ! the following morning was, for a second time, conducted before a French tribunal, charged with the crime of my villainous counterpart. I was first taken into the room in which lay the corps© of the murdered man, who had been stabbed in three places. I''was narrowly watched, but my accusers were unable, to find signs of anything but; genuine grief in my demeanour. The examination,folldwed.." I was then charged with having—in company of another person, unknown—on the night of June 12th, between half-past Jjeriand eleven, assaulted arid stabbed the deceased, after a brief altercation, on the rocks between the Fort National arid, the Grand Bay. ,i •■

•"I felt I: was badly wounded, and strove to throttle him before loss of blood robbed me of my strength. I threw him heavily, while his hand still grasped the hilt of the dagger. In falling he managed to twist his leg in mine, and I fell over him, striking my head on a stone. The dagger blade broke off short at the same moment. When I came to myself I was lying in an ambulance with a piece of the blade still sticking in my shoulder. My .double had disappeared quickly, and the New York" police failed to discover a trace of him.

"The deposition ' of the murdered man was then read. It stated that as he; was returning from a. ramble to the fort, he met two men, one of whom he recognised as Henry Fitzgerald; an Englishman, who was engaged to his niece. . apparently under the influence of drink; but was not'intoxicated. Hie spoke .wildly, a-nd Him" of having sold' His iniece to -an s ad-;

"After several weeks' illness I partially recovered; but owing to the almost constant spitting of blood, the doctors concluded that the- point of the dagger had broken off against a bone in the wound, and had worked into the lung. "Before I die I shall direct that, after I die, search be made for this fragment. It will form another link in the chain of evidence against my murderer. ' ■•,.., . ■'•. ~, ■■•

yenttyreri; : MsU>'/>was trading on a strong resemblance. He replied that the miiii must be either mad or drtmk ? and that after! such an exhibition he' should never marry Kathleen. That Fitzgerald became furious with rage, and drawing, a dagger from a breast pocket, ho swore to "kin him on the spot'if he did not retract his word?. A violent struggle ensued, and ho was stabbed thrice, fainting from loss of blood.

', "The wounded man was found later by-two fishermen coming from the Grand Bay, and brought into town. "Now came the most terrible part of ith© 'ordeal, the door at the-end of the room opened, and Kathleen,. dress r ed in deep -mourning; white and hag'-* gard 'with grief, was led in. She was ordered'ip look at\me, and say whether I was .the. : man'described!by her undo as Harry Fitzgerald. She raised her eyes to my face for an instant, aria,-'! shall never forget 1 the awful glance. For a full minute she struggled to fepeak, then, in a'brolcen voice, which seemed > suddenly to rise to a scream; she ejaculated: 'lt is he! Oh, Harry, how— —'

"I have little more 'to tell. As soon' asil ,\vas string enough^l.sailed for ifaSeira^ my ifist'liope of 'life. It has : ' failed" mey die in England. ' '., ''•'.'■' "I hope to give or beqtieath this manuscript and what I shall enclose in it, to my friend, George Dallas fefrey. God grant that I may find him in Eng T " hind, and give it to him with my own hand, and that he will he willing to pay the life debt he owes me by accepting with all. that I posses?., the legacy of my just vengeance qw the man whose crimes and whoso fatal resemblance to myself have blasted the fairest hopes of my life, and brought me to a death that I have not deserved. ' .'■• .'■•";'■.•. ';■■.■'■■'. "-i ; "Henry Fitzgerald Denver." CHAPTER VI. V '; DOUBLE OR DENVER.

"The next minute she broke.'from ~tlie officer on whose arm she was leaning, took two or three steps towards "me. and then collapsed in a dead faint. I afterwards learned that she was ill for some weeks,. and lay between life and death, tenderly nursed by the Sisters of Charity. .' 'My defence was the same as before —mistaken identity—^and^-.after giving th^natfres;and- 'a^tdress^s^of ; my lawyer and others who'could prove it, I was taken back to iny cell. \ ;

"In three days my lawyer arrived from England, bringing with,him several.witnesses and sufficient evidence toi establish beyond doubt the fact of my presence in London at the time of the murder. The Paris authorities had also been telegraphed to,; and detectives had been serf; to St. Malo, who identified me as Henry Fitzgerald Denver, who had been arrested in; Paris nine ,weeks before, on account of my marvellous resemblance to the now notorious criminal, Henry alias Henry de I'Escourt, alias Franz von Altenau, who was still at large. I was once more set at liberty, after having made a sworn statement of all I knew about my double. '

u l left St. Malo, after vainly endeavouring <to get an interview with my Kathleen,, who, they told me, was still delirious, and went back to-Rome, determined if' possiole.to trace out my hated double's every movement until I ran him to earth, and delivered him up to judgment.

"With the aid of the Italian and French police, I traced him from Rome to-Pam, where he had fallen in with his old accomplice, James Robson, then from Paris to Dinan, whence he must have watched my movements, until my absence gave him an oppor-

Fenton lay back in his armchair, h)g at the firescreen: in silence, ' and puffing cloud after cloud of smoke from, his lips. '■•, Then, turning to me, he said: ■ .' '..'..;....

For several minutes a iter-1 had; finished; reading Denver's; manuscript,

( 'Well, tha i' s without exception the most singular story I have ever heard,, and I have heard some queer onesj; Of course, these extraordinary resemblances are really' more common 'than.' is,generally supposed, but still affair seems so terribly involved): aM. there is so much crime mixed it, that it looks more like a chapter' of romance than a bit of real life. £ . confess, liee nbdaylight'yet." * ' 'v'; "You mean," I said,; ''that you see: nj menas of, bringing the crime home to Fitzgerald? the man is ia town at-this moment, so that we shall not have to; hunt theearth oyer to find liim." •'■'.■' ' , i

' 'Bring the crime home to him ? MV dear fellow, I am afraid that the work 4 before us is. by no means so simple as that." . ;. ' .' ■..•■'■■ ■;'_ .'-^V''' "What do you mean ?" "Just this. These things present themselves very differently to'thelegal and the non-legal, mind. Those who J have not been trained regularly are very liable to accept as true, evidence, documentai-y or otherwise,'which the trained mind regards simply as matter for investigation." "Do you mean to say," I interrupted .angrily, ''that any doubt could, be cast upon such a plain, attested statement of fact such as this is ?"■■', ' "Gently," aid Fenton, smiling at my warmth, "you have asked my advice as a lawyer, and it is niy duty;to give, as nearly as I can, the view of the case that would be taken by a: judge and jury." , (To "Be Continued.)

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19110330.2.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10199, 30 March 1911, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,449

Was He the Man? Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10199, 30 March 1911, Page 2

Was He the Man? Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10199, 30 March 1911, Page 2

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