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THE{p fcGATE m m A 5T0RY Ol* KY5TCRY. INVOLVING STARTLING COMPLICATIONS ? ADVCNTUR ky ANNA KATHCRINC GRtt! _ Km^ AUTHOR. OS ^Ht LBAVCMWO?TH CA?* " At NINO ClOSS name routed him end he look Their eyes met and a strange shock, perhaps, of iym pa? rceling, flashed upon either The lawyer saw and instlnc retreated from out the circle of east by the lantern; but the men sat the stream's edge heard nothing. Vies flash of something white had t their eyes and one man was for It ?^Georgian," came In astonished re? petition from the bereaved man's ?A "She would wish it," persisted the with still deeper and more ur t meaning. Then In a whisper so stele frees the shadow) that even Mr. Harper it Its least inflection through all thunder of the waterfall, "She yon." Ahl the enchantment, the feminine persusilvsness. the heart-moving sin? cerity phrase! Prom Hps so untutored fc seemed which breathed through that le marvelous. Ransom was not Ibis to Its power, for he quiver ejp ender her hand and his eyes took em a look of wonder. Bet he made no attempt to answer, even by s sign, .ass seemed content for that one in? stant Just to listen and to look. The man hanging over the stream back his arm. He had been de by a bit of froth; some of ft yet to his fingers. ?*f| '"Costs," entreated the girl, her face ?urging softly Into the light, as she snooped lower over the lantern. "Come!" she hsd taken him by the tend and wss drawing him gently up ^jsYnrd. With s lesp he was on his feet and v fend thrown her off. Some memory bad come to make her entreaty hate **No," he cried, "no! Here is my end here will I stay. Ton are s to me! You drove her to set, sad you shall not cajole ma forgetting It" He hsd spoken loudly; not so muct iuse he remembered her affliction, because of the roar of the fall hie own overwhelming passion. , ehe gave no evidence of hearing words or even of resenting his mer. 'Won't you come?" she falteringly sided, pointing towards the house Its twinkling lights. "You are you are shuddering; they will the searching who don't mind night Fet follow Anltra, Anltra who is ess sorry." :*4) "No!" he shouted. His tone, his1 were almost those of a madman, even put out his hands towards In repulsion. He seemed to cast away. This gesture, If not words, reached her under idlng. The lawyer saw her fling back her young head with disheveled locks to the night, and moaning pitifully to the ground. she lay still, with the wet grass about ber and the last lingering of rsln beating on her huddled Mr. Harper started to raise her, for >m stood petrified. But no soon had the lawyer made his presence ra by '.his Impetuous movement. Ransom woke from his trance darting down, lifted the girl In ass arms and began moving with her towards the house. As he passed the j sawyer he muttered between set teeth: M8he's caused me all my misery. Bet she looks too much like Georgian nor me to see another man touch her. CJod will care for my poor darling's ftody." CHAPTER XIV. A Detective's Work. 1V1 I The living household was about Its tasks for all the horror of the night before, and the still unrelieved BttSSesjSS as so the fate of one of its members. The maid, who had sat on watch In the upper hall for so many hours the srfeUng before, was again at her post, hut this time with her eye fixed only on one door, ess door behind which slept the exhausted Anltra. Han? son's room was. empty; he was In the sitting-room below, closeted wltl the lawyer. Some one had been there before them. The tray of bottles and glasses had been removed from the table, and in.their place were to be seen a woman's damaged hat a?d a small tortoise-shell comb. Mr. Harper's hand waa on the former, which was wound about with a wet veil. "I think I recognise this," said he. "At leaat I have a distinct impression Of having seen It before." "It waa picked up with the veil ; ?till on it near the entrance of the lane/' explained Ransom. ' "Then there can be no dor 3t that It is the hat Miss Hazen wore during her journey. She tossed It off the moment her foot touched the ground from the coach, and taking the shawl from her neck pulled it over her head instead. Tou remember that she had no hat on when they brought her In." "I remember This is Miss Hazen's hat without any doubt." The lawyer eyed the speaker with curious Interest. There was some? thing in his ?? ne that he did not un? derstand. "And this?" he ventured, laying a respectful finger on the comb. "Found in the open field between the house and the mill-stream." "Do you recognize it?" "No. Georgian wore such combs, but I cannot absolutely say that this la hers." MI can. Tou see this little gold work at the top? Well, I have an eye for such things and I noticed this comb In her hair last night There were two of them just alike." Instinctively the two men sat with their eyes fixed for a minute on this comb, then, equally instinctively, they both looked up and gazed at each other long and hard. It was the law? yer who first spoke "I think that we should have no further secrets between us," said he. "Here is Mrs. Ransom's will. There Is a name mentioned In It which I do not know. Perhaps you do.'*' Here ha laid the document on the table. Mr. Ransom eyed It but did not take It up. Instead, he drew a crump? led paper from his own pocket and, handing It to the lawyer, said: "First, 'First I should like to read the letter which she left behind for me." I should like you to read the letter which she left behind for me. My feelings as a husband would lead me to hold it as a sacred legacy from all ayes but my own; but there is a mys? tery hidden in it, a mystery which I must penetrate, and you are the only man who can assist me In doing so," The lawyer, lowering his eyes to hide their own suspicious giint, open ed the paper, and carefully read toe ? lines: "Forgive. My troubles are too much for me. I'm going to a place of rest, the only place and the only rest possible to one in my position. I don't blame anybody. Leaat of all do 1 blame Anitra. It was not her fault that she was brought up rudely, or that she knows no restraint in love or in hate. Be kind to her for my sake, and If any one else claims her or offers to take her from you, resist them. I give her entirely to you. It's a more priceless gift than you think; much more priceless than the one which I take from you by my death. I could never have been happy with you; you could never have been happy with me. Kate stood between us; a darker and more inexorable fate than you, in your kindly experi? ence of life, could imagine. Else, why do I plunge to my death with your ring on my finger and your love In my heart? GEORGIAN." "Ravings?" questioned Ransom hoarsely, as Mr. Harper's eyes rose again to his face. "It would seem so," assented the lawyer. "Yet there is intelligence in all the lines. And the will read the will. There Is no lack of intelligent I purpose there; little as it accords with the feeling she exhibits here for her sister. She leaves her nothing; and does not even mention her name. Her personal belongings she be? queaths to you; but her realty, which comprises the bulk of her property I believe, somewhat unequally I own, between you and a man named Auch incloss. It is he I want to ask you about. Have you ever heard her ! speak of him?" "Josiah Auchincloss of St. Louis, I Misouri," read Mr. Ransom. "No," . the name is new to me. Didn't she ] tell you anything about him when she gave you her instructions?" I "Not a word. She said, 'You will I hear from him if ever this will is I published. He has a right to the I money and I entreat you to show your respect for me by seeing that he gets it without any unnecessary trouble.' That was all she said or would say. Your wife was a woman of powerful character, Mr. Ransom. My little arts counted for nothing in any difference of opinion between us." j "Auchincloss!" repeated Ransom. "Another unknown quantity in the problem of my poor girl's life. What a tangle! Do you wonder that I am overcome by it? Anltra?the so-called brother?and now this Auchincloss!" "Right, Ransom, I share your con? fusion." "Do you?" The words came very ; slowly, penetratingly. "Haven't you some idea?some strange, possibly half-formed notion or secret intuition which might afford some clew to this labyrinth? I have been told that lawyers have a knack of getting at the bottom of human conduct and af? fairs. You have had a wide experi? ence; does it not suggest some an? swer to this problem which will har? monize all its discordant elements and make clear its various complications?" Mr. Harper shook his head, but there was a restrained excitement in his manner which was not altogether the reflection of that which dominated Ransom, and the latter, observing it, leaned across the table till their faces almost touched. "Do you guess my thought?" he whispered. "Look at me and tell me If you guess my thought." The lawyer hesitated, eying the trembling Up, the changing color, the wide-open, deeply flushed eyes so near his own; then with a slow smile of ex? traordinary subtlety, if not of compre? hension, answered in a barely audible murmur: "I think I do. I may be mad, but I think I do." The other sank back with a sigh charged with what the lawyer inter? preted as relief. Mr. Harper reseated himself, and for a moment neither looked at the other, and neither spoke; it would almost seem as if neither breathed. Then, as a bird, de? ceived by the silence, hopped to the window sill and began Its cheep, "cheep," Mr. Ransom broke the spell by saying In low but studiously busi? ness-like tones: "Have you thought it worth while to study the ground under her win? dow or anywhere else for footprints? It might not be amiss; what do you think about it?" "Let us go," readily acquisced the , lawyer, rising to his feet with an honest show of alacrity; "after which I must telegraph to New York. I was expected back to-day." "I know it; but your duties there will keep; these here cannot Your hand on the promise that you will re? spect my secret till?well, till I can assure you that my intuitions are de? void of any real basis." The lawyer's palm met his; then they started to go out; but before they had passed the door, Mr. Ransom came back, and lifting the comb from the table he put it in his pocket As he did this, his eye flashed sidewise on the other. There were strange hints and presentiments in it which brought the color to the usually im? perturbable lawyer's cheek. In going out they passed the offlco door. They rounded the corner of the house and entered a narrow walk, flagged with brick, which connected the space in front with the rear of? fices and garden. This walk ran close to the wails which were broken on this side by an ell projecting in the direction of the mill-stream. It was from the roof of this ell that Anitra de1, "ed Georgian to have slipped and tallalli Their first cr.io was to glance up at uut i'QML it was a siopiug oue and Anitra's story beeuieu cituiuie enougu ?vuou laey noted now uiucn easier it would be to uiop upou it from the little baicony otemead than to tra? verse the roof itself and reach the ground beneath wuuout slipping, but as they looked longer, each face be? trayed doubt. The descent from the balcony was easy enough, but how about the passage from Georgian's window to the balcony? This latter was contincd to the one window, and was surrounded by an ornameutal bal? ustrade, high enough to offer a decid? ed obstacle to the adventurous per? son endeavoring to leap upon it lroui the adjoining window-ledge, however, this leap, made in the dark and under circumstances inducing the utmost recklessness, might look practical enough from the window-ledge itself, and Mr. Harper, making a remark to I this effect, proposed that they should I examine the ground rather than the j house for evidences of Mrs. Ransom's slip and fall us related by Anitra. The only spot where they could hope to lind such was in the one short stretch?the width of the ell -under? lying the edge of the sloping roof. But this spot was all flagged, as I have al? ready said, and when their eyes stray? ed beyond it to the untilled fields, stretching between them and the I great rock at the verge of the water? fall from which she was supposed to have taken her fatal leap, it was to lind them as unproductive of evidence as the brick wall itself. Not one pair of feet but many had passed that way since early morning. The ground showed a mas of impressions of all 1 sizes and shapes, amid which it would I have been impossible for them, with? out the necessary experience, to have followed up the Right of any one per- 1 son. They had come to their task too , late. "Futile," decided the lawyer. "There is no use in our going that way." And ; he turned to look again at the ! ground in their immediate vicinity. As he did so, his eye lighted on the triangular spot where the ell met the side of the house under the kitchen windows. Here there was no flag? ging, the walk taking a diagonal course from the corner of the ell to the kitchen door. "Wha are those?" he asked, point? ing to two oblong impressions brim? ming with water which disfigured the center of this small plot. "They look like footprints," ven? tured Ransom. "They are footprints," decided Mr. Harper as they stooped to ezamii j j v _ -' "They are footprints," decided Mr. Harpe; the marks, "and the foot prints of a person dropping from a height. Noth? ing else explains their depth or gen? eral appearance." "Couldn't they be those of a per? son approaching the ell to converse with some one above? I see others similar to these in the open place over there beyond the kitchen door." "It is a trail. Let us follow it It seems to lead anywhere but towards the waterfall. This is an Important discovery Mr. Ransom, and may lead to conclusions such as we might not otherwise have presumed to entertain, especially if we come upon an impres? sion clear enough to point in which direction it was going." "Here is what you want," Ransom assured him in a low and curiously smothered voice. He was evidently greatly excited by this result of their inquiries, for all his apparent quiet and precise movements. "It's a wom? an's step, and that woman was going from the ell when she left these tok? ens of her passage behind her. Go? ing! and, as you say, not in the direc? tion of the waterfall." "Hush! I see someone at the kitch? en window. Let us move warily and be sure not to confound these prints with those of any other person. It looks as if a great many people had passed here." "Yes, this is the way to the chicken coops and out-houses. But in the ground beyond I think I see a single line of steps again,?small steps like these. Where can they be leading? They are deep like those of a person running." "And. straggling, like those of a per? son running in the dark. See how they waver from the direct line down j there, turn, and almost come up against that wood-pile! Whose steps J are these? Whose, Mr. Harper? Quick! I must see where they go. Our time will not be lost. The key to the labyrinth is in our hands." The lawyer was in the rear and the eyes of the other were fixed far ahead. For this reason, perhaps, the former ? allowed himself a quiet shake of the head, which might not have encour? aged the other so very much, had he caught sight of it. They were now I on th? vetge of the garden, or what i would soon be a garden If these rains betokened spring. A path ran along Its edge and in this patn me footsteps they were following lost themselves; but they came upon iheui again among the hillocks of some oid potato-hills beyond, and finally traced them quite across the garden waste to a fence, along which they ran, blundering from ploughed eartli to spots oi smoother ground, and so back again till they came upon au oi?i turn-stile 1 Passing through tLis, the two men stopped and looked about luem. They were in a road ridged wilii grass and flanked by bushes, (jug end ran east into a wooden valley, the other de? bouched on the highway a iew feet to the right of the tavern. "The lane!" exclaimed Mr. Hunter. "The lead towards the waterfall was a feint. It was in this direction bhe fled, and it is from this point that bearch must be luaue lor her." Ransom, greatly perturbed, for this possibility of secret dight opened vis- | tus of as much mystery, if not of as much SUlfering, as her death in the I liver, glanced at the sodden ground 1 under their feet, and thus along tue ..o 'vhc*o ? loct Itself from view among the trees. "No possible following of steps here," he declared. "A hundred peo? ple must have come this way since early morning." "It's a short cut from the Ferry. They told me last night that it les? sened the distance by fully a quarter of a mile." "The Ferry! Can she be there? Or in the woods, or on her way to some unknown place far out of our reach? The thought is maddening, Mr. Harper, and 1 feel as helpless as a child under it Shall we get detec? tives from the county-seat, or start on the hunt ourselves? We might hear something further on to help us." "We might; but I should rather stay on the immediate scene at present. Ah, here comes a fellow in a cart who should be able to tell us something! Stand by and I'll accost him. You needn't show your face." Mr. Ransom turned aside. Mr. Harper waited till the slow-moving horse, dragging a heavily jogging wag? on, came alongside, and he had caught the eye of the low-browed, broad faced farmer boy who sat on a bag of potatoes and held the reins. "Good morning," said he. 'Bad news this way. Any better at the Ferry, or down east, as you call it?" "Eh?" was the lumbering, half-sus? picious answer from the startled boy. "I've heard naught down yonder, but that a gal tt rew herself over the wa? terfall up here last night. Is that a fact, sir? I'm mighty curus to know. My mother knew them Hazens; used to wash for 'em years ago. She told me to bring up these taters and larn all I could about it." 'We don't know much more than that ourselves," was the smooth and cautious reply. "The lady certainly is missing, and she is supposed to have drowned herself." Then, as he noted the fellow's eyes resting with some curiosity on Mr. Ransom's well clad, gentlemanly figure, added grave? ly, and with a slight gesture towards the latter: "The lady's husband." The lad's jaw fell and he looked very sheepish. "Excuse me, misters, I didn't know," he managed to mutter, with a slash at his horse which was vainly endeavor? ing to pull the cart from the rut in which it had stuck. "I guess I'll go along to the hotel. I"Yl a bag of taters for Mrs. Deo." But the cart didn't bunge and the lawyer had time to say: "Guess you didn't hear anything said about another lady I am inter? ested in. No talk down your way of a strange young woman seen anywhere on the highway or about any of the houses between here and the Land? ing?" "Jerusha! I did hear a neighbor of mine say somethin* about a stranger gal he saw this very mornln*. Met her down by Beardsley's. She was goin' through the mud on foot as lively as you please. Asked him the way to the Ferry. He noticed her because 8b e was pretty and spoke in such a nice way?just like a city gal," he said. "Is it any one from this hotel?" added the fellow with a wondering look. "If so, she walked a mile be? fore daylight in mud up to her an? kles. A girl of powerful grit that! with a mighty good reason for catch? ing the train." "Oh. thore's an early train then?" asked the lawyer, Ignoring the other's question with unmoved good-humor. "One, I mean, before the 10.50 ex? press?" "Yes, sir, or so I've heard. I never took it. Folks don't from here, ex? cept they're in an awful hurry. Will y'er say who the young woman is? Not?not?" "We don't know who she is," quiet? ly objected the lawyer. "And you don't know who she Is either," he se? verely added, holding the yawping countryman with his eye. "If you're the man I think you, you'll not talk about her unless you're asked by the constable or some one you are bound to answer. And what's more, you'll earn a five-dollar bill by going back the road you've come and bringing here, without any talk or fuss, the man you were Just telling us about I want to have a talk with him, but I don't want any one but you and him to know this. You can tell him s worth money, if he don't want to come. Do you understand?" "You bet," chuckled the grinning lad. "A five-dollar bill Is mighty clear? ing to the mind, sir. But must I turn right back before going on to the ho? tel and hearing the news?" "We'll help you turn the cart," grimly suggested Mr. Harper. "Get up there, Dobbin, or whatever your name is. Here, Ransom, lend a hand!" x~c*u w<ls nothing lor the fellow *o do bat to except tne help proffered, r.ud turn his cart With one longing look towards the hotel he jerked at the rein and shouted at the horse, which, after a few feeble efforts, pulled the cart about and started off again in the desired direction. "Sooner done, sooner paid," shouted the lawyer, as lad and cart went jolt? ing off. "Remember to ass lor Law? yer Harper when you come back. I won't be far from the office." The fellow nodded; gave one grin? ning look back and whipped up his nag. The lawyer and Ransom eyed one another. "It's only a possibility," emphasized the former. "Don't lay too much stress upon it" "Let us speak plainly," urged Ran? som. "Mr. Harper, are you sure that you know Just what my thought is?" "The time has not come for discuss? ing that question. Let us defer it There is a fact to be settled first" "Whether the girl?" "No; this! Whether your wife could have jumped from her window to the balcony, as Anitra said. It did not look feasible from below, but as I then remarked to you, our opinion may change when we consider it from above. Will you go up stairs with me me to your wife's room?" "I will go anywhere and do anything you please, so that we learn the exact truth. But sparo me the curiosity of these people. The crowd on this side is increasing." "We will go in by the kitchen door. Some one there will show us the way up-stairs." And in this manner they entered; not escaping entirely all curious looks, for human nature is human nature, whether in the kitchen or parlor. (To Be Continued.) Scud us your job work. MAY COTTON IS CENTS. ( lose Was Steady a Little Oil tYOBM liest. With Trices 15 to 20 Points Hiuh?T. New York. Sept. 20.?The long pre? dicted 13 cents level was reached in the cotton market today. May con? tracts selling at that figure, with trading active and excited owing to fear of material crop damage as a result o the gulf storms entering the int rlor. The close was a litte off from the best, but steady at a net advance of 15 to 22 points. The market opened firm at an ad? vance of 7 to 11 points in response to firm cables, talk of a better spot de? mand from New England mills and the progress made by the gulf storm over Sunday in the direction of the Louisiana coast. The initial advance carried the market into new high ground for the movement and at? tracted heavy realizing under which prices reacted to about the closing figures of last week, but there was little aggressive bear pressure ow'ig to the storm news, and later the mar? ket became very active and firm on reports from New Orleans and a storm of marked intensity was reach? ing the belt. Southern and Western bulls were aggressive buyers on the advance while there seemed to be a considerable broadening of commis? sion house demand, and before the upward movement was checked prices were selling 19 to 23 points net higher with all months except October making new high records for season. December sold at 12.93 and May at 13.00. The market closed with December at 12.91 and May at 12.96 bid, and realizing sales were well absorbed right up to the end of trading. Southern spot markets, of? ficially reported early, were l-16c to 1 l-8c higher, and while a wire cheaper basis, the majority of the news from the interior markets was bullish with Boston said to be buy? ing. Liverpool appeared quite anxious over the storm situation, many cables being recei\ed here inquiring as to its course aid intensity. Receipts at the ports today were 47,000 bales against 40,898 last week and 41.944 last year. For the week 300.000 bales against 241,520 last week and 286.179 last year. Today's receipts at New Orleans 4.131 bales against 4.057 last year and at Hous? ton 26.360 bales against 18,203 last year. Spot cotton closed quiet, 15 points higher; middling uplands 13.00; mid? dling gulf 13.25; sales 600 bales. Futures opened and closed steady. ?Your complexion as well as your temper is rendered miserable by a disordered liver. By taking Chamber Iain's Stomach and Liver Tablets you can improve both. Sold by W. W. Sibert. A rabid dog was killed in tht su? burbs of Columbia, after it had bit? ten a colored girl and several dogs in the community. ?Not a minute should be lost when a child shows symptoms of croup. Chamberlain's Cough Remedy given as soon as the child becomes hoarse, or even after the croupy cough ap? pears, will prevent the attack. Sold by W. W. Sibert. Just as Good as The Stief f Is getting to be one of the great talking points for many dealers and agents. It's a great advertisement for the artistic Stieff piano, but we feel sorry for the fellow who thinks when he buys the other he is getting just as good piano. Buyer, don't be fooled into taking the piano said to be just as good as the Btleff. Ott the artistic Stieff and yO*j will, have the be*t piano made without running any risk. Write l>Hlay. 3chas. M. Stieff Manufacturer of the Artistic Stieff, Shaw and Stieff Self-Player Pianos. Southern Warenxuii 5 West Trade St. CHAKLOTTK. - ? IT. C. C. H. Wilmotli. Mnnager. (Mention this paper.1*