At the Mercy of TiberiusEvans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
History
At the Mercy of Tiberius
Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
Rome -- History -- Tiberius, 14-37 -- Fiction
"In outlining the evidence which will be presented in support of this
indictment, I earnestly desire that you will give me your dispassionate
and undivided attention; and I call God to witness, that disclaiming
personal animosity and undue zeal for vengeance, I am sorrowfully
indicating as an officer of the law, a path of inquiry, that must lead
you to that goal where, before the altar of Truth, Justice swings her
divine scales, and bids Nemesis unsheathe her sword.
"On the afternoon of October the twenty-sixth, about three o'clock, a
stranger arrived in X--and inquired of the station agent what road
would carry her to 'Elm Bluff', the home of General Darrington;
assuring him she would return in time to take the north-bound train at
7.15, as urgent business necessitated her return. Demanding an
interview with Gen'l Darrington, she was admitted, incognito, and
proclaimed herself his granddaughter, sent hither by a sick mother, to
procure a certain sum of money required for specified purposes. That
the interview was stormy, was characterized by fierce invective on her
part, and by bitter denunciation and recrimination on his, is too well
established to admit of question; and they parted implacable foes, as
is attested by the fact that he drove her from his room through a rear
and unfrequented door, opening into a flower garden, whence she
wandered over the grounds until she found the gate. The vital import of
this interview lies in the great stress Gen'l Darrington placed upon
the statement he iterated and reiterated; that he had disinherited his
daughter, and drawn up a will bequeathing his entire estate to his
step-son Prince.
"Miss Brentano did not leave X--at 7.15, though she had ample time to
do so, after quitting 'Elm Bluff'. She loitered about the station house
until nearly half-past eight, then disappeared. At 10 P.M. she was seen
and identified by a person who had met her at 'Elm Bluff', crouching
behind a tree near the road that led to that ill-fated house, and when
questioned regarding her presence there, gave unsatisfactory answers.
At half-past two o'clock she was next seen hastening toward the station
office, along the line of the railroad, from the direction of the water
tank, which is situated nearly a mile north of town. Meanwhile an
unusually severe storm had been followed by a drenching rain, and the
stranger's garments were wet, when, after a confused and contradictory
account of her movements, she boarded the 3.05 train bound north.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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