Every second of the time his thoughts were of the thing which was
being buffeted by the icy waters of the lake. Where was that thing
now? How far out into the lake had it been carried?
His body was covered with the cold perspiration of dread and horror.
His soul was moaning; his whole being was aghast with the awfulness
of the deed; he could have shrieked aloud in his madness. How he
lived through the hour in that theatre he never could have told,
nor could he believe that he was sitting there with all those
frightful thoughts piling themselves upon him. Other people laughed
and shouted with happiness; he stared and wept in his heart, and
shivered and cringed and groaned within himself.
He had killed her! She had been true to him, and yet, he had taken
her life--the life she had given him! He gave no thought to Jane,
no thought to Bansemer; he thought only of himself as the slayer.
Would her body be recovered? What would be his excuse, what his
punishment? The gallows? A thousand horrors ran riot in his brain,
a thousand tremors with each.
But why dwell upon the feelings of this miserable wretch? Why say
more of his terror, his misery, his remorse? He held himself in
the seat until the middle of the last act of the play. At last,
unable to restrain himself longer, he arose and almost ran from
the theatre. That instinct which no slayer can control or explain,
was overpowering him; it was the instinct which attracts the murderer
to the spot where his crime was committed. No man can describe or
define this resistless impulse, and yet all criminology records
it, clear and unmistakable. It is no less than a form of curiosity.
Driven by this irresistible force, David Cable, with bravado that
cost him dearly, worked his uninterrupted way to the scene of his
crime. By trolley car to Chicago Avenue and, then, like a homeless
dog scenting his way fearfully, to a corner not far from the break
in the wall.
His legs trembled and his eyes grew wide with dread. The swish of
the water came to his ears and he stood still for many minutes,
listening for a cry for help from off the shore, but none came;
and again skulking alongside the houses of his friends, he covered
the blocks that lay between him and the magnetic rift in the wall.
Near the corner, he stopped with a start of alarm.
The figure of a man could be seen standing like a statue on the
very spot where he had seen her disappear. While he stood there,
his heart scarcely beating, the solitary figure was joined by two
others. Cable shrank back into the dense shadows. Like a flash it
occurred to him that they were searching for the body. A shriek of
agony arose to his lips; but he checked it.
Far off on one of the crosstown streets a newsboy was calling an
extra--hoarse, unintelligible shouts that froze his blood. He bent
his ear to catch the far-away words of the boy: "All about de Nor'
Side murder!" He cringed and shook under the raucous shout. He knew
what it meant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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