Detective and mystery stories; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
He forced a suffering look into his eyes, and insisting that nothing but
outdoor air would help him when he had a headache, hastened down-stairs
and so out. A blinding gust seized him as he faced the hill, but he drew
down his umbrella and hurried on. He had a purpose in following her
suggestion as to a walk in this direction. Dark as the grasses were, he
meant to search the cemetery for the graves of the Hazens and see what he
could learn from them.
He met three persons on his way, all of whom turned to look at him.
This was in the village. On the hillside he met nobody. Wind and rain
and mud were all; desolation in the prospect and all but desolation in
his heart. At the brow he first caught sight of the broken stone wall
which separated the old burying place from the road. There lay his path.
Happily he could tread it unnoticed and unwatched. There was no one
within sight, high or low.
He spent a half hour among the tombs before
he struck the name he was looking for.
Another ten minutes before he found those
of his wife's family. Then he had his reward.
On a low brown shaft he read the names of
father and mother, and beneath them the following
lines:
Sacred to the memory of
Anitra
Died June 7, 1885
Aged 6 years and one day.
_Of such is the Kingdom of heaven._
The twin! Georgian was mad. This record showed that her little sister lay
here. Anitra,--yes, that was the name of her other half. He remembered it
well. Georgian had mentioned it to him more than once. And this child,
this Anitra, had been buried here for fifteen years.
Deeply indignant at his wife's duplicity, he took a look at the opposite
side of the shaft where still another surprise awaited him. Here was the
record of the brother; the brother he had so lately talked to and who had
seemingly proven his claim to the name he now read:
Alfred Francesco
only son of
Georgian Toritti afterwards Georgian Hazen.
Lost at sea February, 1895.
Aged twenty-five years.
An odd inscription opening up conjectures of the most curious and
interesting nature. But it was not this fact which struck him at the
time, it was the possibility underlying the simple statement, Lost
at sea. This, as the wry-necked man had said, admitted of a possible
resurrection. Here was no body. A mound showed where Anitra had been laid
away; a little mound surmounted by a headstone carved with her name. But
only these few words gave evidence of the young man's death, and
inscriptions of this nature are sometimes false.
The conclusion was obvious. It was the brother and not the sister who had
reappeared. Georgian was not only playing him false but deceiving the
general public. In fact, knowingly or unknowingly, she was perpetrating
a great fraud. He was inclined to think unknowingly. He began to regard
with less incredulity Hazen's declaration that the shock of her brother's
return had unsettled her mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account