Can Such Things Be?

gard of its bad reputation. The grass greening all the expanse in its front seemed to grow, not rankly, but with a natural and joyous exuberance, and the weeds blossomed quite like plants. Fu

ue to the light within. Over the stony fields the visible heat danced with a live

ertain period abandoned by an owner whose residence cannot be ascertained, the sheriff was legal custodian of the Manton farm and appurtenances thereunto belonging. His present visit was in mere perfunctory compliance with some order of a court in which Mr. Brewer had an action to get possession of the property as heir to his deceased sister.

w and lively interest in his own actions the sheriff now unlatched and pushed open a door on the right, and the three entered. The room was apparently vacant - no; as their eyes became accustomed to the dimmer light something was visible in the farthest angle of the wall. It was a human figure - that of a man crouching close in the corner. Something in the attitude made the intruders halt when they had barely passed the threshold. The figure more and more clearly defined itself

ade by the man himself in reaching his corner. Instinctively in approaching the body the three men followed that trail. The sheriff grasped one of the outthrown arms; it was as rigid as iron, and the applicat

empt at calmness: "I knew Manton. He then wore

rible trick. When Rosser left this dark room at our heels, forgetting his outer clothing in the excitement, and driving away with us

m the corner where he had been stationed; that his posture was that of neither attack nor defense; that he had dropped his weapon; that he had obviou

th terror. In the dust of years that lay thick upon the floor - leading from the door by which they had entered, straight across the room to within a yard of Manton's crouching corpse - were three parallel lines of footprints - light but definite impressions of bare

st print of the woman's right foot, where she had apparently st

ate Mrs. Manton, s

ONSON'S F

in "the tragedy 'Man'" had all be

: it bore a faint smile, and as the death had been painless, had not been distorted beyond the repairing power of the undertaker. At two o'clock of the afternoon the friends were to assemble to pay their last tribute of respect to one who had no further need of friends

esence the lesser lights went into eclipse. His entrance was followed by that of the widow, whose lamentations filled the room. She approached the casket and after leaning her face against the cold glass for a moment was gently led to a seat near her daughter. Mournfully and low the man of God began his eulogy of the dead, and his do

way the widow ran to the coffin, cast herself upon it and sobbed hysterically. Gradually, however, she yielded to dissuasion, becoming more composed; and as the m

wed, and as the clock on the mantel solemnly struck three al

sight, stumbled against the coffin so heavily as to knock away one of its frail supp

leapt to the floor, sat up, tranquilly wiped its crimson m

LM OF T

miners. The hills are wooded, the course of the ravine is sinuous. In a dark night careful driving is required in order not to go off into the water. The night that I have in memory was dark, the creek a torrent, swollen by a recent storm. I had driven up from Newcastle

," I said; "I did

lied, civilly, approaching the side of the vehicle; "

years had passed since I had heard it. I was

Dorrimore, I

ou - the excess," he added, with a light laugh, "being due to the fact tha

tend with a

not altog

of the houses nor a living thing in the streets. Dorrimore explained at some length how he happened to be there, and where he had been during the years that had elapsed since I had seen him. I recall the fact of the narrative, but none of the facts narrated. He had been in foreign countries and had returned - this is all that my memory retains, and this I already knew. As to myself I cannot remember that I spoke a wor