Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1906 — The Yellow Holly [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Yellow Holly

By FERGUS HUME,

Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab." Etc. X

"She denied it and made some sort of excuse. I remained to bear no more. I knew then that Mrs. Jersey bad killed my Percy.” “But she did not. It was an accident." “I know. She explained. But she was the cause. I was right to kill her. But for her Percy would have been alive, I would have been his wife, arid you, George, would have been my stepson.” “What did you do next?” “I went up to my room and resumed my game of patience. I Intended to

have a talk with Mrs. Jersey the next morning, but when I found that she had struck Margery I came down at once”— “That was after 11?” “About a quarter past Mrs. Jersey waa in her room. We talked, and I told her what I had heard. She denied it. I pointed to the stiletto which was on the table as a proof that the girl had been here. Mrs. Jersey said that it was the same stiletto with which Percy had been killed, as Lola had received it from her mother. That put the thought into my head that God Intended Mrs. Jersey should be slain with the same weapon with which my darling bad been stabbed. "I accused Mrs. Jersey of having killed Percy. She gloried in the fact that it was through her be had died. She declared that if Ireland had not held her hand she would have laid him dead at her feet. She exulted that the hccldent had fulfilled her intention and taunted me with the fact that I never became his wife. I was very quiet,” added Miss Bull, her eyes glittering, “but my blood was boiling. Mrs. Jersey turned her back on me, with an insolent laugh, and sat down. The stiletto was on the table. Her head was turned away. I softly took the dagger and”— Miss Bull rose. “George, you now know all. Go! No, do not shakt* hands. 1 have avenged your father, and I expect I will be banged.” Margery burst out into renewed weeping, and Miss Bull soothed her. talking to George tiie while. “Tell my sister,” she said, “that the name of Howard will not be mentioned. 1 will die under my false name. No disgrace Will be brought on her. As to Dorothy” —here Miss Bull's eyes grew tender—“no disgrace will befall her. Marry her, George; love her, make her a good husband and take this kiss to her from a sorely tried woman." Before the astonished George knew what she was about he felt a pair of cold lips pressed to his own. The next moment she had pushed him out of the room and had locked the door. That was the last Gtajrge saw of her. Whether Margery bad agreed to die with her or whether Miss Bull, knowing what a miserable life the girl would lead after her death, compelled her to take the poison will never be known, but when the door was burst open the two women were found on the floor in one another's arms. Ou the table was an empty glass, and it was ascertained that Miss Bull and Margery had taken prussic acid. Bawdsey entered the room an hour after the death, alarmed by the silence. He found that his prey had escaped. Miss Bull was buried under her false name, and Margery was burled with her. Nothing of Miss Bull's sad past or of her killing of Mrs. Jersey came to light. Six months later George Vane was seated in the library of the mansion in St Giles square. It was after dinner, and Lord Derrington occupied his usual chair. The old man looked brighter and happier than he had looked for many years. Dally George grew a greater favorite with him, and on the morrow George was to be married. Lord Derrington had Insisted that as it was his last night as a bachelor George should dine alone with him and would not admit even Walter. “It’s the last time I’ll have you all to myself, George," said the old man piteously. "After tomorrow Dorothy will possess you.” “Not at all,” replied George, “you will have us both. We will come back i from the honeymoon in a month, and

then we will live here. A lady In the house will make a lot of difference. You won’t know this place when Dorothy Is flitting about.” “Don’t! Her mother is the kind of woman who flits.” “Oh, I don’t think we’ll be troubled much with Mrs. Ward. Since the shock inflicted by her sister’s sad death she has become religious.” "Bah! That's only a phrase. Poor Miss Bull!” said Derrington. “I like to think of her under that name. She had a sad litH I don't wonder she killed herself. Do you think she was mad, George?” “No. But I think the memory of hetwrongs, which were all caused by Mrs. Jersey, was too much for her. She was mad for the moment, but she told me the terrible story in the calmest man ner.” "And who came in at the'front door that night?” asked Derrington. “No one. After the murder Miss Bull opened it to fly—panic struck. I expect—but Margery came downstairs mid stopped her. Miss Bull closed the door and remained to face the worst." “Well, she is dead and buried, and the scandal is laid at rest, unless that Bawdsey revives it.” “Oh, you can trust Bawdsey,” said George, smiling. “He and Lola are quite happy, and she has almost forgotten me. I got a letter from Bawdsey the other day. He is acting as his wife’s agent, and they are making a lot of money.”

“All the better. He won’t talk about that business. By the way, I forgot to ask you about Ireland’s money?” “The money he left to me? I have settled that on Dorothy. How suddenly he died,” said George reflectively; “just an hour after I left the house.” “Well, five thousand a year is not to be despised. Have you settled it all on Dorothy ?” “Every penny. Don’t you approve?” “Oh' yes, so long as Mrs. Ward doesn’t get it.” "You can depend upon that, sir. But Dorothy will have it—Dorothy, whom I shall see tomorrow crowned with orange blossoms, and”— Derrington laughed, but not unkindly. “Well, well. Better orange blossoms than yellow holly.” George nodded. “I hope never to see yellow holly again,” be said, and Derrington agreed. So their conversation ended on the threshold of George’s new life with that last reference to the old. THE END.

Seated at the very table where her victim had gat.