< Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 4).djvu
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And one resolve T made was to Took upon David Brinsley, alive or dead. Of course if, as Mr. ‘I'relawney said, he was dead and buried, T could not sce him alive. But, anyway, I wanted to sce that he was as dead as he ought to be if he was really buried. Necessarily there were certain legal (or- malities to comply with Dbefore my resolve could be put into practical shape. But certain information having been lodged, and all the forms of law l)ccn duly observed, an order was issucd from the Home Office for the exhumation of the bodyof David Brinsley, who 1n the death certificate was described as a native of Australia ;) aged forty : and his deccase was attributed to “pertcardiac in- flammation.” The disinter- ment took place at - night alter the cemetery gates were closed for the dav. A small tent had been put up near the arave, and the oak coffin hav- g been hosted from the grave, was placed on trestles 1 the tent @ and the undertaker’s men proceeded

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such circumstances, when he knows that he has achicved a triumph,

Although the plot had apparently thickened, I had picked up some important clues, and diligently set to work to follow them up. Remembering what took place between Mr. “I'velawney and his sister on the occasion ol my visit to the “ Dingle,” 1 felt certain that his secrets were her secrets, and believing, rightly or wrongly, that in her T oshould find more pliable material to work upon than in him, 1 decided to seek an

mterview with her in her brother’s absence, and made my plans accord- mgly. 1T went down to the

“Dingle” onc nmight, when, as I had previously ascertainced would be the case, Mr, I're- lawney was absent, and 1 sent - word o Miss “T'relawney that I desired to see her on a matter of urgent importancec. She recetved mc m the dining- room; a large, heavily-wain- scoted and somcewhat gloomy cham- ber, looking very gloomy and very ghostly on

to remove the W this occasion, lid and exposc \“\’ | for the fire had the face of the ' smouldered corpse, which “OS CTHAT DAVID BRINSLEN S PACE 2 down toa hand-

proved to bein a remarkably good I had taken care

state ol - preservation, to have several persons

present who had been acquainted with David Brinsley, and as the Tid of the coffin was taken off, 1 said collectively to thesce

people as they crowded round . -

“ Look well at the face of that dead man, and tell me 11t s David Brinslev's face.”

In seply to this question there arosc unanimous chorus of = Noces.”

Perhaps T osmiled a hittle to mvsell i spite ol the *solemn presence ol the dead.” but a man may be pardoned for smiling, cven under

“tioof glowing ashes oand as a current of cir that entered rom some unseen aperture caused the flame ol the large suspended lamp, by which the rOOM Wi ]whtul to fAicker and flare, shadows moved o and Im, and chased cach othes over the table and up the walls, and dived and disappeared into recesses and corners only to mmediately reappear again, It wa a4 chamber of shadows, weird and sugeestive and it brought to my mind the line :

What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue

As I stood dreaming dreams, o door at the

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