 | CHAPTER VIII. Condensed novels and other papers |  |
8. CHAPTER VIII.
At exactly two o'clock on the seventeenth, Rupert
Sedilia, who had just returned from India, was
thoughtfully descending the hill toward Sloperton
manor. “If I can prove that my aunt Lady Selina
was married before my father died, I can establish
my claim to Sloperton Grange,” he uttered, half aloud.
He paused, for a sudden trembling of the earth beneath
his feet, and a terrific explosion, as of a park of
artillery, arrested his progress. At the same moment
he beheld a dense cloud of smoke envelope the
churchyard of Sloperton, and the western tower of
the Grange seemed to be lifted bodily from its foundation.
The air seemed filled with falling fragments,
and two dark objects struck the earth close at his
feet. Rupert picked them up. One seemed to be a
heavy volume bound in brass.
A cry burst from his lips.
“The Parish Records.” He opened the volume
hastily. It contained the marriage of Lady Selina to
“Burke the Slogger.”
The second object proved to be a piece of parchment.
He tore it open with trembling fingers. It
was the missing will of Sir James Sedilia!
| CHAPTER VIII. Condensed novels and other papers | |