Episode Transcript
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Hi is Stefania over at Positive Affirmationsand Audio stories, bringing you happy thoughts,
inspiration, motivation and entertainment to startyour day. We're carrying on this
time with the Sleep Stories series,the story of the problems of Violet Strange,
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the story of the Second Bullet.They're trying to figure out how this
man died. Did he have anaccident and shoot himself or did someone else
shoot him? Our story continues.What was the cause of the quarrel you
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speak of between your husband and yourself? You see, I must know the
exact truth and all the truth tobe of any assistance to you. It
was It was about the care Igave or didn't give the baby. I
feel awfully to have to say it, But George did not think I did
my full dutied by the child.He said there was no need of crying,
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so that if I gave it theproper attention, it would not keep
the neighbors and himself awake out thenight. And I got angry and insisted
that I did the best I could, that the child was naturally fretful,
and that if he wasn't satisfied withmy way of looking after it, he
might try his, all of whichwas very wrong and unreasonable on my part,
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as quitnessed the awful punishment which followed. And what made you get up
and leave him? The growl hegave me in reply When I heard that,
I bounded out of bed and saidI was going to the spare room
to sleep, and if the babycried, he might just try what he
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could do himself to stop it.And he answered this, just this,
I shall never forget his as longas I live. If you go,
you need not expect me to letyou in again, no matter what happens.
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He said that and locked the doorafter me. You see, I
could not tell all that it mighthave been better if you had. It
was such a natural quarrel and sounprerocative of actual tragedy. Missus Hammond was
silent. It was not difficult tosee that she had no very keen regrets
for her husband personally. But thenhe was not a very estimable man,
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nor in any respect or equal.You were not happy with him, while
adventure to remark, I was nota fully contented woman. But for all
that he had no cause to complainof me. Except for the reason I
have mentioned, I was not avery intelligent mother. But if the baby
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he were living now, Ah,if he were living now, with what
devotion I should care for him?She was at her feet, her arms
were raised, her face impassioned withfeeling. Violet gazing at her, heaved
a little sigh. It was perhapsin keeping with the situation, perhaps extraneous
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to it, but whatever its source, it marked a change in her manner.
With no further check upon her sympathy, she said, very softly,
it is well with a child.The mother stiff and swayed, and then
burst into wild weeping. But notwith me, she cried. Not with
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me. I am desolate and bereved. I am not even a home,
and whish to hide my grief,and no prospect of one. But interposed
Violet, surely your husband left you. Something can be quite penniless. My
husband left me nothing, was theanswer, uttered without bitterness, but with
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all the hardness of fact. Hehad debts. I shall pay those debts.
When these and other necessary expenses areliquidated, there will be but little
left. He made no secret ofthe fact that he lived close up to
his means. That is why hewas induced to take on a life insurance.
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Not a friend of his but knowshis improvidence. Ah, I have
not even jewels. I have onlymy determination, in an absolute conviction,
as to the real nature of myhusband's death. What is the name of
the man you secretly believe to haveshot your husband from the dwellers? Missus
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Hammond told her it was a newone to Violet. She said so,
and then asked, what else canyou tell me about him? Nothing but
that he is a very dark manand has a club foot. Oh,
what a mistake you've made. Mistake, Yes, I acknowledge that. I
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mean in not giving this last bitof information at once to the police.
A man can be identified by sucha defect, even his footsteps can be
traced. He might have been foundthat very day. Now, what have
we to go on? You areright, but not expecting to have any
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difficulty about the insurance money. Ithought it would be generous in me to
keep still. Besides, this isonly surmise on my part. I feel
certain that my husband was shot byanother hand than his own, but I
I I know of no way ofproving it. Do you? Then Violet
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talked seriously with her, explaining howtheir only hope lay in the discovery of
a second bullet in the room whichhad already been ransacked for this very purpose,
and without the shadow of a result. A tea, a musical,
and an evening dance kept Violet Strangein a whirl for the remainder of the
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day. No brighter eye nor morecontagious wit lent brilliance to these occasions.
But with the passing of the midnighthour, no one who had seen her
in the blaze of electric lights wouldhave recognized his favorite child of fortune in
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the earnest figure sitting in the obscurityof an up town apartment, studying the
walls, the ceilings, and thefloors by the dim light of a lowered
gas. Yet Violet Strange in societywas a very different person from Violet Strange
under the tension of her secret andpeculiar work. She had told them at
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home that she was going to spendthe night with a friend, but only
her old coachman knew who that friendwas. Therefore, a very natural scent
of guilt mingled with her emotions thatfinding herself alone on a scene whose gruesome
mystery she could solve only by identifyingherself with the place and with a man
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who would perish there. Dismissing fromher mind all thought of self, she
strove to think as he thought,and act as he acted on the night
when he found himself a man ofbut little courage, left in this room
with an ailing child, and aswith himself his his wife im possibly with
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the child screaming away in his gribWhat would he be apt to do in
his present emergency? Nothing at first, But as the screaming continued, he
would remember the old tales of fatherswalking the floors at night with crying babies,
and hastened to fall suit. Violet, in her anxiety to reach his
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inmost thought, crossed to where thecripper stood, and, taking that as
a start, began pacing the roomin search of the spot from which a
bullet, if shot, would glance, aside from the mirror, in the
direction of the window. Now thatshe was ready to accept this theory of
Missus Hammond, but that she didnot wish to entirely dismiss it without putting
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it to the test, she foundit in an unexpected quarter of the room,
and much nearer the BedHead than wherehis body was found. This,
which Mutt seemed to confuse matters served, on the contrary to remove from the
case one of his most serious difficulties. Standing here, he was within reach
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of the pillow under which his pistollay hidden, and if startled, as
his wife believed him to have been, by a noise at the other end
of the room, had but tocrouch and reach behind him in order to
find himself armed and ready for apossible intruder. Imitating his action in this
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as in other things, she hadherself crouched low at the bedside, and
was on the point of withdrawing herhand from under the pillow, when a
new surprise checked her movement and heldher fixed in her position, with eyes
staring straight at the adjoining wall.She had seen there what he must have
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seen in making this same turn,the dark bars of the opposite window frame
outlined in the mirror, and understoodat once what had happened. In the
nervousness and terror of the moment,George Hammond had mistaken this reflection of the
window for the window itself, andshot impulsively at the man he undoubtedly saw
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covering him from the trellers without.But while this explained the shattering of the
mirror, how about the other,a still more vital question of where the
bullet went afterwards? Was the angleat which it had been fired acute enough
to send it out of a windowdiagonally opposed. Now, even if the
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pistol had been held closer to theman firing it than she had reason to
believe, the angle still would beoblique enough to carry it to the further
wall. But no sign of anysuch impact had been discovered on this wall.
Consequently, the force of the bullethad been expanded before reaching it,
And when it fell here her glance, slowly traveling along the floor impetuously pulsed,
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it had reached the spot where thetwo bodies had been found, and
unconsciously her eyes rested there, conjuringup the picture of the bleeding father and
the strangled child. How piteous anddreadful it all was, if she could
only understand. Suddenly she rose straightup, staring and immovable in the dim
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light. Had the idea, theexplanation, the only possible explanation covering the
whole Almana come to her? Atlast? It will seem so well that
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suit for our story for today,for tonight. We'll be back again very
soon. What is this? Bombshell. This god Violet thinking she could crack
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this case. Will we back againin a couple of weeks with the next
chapter of the story, So besure to subscribe or book mark the podcast,
or make a note or put anote on your phone. Just be
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sure that you don't miss it becauseit's going to heat up very very fast.
And that's it for today. Feelfree to share the news of the
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It's on Spotify, iTunes and allthe other platforms as well. That's it
for now. Ah, that's notit for now. If you need some
more inspiration in between the podcasts,do feel free to visit our coffee page
Happy Thoughts. You'll find the websiteaddress in the show notes over there.
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You can mind a bit more inspirationjust to keep you going in between podcasts,
because as you deserve the very bestevery day, stay well, be
happy, stay healthy. By fornow,