THE UNNATURAL BROTHER.
Maurice Sherwood, _alias_ Iron Hand, who had committed so many
villainous deeds in the past few years, and whose name had become
such a terror to every household, now stood before them, pale and
trembling.
Five years previous he had sworn vengeance against his brother, who
had never seen him during all this time to know him, and who had
believed him to be hundreds of miles away. How near this threat had
come to being carried out, the reader already knows.
The desperado’s plans had been skillfully concocted, but a just
Providence could not look down upon and sanction the success of a
scheme so wicked; thus it was this villain had been baffled in the
very last act of his drama.
It had been his design to kill his brother secretly, and this he had
attempted during the battle related in one of the foregoing chapters.
For could he but remove Edgar from his path, the immense estate which
he owned in England would, by the conditions of the father’s will, be
inherited by himself.
However, after this should be accomplished, there was still another
object he had in view, and that was to obtain the hand of Imogene
Lear. It was she who had first innocently caused the feud between the
two brothers.
Maurice had sought her hand when both families resided in England,
but had been rejected and his brother accepted. Upon seeing himself
thus supplanted by his brother Edgar in the affections of one whom
he loved so passionately, his rage was unbounded, and the anger
that rankled in his heart soon grew into virulent hatred, which was
appeased only by deeds of bloodshed.
He had intended, therefore, after the death of Edgar to stigmatize
him by casting upon his memory the odious name of Iron Hand, which he
himself possessed, and thus he hoped that when his brother should
have been proved a British spy and a murderer, that Imogene would
renounce him.
He, in the mean time, would return to England, and after having
possessed himself of the inheritance, would again sue for her hand.
Seeing how signally he had failed in both his attempt to slay Captain
Sherwood and in his effort to decoy Imogene to his power by the aid
of the forged letter which he had pretended to be from her betrothed,
Iron Hand determined to secure her by force, and for that purpose had
selected three of his band, together with Hank Putney, who at the
time was serving him in the American garrison in the capacity of a
spy, as their leader, while he himself assumed the role of the old
man to assist in the undertaking.
It was while in this guise that he met Imogene on her return to her
father’s house, and whispered those words that caused her to start
back with such a look of horror and disgust. He intimated to her
his knowledge of Maurice Sherwood’s whereabouts, and had proposed,
as Edgar was then accused of being a traitor, to restore amicable
relations between them.
Had she accepted his offer, he would have then and there revealed to
her his true character, and afterward trusted to his natural tact for
a reconciliation; but her answer taught him how thoroughly he was
detested, and from that moment he desperately resolved to carry out
his plans to the bitter end.
When Edgar Sherwood had first been arrested, he had half-suspected
that it was his twin-brother Maurice who was at the bottom of the
mystery, and it was to ascertain if his suspicions were correct
that he had dispatched his faithful friend, War-Cloud, on his
secret mission, which was so fruitful in its results, and which
had succeeded in saving from an ignominious death one of America’s
noblest sons, and in bringing to justice the guilty.