Newspaper Page Text
r £
V* By WALTER BESANT 4
CHAPTER XIX. 10
. Continued.
“Harriet has made Tip a fine collec
tion of lies,” said .Tem, with a whole
series of tight winks, and an attempt
at a light and cheery manner. “When
she's in a wax there's nowhere a finer
stringer of big ones”—he glanced fur
tively at his cousin, who stood medi
tating, his hand on the bag containing
the jewels. “Now I assure you I had
no more notion of what she was going
to make up this time than you your
self. Ran them off fine and fluent,
didn’t she? In half an hour's time she
will by crying on my neck. Poor Har
riet! it is her infirmity. Poor Harriet!
And as for these lies, the less we dis*
cuss them the better. They’re too ab
surd to be mischievous.”
‘TIow came -the jewels in the bag?”
‘‘She put ’em there hersell’. I know
nothing about them.”
“How did she get the key of the
safe?”
“I gave it her. Why, when you were
dead, I thought the jewels and every
thing else were mine. I gave her the
jewels for herself. She only put them
into the bag to make up a story.”
“Yet you promised—you promised sol
emnly—that if anything remained over
after the trust money was paid you
would give it to Katie.”
“That was when we thought there
would be barely enough in that trust.
Ygjj could not expect ”
‘‘Go on.”
“Well. I gave her the key of the safe,
where the jewels were lying. That is
all I have to explain.”
“Then there is the old silver. I sup
pose you know that my uncle’s collec
tion of silver is worth a great deal.”
“I gave it all to my wife as well. 1
didn’t want old silver. Women like
those things. I gave it all to her—not
to sell, of course. She wouldn't have
sold it. What does she do? Tack it up
In this sideboard and pretend I put if
there.”
“Then there are the pictures. I no
ticed a whole stack of them in tho
hall.”
“I suppose she put them there her
self. By the Lord. Tom, it’s as neat a
put up thing as I ever saw.”
“As for the wine, now ”
“Oh, as for the wine, I drank It regu
larly till you came home. Why not?”
“Jem, there's some law about in
heritance. Were you entitled to all
these things? I have other cousins,
you know, by my mother’s side. They
are in New Zealand, to be sure, but
still ”
“Well,”—.Tem looked embarrassed,
and he winked, hard—“l can make a!I
that clear to you. But it's a long
story. I can’t explain the law of in
heritance in five minutes. When we
have a quiet quarter of an hour to
gether ”
“Ye-yes,” said Tom. “Your wife’s
revelations have made me see things
more clearly. My return must have
disgusted you more than enough, and I
ought to have understood it. I forgot,
that altogether. Well, you had better,
I think, let me take possession at once
of my own house, if it is mine, or tem
porary care of it, if it is not mine, with
these valuable things. Please make
out a statement of the whole estate
with its liabilities by—say—by to-mor
row. Can you do that? Shall I send
In accountants to help you?”
“I must say,” Jem began, “that your
suspicions ”
“I do not allow myself to have any
suspicions. As for most of what your
wife alleged, I shall never make any
further inquiries. But until I hear
from—from Kate's own lips—if we
ever find her—the truth about her in
terview witli you—whether she re
vealed her destitute condition to you
or not—l eau have no dealings with
you.”
“I suppose,” said Jem. “that I may
make out my bill of costs?”
“Certainly. Oh, Jem! if you had
acted well by that poor girl—if you had
behaved with common honesty anif
truth—there is nothing in the house
that you might not have taken! Noth
ing of mine that you could not have
had. Man, I would have made you re
joice and thank God that I returned.”
There is only ono more chapter of
this history to be written, and that is
a short chapter. Let me. therefore, ex
plain that Jem’s after conduct with re
gard to Uncle Joseph’s estate was per
fectly fair and upright. He sent in,
the next day, a statement of the estate,
and the various securities, houses and
lands, belonging to it. He also sent in
his bill of costs, which was naturally
heavy, not to say outrageous, and he
•wrote a letter, couched in most digni
fied language, stating that after what
had passed he should be pleased to be
relieved of his functions in administer
ing the property without the least de
lav.
This done, and having received a re
ply, and a check for the bill of costs, he
sent the whole of the papers to his
cousin’s new advisers, eashed the’
check, called a cab, and drove away.
He never came back. The two old
clerks went on dozing and meditating;
the boy slumbered, and read penny
novelettes, and played at astragals in
the office below until Saturday, and
then—there was no money, and no one
to ask for It. They waited another
week. The master canje no more, and
then they understood that llieir en
gagement had come to an end. The
boy was the most grieved of the three,
because to him the disaster meant that
he would now have to find a place
where he must work in earnest. Tho
two old men, who had done their life’s
work, also looked for other places, but
failed to get an engagement elsewhere.
One of them had saved money, and ho
proceeded to buy himself an annuity,
and is a most respectable old gentleman,
with a strong opinion in politics. The
other, who had saved none, went intd
the Marylebone Workhouse, and is now
one of those useful collegians wlio
learn the rules by heart, and insist
upon their being carried out to tho
letter, and complain to the guardians
continually.
Tom met his cousin a few months
afterward. He looked less like a seri
ous solicitor than ever. Tom bore no
malice, being now restored to happi
ness. and shook hands with him in
cousinly fashion.
“And how are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting on with your profession?”
“No. I say, Tom, what that she
devil said was all true. I meant to
have stuck to all the money when you
w’ere dead. You ought not to liavd
come back. You were dead. You had
your funeral, so to speak—what would
happen if dead men kept on coming
back and upsetting things? When you
came back, I saw that I should get
nothing unless I helped myself. But I
did hope that you would find the girl,
and that we should arrange everything
friendly.”
“I see,” said Tom. “Well—it was or
dered otherwise, as they say. And
how is your wife?”
“She is singing at a Liverpool music
hall. She went her way and I went
mine. A fine woman, Tom—with a
temper. I believe that Baronet fellow’,
Surennery, as they call him, put her
on to it.”
“What is your way, Jem?”
.Tem winked both eyes and laughed.
“I am now a tipster, Tom. I send
the name of the w’inner, you know—
and the mugs send up their half-crow r ns
by the dozen. Juggins, thank goodness,
is everywhere. Oh, I’m doing pretty
well. As for the law, I alw’ays hated
it. l'ou’re looking well and hearty,
Tom. Good-bye—good-bye!”
* CHAPTER THE LAST.
I.IFE AND LOVE.
Everybody at the hospital continued
io show the most extraordinary inter
est and sympathy with Katie during
her short convalescence. The senior
physician spoke mysteriously of joy as
a great assistance in cases where the
patient had been brought iow by trou
ble; she also said that freedom from
anxiety would be found an invaluable
medicine; and that rest from every
kind of work with perhaps travel amid
new scenes, would complete her cure.
She said these ridiculous things just as
if rest and ease and travel were attain
able, and within the reach of the poor
est girl in all London. Then the Sister,
a most sober-minded and practical per
son, free from all enthusiasms, agreed
with the senior physician, and slid that
she was always right, as her patient
would find. Then the secretary used,
to sit by her bedside and whisper that;
after all, there was no cure so good
as happiness. And so with everybody.
The other patients were all in the
same tale, and would tell her that she
was a hapny girl, and no one envied
her, because she deserved all. Why,
even when visitors came to see other
patients there used to be a great whis
pering, and the visitors would look at
her curiously.
Kate mended fast—and one afternoon
her friend, Miss Willoughby, told her
that the time had now come when she
could leave the hospital.
“And now, my dear,” she said, “you
are to have a surprise. Oh, what a!
lot of things I have to tell you! I
heard yesterday what the doctor—oh,
she is a wise woman!—said about joy.
Yes, joy is a beautiful medicine. Thank
God, I know it in my own case. Now
there is no luggage to pack up, is
there?”
“I am the only girl in the world,”
said Katie—“the only girl, I believe,
who has got no luggage, no posses
sions. no money, no friends, and no
relations.”
“Yes: which will make all that foi
lows the more delightful. You n:aj
add, my dear, that you have got no
Clothes.”
“No clothes?”
“Why—you could not possibly go to
the House of Joy in such poor, shabby
things as you had on when we brought
you here.”
“Katie, I am in mourning, you
know **
“My dear*’—she kissed her—“nobody
knows it better than I do. Sometimes, 1
however, we put off mourning—on joy
ful occasions—say, for weddings.
morrow. If you like, you may put it
on again.”
Her new clothes were fitting for a
young lady, being, in fact, much finer
than anything the poor girl had ever
worn in her life before, hut Katie put
them on without a w’ord.
“Where have you brought me?”
Xatie looked about the room. They
,'jad come in a cab; it w y as 5 o’clock;
outside it was dark already; they were
in a room beautifully furnished, wittf
all sorts of pretty things In it; th f
lamp was lighted, and on the table tea
was standing in readiness.
“My dear, you must not ask too many
questions, because I have got such a
lot to tell you. Oh, how shall I ever
begin! First, you shall have a cup of
tea—and so will I—nothing in the world
like a cup of tea. Formerly ladies
drank small beer. Think that! Is
it sweet enough, dear? Oh, Katie—l
am so happy to-night.” She stopped in
her talk to kiss her. “This is my room
—is it not a pretty room? And now I
am going to give it up to my sister, be
cause I am going to be married—you
know that, don’t you? My lover, who
was dead, has come back to life again,
and nothing will please him—the fool
ish boy!—but that i must marry him
at once. Oh, if your lover couhl come
back, too! And I shall never have such
a pretty room as this again, I am sure:
But I shall have him instead. He was
in Egypt, you know, like your boy—:
Tom—poor Tom Addison. My bojj
knew Tom Addison very well. lie will
talk to you about him if you like.”
She stopped and kissed her again, and
again the tears came into her eyes.
“Well, it was all in the papers, and 1
dare say you saw it. There was an
expedition made, an attack, and thd
Egyptians ran away, and my boy was
reported missing—just like yours. Yes,
dear, we were sisters in misfortune—
and we did not know it—that day when
you fell fainting into my arms, and
told me you were without friends and
without relatives, and I was your
cousin all the time.”
“Are you really my cousin?”
“That is one of the things I am go
ing to explain to you, dear Katie. Oh!
if Tom Addison had only come home
with Harry McLauehlin!”
“McLauchlin! That is the name of
the officer who was missing at tho
same time.”
“Yes —he was only a prisoner, and ho
escaped. If Tom had only escaped
with him! Poor Katie! we lost our
lovers together. Oh! if we could find
them together.”
She stopped and listened. Outsido
there were voices.
She ran out of the room, and Katie
heard her saying, earnestly: “Not yet
—oh! not yet—l implore you—not yet—
wait till I call you.” Then she returned
and shut the door carefully. “Oh, I
have such a lot to tell you. First oi
all, dear, you are my cousin. Do you
see this portrait?” It was a miniature
representing an old lady, sweet of face
and beautiful. “That is your great
aunt and mine, Katharine Regina Wil
loughby. Y'our name is the same,
so is mine.”
“But my name is Capel.”
“Nothing of the kind, my dear. Your
father called himself Capei because he
quarreled with his relations—and—and
refused to speak to them any more, you
know.” This was a kind way of put
ting jt, and the male members of the
family reversed this statement.
“But his real name was Willoughby.
Here is a portrait of him in uniform
when lie was in the army—there it is.”
She brought a water-color portrait
showing a very gallant young hero in
scarlet. ’Tis a color which sets off the
fire and masterfulness of the hero in
his youth.
“Oh! it is my father,” cried Katie,
“though I cannot remember him so
young as this. But he kept his good
looks to the last.” |
“Yes—it is your father. It is all
proved now without the least doubt,
Katie.” She lowered her voice as one
does when one is going to say a dis;q
greeable thing. “We will not talk
much about him. because he—he had
his faults, lam afraid. But you should
keep this likeness. He was Miss Wil
loughby’s favorite nephew; she gave
him quantities of money; she forgave
him all extravagances; she even placed
R large sum in the hands of Mr. Joseph
Addison, her solicitor, so that he might
enjoy an annuity of £3OO a year, which
was paid him regularly.”
“Oh, in Mr. Addison’s hands? Tom’s
Uncle Joseph?”
“Yes, after his death the principal
was to be given to her niece—to you,
my dear.”
“To me?”
“Yes, to you. That trust, the discov
ery of which sent Tom to Egypt, was
yours. Katie. And I am very much
afraid that Mr. Rolfe, who seems to
have been a person of no morals at all,
Was actually going to cheat you out oi
It. It is all yours, Katie; you are—not
Mch, perhaps—but you have plenty. M.V
dear, if Tom had only escaped with
Harry!”
“Oh; but how did you find out all
this? Is it really true?”
“You have lots of friends, Katie,
quantities of friends. There are both
friends and? relations waiting for you
jTo think that I did not know, and took
rou to the Co-Operative Work Girls!
(But never mind. And now I am going
to bring in some of your friends,” Slu,
fang the bell, and the door was opened
With a promptitude which proved that
the man—it was a man—must havq
been lurking outside in readiness. .
"Katie,” said the other Katie, “tWs Is
Harry McLauchlin—my* Harry—who
was in captivity among the Arabs for
Six months with your Tom.
made his escape, you know. If Tom
Could only have escaped with him!”
The escaped prisoner, who showed no
traces of his long captivity, bowed nmj
took her hand, but said nothing and
looked embarrassed.
“It is like a dream to me.” said Katie.
“I cannot understand. You were a
prisoner with Tom—you were present
when he —was killed?”
“Harry will tell you all. if you please
to ask him to-morrow; not to-day, dear.
He will tell you how it fared with
them in their long captivity. But per-;
haps you will hear from another
source.”
“Miss Willoughby,” said Captain Mc-i
Lauclilin, recovering from his con
fusion. “we found out—Torn and I—in
the talks which we had at night all
about each other. We guessed that
you could be none other than the
daughter of Harry Willoughby.”
“Did Tom send me no message when
you escaped—none at all?”
“None,” said the captain.
“Captain McLauchlin, tell me”—die
caught his hand—“oh! tell me, once for
all, how he died.”
“Not now, not now. Ask me, if you
like, to-morrow.”
“Did he suffer? Was lie murdered
while he tried to escape with you?”
“He Was not murdered, but he suf
fered—well. he suffered about as much
as I did. We bad a bad time of it,
Miss Willoughby. He helped me to
bear it.”
“Ask him no more questions, dear,”
said her cousin. “To-morrow, as many
as you please. There Is another friend
who wants to see you.”
Then there appeared—none other
than Dittmer Bock.
At the sight of Katie he burst into
unfeigned weeping and sobbing, and
fell on his knees.
“Ach, Himmel,” he cried. “It was
my fault. I ought never to have left
you alone. I was a Dmnm Kopf. I
lost my way in the fog. And it ivas
midnight when I got back to the Park,
and you were gone—you were gone,
Katelien, can you forgive mo? All
your sufferings were my fault—mine.
But they are all over now that ”
He stopped and choked.
She gave him her hand, which he
kissed, and got up still penitent.
“You did your best, Dittmer. Do not
reproach yourself. Can I ever forget
that you were the only friend we had
in the world—Lily and I—before wc all
lost each other. Where is Lily?”
Dittmer stammered. “I—l—l—do not
know,” he said. “I seek her still.”
“We must find her, Dittmer. Do not
let us lose sight of each other again.
You must have so much to tell me
after all these weeks.”
“Ach! I must no more call you
Katcben, but Fraulein Willoughby—
and you will no more listen to me, be
cause ” He stopped and looked
confused. “But you will he happy.
What matter if all the world were
bankrupt, so that you are happy. It Is
true that my salary, which was forty
pounds a year, is now sixty pounds. I
should have had thirty pounds a year
to help you with, because I could live
easily on thirty pounds a year.” He
sighed as if he had lost a beautiful
chance. “I must not grumble. Y'our
happiness is worth more than thirty
pounds a year. It is true also that I
have nearly completed a project which
would give, I am sure, another Gode
froi to Hamburg, if I could be helped
by your sympathy.”
“Y’ou will always have that, Ditt
mer.”
“No; you can no longer listen to my
plans. What are ambitions without a
sympathetic friend?”
“Why not, Dittmer? Did we not
agree that I was always to be your
sister? What has happened to destroy
that agreement?”
“You are rich; you have many
friends; you will have also ” He
stopped because the other Miss Wil
loughby shook her finger. “Ya—l gom
brehend. I say nichts. I search for
my island in the Pacific Ocean, like
Herr Godefroi.”
“Herr Bock”—it was the other Kate
—“yon can have no more time. Now
go—all of you—because there is still
one other friend ”
“My dear,” she said, when they were
alone, “does joy kill? Are yon strong
enough to bear the greatest surprise of
all? Everything has been restored to
you. Your name, which your father
concealed; your fortune, which a dis
honest lawyer wished to rob; and—and
—oh, Kate—we are happy together.
Heaven gave you to me on the day
when my love came back to life—l give
you back to Tom-not killed, but es
caped—and at home again and well—
waiting for you—waiting for you, my
dear ”
One shall be taken and another left.
Where Is the woman who was left?
Alas! they have not yet found her,
though Dittmer seeks her continually.
Perhaps in the future, far or near, the
aappy woman who was taken may he
permitted to bring the solace of love
that endureth beyond shame unto the
hapless woman who was left. So mote
it be!
They were married from Harley
House, so that the girls who have to
«eek continually for work and have
never any joy in their lives, or rest, or
love, and never get enough of any
thing, have now something sweet and
pleasant to remember and to toll.
THE END. -jj
Money From Frog*.
Several young men of Clyde have
been engaged during the past week in
catching and shipping frogs to the
city market. The frogs are raked up
from the bottom of the canal, where
they lay In the mud in a torpid state.
The business pays those engaged in
it from $5 to $9 per day. From sixty
to 180 pounds of frogs’ legs can be
secured daily, which can be readily
sold for fifteen cents a pound.
One man in Clyde has boon out driv
ing about the country the past two
weeks catching frogs in the ponds
and ditches, and has realized from $5
to $0 a day for his services nfter<fcay
ing expenses.—Clyde Correspondence of
Rochester Herald.
A Fifteen Ton l’iece of Coral.
’ r he dmlgei Go ernor. in the old Pa
cific Mail dock, did herself proud yes
terday mcrnlng by landing a fifteen-ton
piece of coral on dry land. The big
scoop had been delivering ordinary
loads, when the boom dropped and tho
engine started to haul in a fresh load.
Then the gear groaned and things com
menced to make a big fuss, and more
; steam was given and everybody stood
| by. Balanced ns neatly as an egg in a
spoon came up a coral rock far too big
to get in the scoop and Just able to
cramp in under the gin block.—Hono
lulu Commercial Advertiser.
HEAVY VERDICT AGAINST RAMSEY.
One-Time President of Wabash Railroad i 3
“Soaked” for $589,000.
A verdict of $589,000 against Joseph
Ramsey, Jr., former president of the
Wabash railroad, in a suit brought by
John S. Jones, a financier and coai
land operator, was handed down Fri
day in the New York state supreme
court.
Mr. Jones sued George J. Gould, Wm.
E. Guy and Mr. Ramsey as individuals,
to recover $460,000 and interest since
1902, which he alleged to be due him
for securing for them 50,000 acres of
coal lands in southern Ohio.
Justice Goff held that neither Mr.
Gould nor Mr. Guy were liable, and tho
verdict was rendered only against Mr.
Ramsey.
ROMANISM IS SIMPLY PAGANISM
Is Declaration of Methodist Bishop at Gath
ering of His Colleagues.
The biennial meeting of the board
of bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
Church opened its work in Spokane
with bishops present from all parts of
the civilized world. The bishops were
entertained at a banquet in the new
First Church, at which liishop William
Burt declared that “Romanism in Ro
man Catholic countries is simply pa
ganism and is not to be judged by
conditions here. On the continent the
work of our church meets with great
difficulty because there it comes face
to face with these beliefs.’’
R. O. JACKSON,
Attorney-at-Law,
McDonough, ga.
Office over Star Store.
E. M. SHITH,
Attorney at Law,
Me Doxough, Ga.
Office ov'-r Star Store, south side square.
All work carefully and promptly attended
to. Am premared to negotiate loans
on real estate. Terms easy.
A“Bilious
Attack.”
Symptoms. Sour stomach,
nasty taste in mouth, sick
headache, sallow complex
ion, the world your enemy.
Cause. Constipation, inact
ive liver, overflow of bile
into the system.
Relief. Treatment for two
night 3 before retiring with
RADIUS
AND TONIC PELLETS
One a night, don’t worry, sleep
well and Nature’ll do the rest.
Entire Treatment 2 5 Cts.