The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-07-02

ss a sound. overhead apprised her OF
my fall, and at the same moment St.
Paups struck two. On rushing up
stairs, she found me on the floor
where I had fallen, as she supposed,
in hurrying to the sick mans aid,
and with the back of my head bleed
ing. s
eg At this stage / interrupted her
with. two questions, of the. utmost
. moment to me. Was she quite ce--
tain that there was no person in the
house beside ourselves She was
!, quite sure. Did she. observe any
thing peculiar about the japanese
cabinet or see any paper on the
foor?. No.
These answers startled me. 1t
was hard to believe that / had been
dreaming, and vet it was not more
probable than that all of which /
seemed to have a remembrance
should really have happenedy The
apparition, the will, the enormous
fortune, the disclosure Of my rela
tionship to Gauntlet, the brutal at
tack by which I was overpowered-
who would believe in the reality of
these things? How could believe
in the reality of them myself? 1t
was well nigh impossible yet it had
all been SO real, so terribly real to
me that / could not forego belief in
it without a struggle.
~ However, I kept my own counsel.
Isaid nothing to Bridget, nothing to
the, doctor when he. came. In time
I formed this further resolution, i
would say nothing unless my i'm
pressiors received confirmation
through. subsequent events One
such confirmation they did receive
lit was a very startling one. When
Rodney Gauntlett's will came to be
read, it was found that his fortune
exceeded all belief. He had been
money grubbing and speculating all
ms life, but no one suspected that
she, had died worth--three millions
of money! His will disclosed the
fact for the first time. When I
heard the words I tainted. Here
was q corrohoration ef what 1 had
discovered in my dream, or what
ever it was, SO strong that it utterly
overpowered me. Unless had read
1T in the paper I took from the Jap
anese cabinet, how could I have
thought Of that sum !? Such thing
was beyond coincidence; and when
1 came to myself / eagerly demanded
9 sight of the will, It was handed
to me-. and one sight dispelled all
my Illusions 1t was not written on
the paper had seen, and it contain
ed no mention of my relationship to |
the testator. My name was there, |
but only for an annuity of three hun
dred pounds for life. The bulk of
the vast fortune was left in other
ways, very large slice falling to
the share of the man I detested and
had rejected, Hugh Dimsdale.
Time passed on l had quilted the
old house. All have related had |
become a thing of memory. Bridget
was dead. Hugh Dinsdale had I
gone I knew not where-to the In
dies / had heard-but neither knew
nor cared. I was receiving my an
'nuity, and enjoying a simple country
Life, over which the shadows of the I
past fell lightly. In the process of
time I had almost persuaded myself
out of the reality of what I long
hld as the mystery of my life. |
. One winter evening an adventure
occurred to me- = e-rzs .ss;i /
= Twas returning home from a long
walk. Tired, and anxious to reach
my cottage before dark, / took a
short cut through field adjoining a
farm. In that field were several
stacks of hay and corn, and as l
passed these 1 saw that q group of
persons, evidently from the farm it.
SELF were bending over some object
lying on the ground. My curiosity
was aroused. 1 quilted the path,
and went toward them. AS they
moved aside on my drawing near, l
saw that it was a man who was the
object of their attention. squalid
man in the rags of be eggar. He
was ill, haggard, starving-yet /
could notmistake thatface.
''Hugh Dimsdale!'' ! exclaimed
aloud. -,4 a IL %sf
g He shuddered as he lay, then
looked up, feebly shading his eyes
with tremulous hand. With that
hand he beckoned me to his side.-
Too weak to speak aloud, it was
only by drawing my ear toward his
mouth that he could make me un-
derstand what he had to say. It
took this form:
"Julia Gauntlett-for that is youl
true, right name--I robbed you of
all. ] did it. Yes, ) es no need to
hide it now. l knew Gauntlett's s
last will was hidden in that cabinet
knew it from the first knew it's
purport, and stroye to make you
mine in consequence. Had you
consented, we should have shared
the old mans millions-you and L.
You rejected me and I had resource
to other means to get the latter will
destroyed, SO that / might benefit
by a former will, under which L was
entitled. / was in the house when
he died, his life shortened by my
means, passed from his room to
yours, when / had made sure of the
old will that left me so much. 1
came upon yon as you read the will
you had found-the true will, in
which he had acknowledged you as
his child, and left you all: Itwas /
who struck you down and secured
that paper. swear to you that
this is the truth" ~
y '.But tell me-" / cried, "what do