Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-08-09

icile. | hadn't been there but tire
days, when, one morning, when Mrs
Bramble, who was very fond of gos
slipping in my room, said Doctor,
can't help thinkinga all the time abou
that poor gal that was pisened "a
! stairs. | haven't had that room
opened since the morning after sh
died. Seems to me as if it might b
haunted 0a5vsl a IeiiH
Yes, | responded. aa
There was something strange, too
, about her, and that doctor man cam,
to see her so much. e
Yes ! | said again, pricking up my
ears. and looking inquiringly at her
Thar was so much sneakipg Ii
and out, and coming at all kinds o
queer times and then they'd quar-
rel, and when he went away, she'C
fret and cry, that she'd be cen /
most sick.
| Halo l said to myself, here's i
new shape to this matter. And Their
| said to Mrs. Bramble, where die
Miss Selby come from2
| Well, that's the strangest thing OF
ALL doctor. She never would tel
where she came from and the most
that she ever dropped was, that she
was from New Hampshire; but then
her name never was Selby in this
world.
How do you know that, Mrs
Bramble?
Because every bit of her under.
clothes had another name rubbed out
of them and one day there came a
man here and asked for Miss Good
win, and when he was told that no
SIGH person lived here, he insisted,
and said he'd seen her come in here.
Then when this was talked of at
tea table, before Miss Selby, she got
dreadfully excited about it, though
no one said a word about her being
the one that just come in before the
man asked for Miss Goodwin.
The old lady was making some
revelations here that stirred my
curiosity; but could not see how
they could help ,Charley's case, ex-
cept that if there was anything
mysterious between the dead woman
and the doctor, L might sift it out
and use it to soften his evidence
against Charley, or, perhaps force
his interest to help the poor boy.
"AlPs fair in love or war" and so
| took hold of the slender clue to
trace out who Miss Selby or Good
win, might be. The last, / thought,
was the true name, and, although it
seemed absurd to enter upon the
search, in such way, l concluded
to write to every postmaster in New
Hampshire. framed letter, say
ing there was something of great
Importance pending to family by
the name of Goodwin somewhere in
that State, and requested each post
master, if the name existed in his
locality, to please send me a list of
members of the family present and
absent, especially the latter, and
that, if the necessary information
proved to be elected through him,
he should be we'll rewarded.
This letter brought eleven respon-
ses, one of which was from o member
of the Goodwin family, into whose
hand the postmaster of the town of
N had placed my letter. | had
no sooner read the letter of Mrs.
Sarah Goodwin, than l cried, 'Eurekal'
| The very tone of it showed mother
| seeking for her lost child, from the
expression she put upon my asking
for the names of the absent. She
sought daughter who had left her
year before, and the description,
which | read to Mrs. Bramble, was
recognized in moment. OF course,
Mrs. Goodwin must be sent for
Her daughters effects were still in
the locked room, and they troubled
poor Mrs. Bramble almost as badly
as if they had been a ghost. There
fore wrote to Mrs. Goodwin that, if
she would come to Boston, | would
give her intelligence of her lost
daughter. 1t was a sad pilgrimage
to bring the mother on, but it was
better than to have her child lost,
without track, forever. In a few
days Mrs. Goodwin arrived, and, in
my room, | told her the sad fate OF
her child, and pleaded with her to
tell all she knew of Brewster. She
did not know Brewster, had never
heard of the name but, after earnest
pleading, confessed that her daughter
had left home with man named
Selby, that she had written to her
declaring that she was married to
Selby, and this was the last she had
heard of her. | described the ap-
pearance of Selby, and the mother
recognized it instantly. 1t was that
of Brewster.
Light seemed breaking on this af.
fair in new way. What if this
Brewster, who was o legitimately
married man, had found himself
hampered with Miss Goodwin, per-
haps, illegally married to her, and
consequently bad taken advantage
of Charley's mistake-for it was
clear that he had discovered it in
time to save her If he had tried, or
at least that was the conclusion that
Sanford and | had come to This
indeed, was the defense we had de-
signed to offer on trial, bringing in
medical evidence to support it,
What if this were so, and we could
bring it against Brewster on the
trial, or better still, get him to alb.
scond for fear of the revelation =
"Alls fair, etc." as l said before.
Mrs. Goodwin went to the room
of the poor, dead girl, which was
opened for the first time since her
death. There was no mistake
Everything was recognized; and
the poor, broken hearted mother
was in agony. l had sent for Sand.
ford, and he had arrived, and was
shown directly to the room. Mrs
Bramble took the mother away tc
comfort her, and the lawyer and