New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-08
For the New Orleans Republican,
Cl{ANCEL'S HIDDEN TREASURE.

That the treasure was sOmewhe rcon.
eealed III the house. l was fully persuad
ed. had possessed myself of every par
ticular of the life of each occupant since
the murderous hand Of Cotswortb had sc
suddenly limited Chancel's career. But !
| had failed to note q fact indicating ant
rapid requirement Of wealth. as would
certainly have been apparent had the
hidden deposit been discovered by
any of them. That each inhabitant had
] spent weary hours in the search. had
abundant proof. The whole house had
[ may say, been honeycombed: and I
had theory that could tell by these
| traces the name OF the searcher and the
| date of his search. They. to me, were an
interesting study. There was character
in them. One could exactly gauge the
intellec: of the explorer by the amount Of
! OF ingenuity displayed. And the old
house, am proud to remember, had had
! its day of grandeur-it being inhabited
! by men of genius can be said to eunoble
tenement.
Another thing which struck me was
that, although these searches had con.
stantiy been made. and there was not one
single occupant OF the house who had not
worked haro III the matter, yet all
had used every effort 10 conceal
the fact. They had shown too, as much
skill IN their concealments as could pos
sibly be expected OF Chancel. And in
them l could discover the theory each
had formed of the manner in which Chan.
Gel had hidden his wealth. Nothing had,
however, escaped my vigilance. except
the grand secret itself. That had proved
impenetrable, and l had racked my brain
to undo ats solution, until I began 70 fear
the consequences, while my physician,
attributing my sallow complexion and
restless, uneasy expression to disease. re.
commended speedy change of scene.
But death has no stronger hold upon its
victims than had the fascination of this
search for me. l could contemplate nv
catastrophe with greater equani,nity than
that OF leaving it off. But my investiga.
ton was accompanied by no outward
signs indicating my objects and intentions,
1t was PRINCIPALLY planned in the secrecy
of my library and then carried out ON the |
plea of making some alteration or neces.
sary repairs. By this means had pretty |
much gutted the old edifce. and not a |
room. chimney nor closet but had been
been pulled down and put up again-all
with the plea that it was requisite for the |
sake Of ventilation, beauty or safety. NV
wife during all this was as patient as a
martyr, and although never made con.
fidant OF her, still she has since told me
that she watched my search with q full
of my real object. For who
can hide anything from the evet-vigilant
eyes OF a loving wife :!
The marble mantel- pieces in each room
had been removed, and put back again
hat week, and sat in my library. before
he fire, Illuminating upon the dlsappoint.
nent again experienced. Could the trea-
'ure not be in the house at !ast2 Could
lot Chancel have secreted it elsewhere
impossible! As impossible as that it could |
AVE been removed by previous tenant!
And l" as l said before, .'had settled
hat point in ny mind" .Yes." said !.
o myself, aloud. ''it is here. still undis.
o'ered. but hese, and upon that II. stake :
ny life.
The fire burned low. and stopped TO
do another piece of wood. when my :
yes-ever vigilant-fel1 upon something .
which had hitherto escaped my observa- !
ion, and which made the blood leave my '
cart, and rush to my head at one bound. j
The black marble columns which SUD- '
orted the mantelpiece, were jointed near I
ne centre. Yes, there were the faint '
aces OF joint, skillfully made, it is true,
ut nevertheless there, and visible enough. :
ow that had once detected it. Then / n
lddenly remembered that every fireplace t
the ground floor had the same peculiar +
'rm, and were all OF black marble, with h
e never varying columns on each side. t.
slzng lamp, L rushed, into the next n
'om, and examined the columns there. !,
ney. too, had been joined in the same n
anner.s And further investigation :,
owed that every column was jointed "
actly alike, and at precisely the same 4
light from the floor. d
As the plaster was yet sufficiently soft. Il
1t once removed column in nv own II
ON and proceeded to weigh it to test o Q
letRer it was solid marble Or not, and I e