Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-04-10

hOuSekeeper, ana Lena WAS TIC ieoui"
Walter seemed infatuated with her
from the first, and for a time she en-
couraged his advances. But Lena was
prudent girl, and before consenting to
marry him, as be wished her to, she in
sisted upon knowing just what he pos
sessed. He was compelled to admit
that, besides his all-engrossing and over
whelming love for her, be could not
really claim anything in particular as
strictly his own. That disgusted Lena,
who had very clear perceptions con-
cerning
THE CASH VALUE OF AFFECTION.
Walter explained that when he re-
turned home in 1889, ruined and pen
niIess, Benjamin had said to him:
tNever mind, Walter, stay with me
! here as long as you live, and you shall
never want for anything. We will
share and share alike. Neither will
ever say of anything any more 1T is
mine,' but always it is ours, until one
or the other goes to bis last sleep, and
then the survivor shall have all that Is
left
Since this noble and brotherly prof
fer they had always lived together in
harmony.
Then, urged Lena, if Benjamin
were TO die, you would have everythingF
Walter assented that it was to be ex-
pected that he would, but fervently ex-
pressed the hope that many years
might elapse before that event should
enrich him.
sAs you please replied Lena, but
until it does you can never marry me.
If he chose to he might turn you out,
and You would be begger. You have
no right to anything only what he
gives you in charity. Do you think
I'd marry man like that? No, indeed!
Walter pleaded with her in vain.
She persisted in her resolve, at the same
time artfully infaming his desire, and
familiarizing him with the thought OF
the desirability of Benjamins demise.
AT length Walter found himself
wishing his brother would die. From
being startled by the idea, he got to
wondering how it would be possible to
attain that end without being stspec-
ted Of having done so.
Tn March, 1853, wandering Jew
peddler was permitted to remain over
night at the Pancoast farm. He was
not only peddler, but a buyer OF old
gold and silver, and when he left in the
morning he accidently left behind him
little bottle of nitric acid with which
he had been showing how he tested
gold. The bottle was set upon shell
in the closet of the parlor to await his
return.
Several weeks elapsed. One day
Walter went to the closet to hunt up a
box of percussion caps, and, feeling
about on a shelf too high for him to
look upon, found his fingers scraping
what seemed to be soft and sticky
place in the shelf. When he looked at
them they were stained light yellow
at the ends.
HIS CURIOSlTI WAS EACilEDJ
and, mounting, a chair, he inspected
the shelf. The bottle of nitric acid
had been upset and had leaked part of
its contents. Wherever the powerful
acid had touched the shelf, it had sof-
tened and rotted the wood. Walter
set the bottle up again and lett with a
new idea.
Two weeks thereafter he went to
Washington, on some business for
BENJAMIN, and thence made flying
visit to Baltimore on his own account.
When he returned to the farm he care
fully carried in his valise bottle con-
tanning pound of nitric acid, which
he secreted under the barn and men
toned to no one.
Beneath one end Of the low, broad
porch which ran along the front of the
old mansion, was well. 1t was some
forty feet in depth, solidly walled ur,
closely boarded over by the floor OF the
porch, and its waters were drawn out
by stationary pump in the kitchen, or
through pipe leading up to the yard
where the suction hoes of hand force
pump could be attached, enabling a
strong stream to be thrown for water
ing the garden, extinguishing fire, or
any other necessary purpose. The hu.
midity of the atmosphere about the well
no doubt caused the extraordinary luxu-
rance of growth of the honey-suckles
planted at this end of the porch. They
formed a fragrant curtain OF foliage
and floral beauty, and in their shade it
was the delight of Benjamin Pancoast
to sit and doze in hot summer after
moons, or to smoke his pipe at night
when the heat and mosquitoes made
sleep impossible.
Anyone wandering about the Pan
coast mansion in the middle of the
night. about week after Walters re-
turn home from Baltimore, might have
seen him doing
A STRANGE AND MYSTERIOUS THING.
Coming stealthily from the house in
his stocking feet he glided to the barn,
returned soon with bottle in his hand,
lifted from the porch floor, over the
we'll, two boards some FIVE feet apart,
and from the bottle poured some liquid
on the three pieces of heavy scantling
stuff on which the floor rested Then
he replaced the boards, went again to
the barn, returned without the bottle,
and quietly reentered the house. Night
after night, the wandering watchdog
,1ono ,-,ou,ol