The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-11-11

| Az the lawyers Oiilce / WAS ''.'i'," ~
MIR Lconidas Makefees, who announced MN
self as the lcsiatory and geherai con''aCu
member of the firm, and bowed me mo III
diminutive but neatly furnished dch.
"Ahr Tracy, heirs to Forbes he SAID
s,ril,ing into the heart of the business at once
" M onesrion about the identity. | suppose
7 moan Won can establish the fact OF Mrs
Tracy's beng Ethel Forbes, only child .
ponlfnrv and only blood relative Of Trlptolc
mus Forbes, late deceasedY'
I had. of course, expected this, anu wa
armed with rescrpt from the baptisma reg
lister, certificates of vaccination, marriage
Lines, and multitude of personal references
every good, Mr.. Forbes" said Mr.. Leonl
das, after examination. apprehend no on
fculty in putting you IN immediate posses
sion. A month, at the tarthest, Will see ina
contamination"
am afraid that cut the interview impo
litcly short In my anxiety to make Etnel =
sharer in the extent of my JOY and lei
Makefees & Makefees with the appointment
to 90 10 Oversee on the following Monday.
Mr.. Leopidas wcntup to Massachusetts, will
us. At Oversee we found one Of the clerks
of the Maketecs' Correspondents IN possession
an arrangement rendered necessary by the
old miser's reputation for burylng money ano
the charitable anxiety OF the natives TO dIe
the place up, in order to recover the hlddeh
treasures for the heirs; and had it not been
for the terrOrs of the law and the clerks DIG
dog, have no doubt but that our inheritance
would have consisted of nothing else than "A
hole in the ground Everything was undls'
turbed; the late owner had died so suddenly
that the servants had no time TO plumber, ana
before anybody knew anything about II me
clerk was domiciled in the homestead lie
| had already searched every seeming possible
and impossible place where scrap OF paper
even might have reposed. From the Few loose
shingles on the roof to the dram Of the celler,
he had felt pokcd and looked, and had col
lecied, scattered about in odd places, about
six hundred dollars in gold and silver coin
He did not believe there was even another
cent to be found.
Mr.. Leonidas knew that thousands upon
thousands of dollars in government bonds
had gone into the house, and could ma no
trace of any having gone out; the coin dis
covered was the result of Cashing some OF the
coupons, and at the end OF months over
hauling of the house, we all agreed that the
old misers wealth was slowed away out OF
doors, or that the myriads of rats which in
tested the premises were the only gamers by
old Forbes parsmony Mr.. Leonidas paid
us his last visit, the clerk returned 10 ms
perch, and Ethel and were left alone to con.
graduate ourselves that In any view, we had
considerably bettered our situation; we had
a house and grounds of our own and very
tidy sum of money in hand, after all our debts
were paid
Nearly n year rolled around, as quiet, com
monplace and happily with us as the heart
could wish But with the setting in OF win
ter Ethel grew i'll, and when January came,
we were obliged to have some one at her side
continually. Every other night the duty of
watching devolved on me; i spent the hours
when she slept sitting before the great OLD
open fireplace in the common room, Ethei
living in The ad dining chamber so that could
see her through the open door ard hear her
slightest move. Her Illness and my own lack
of irugallty had somewhat reduced our stock
of money, and | had already taken the pre-
lminary steps towards mortgag'ng the ola
homestead, and only waited for her GONZALES
cence to conclude the oper "'or. N.Fht alter
night | sat watching =. hims ana Genes
that pictured themselv' q re .)l"'..s HoOd
Goals piled beneath the great andirrn', ard
and pondered on the mystery of old
Forbes money. was convioccd that it could
not have passed ont OF existence SO absolute
" AS to leave no shadow or fragment remain.
ing; but in reply to my constant query :.
" What could have become of IT, the wood
fire only shot It's hickkOry sparks Farther on
on the hearth, and the old clock licked sol
EMMY and monotonously alOr in lis accu~
toned corner. Though | had looked the
clock all over, back, front, bottom, outside
and inside, many IL time since | had J. N
master at Oversee, it never struck me that
there was anything unusual about it, except
the little mechanical figure ON top, which in
1ulged in angular antics with every musical
ring o. the mellow hour-bell, until towards
morning of the Goth of January, caught my
self saying in whimsical sleepIncss, " 1t is |
seven or sixteen or sixteen past seven" and,
somehow, the Prompting figures seemed to
stand out palmer than | had ever seen them
before They were only a cramped and brown
ish a." which was inscribed close TO the
numrral IN, and like "l6" close To the mum.
eral V. 1t happened to be exactly n quarter
10 five. and the scanty hands had Just placed
their points on the figures.
Did YOU ever have some slight, unmeanlng,
nonsensica idea drop into your mind and
lodge and annoy YOU with the persisency OF
a cinder in your eye Wen, that seven to
sixteen clung to me with like ridiculous per
tinacity. All day saw 1t and heard it, next
night dreamed of il, and, after heing haunt
ed by the crippled ~" and Grabbed " lG" for |
a week, tCld Ethel of it, and II nearly wor.
riod the lille out of the poor, sick creature, for
It seemed 10 absorb her thoughts as complete
" MS ii had mine.
| convinced myself that the figures were
somehow connected with the misfortune, and
| scvcned and SiXtecncd everything tn which
that mathematical combination could be APP
piled; | added, suh,racted, and multiplied,
and applied my results TO everything about
the place, from the boards in the GoOr TO the
trees in the orchard. Ethel watched me, fee
bly, interested and amused, but said nothing
in aid or criticism until, one day, she sug-
gestcd that maybe | was going wrong alto
gether.
Has it not occurred To you," she asked,
" 10 take the numbers of the clock face into
consideration? May not the sIngularity Of
their arrangement have something to do with
the solution of the myStcry?'
ali yon will believe me. heard that old
clock say seven by nlue," as distinctly as /
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