The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-17

that the old mlser's wealth was slowed
away out OF doors, or that the myriads
of rats which infested the premises
were the only gamers of old Forbes
parsimony.
Mr.. Leonids paid us his last visit,
the clerk returned to his perch, and
Ethel and I were left alone to con.
gratulato ourselves that, in any view,
we had considerably bettered our sit
uatiOn for We had a house and grounds
of our own, and a very tidy sum of
money in hand after all our debts were
paid.
Nearly year rolled round as quiet,
commonplace and happily with us as
the heart could wish. But with the
setting in of winter Ethel grew ill,and
when January came we were obliged
to keep some one at her side continual.
ly. Every other night the duty of
watching dev0lved on me. I spent
the hours when she slept sitting before
the great old open fireplace in the COM
mon room, Ethel lying in an adjoining
chamber so that could see her through
the open door and hear her slightest
move. Her illness and my own lack
of frugality had somewhat reduced our
stock of money, and had already
taken the preliminary steps toward
mortgaging the old homestead, and
only waited her convalescence to con-
clude the operation. Night after night
| sat watching the forms and scenes
that pictured themselves in the glow
ing wood Goals piled beneath the great
andirons, and thought and pondered
on the mystery of old Forbs' money.
I was convinced that it could not have
passed out of existence so abso-
lutely as to leave no shadow or
fragment remaining; but in reply to
my constant query, ''What could have
become of it?' the wood fire only shot
it's hickory sparks further out on the
hearth and the old clock licked solemn
ly and monOtonously along in its &C.
customed corner.
Though had looked the clock all
over--back, front, top. bottom out
side and inside-many time since I
have been master at Oversee, it never
struck me that there was anything un.
usual about it except the little me-
chanical figure on top, which INDUCED
in angular antics with every musical
ring of the mellow hour bell, until to-
wards the morning of January 25th
caught myself saying in whimsical
sleepincss, sis it, seven or sixteen
minutes past seven g. and somehow
the prompting figures seemed to stand
out palmer than I had ever seen them
before. They were only cramped
and brownish figure ''7,'' which was
inscribed close to the numerical *,
and like ''18'' close to the numerical
V. It happened to be exactly quar-
| ter of five, and the scanty hands just
placed their points on the figures.
Did you ever have some slight, un.
meaning, nonsensical idea drop into
your mind, and lodge and annoy you
with the persistency of a cinder in
your eye! Well, that seven to sixteen
chung to me with like ridiculous per.
tinacity. All day saw it, and heard
it; next night dreamed of it, and af-
ter being haunted by the crippled .'7''
and grabbed s'1e" for a week, 1 told
Ethel of it; and it nearly worried the
life out of the poor sick creature, for
it seemed to absorb her thoughts as
completely as it had mine.
convinced myself that the figures
were somehow connected with the
missing fortune, and I sevened and
slxteened everything to which that
mathematical combination could be
applied. Iadded, subtracted and null
tiplied, and applied my result to every
thing about the place, from the boards
IN the floor to the trees in the richard.
Ethel watched me, deeply interested
and amused, but said nothing in aid or
criticism, until one day she suggested
that maybe l was going wrong alto
gether.
elias it not occurred to you,'' she
asked, ''to take the numbers on the
clock-case into consideration? Nav
not the singularity of their. arrange
ment have something to do with the
solution of the mystery?"
If you will believe me, I heard that
clock say t'seven by nine,' as distinct
i Il as o0o'o ever near anything in my
Seven by nine and sixteen by five, of
course 1t was, and l went to adding
and counting with renewed vigor, be-
ginning with my usual starting point,
the Fireplace. I did not believe that
there was any single brick there I had
not touched, but mechanically began
with the first methodical arrangement
that presented itself. 1t was a deep.
cavernous affair, with capacity for a
full cord of wood, such as distinguish
ed the generous housekeeping Of our
ancestors it's two sides were built.
each of fifteen bricks from front to
back, and nineteen bricks from hearth
to mantel. The back ran into a chin.
ney, and no count could be made of its
construction, and, for analogous cause