Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1877-05-30
ter with me, will you? ] think it's
very serious whatever it is"
The doctor did his best.

The doctor dld his Dest.
His private opinion was that
Choker, whoever he might be, had
not long to live.
Whether he had ever been dead
before or not, he was certainly
going to die now.
at is as I thought" said Choker,
looking into his face. 81 knew the
malady was incurable years ago.
But the end is at hand now, eh Z"
"In the case of any other man, i
should say yes" said the doctor,
"but I examined you once when
you were certainly a dead man,
and can't judge for you. / don't
ask your confidence, Mr.. Choker,
but that affair is puzzle to me,
though, of course, I've never taken
you for ghost"
81 think I'll confide in you,
DOCTOR" said Choker, "only you
must promise to keep my secret
while live. The night before you
held the inquest on old Choker !
came into Grabtown. I'd been an
actor once, then q soldier; lost a
leg, and came home to starve or
beg.
"The door of this house stood
open and in it stood a man. ]
went up to him.
"Sir," said l, "they say fellow
feeling makes us wondrous kind.
You've got wooden leg, and, per-
haps, know it isn't just the thing
to stump over the country with.
"It was old Choker spoke to,
and what he said was
81 don't understand about your
poetry, or Scripture, or whatever
it is, but / do know about wooden
legs. Come in.
81 went in and he gave me o
supper and a bed in the garret.
We both saw that we looked con-
siderably alike, and laughed over
it. That night ] slept in the gar
ret, and when / awoke in the
morning / found my host was dead
and the house full of neighbors.
81 felt that, as the death was
sudden, it might be best for me to
keep out of sight. / was as sorry
for it as a stranger could be, but
my being there might be suspicious.
l kept hid up in the garret, in q
great lumber closet, and heard
poor Choker's affairs talked over
and learned his habits.
"Some of his clothes were up in
garret, and an old wig and one of
the patches he had worn over his
eye was there too; and there was
an old dressing glass in the corner.
I tried on the wig and the patch
and saw how like old Choker they
made me look, only was not so
brown. Then / took some walnuts
that lay on the floor and rubbed
the juice into my skin. 1t in
creased the resemblance, 80 did
whitening my eyebrows with a
bit of chalk, and ! sat and looked
at myself, and the plan ! afterward
carried out came into my head. /
would play old Choker, as l knew
l could.
ard studied his voice and move
ments well, and as told you, / had
once been an actor, and so ! could
step into q decent home and COM
Portable means without hurting any
one. The night after he was buried
came out Of the garret and went
to the graveyard, and not to enter
into details, you'll find Choker's
coffin in the old vault beyond the
grave. Then ! went back and
tried the effect of the disguise on
poor old Peggy Kinder. 1t salts
fed me. / haven't led q merry
life, though l knew it would not
be long one.
"But I've been very comfortable,
and shan't die a dogs death out Of
doors, as I once expected. I've
never been afraid that Choker
really would haunt me, though l
am trifle superstitious, for think
he couldn't find much fault with
me, as he hadn't no relations, never
made a will, and couldn't take
either his bank book or his house
and farm into the other world with
him.
"And now you have the story,
and you have promised to keep my
secret until the last. You can see
now, perhaps, that Choker and !
- m, - ~ .t.r-