The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-09-09

ffs-.
address was written. The lower
right hand corner was torn OFF, leav-
ing the superscription thus h9'iS
.eiI FRED HA.; dl3
Stock ,,.
."The last four letters formed the
syllable Of Stockport the town
where / resided. On turning the
paper, l found some penciled memo,
randa which ran thus: Bonnet,
veil, cloak, scarf, gloves. '' 'Ao5s ~ ~
GAS ! recalled the face beneath
that yeil--the short. wavy hair,
parted in the middle of the forehead.
the arched eyebrows, the intense
blackness of the eyes, which never
once directly Il met my own, there
flashed upon me the secret of the
indefnable resemblance some one l
had seen, which had struck me at
first glance, but which made no par
ticular impression upon me at the
time. It was just as clear to me
now as twelve hours later. l had
been robbed, mot by,a woman, but a
man, and that man was Fred Hard,
ing. He was in the habit of often
lonnging in and out of the store,
reading the papers and exchanging
the news, and ! had a. distinct re-
membrance of his sitting down by
the stove, within hearing distance,
when Mr.. Crofton first mentioned
the matter to me, but Thought
nothing about it at the time aua g7l
"In less than ten minutes I was
ON my way back to Stockport.
What my thoughts and feelings
were during the journey it would be
difficult to describe. so conflicting
was .heir nature. At one time |
was strong in the belief that I
should be able to circumvent the
william who had robbed me Of more
than life, and then my hopes were
down to zero. knew that Hard
ing's eagerness to win sweet Lucy
Crofton made him jealous of theta.
vor with which her father regarded
me, and was convinced that his OBJ
ject was not only money, but to
ruin me in my employers estima-
ton. The result would be 1.-THE
same, at all events. UnlesslI could
get back the package, farewell TO
all my bright prospects and the
sweetest maiden in all the world to
me. t''~ ei@ h4 i'tTa'
"It was dusk when / reached.
Stockport. for which l was not sor
ry. / went directly to the hotel
where 1 knew Harding boarded.
He had been out of town for the
last two days so the porter inform
ed me, 'but had just got back As
certaining the number, / proceeded
to his room, and the door being
ajar, entered. Harding was not
there, but the bright light and the
cheerful fire indicated that he was
not far off, and sat downand wait
ed.}fdpa 20 rav ~. r,4u.,i
II looked scrutinizingly around.
On the chair near me lay an old
glove; the mate to the one in the
satchel, as found on comparing
them. Another link in the, chain
Of evidence. ..5,ts ..---- .,..f.
III had scarcely time to secure it
and decide upon my course OF ac-
ton when Harding entered. have
not power to describe his rstonish-
ed and dismayed look as, he saw
me- N Quickly recovering himself
he advanced eagerly toward me. ~
"Ignoring his outstretched hand
1 said sternly. eseq elt }o ,sgaJ
"Mr. Harding, here is the satchel
yon left behind you in the little
masquerade you played last night.
You acted your part we'll, but it is
time to lay off the mask now. In
this satchel is an old glove, the
mate of which I found on yonder
chair, andIwhich may be of value to
you. You can have it in exchange
for the package you took from me-
"Taken entirely by surprise, and
coward at heart, the william turn
ed deadly pale. Io b1E'a grT
''a'Will you give me twenty-four
hours to leave town. .....3 Ill.,,
T. sTaking a revolver from my
pocket I advanced one step nearer.
I "AGive me that package and you
can. have forty-eight hours, refuse
and you have not five minutes to
i've
T. "It was about his person as I sur
missed, and without another word he
gave it to me .,gns evss blJo1 sl74s
"Only waiting to make sure that
it was the same, and had not been
tampered with, I sprang down the
stairs. two steps at a time, in my
haste to catch the train | knew
would soon be due. Twenty min;
utes later I was on my journey
again, feeling like suddenly freed
bird as I sped along. -aeasa9nd .
n, ''By travelling day and night, and
taking brief times for rest, and re-
freshment, so nearly made up the
time had lost as to- be = able to
bring my business to a satisfactory
conclusion within the limits as
signed me. On my return found
a good many of my friends and ac-
quaintances considerable exercised
on the subject of 'Harding's sadder
and mysterious disappearance. l
kept my own counsel, however, be
ing more ashamed Of the success
full game which had been playet
with me. than by being able, by q
fortunate combination y'of circum-
stances, to checkmate him in thu
end.
s.It was not until Lucy had beer
my wife nearly year. and IL wa
junior partner of the firm, that
ventured to tell her father of hi
narrow escape from a serious loss
(which, in its result, would hav,
been more disastrous to me thar
to him, inasmuch as it would hay
Involved the loss of the most prec
ious of all my earthly possessions.
"Look here, Matilda said q Gal
weston lady to the colored cook
i"you sleep right close to the chicken
house,. and you must have heart
those thieves stealing the chickens.
i Eyes. mas I heerd de chicken
holler, and heerd de voices oh d
men," s,.s s44 s9i jstag II
"Why didn't you go out. then?"
cease. ma'am (bursting into tears
lease, ma'am, / knowed my ole fod
der was out dar, and | wouldn't hal
him know Use los confidence II