The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-30
THE MISSING MAN.
a STORY OF A FACT.

She was curious sort OF woman; L
could never quite make her out. Ev-
identity she had "a past" but she would
not tell me much about it, until mere
accident opened it all up. will not stop
to relate how I knew her, but come to
the point at once.
was dawdlng one morning over the
Times, when my eye fell upon an ad-
vcrtisment about a missing man; / forgot
how it ran, but he had disappeared in
some mysterious way, had never been
heard of, and that sort of thing; was
supposed to have had large sum of
money about him, and reward was
offered for such Information as might
lead to his discovery, etc.-you know,
the usual business.
Well, / can not say why, but hap
pened to read this advertisement out to
my friend, and as went on, glancing
down the paper, 1 said:
"Ah poor fellow, he will never be
heard of again; robbed and murdered,
no doubt; these disappearances are all
undiscovered murders, L suppose"
j heard her move uneasily and sigh,
and, rs / continued reading to myself,
there followed sob and a moan Look
had buried her face i'll her hands, and
was crying bitterly. ~ ~
Rising and crossing the room, asked
what was the matter.
1t was a long time before she could
speak; at last she said, through her sobs,
in kind of absent way:
mo, no; they are not all murdered,
not all. !"
.'Why, what in the. name of mischief
do you know about such things % i in
CURED "What has come to you, poor
child? Calm yourself How should you
know whether they are all murdered or
not ?"
because" she went on presently, and
lookingat me in strange, sad manner,
her pretty brown eyes filled with tears,
"because L have too much reason. But
there, it's very foolish of me; I have no
right to bore you in this way-forgive
me-" and she rose to leave the room.
L stopped her; 1 saw I was on the
brink of q revelations; did not intend to
miss.it, for L was fond of her and conse-
.quently interested. Sol pressed my adj
vantage, the end being that elected O
very strange story; true, 1 have not the
least doubt. Briefly this is it, though ]
shall only give it in her words when il
serves me best to do SO. In its narration
she once or twice grew so dramatic that
/ will try to remember exactly what she
said. --
Her husband must have been a man oi
good family, but an utter scamp, gam
bier, spendthrift, and drunkard; all his
own people turned their backs on him.
| 4 ha q
very low ebb, indeed, at last, and she
had a bad life of it with him. They had
been living somewhere in Yorkshire, he
racing, betting-heaven knows what.
The Doncaster meeting was coming
round, and be found the region getting
too hot for him, SO he made bolt of it,
and came to London, bringing her with
him (they had no children); came, as
understood, with couple of portman
4 teams, and under an assumed Nance
course, she never told me his real one
He took small, old-fashioned, furnished
cottage for three months; dilapidatec
4 place somewhere near Kilburn, quite OF
the outskirts, and where the new neigh
borhood, which has now sprung up, wa,
only then first beginning to be though
of. There were few new roads led out
and here and there an odd house or TIVE
erected, with the shells Of others incom
plete-you know the sort of place, al
scaffold poles, cabbage gardens, dea'
cats, battered tin kettles, and stagnan
pools. - "a xf-
They had been in this precious abod
but three days, when what happened
happened. They were without servan
i'm the house alone, in fact, the wifi
becoming the drudge meanwhile.
; high wall surrounded the garden j
which the cottage stood, it having bee
: q neat little box IN its day,a quite in tn
country. An old aud now almost di
used road ran along one side of this wal
which had door in it among some thic
trees.
4 Well, it was early in September, I'll
( tweather was close and sultry, and on IL
!! third evening, sas itwas getting dusl
b she strolled out and sat down on benc
rslfnder these trees, near the door, leayi1
: him sulkily smoking in the house.
"Sad and miserable indeed was as
s sat there" went ON my friend, "thinkin
thinking, thinking, in the silent gloar
: ing. Everything was still as death !
that dreary neighborhood, 80 that wh'
8 the sound of footstep coming slow
along the road by the side of the WI
caught my ear, I almost started; b
when ! heard the footstep suddenly tc
I ter, then stop close to the door, and sor
4 one stagger against it, / rose from she
y nervousness. When to this sound su
% ceedea a long drawn gasp and moan, q
y then aheayy thud asof the person falli
to the ground, with an instructive pit,