The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-30

pocket into the doctors hand.
every well, then,' answered that
functionary; Z will manage it, and do all
that is necessary. / will send some one
Immediately. Goodnight --
when he was gone summoned up
courage to ask the meaning of what I.
had heard.
s.s.What are your intentions? Pray
ten me, II said.
You always were an IDIOT he an
swered, but will try and make you un-
derstand for once in way. Any woman
who was not fool, and had been living
wife and alive to her husbands well
fare, could have seen with half an eye
what my game is. It's very simple
one, and mind you do not spoil it, or it
will be the worse for you; and that you
mayahave no excuse for doing 80, I'll
tell you what it is There was some
thing like six hundred pounds in notes
and gold in that poor devils pocketbook
There is nothing to show who he was to
anybody but me, who luckily can keep q
secret, so shall not tell you his name;
besides, it does not signify. Not soul
but our two selves know how he came on
to hly premises; he can never be traced
there. pass him off as my brother, and
bury him accordingly. No one here
abouts knows who we are, so who is to
luck brought him to our hospitable gate
at the critical moment, and had you not
been the far-seeing, clever woman you
are, and not let him in, why, he would
have fallen down dead in the public high
way, and his property have been at the
mercy of the first person who found him.
They might have been honest or not.
He would have been taken to the hos
pital, and of course his friends would
have been duly informed of the sad loss
they had sustained. Now, as it is, they
will be spared this sorrow, because they
will never know what has become of him.
He will only be one more victim added
to the list of mysterious disappearances'
'' We'll, but, broke in, his friends
will make inquiries after him. He may
be traced to our gate, and we may be
called upon to explain
we may be- continued my husband,
but it's sufficiently unlikely. It will be
cursed piece of Ill luck if he is. Who
is to trace him into this God-abandoned
region? Under all the circumstances,
and by your own showing, it is most i'm
probable-nay it is impossible
eyes, again interposed; but he will
be advertised for and described
every likely he went on; but the
doctor and the undertaken are the only
people besides ourselves who will have
seen him, and they will have nothing to
identify him by even if they ever know
or hear anything about the disappear
ance. They will never recognize in my
dear brother, poor John Smith, who died
of apoplexy, here in my house, under the
very eye of the doctor, the forlorn man
by the name of - (but will keep that
to myself who was last seen,' ETC., as
the advertisement will run. No; they
will not know the name. It will convey
nothing to their minds; how should it!
For, remember, the moment you 80 ju-
diciously let him in and closed our gar
den door upon him, the lost man had
ceased to be- From that moment he be-
came my brother John; the real man was
gone as clean out of existence, had Us
clean parted with his identity, as if he
had never been! By heavens! it's a
stroke Of genius on my part. 1 never
guessed I was half SO clever q fellow,
added my husband, triumphantly.
"'But, cried 1 once more, this is a
very dreadful, very dangerous game,
as you call it, to play. 1t is absolute
theft, and worse - "a
"'If you can not use better language,
he said, hold your tongue; don't insult
Inc. L tell you the money might as
well have fallen into my hands as into
those of the first policeman or pot-boy
who might have found him. I want it
badly enough, and if you don't betray
our secret there is very little risk of my
right to it being disputed
"'But, said, the watch, the rings,
as well as the money-they may lead
to your discovery
"'Not at all, he answered, If they
are carefully converted, and I will man
age that. The notes are the only diff
ficulty; but I can get over that, too. Il
1 go straight to the Bank of England to.
morrow morning, directly it is opened,
and change them into gold, I shall be
| there long before their loss is known, or
consequently, the numbers are stopped
The young fellow, perhaps, will not bt
missed for a week; he comes a long way
|
that. We do not know what his habits
were; we do not even know that any one
was aware he had the money about him
| No; the more think of it the safer tn,
whole game looks. You have only tt
keep your own and my counsel and ou
fortunes are retrieved for few months
and we have nothing to fear. All, that
the undertaken, no doubt. You get ou
of the way; leave it all to me-
"There was a ring at the bell here
which he went to answer.
''Ah, that was dreadful night, an,
during the few days following I wa
nearly beside myself with terror. O
course, the house was closed, as becam
the occasion. The funerals very quie
one-took place in due course at Kensa
Green Cemetery, my husband following
as chief mourner in the coach, accom-
panied by the doctor.
"No remarks, no suspicion attende
so commonplace a circumstance, an
when the ground had closed over the ur
fortunate unknown man, and when,
week later, a modest tombstone recorde
the decease of the imaginary job
Smith, aged twenty three all trace {
bHo tIedulul lIuutt, SdNC uIltlo WilCA
printed indelibly in my mind wa
gone"
As my friend reached this part of he
story she was good deal overcome, an
said she had nothing more to tell; br
after while learned from her that til
scoundrel had managed the conversio
Of the notes exactly as he had proposed
He slipped away from the house quit
early the morning after the death, an
almost as soon as the Bank of Englan
was opened changed the notes into golt
as he could do, by merely writing
name and address Of scours
: on their backs. sEE -
, He returned from the city with his Ii
tie black bag, as he had gone, bya ci
cuitous route; so evading all chance
being followed, though, of course, the
was really no LIKELIHOOD of any OF