The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-01-07
THE MISSING MAN.
a STORY OF "A FACT.

She was q curious sort of woman;
could never quite make her out. Ev-
idently she had "a past, but she would
not tell me much about it, until mere
accident opened it all up. L will not stop
10 relate how / knew her, but come to
the point at once.
was dawdling one morning over the
Times, when my eye fell upon an ad-
yertisment 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 h ID n large sum OF
money about him, and reward was
offered for such information as might
head to his discovery, etc.--you know,
the usual business.
Well, l can not say why, but | hap
pened to read this advertisement out to
my friend, and as L went ON, glancing
down the paper, 1 said:
"Ah poor fellow, he will never be
heard of again; robbed and murdered,
no doubt; these disappearance are all
undiscovered murders, L suppose"
heard her move uneasily and sigh,
and, as / continued reading to myself,
there followed sob and moan. Look
ing up, saw to my surprise, that she
had buried her face III her hands, and
was crying bitterly.
Rising and crossing the room, asked
what was the matter.
It was long time before she could
speak, ut 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 ?" 1 in
CURED "What has come to you, poor
child? Calm yourself. How should Won
know whether they are ali murdered or
not p
Because" she went on presently, and
looking at me III a strange, sad manner,
her pretty brown eyes filled with tears,
"because / have too much reason. But
there, it's very foolish of me; L have no
right to bore you i'll this way-forgive
me- and she rose 10 leave the room.
/ stopped her; l saw I was on the
brink of revelation; i did not intend to
miss il, for was fond of her and conse-
quently interested. So pressed my adj
vantage, the end being that l elected
very strange story; true, have not the
least doubt. Briefly this is it, though
shall only give it in her words when it
serves me best to do so. In its narration
she once or twice grew so dramatic that
Twill try to remember exactly what she
said
Her husband must have been a'mnr ~
good family, but an utter scamp, gam
bier, spendthrift, and drunkard; all his
own people turned their backs on him.
Dropping lower and lower, he reached
very low ebb, indeed, at last, and she
had 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 he 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 l
understood, with couple of portman-
teaus. and under an assumed name-of
course, she never told me his real one.
lie took small, old-fashioned. furnished
cottage for three months; dilapidated
place somewhere near Kilburn, quite on
the outskirts, and where the new neigh
borhood, which has now sprung up, was
only slen first beginning to be thought
of. There were few new roads led out,
and here and there an odd house or two
erected, with the shells Of others incom-
pIete--you know the sort of place, all
scaffold poles, cabbage gardens, dead
eats, battered tin kettles, and stagnant
pools.
They had been in this precious abode
but three days. when what happened,
happened. Theywere without a servant
in the house alone, in fact, the wife
becoming the drudge meanwhile. A
nigh wall surrounded the garden III
which the cottage stood, it having been
a neat little box in IT'S day, quite in the
country. An old and now almost dis
used road ran along one side of this wall,
which had door in il among some thick
trees.
Wei. it was early in September, the
weather was close and sultry, and on the
third evening. as it was getting dusk.
she strolled out and sat down on bench
under these trees, near the door, leaving
him sulkily smoking in the house.
"Sad and miserable indeed was as
eat there, went on my friend, thinking,
Blinking, thinking, in the silent gloain-