The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-08-25

.------.-.-,---
in the City road; there is my card; give
me look in, and we viii talk the mat
ter over As you may imagine,
Sammy, / was astonished, but decided
at once there could be no harm in hear
ing what h" had to say; so l promised
to call upon him. 1t rather puzzled me
to know how he came to make up his
mind that / had any capital, or could
get any-you can guess directly,
Sammy, the only way in which 1
could raise any capitalize four houses
left me by the poor old lady. Two had
gone before this, but Sheldon had some
how found out that I still owned the
others. l never learned how he knew
this, but know it he did, and made no
secret about it. for when began to feel
my way in my inquiries, he saw my
drift, and anticipated me at once. He
said: / see You want to know why l
pitched upon you. Well, will tell yon
as straight as rule. 1t will be OF no
use for us to attempt the business have
in my mind, unless we can trust each
other, and are quite candid, 30 l tell
you that 1 like your looks and your ways
so far rs have seen-and know you
own a couple of houses in Lambeth.
Like good many of us, you arc not
making the best of your chances; you
have parted with two houses to no good
end, and you will do the same with
those you have left, l expect, if some
thing does not turn up. Now, here is
the chance turning up that you are
waiting for, and can show you how to
keep your property, make good sum
besides, and put me on my legs. That
is what l want you for tonight I
liked his candor, and told him l would
come. went. and there, Sammy. my
story begins. But lor! what q world
this is, to be surem
CHAPTER IL
"Let us rest moment, Sammy, be-
fore 1 begin" said my cousin, with a
sigh. Its dreadful to look back upon
what l have seen and done, and the
awful worry l have. gone through. A
little smoke will do me good" Upon
this he leaned back in the Humpigram
Arms easy chair and .moked quite half
way through his cigar in silence; he
might have gone on still longer, but
finding he had finished his first glass of
whisky water, he was obliged to
rouse himself to renew the supply. and
this seemed to remind him of his story.
swell, SAM" he resumed, las you
did not know Jem SHELDON, or. at any
rate, do not remember him. it is of no
use for me to say very much about him,
but l can tell you that if you had known
him you would have said he was one of
the keenest business men you ever met,
and you would have been quite ready to
fall in with any suggestion he made. l
felt like that, know, and when went
to his house found it was q pretty big
suggestion he had to make, and really
sound one, that was fact 1t was, of
course, business suggestion, and. re-
peat, really sound Investment, but it
was not exactly in the ordinary way of
busineSs-some people might have
thought it-some people might, l say
but there are so many schemes in the
world that In point of fact this
scheme
well, William, what was the
scheme?" l asked, much surprised at
this faltering and beating about the
bush, which was not at all like his usual
manner; "what was it?''
WELL" he recommended, giving q
gulp, as if he had just swallowed some
thing, cit was a scheme in connection
with life insurance. A big thing. say,
a-that is, well. Jem SHELDON had hit
upon first-rate plan for making money.
He laid it before me, and as 1 was get
ting rapidly to low-water mark and as
plenty of people had bested me, of
course there was no harm in my trying
to best others, especially rich company
that could afford it. He said that he
knew man who had gone into business
with money borrowed from a relation,
and to secure this advance he had in
sured his life in a tirst-rate Office for
five thousand pounds. Of course the
lender was to hold this policy, but in the
very first year they had quarreled, the
relative took possession of the business,
handing back the policy on which only
ouc udll- carly plclulull hfhu Decu pdiu.
The owner could not keep up the pay
ments, for he had scarcely shilling in
the world and the next half year was
almost due. So he was going to Cali
fornia. or somewhere, and the the policy
must lapse; consequently. he would be
very glad to let any one have it for
fve-pound note. 1 thought, at first,
he meant that we should buy this policy
and wait until it fell in, so l naturally
asked him how the old man was, and
the amount Of the premium. was
quite taken aback to hear that the man
was only thirty years old, and that the
premium was about a hundred and forty
pounds per year. MY dear fellow I
said, we can't stand that; with extra
premium for living abroad, it will
come to nigh upon two hundred 4
year, and we may have to pay it
for another thirty years; in short, the
man may outlive us-no. it won't do
why, you are not so green said Jem.
as to think fetched you here to pro-
pose such move as that! 1t would be
better to turn i8to the streets and sell
1inht- ,,apnro how Than 70, matt foy ha