Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-04-12

expressed for Mary's fortune, and many
expressed the hope that John would not
inherit any of the old fathers honestly
earned wealth to add to his own gains.
G.ooe53, finding that his uncle John had
| discovered his fathers will in the study,
and remembering that his grandfather
had stoutly denied that it was in that
room, spent much time In hunting other
places of concealment with which the
old house was well supplied. His efforts
met with no success. Mary, too, sought
in many places, but finally gave up the
search in vain.
After the funeral, according to custom,
| the will was read, and John Walbridge
was found to be the sole heir. The law
yer who read the document continued
to curiOusly examine it after he had
ceased reading, and finally called Johns
attention to some words family traced
below the signature. These they finally
made out to read:
''My curse upon him if he does not
care for Mary and her children"
For time these words required fire.
| quently to Johns mind, and made him
uncomfortable; but he soon dismissed
the thought of fear, and calmly babe
Mary remember that she with her two
| children had had good home here for
| fifteen years, when she had been left
widow and penniless. These children
had been thus kept in school and
| well clothed, and, as Robert was now of
an age to earn his own living, he would
advise his sister to place the boy without
delay in some clerkship. He had him
self, some influence in his own town, and
he would cheerfully use it in Roberts
behalf. AS for the girl, as she was yet
too young to help herself, he would un-
dertake to clothe her and keep her in the
same school where she now was, until
| she was sixteen years old. He intended
to sell the old house as soon as an Oppor-
tunity offered, but until such time as he
could find buyer Mary might remain
there with her child as she had done.
Mary was so indignant at her brothers
treatment of her that she would have re-
iected the proposal with the scorn it
merited had not Robert begged her to
submit. He was still positive that an
other will was somewhere concealed, and
to leave the house was to lose the chance
of finding its hiding place. Thus it hap
pened that the uncle returned to his bust
ness, leaving his sister and her children
e.
III. .-.
Roberts one idea, now, was to find the
will that he was sure must be concealed
somewhere in the house. With patience
almost inexhaustible, he turned out the
contents of every old bureau, ransacked
the frames for any little drawer that
might be concealed from casual observa-
ton, he examined every cupboard, the
boards in the floor, the old clock, the old
bedsteads with a curious drawer under
the head-a place which ancestors
thought to be a safe hiding place for val
uables while the owners slept. Robert
dreamed out strange holes and corners
which in his feverish Weakening he could
not find. Often did Mary advise her son
to give up the idea which absorbed him,
and try to find employment suited to his
age and attachments. Not to be beholden
to his uncle, Robert sought and obtained
situation as clerk in the small store to
which the pOstOffice was attached. He
thus learned the method Of two kinds of
business at once, and proved himself so
competent that there was soon no danger
of his being supplanted by any one else so
long as he chose to retain the position.
Nothing more was said about the sale
look at the premises, and Robert soon
after heard a rumOr of a mortgage upon.
the property. John Walbridge had not
| always been such a hard-hearted brother
as he now proved himself to Mary in her
emergency. He had of late been con-
Quoting his business on a large scale and
had speculated largely in tobacco; had
lost large sums upon the crops left unsOld
| hanHc of
tillery was thus crippled. He hoped the
next season would be better. If he could
only dispose of the large stock of tobacco
he had stored in his barns he would be all
right once more. While he was in tor
ture, between hope on the one hand and
fear of failure on the other, his immense
barns, all situated near each other, and
filled with choice tobacco, caught fire
from SINE cause unknown, on a buster
ing night. The dry and papery stock
burned like finder. Nothing was saved,
but he said to himself, CATER all, the
insurance will help me out of my diff
culties." But on arriving at the office of
| the agent, he received the overwhelming
news that ''the policy expired yester-
| day."
Ruin stared him in the face. His cred
itors, on learning the state of the case,
and remembering the insurance, as he
had done, presented their claims. Many
of them had waited for months, as
creditor often trusts man reputed to be
wealthy. A heavy mortgage had been
put upon the distillery property to raise
money to pay those creditors who were
the most clamorous. The old homestead,
also, was mortgaged heavily, to meet the
demands of other creditors. These were
the largest, but not by any means all his
debts, and, worst of all, the wretched man
had not spark of conscience left, other
wise he must have been harassed day
and night because of his broken promise
to his father.
".
Nearly two years passed while all these
changes were transporting. Robert had
become a skillful clerk. Bessie had been
l.