Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1885-08-20

| oCl iCu uoliCO VI tlCi hipcb Va
the leading newspapers in the king
dom. This had the desired effect +; for
in the course OF few days was waited
upon by young gentleman. Edward
Howard, who informed me he was a
nephew of the late Miss Howard, and
had called upon me, having got my
name and address from the office Of one
of the newspapers to which had sent
the advertisement. During my inter-
view with Mr.. Howard, l was much
impressed with his bearing, on my tell
ing him the position of affairs, as he
was much more concerned at his aunt'S
death than at the purpose Of her will.
lie told me that five years ago he had
married against his aunt's wishes she
had refused to recognize his wife and
though he had written her several let
ters, he had never heard from her in
reply. He thanked me for my infOr.
nation, and said he would likely see
me again, rs he WAS coming into town
to a situation he had just been offered.
Some weeks after this, as was re.
turning home in the evening from a
consultation, my attention was arrested
by the figure of woman in front of
Inc. She was hurrying along as if try
ing to escape observation but there
wasIsomething in her style and the
limp which she had that struck me as
familiar, though l could not remember
where I had seen her. Just as she was
passing lighted part of the street, she
happened to look around, and the face
1 saw at once explained to me the fa-
miliarity of her fgure--both face and
figure being an exact counterpart of
my late clients Miss Howard ! Some
how or other, suspicion flashed across
my mind my instinct told me some
thing was wrong, and determined to
follow her and see where she went to.
Pushing my hat we'll over my brow
and pulling the collar of my coat well
up, followed through two or three
streets, and was almost at her heels
when she suddenly turned into pnb.
lic-house, when, so close had followed
her, heard the attendant say, in an
swer to an inquiry by her /: Number
thirteen, ma'am - and saw her dis
appear in0o the back premises. [ i'm
nediately followed, heard the door of
number thirteen shut, and glancing at
the numbers, quietly opened number
twelve. and after giving an order for
some slight refreshment to the attend
ant who had followed me, l took a
look around the room.
I found it was divided from the next
one only BY wooden partition, which
did not reach the ceiling. and that, by
remaining perfectly quiet, could hear
that whispered conversation was be-
ing carried on in the next room. The
entrance of the attendant with my Or
der disturbed my investigation but
on his departure, aud regardless Of the
old saying that listeners seldom hear
anything to their own advantage, I did
my best to make out the compensation.
I distinguished the voices to be those
of two men and one woman. The lat
ter at once recognized, or at least my
imagination led me to believe it to be
the voice of the person who had called
on me year ago to make her will.
| The voice of one of the men was
strange to me but after the discovery
I had already made, was not greatly
astonished at recognizing the voice of
the other man to be that of Simpson,
the legatee in the will. The whole
thing flashed upon me at once, and l
saw l had been made the innocent ma.
chinery for carrying through a clever
and daring piece of imposture. I,how-
ever, listened attentively to the conver-
sation, IN order to fathom the whole
affair.
The first sentence I made out came
from the stranger 81 told you young
Sinclair was the very man to do the
work for you. These young lawyers
never ask any questions as long as they
get the business"
swell, well,' said Simpson, "that is
all right now. But the present ques-
tion is, what is to be done iI the way
of hurrying him up with the realization
of the estate without exciting suspi-
cion ? The sooner we all get away
from this the better. l am glad that
young fellow Howard didn't ask any
questions. But one things certain, we
must get the old woman away from
this Immediately or she's sure to get
recognized. She's been keeping pretty
close lately, but dare say she's get
ting tired of it. Aren't you, old la
dy ?"
Indeed" was the reply, II would
be glad to get away from this place sto-
morrow, if l could. Pm sure | only
wish you could have been content with
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