Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-10-23


trsry 70 bis usu1l p~ractics. Whl1h was a.
we have seen, to spend It at 8 esrtain music
! ball. He read the papon over and over
again.
Il wish" heSaid at length, II wish ! had
known this only two months ego. wish ]
had paid more attention to Iris What a
dreadful thing it b to have a grandfather
who keeps secrets from his grandson
What a game we might have had over this
lob! What a game ne might have still
if
And here he stopped, for the first germ or
conception Of a magnificent coup dawned
upon him, and fairly dazzled him SO that
his eyes saw a bright light and nothing else.
IF Lofty would" he said. "But ! am
afraid she won't hear of it." He sprang to
his feet and caught sight of his own face in
the looking-glass over the fireplace. He
smiled. 81 will try" he said, II think
know, by this time, how to get round most
of 'em. Once they get to feel there are other
women in the world beside themselves,
they're pretty easily worked. / will try"
One has only TO add to the revelations al
ready made that Joe paid a second visit to
the shop, this time early in the morning.
The shutters were only just taken down.
James was going about with that remarkable
watering pot only used in shops which has
a little stream running out of it, and Mr..
Emblem was up stairs slowly shaving and
dressing in his bedroom. He walked in,
nodded to his friend che assistant, opened
the safe, and put back the roll.
"Now." he murmured, 'if the old mar
has really been such a dunder-headed pump
as not to open the packet all these years,
what the devil can he knowl The name is
different; he hasn't got any clue to the will;
he hasn't got the certificate of his daugh-
ter's marriage, or of the child's baptism
both in the real name. He hasn't got any
thing. As for the girl here, Iris, having the
same Christian name, that's nothing. sup
pose there is more than one woman with
such a fool Of a name as that about in the
world"
Foxy" he said cheerfully, shave you
found anything yet about the Investments
Odd, isn't it9 Nothing in the safe at all.
You can have your key back"
He tossed him the key carelessly and went
away.
The question of his grandfathsr's savings
was growing insignificant beside this great
and splendid prize which lay waiting for
him. What could the savings bel At best
a few thousands; the slowly saved thrift OF
fifty years; nobody knew better than Jos
himself how much his own profligacies had
cost his grandfather; a few thousands, and
those settled on his cousin Iris, SO that, to
get his share, he would have to try every
kind of persuasion unless he could get up a
case for law. But the other thing-why, II
was nearly all personal estate, so far as he
could learn by the will, and he had read it
over and over again in the room at the
Somerset House, with the long table in it,
and the watchful man who won't let any
body copy anything. What a shame, he
thought, not to let wills be copied! Per-
sOnally sworn under a hundred and twenty
thousand, all in Three Per Cents, and de-
vised to a certain young lady, the testators
ward, in trust, for the testator's son, or his
heirs, when he or they should present them
selves. Meantime, the ward was to receive
for her own use and benefit, year by year,
the whole income.
ut is unfortunate" said Joe, 1--WE can't
come down upon her for arrears. Still,
there's an income, a steady income, of 23, COO
a year when the sons heirs present them
selves. I should like to call myself a so
%licitor, but that kite won't fv, Pm afraid.
Lofty must be the sole heiress. Dressed
quiet, without any powder, and her fringe
brushed fiat, she'd pass for a lady any where'
Perhaps it's lucky, after all, that 1 married
her, though il l had had the good sense tc
make I'D to Iris, who's a deuced sight prettier,
she'd have kept ME going almost as well
with her pupils, ard set me right with the
old man, and handed me over this magnifl-
cent haul for a finish. If only the old man
hasn't broken the seals and read the papersi"
The old man had not, andJoe's fears were,
therefore, groundless.