The Portland daily press., 1885-07-17

| mOney-boX her claims were clearly quite
out of the question. There remained, then,
only Miss Nelly Brown, Mrs. Johnson's lady
companion, and Mr.. James Fox.
Mr.. James Fox knew from his partner,
who had cautioned him in friendly way
that Mrs. johnson was not going to divide
her fortune, but would leave the whole of it
to her ''truest friend" though she had evil
IDENTIFY not yet made her mind up as to who
deserved that title. More than once Mr..
Plumley had been suddenly summoned to
draw up new will; so slight an annoyance
as cold cup of tea having caused her to de-
stroy the one in Miss Nelly's favor. Then
TWO days neglect on the part of Mr.. Fox,
and constant supply of tea at the hands of
Miss Nelly again reinstated this lady in Mrs.
Johnson's good graces. Mr. Fox, therefore,
had good cause, for anxiety as to what would
be the exact state of affairs when the old
lady was finally called upon to join the ma
jority.
with such an old woman" he said to
himself, who is ready to make to new will
any day, and to burn it the next, there is no
dependence; ones future hangs upon a
whim; a remedy must be found The safest
thing would, of course, be to make love to
Miss Nelly; she is rather 'thirtyish' and al
together not very attractive; still, If she
were to get all the money, she would be any
thing but undesirable
So Mr. James Fox set to work at once to
make himself agreeable to Miss Brown, yet
without going too far; for he had by no
means forgotten Miss Laqueton, but he felt
it was better to have two strings to his bow
The lady, however, was not so easily salts
fed as the solicitor expected, for now he had
once begun to pay her attention, she wanted
a decided offer of marriage, and not being
able to get it, she took refuge in a strategem.
She suddenly made the discovery that Mrs
Johnson's health was in absolute want of
German waters; in fact that it was danger
Gus for her to spend the spring in England,
with all the changes of heat and cold.
The old lady was, therefore, soon persuad-
ed to yield to such tender solicitude, and
away the couple WENT leaving Mr.. James
Fox in a rather awkward dilemma. What
was he to do? If he wrote cool letters to
Nelly, she would be offended and all his
chances would be lost in the event of her in
heriting Mrs. Johnson's property on the
OoAiOl MANU- IL llC pldJC GU biiO pdlb VI IOF6I,
he committed himself and gave her the ma
terials for a breach-of promise case should
the good lady die when his name only fig
ured in her will, and should he then turn his
attention to Miss Laquerton.
What, then, could he do?
The worthy Fox was baffed for the mo-
ment, but after deep elaboration, he hit
upon great idea which his chemical studies
suggested to him. Chuckling to himself, he
went to chemists shop, purchased several
drugs, and mixed and remixed them till a
magnificent black ink was produced, which
had the grand advantage that in about ten
days after being committed to paper, it
would fade away, without leaving the slight
est trace.
Emboldened by the happy result of his ex-
periments, he became at once the most ten
der and Jealous correspondent any woman
could wish for. His letters, in fact over
flowed with promises of everlasting devo-
ton. Miss Nelly beamed with joy; for she
was now convinced how true and unselfish
was the attachment of her admirer.
Under such circumstances, if was not sur
prising that the German waters speedily did
Mrs. johnson so much good that her careful
nurse considered that the cure could DE
shortened, and accordingly the couple re-
turned to England much earlier than had
been expected
Whether, however, the waters had really
disagreed with the old lady, or something
else had upset her, was never quite clear, but
soon after their return to England, her health
and strength began seriously to fail. She
complained bitterly that Miss Nelly had in
duced her to undertake an unnecessary and
useless journey, and that ever since she had
neglected her altogether.
The end of it was, that
height of her anger, she burnt the then ex-
listing will, and made Mr.. James Fox her
sole heir to everything she possessed. This
decision seem to exhaust her remaining en-
ergy, for she died not many days after.
Mr.. Fox, who had been appraised of the
state of affairs by his partner and friend, al
most lost his senses with joy; still his excite
ment did not prevent his investing some
money in hatbands and Grape, and looking
as mournful as if the sorrows of the whole
world rested upon his shoulders.
Miss Nelly, too, almost melted away in
tears, and could only be comforted by ''her
jamie as she now called Mr.. Fox. But
the latter seemed to have turned quite dull
with grief. He did not appear to under
stand her at all, and day by day as she be-
came more demonstrative he grew less af-
fectionate.
The afternoon before the funeral, Miss
Nelly was extremely broken-hearted, and
amid her sobs, remarked how comfortable
and happy she had always been with her late
dear friend. To her establishment, Mr.. Fox
attempted to comfort her by saying with cool
civility, Il hope you may soon meet again
with such a happy home as you have had
here till now"
On hearing this, Miss Nelly tears sudden
ly dried up, and with eyes dilated with as
tonishment and anger, she cried: sit is you
whom l expect to make me this happy
home!"
Mr.. Fox, however, simply shrugged his
shoulders, saying:
81 do not deny that l may have once had
such ideas, but of late, have grown wiser
Everything alters in this world; why then
should not our opinions do the same? That
is what we call progress"
Upon this he bowed and left Miss Nelly
crying and fainting in an arm chair.
He did not hear anything of her till few
days later, when a gentleman called upon
him, saying that he had been intrusted
with Miss Nelly Browns affairs, and sug-
costing that perhaps Mr.. Fox, before matters
went further, would prefer making some
private arrangement about his breach of
promise of maria ses with his client.
"And what proof of that promise has Miss
Brown, except her saying SOP" asked Mr..
Fox.
sob" answered the young man, 81 have
seen a box full of letters from YOU
'Have youread them?" continued Mr.. Fox
sarcastically.
'Not yet" replied the other; ''but have
seen the box
"Well, you had better go and read them
first, before you take any further steps, and
if you can find a single line from me to Miss
Brown, am willing to let her have ample
damages without their being awarded by
court of law"
There was something so diabolical about
Mr.. Fox that the young defender of inno-