Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-05-28


never could forgive this early defeat.
Death even had not buried the grudge,
which not unuaturally passed from
mother 10 child.
How far this say ing may have been
true or not, one thing is certain; poor
Lizzie had not the ghost of a chance
of ever seeing a single penny from her
aunt's 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 part
ner, 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 VINO deserved that title. More
than once had Mr.. Plumley been sud
denly summoned TO draw up a new
will; so slight an annoyance as a cold
cup of tea having caused her TO des-
troy the one in Miss Nelly's favor.
Then two days neglect on the part of
Mr.. Fox, and a constant supply OF
hot 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 final
ly called upon to join the majority.
with such an old woman, he
said TO himself, ''who is ready to
make new will any day and to burn
it the next, there is no dependence,
ones future hangs upon a whim;
remedy must be found. The safest
thing would of course be TO make
love to Miss Nelly; she is rather
'thirtyish, and not altogether attract
i've; still if she were to get all the
money, she would be anything 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 forgot
ten Miss Laquerton, but he felt it was
better to have two strings 10 his bow,
and therefore he determined to do his
best to keep Miss Nelly in good huao
This lady, however, was not so easily
satisfied as the solicitor expected, for
now he had once begun topay her at
tentions. she wanted a decided offer
of marriage, and not being able to
get it, she took refuge in stratagem.
This consisted in suddenly making
the discovery that Mrs. Johnson's
health was in absolute want of some
German waters-in fact, she decided
that it was quite dangerous for her to
spend the spring in England, with all
the changes of heat and cold. The
old lady was therefore soon persuaded
to yield to such tender solicitude, and
away the couple went, leaving Mr.
! James Fox in q rather awkward di
lemma. What was he to do9 Ii he
wrote cool letters to Miss 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 other hand, if he played the part
of lover he committed himself, and
gave her the materials for a
breach-of-prom case should the
good lady die when his name only
figured IN her will and should he
then turn his attention to Miss Laquer-
ton. What then, could he dor
The worthy Fox was baffled for the
moment. but after deep doliberation
lac hit upon a great idea which his
chemical studies suggested to him.
Chuckling to himself he went to a
chemists shop, purchased several
drugs and mixed and remixed them
till a magnificent black ink was pro-
duced, which had the grand advantage
that in about ten days after being
committed to paper it would fade
away without leaving the slightest
trace. Emb0ldened by the happy re
! suit of his experiments, he became at
once the most tender and jealous cor
respondent any woman could wish
fol. His letters, in fact, overflowed
with promises of everlasting devotion,
Miss Nelly beamed with Joy, for she
was now convinced how true and UNI
selfish was the attachment of her true
admirer,
Under such circumstances it was
not surprising that the German waters
speedily did Mrs. johnson so much
good that her careful nurse consider
ed that the cure could be shortened
and accordingly the couple returned
: to England much earlier than hac
been expected.
Whether, however, the waters mac
really disagreed with the old lady, Of
: something else had upset her, was
never quite clear, but soon after theil
, return to England her health anc
strength began seriously to fail. She
complained bitterly that MISS Nelly
, had induced her to undertake an un
! necessary and useless journey, anc
d ever since she had neglected her al
$ together. The end of it was that on,
d day, in the heihgt of her anger, SHE
! burnt the then existing will, and made
u James Fox sole heir to everything sh'
e possessed This decision seemed Il
/ have exhausted remaining energy
), for She died not many days after.
t Mr.. Fox, who had been apprised 0
Il the state of affairs by his partner anC
e friend almost lost his senses With Joy