The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-09-09

na'am;" and saw her disappear int
the back premises. Immediately fol
lowed, heard the doors of number thir
teen shut, and glancing at the numbers
quietly opened number twelve. and after
giving an order for some slight refresh
ment to the attendant who had followed
me- took q hasty look around the room
found it was divided from the mex
one only by wooden partition, which
did not reach the ceiling, and that, by re-
naming perfectly quiet, l could heal
that q whispered conversation was being
carried on in the next room. The en-
trance of the attendant with my order
disturbed my Investigations; but on his
departure, and regardless of the old say
ing that listeners seldom hear anything
to their own advantage, did my best
to make out the conversation. dis
tinguished the voices to be those OF
two men and one woman. The
latter l at once recognized, or at
least my imagination led me
to believe, to bc the voice OF the person
who had called on me a year ago to make
her will. The voice of one OF the men
was strange to ME ; but after the discovery
l had already made, was not greatly as
tonishcd at recognizing the voice of the
other man to be that Of Simpson, the
lecatcc in the will. The whole thing
flashed upon me at once, and saw had
been made the innocent machinery for
carrying through clever and daring
piece of imposture. /, however, listened
attentively to the conversation, In order
to fathom the whole affair.
The first sentence / made out came
from the stranger: II 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
"Well, wcll," said Simpson, "that is
all right now. But the present question
is, what is to be done in the way of hur-
ryinc him up with the realization OF the
estate without exciting suspicion? The
sooner we all get away from this the bet
ter. 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 1 dare say she's
getting tired of it. Aren't you, old
lady"
Indeed" was the reply, 81 would be
glad to get away from this place to'mor-
row if could. I'm sure only wish you
could have been content with half of the
estate with Mr.. Edward, instead of
burning the will, when you found it was
to be divided between you and him, and
getting me to do what did. I'm sure
it's a wonder my mistress doesn't rise
from her grave to denounce us all"
"keep that cant for another occasion,
old woman; it's no use getting religious
now. But I'll tell you wEat-I've got
an idea"
Here the conversation got so Low that
l could not catch more than an occa-
sional word, and what that idea was
never found out, as he never got the
chance to try it on me, for l had heard
enough to know that next door to. me
were three of the most daring conspira-
tors had ever come across. who had
dured me, and made me, though un-
Willingly, the chief actor in the con
spiracv. My first idea was to lock the
door of the loom they were in, and 60
for hep; but as that was likely to cause
a disturbance, I determined to slip out
and trust to being back in time for their
arrest. AS luck would have 1t nearly
the first man I met outside was dctcc-
tive whom l had known very we'll in
connection with some criminal trials in
which l had been engaged. A few words
explained my purpose; and signaling to
the nearest policeman he placed him at
the door of the shop. and both of us
walked in. He nodded familiarly to the
bartender, and leaning over the counter,
whispered in his ear. Tho shopman
started, and gave vent to a long, low
whistle.
you'll do it as quietly as you can for
the credit of the house." said he.
"Of course" said the detective.
"Show US in"
In another minute we were inside the
room, with our back to the door, the de-
tectivc dangling a pair of steel bracelets
and noddng smilingly round the room.
The woman tainted. We had no dittl-
Guilty in securing the men; and in half
an hour we had them safely housed in
Jail. :,
Before their trial came on we had
worked out the whole story. The woman
who had called on me and signed the
will was Mrs. Simpson, Miss llowards s
housekccpcr, the mother Of Simpson, IN
whose favor the will was made; and the
other man was lawyers clerk who had
suggested to them the feasibility OF such
scheme. The fact Of Miss Howard 8
self confinement and my own imprudence
( had nearly made the plot success, but
for my accidental recognition OF the
housekccpcr Each OF the prisoners Of
fered to turn queens evidence: but as we
had no difficulty in proving the case, this
was refused, and they were sentenced to
various periods of penal servitude. l
had then the pleasure of handing over
the estate to the rightful heir, young
/ Edward Howard, who, Notwithstanding
that had nearly been the means Of de-
privng him OF his inheritance, made me
his agent.
: The estate turned out to be much
larger than had at first thought, as |
succeeded in proving that large num-
! Der of investments in Simpsons name
really belonged to Miss Howard, and the
management of so large property fairly
put me on my feet as regards business. |
have had many good clients since then,
but have often thought my veiled client
was my best one, as she was the means OF
giving pc my first lesson in prudence and
nv first start in life. -MambcrS' Journal.