The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-12-31

the newspapers to which had sent the
advertisement. During my interview
with Mr.. Howard, / was much inn
pressed with his bearing on my telling
him the position of Affairs, as he was
much more concerned at his aunts
death than at the purpose of her will.
He 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
tiers, he had never heard from her in
reply. He thanked me for my informa-
ton, and said he would likely see me
again, as he was coming into town to q
situation he had just been offered.
Some weeks after this, as / was re-
turning from consultation, my atten-
ton was arrested by the figure of
woman in front Of me. She was hur-
rying along as if trying to escape OBJ
servation, but there was something in
her style and the limp which she had
that struck me as familiar, though /
could not remember where l had seen
her. Just as she was passing lighted
part of the street, she happened to look
round, and the face L saw at once ex-
planned to me the familiarity of her fig
are, both face and figure being an exact
counterpart of my late clients, Miss
Howard Somehow or other suspicion
flashed across my mind; my instinct
told me something was wrong,
and / determined to follow her and
see where she went to. Pushing
my hat well over my brow. and pulling
the collar of my coat well up, l fol-
lowed through two or three streets, and
was almost at her heels, when she
suddenly turned into public
house, when. so close had /
followed her, heard the attendant
say in answer to an inquiry by
her, Number thirteen, ma'am;" and
1 saw her disappear into the back
premises. 1 Immediately followed,
heard the door of thirteen shut, and,
glancing at the number, quietly opened
number twelve, and after giving an or
der for some slight refreshment to the
attendant who had followed me, l took
hasty look around the room.
l found it was divided from the next
one only by a wooden partition which
did not reach the ceiling, and that, by
remaining perfectly quiet, l could hear
bndb u W6o pClhB
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
saying that listeners seldom hear any
thing to their own advantage, did my
best to make out the conversation. L
distinguished the voices to be those of
two men and one woman. The latter
1 at once recognized, or at least my
imagination led me to believe, to be 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 had al
ready made, L was not greatly aston
ished 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 machinery
for carrying through clever and dar-
ing piece of imposture. /, however,
listened attentlvely to the conversation,
in order to fathom the whole affair.
The first sentence / made OFT came
from the stranger: Il told you that
young Sinclair was the very man to do
the work for you. These young law
yers never ask any questions as long as
they get the business.
well, well, said Simpson, that is
all right now. But the question is,
what is to be done in the way of hurry
ing him up with the realization of the
estate without exciting suspicion? The
sooner we all get away from this the
better. 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, Il would he
glad TO get away from this place to-
morrow if l could. Pm 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 on and him,
and getting me to do what L did. I'm
sure it's wonder my mistress doesn't
rise from her grave and denounce us
all"
Keep that cant for another occasion,
| old woman; it's no use getting religious
now. But I'll tell you what-Tve got
an idea"
Here the conversation got 50 low that
1 could not catch more than an occa-
sional word, and what that idea was L
never found out. as he never got the
chance to try it on me, for had heard
enough to know that next door to me
were three of the most daring conspira-
tors / had ever come across. who had
duped me. and made me, though unwit-
tingly, the chief actor in the conspiracy.
My first idea was to lock the door of
the room they were in and go for
help; but as that was likely to
cause disturbance, determined
to slip out and trust to being back in
time for their arrest. As luck would
have it, nearly the first man / met
outside was detective whom had
known very we'll in connection with
some criminal trials in which 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 Familiarity to the bartender
and leaning over the counter, whispered
in his ear. The shopman started, and
gave vent to long, low whistle.
Il %