The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-08-14
FAIRV|EW;
)OR,G
One September
Night.
By JAMES FRANKLIN Fits.
CHAPTER ".

Tie harsh mandate of Clayton Ferrers
had tc be obeyed Even while preparations
were making for the funeral of my uncle
we left the cottage and took little house
nearer the village, to which my poor friends
and protectors removed their household
effects. The gardener had little store of
money laid by, and / had some savings; we
were III no present danger of want. Hugh
Staples loitered in the village and heard
the talk about the death and funeral of Mr..
Whalley. He told me that he had heard
Mr.. Ferrers praised for his devotion to his
nncle and that much satisfaction was ex-
pressed that the nephew and his mother
now had the whole estate, for he would
spend his money freely, and benefit the
people with it. | saw that there was more
that he hesitated to tell, and l urged him to
tell me all. With his voice trembling with
indignation he told me that ne could plainly
see that be was stunned by his former
friends; lAat the poison of Ferrers' tongue
had already begun to take effect. Some
had TUNED their backs ON him when he
spoke to them; others he saw pointing at
him. as if telling that he was an migrate.
Had he heard me spoken Off
Very reluctantly he told me that | was
described as a bold adventures, who had
conspired with him to ALLEVIATE the affec-
tons of Mr.. Whalley from his sister and
nephew No one, not even Ferrers, seemed
to suspect my relationship to the deceased;
and who would have believed it had | gone
forth after the funeral and boldly pro-
claimed it2 Who would not have cried
adventures impostor? Who would listen
TO the story of a picture and Bible, con-
frmed only by the testimony of Hugh Sta
pies, and my own assertion of what had
happened when l stood by the bedside of
Mr.. Whalley? No one would believe so
wild O tale; no one would credit anything
We might say now. The danger for Clayton
Ferrers had passed with the death of his
uncle; he could laugh to scorn the feeble
attempts of an old man and girl to take
the estate from him.
In day or two the gardener reported
that the feeling in the village was growing
still stronger against us. 1t had taken on
form something like Indignation. He had
even heard of DR.. Beaumont speaking
lightly of my good name. The villain! the
cowardy, dastardly villain!
Hard as this was TO learn, | could suffer
it in silence; but now came the finishing
stroke of my misery. In place of the silence
that had prevailed as to the cause of the
disappearance of Harvey Ninton, the vii
lage was now filled with the most astound-
ing rumors and stories, different in detail,
Dut all luNolNluS the same ulSgrace1ul FACTS
1t was told in the village, and widely be-
lieyed, that, pinched by poverty, he had
broken into the Fairyiew mansion on
the very night of Mr.. Whalley's death. for
the purpose of committing robbery; that
he had been detected in the act, and had
saved himself from arrest and prosecution
only by consenting to leave Berkeley for
ever. He had not been seen in the village
since that day; Mr.. Ferers and Dr. Beau
ment both gave very circumstantial state
ments of the affair; and the latter, who had
been to New York since the funeral, de-
clared that he had seen him there. NV
heart cried out in its bitterness against this
shocking accusation, by which the good
name of q noble man was to be forever
blasted. But days had passed, and he came
not back and the hideous charge was gen.
orally accepted as truel
| had reached the limit of my strength.
The excltements ana trials of the last month
had completely unnerved me; my reason
seemed lettering into eclipse. How or
when it came about l do not know: only
that consciousness left me, and the world
and Its people seemed to pass far from my
sight.