The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-12-03
Five million POUNDS


VA ~etos tiisil~u vnssu. come wnuu mignu
lshould not lose my temper during this in
tcrview OF such vital Importance to my
darling The more / saw Of the man the
more certain l became that he did not speak
without knowledge, and when observed
the growing gravity Of Harding's face
felt sure that he also entertained tho same
conviction. took no notice, therefore, oil
dregson's sneer but repeated my question.
Tell me. II you please what was the
nature OF the plot Of which you spoken
us It possible, he retorted, shat you are
so dull as not to SEQ the nature of the plot
for yourself nowi should have given you
credit for being not quite so stupid as you
appear to me. Good Lordi The whole
thing has been carried out under your. nose,
and now that it Is finished you come to me
to tell you what it means"
Pray take pity, then. on my stupidity,
and tell me ALI"
@Oh dear, nor he said with a knocking
laugh my secret is worth q good deal
more to me than it can be TO you"
. lis it money that you want for telling the
tf1lthl II So" Wl 4tT
I"Yes, it is money; but don't want any
from you You are very clever fellow,
1880 ~>>Js III yObh OWA OIiAtOl, ouu ~ very
knowing one; but you must not think you
can buy me-" rf 1tft
"Well, kindly say what you are prepared
to tell me without being bought rN
Just this, Mr.. - Mr.. IL declare forget
your name What told you would happen
when l saw you in the train has all come
tlue. Hauleverer has been murdered by the
gang who have been plotting against his life
Tor years, and who are now going TO get
clean of with the swag-all but one of them;
and thanks to some stupid laundering on
their part-or perhaps l ought to say on
your part mister, for I'm told you have
meddled good bit in the business-she'll be
hanged. That's all"
The malice of the man revealed itself in
the tones in which he spoke kept my tenn
per, however, but ! saw at the Same time
that the moment had arrived when ought
to uso the weapon intrusted to me by the
detective. fftr
Mr.. Oregon I said, "since that Is the
name by which you choose 70 call yourself,
yon are making great mistake in supposing
that am quite so helpless as you imagine
! hare the means Of making you speak, and
by heaven, sir, I'll use them, and quickly,
too, on make you pay dearly for your ST.
lcnces a
b looked mp at me with q startled air.
HE fellow was cur. and at the first straight
blow he appeared to be moro than inclined to
Juccumb. But he recovered himself after
momentary paase
Il don't know what you arc talking about
First of all you want TO bride me, and then
yep try bullying. I've not come here to be
either bought or sold" AfA
Then, perhaps as You don't want TO be
sold, you will tell me your story without
compelling me to summon the detective who
is waiting in the next room, in order that
may make a communication to him about
yourself and Smith & Sharp, Gracechurch
street." $500 - ttt
The stroke told even more quickly and
completely than had dared to hope A
CHASTITY pallor overspread the fellows face,
and he sat for more than minute speech
lesA staring at me with eyes full of terror.
"Xou don't mean to bring that up against
me after all these yearss Good Godi how
have you got to know anything about itgn
After pause he continued: swell, I'll tell
you as much as can If you'll promise not
to give me up"
III you tell me everything, you will be
quite safe so far as am concerned If you
do not, then you must take the conse.
quences"
All his assumed ease had vanished, and he
sat before rs now as abject craven as ] have
ever seen. Bielskis secret had worked like
magic. In a faltering voice the wretched
creature asked il he might have "a drop of
brandy" before he began his story, and was
by no means sorry to supply him with IL.
Then he began and unfolded the marvellous
tale which shall repeat in his own words.
merely emitting his redundancies Of speech.
@They have been plotting against Maui
leverer ever since I've known him, and that
is seven years Whom do / mean by theyl
/ mean DR.. Branksome and his gang; that
is, Flinter and the girl Daisy, and a lot Of
fellows In Australia, and now they have ges
this Fosdyke in the business. You see Il
has been a regular company, and they have
been working it for years. Talk Of gold
mining; but there Is no gold mine in all
Australia that will yield half so much as
Mr. Maulevereri So you need not wonder
that the who.e party-there are some OF
them still over there--have been working at
the business for years past. At ono time
know they meant to make an end Of the old
man in his own house at Wangoora. But
you see some of them had got O bit blown
upon there, and they were afraid that IL
anything happened it would not do; 50 then
the doctor hit upon plan OF bringing him
away to England and getting rid of him
quietly, at time when the worst members
OF the gang were at the other side of tho
world" NE de
aBut how could 1t profit DR.. Branksoms to
kill Mr. Mauleverer3 He was not his heir"
mo; that is just it But the plot began
great deal sooner than you seem to suppose.
IL began nearly twenty years ago. At that
time Mauleverer had no heir. His only sis
ter had died childless, and there was neither
kith nor kin to come after him."
'sHis sister childless Why, Miss Stan
cliffe had been born then"
Just so; only in those days she was Miss
Somebodyelse; Miss Stancliffe, as you call
her, had not been thought of at that time"
Harding uttered a low cry of amazement
found it difficult to put the next question.
what in heavens name do you meanr'
II mean." he said doggedly, "that it was
plant from the very beginning DR. Drank
some and his party were determined to get
every farthing of the old mans money. He
had no heir, and SO they found one for him,
and planted her on him successfully" N
but why should they have fixed upon
Miss Stancliffes What good did they
imagine it would do them, supposing that he