The Springdale news., 1888-12-14
IN TWO HALVES.
Solution of the Mystery Of the
 Divided Bank-Note.
THE FIRST HALF.

Wet and dreary. It is midwinter; the scene is Kirklington, on the Lon don x Northwestern; the time one quarter to eleven; just after the night mail had flashed through without stopping bound for Liverpool and the north. The railway officials are col- lecting preparatory to go off duty for the night.
 ''Where's Dan?" asked one of the crowd upon the platform.
 ''l saw him in the hut just after the one-quarter to eleven went through. Can't have come to any harm. surely?'
 No; he said he'd seen something drop from the train, and he went down the line to pick it up
 And Dan had picked up something. It was basket, common white wicker basket, with lid fastened down by string. What did it con- tain? Dirty clothes? What2
 A baby-a child half dozen weeks old, no more.
 'sWhere did you come across tt?a asked one.
 "Lying on the line. just where it fell Perhaps it didn' | fall. perhaps it was chucked out. What matter? I've got it, and got to look after it, that's enough for me-
 he little mite $ linen was white and Of fine material, but he lay upon an old shawl and few bits of dirty fan nel. All they found was a dilapidated purse, common snaploek bag purse of faded brown leather. Inside was a brass thimble, q pawn-ticket and the half of a Bank of England note for 4l00.
 
 A new parson-H Harold Tretfry come lately to Kirklington.
 He is now paying a round of paro- chiaI visits, accompanied by an old col lege chum, who is spending Christmas with him.
 Wonder, said Treffry, pointing to a thin thread of smoke which rose from some gaunt trees into the sullen wintry air, wonder is the house-if, indeed, it deserves so grand d name- the hoyel, rather. of one whose case is the hardest of all the bard ones in my parish. This man Is a mere hedger and ditcher, one who works for any master, most often for the rail way bet who Is never certain of job all the year around. He has swarm of young children, and he has just lost his wife. He is absolutely prostrated; aghast probably at his utter incapacity to do his duty by his motherless little ones. l wonder whether you could rouse him? If you could only get him to make a sign, or cry, or laugh, or to take the smallest interest in common affairs. Jack, 1 believe you're the very man. You might get at him through the children-that marvellous hanky-panky of yours, those surpris- ing tricks; child takes to you natu- rally at once. Try and make friends with these. Perhaps when the father sees them interested and amused he may warm a little, speak, perhaps ap- prove, perhaps smile, and in the end give in. Jack, will you try?"
 Jack Newbiggin was by profession a conyeyancer, but nature had intended him for new Houdin, or a wizard of the North. He was more than half a professional by the time he was full grown. In addition to the quick eye and the facile wrist he had the rarer gifts of the suave manner and the face of brass. He had even studied mes merism and clairvoyance, and could upon occasion surprise his audience considerably by his power.
 They entered the miserable dwelling together. The children - eight of them-were all skirmishing over the