Telegram-herald., 1889-11-22

tls leeAiit,. lass - the oofusf grocery
sad flie hsdfapf were
he pas rarely quite eof~f. snd ~hsp
- as. Il ~ss early in the tnoruias 10
fore ~ had had tiule g. mAks sn early
visH - tbs rtlm sulii = which he a.
th~ uaoet frequent customer
IL haa teeoms settled faet that BE
wss = man q property. fn he had a.
wavs enough money - buy drink an1
pay bis hoard bill Prom time " tiIns
be sallled forth from the street. aud
when he returned it as Known that he
~as fiush. and - the ueighborhood had
come % believe implicitly that these
occasional excursions were fo< the fur-
Tsse Of collecting his rents aud receiving
his interest
From his life long habit of spying on
people, the Shadow had kept an eve on
him.
Between the front and back rooms
there was space divided into closets
one was entered through door from
the front room aud the other from the
back room.
The Shadow had long ago discovered
that there had been, once upon a time
an opening in the partition " hich di-
vided the closets, doubtless for the pur-
pose Of ventilation. When the closets
had been papered this opening had been
covered up.
BY standing on his trunk in the closet
he could bring his head on a level with
this opening. concealed only by the thin
paper. If the door between the front
room and the closet were open anything
said in an ordinary tone Of voice could
be distinctly heard
The Shadow had broken hole into
the wall which separated the front room
from his closet, on his side. And once.
when the opportunity had presented
itself. he had slipped into the front room
unseen and made a hole corresponding
on the other side so deftly that it APP
peared as if il had been made by vio-
lent pushing of chair against it.
BY this means he could frequently de-
termine who were in that room.
When he was awakened on this par
ticular morning by noise apparently
caused by the overturning of chair, he
sprang out Of his bed as if he had re-
ceived shock.
That he should go into the closet and
place himself at the point of observation
was due only TO his invariable habit of
spying.
He saw the occupant Of the room sit
ting with his back TO him at a table in
the center, while on the opposite side
was George Parker, the attorney.
"Ah," said the Shadow, "here's mis-
a lawyer in anything that was not mis-
chief"
He climbed to the top of the trunk
and listened.
All he heard for a moment was the
scratching of pen as it was driven rap
idly over paper.
Finally he heard Parker's voice.
"Now see here, Preston, have care
fully written this story down, and you
must familiarize yourself with it,"
"How much is true and how much
false?"
"It doesn't make any difference how
much is true or false; this story" slap
ping the papers) ''has got to be the true
one. Now, | want you to study over it,
and l will come again and again and
talk with you until you get it pat"
"Well, I'll try it."
"If you would stop drinking and get
the rum out of your sodden old brain
you would get it all right enough. You
used to be sharp enough, in all conscience
sake"
"Am as sharp now as l ever was, only
I can't recollect as l used to. That's be-
cause I'm getting old"
'It's because you are getting your
skin full of whisky every day. Now,
see here. You are q brother of Charles
Preston"
"Of course am, or why did he give
me money for fifteen years.
whats the use of our arguing that
point? 1t makes no difference between
us whether it was because you were his
brother, which he denied, or because you
had a secret of his worth paying for.
For all we want, you are.
- W ell was, ten you.
"Never mind; we can establish. by put
ting your papers and my papers together,
that Charles PiersOn was an assumed
name; the reason why he changed it;
that YOU were MS brother; that he bad
no relations other than you, and no de-
scendants; and establishing these facts
we can take his property. Now, ! don't
dare take the first step before the s,Irro-
gate until | have seen you have got the
story so straight you won't stumble
when you go on the stand"
"Oh. I'll get it. don't you fear
"Well. | do fear. Then there is the
story of your own life, have written
that. too.
Parker laughed an ugly laugh.
1T was a tough job to reconstruct the
twenty years Of your life you spent be-
tween four stone walls"
"Hush," said the other old man, "for
heavens sake don I talk Of that"
well. YOU served your time out: they
can't take YOU for it again. II was a
rocky path that Of your life. old man.
and | have smoothed it very inge-
niously."
Keep quiet" cried the old man. with
an oath. cor IN kick the whole thing
overheard"
This threat bad a subduiug effect upon
Parker
"WcI. don't ct huTy. he said '1n
bo quiet. But Won must be pat with IL
when you're called upon for It. l don't
think you will be. Tor / doubt II there
viii b. a contestant But the lawyer
,rhorn shnII Arlrlnr nay want 70 know