Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-12-18
From the London Truth.
DISAPPEARANCE OF SIR TOBY.


DISAPPEARANCE OF SIR TOBY.
An elderly gentleman. whose chief
ldIosyncrasies are rooted aversion to
death and fervent hatred for his heir
and successor, is not exactly a novel
character either in real life or on the
stage. But there is material differ
ence in his behavior in the two stu
atoms, for whereas on the stage he is
almost invariably turned to repentance
by the beau yeux of the young lady
whom his heir has married, or by the
maddening prattle of her tiresOme
child, or dies in the odor Of sanctity
distributing indiscrlmlnate blessings, In
real life he more often than not carries
his spite with him to the grave, and
leaves his posteritv good reason to exc
crate his memory in the shape of an
outrageously malicious viii. Sir Toby
Bunskin of Bunskin Hall. Fallowland.
and 200 Grosvenor Square, was not
at all like the traditional old gentleman
of the stage. His hatred for his heir,
Capt. Jack Bunskin of the fl teenth
lancers, was not exaggerated, and did
not betray him into foolish excuses.
but 1t was extremely sincere-all the
more so, perhaps, because 1t was abso-
lutely unreasonable, and if any mutual
friend had ventured to prophesy that
Sir Toby would END by welcoming Jack
to the ancestral hall and the avuncular
bosom, he would promptly have set
him down as lunatlc OF the most pro-
nounced type. 1t was in truth a very
hopeless case, and Jack Bunskin had
long ago reconciled hlmself to pre-
carious existence on his pay, his wits
and the money he could raise bv mort
gazing his reversion to certain family
estates which Sir Toby had not the
power of willing away from him. Now,
although Sir Toby hated Jack so hearth
ly, 1t must not be imagined that he was
sufficiently lost to the decencies of So
ciety SIS to ignore his existence, to in
suit him IN public. or even to be point
edIy rude to nin In private. Jack was
always asked down to Bunskin Hall for
the covert-shooting, he was expected to
assist at the annual rent-dinHer OF
Sir Toby's tenants, and at certain fixed
seasons he was formally invited to
Grosvenor Squire. But there Sir Toby's
recognition of his relative began and
ended. He would not allow Jack six
pence, nor would he have lent him $40
10 save him from the bankruptcy court,
or even from suicide. The ba1onet was
not very old-he was barely 6U-and for
bodily vigor many a man of 40 might
have envied him. He rode regularly to
cessiul deer-stalker, and could cast a
salmon-fy with the best fishermen in
Scotland; and he was addicted to none
of the excuses which sometimes short
en- the lives of men who indulge in
hard exercise, for he neither ate too
much nor drank too freely. In fact, he
took excellent care of himself, and was
on very good terms with the doctor.
His friends said that he delighted in
the idea of keeping Jack out of his in
heritance as long as he possibly could.
Now, all men have their small weak
nesses, and one of the most pronounced
OF Sir Toby's was a passion for liter,
AZURE and for plays OF a sensational and
bIood-curdling description. He rev.
elled in penny-dreadfuls and in soul
moving melodrama; he delighted in
complicated plots of missing heirs,
forged wills, mysterious murders and
buried treasure. There was reason to
suppose that many OF his strong boxes,
which presumably contained title-deeds
and ancient leases, were in reality
stuffed with rejected manuscripts and
still-born dramas, declined with thanks
by purblind publishers and managers.
Sir Toby was firmly impressed with the
idea that had his stations and duties
been otherwise, he would have made
his fortune as detective, and nothing
pleased him so much as endeavOrlng to
discover the identity of an undecided
murderer or the motive for a mysteri-
Gus disappearance. Whenever such an
event occurred, which was pretty often
Sir Toby used to indite long epistles to
the Times, setting forth his theories
which, alter all, frequently turned Out
to be quite as nea- the truth as those OIL
the professional detective.
1t was one day in early apring that 8
great idea occurred to Sir Toby Bun
skin. He felt in a peculiarly nissan
thropic humor, for Jack hau been stay.
ing with him, and uncle and nephew
had contrived to quarrel even more Sc
Eiously than usual. Moreover, there
had been published certain damaging
facts in connection with one or two
charitable institutions to which Sil
Toby had intended to leave the greater
part of his fortune, and he began tc
think that even Jack might not put lis
money to a worse use than pack Of
over-paid, greedy officials. It was il
this humor that he had taken up 8
newspaper and studied the strange dis
appearance of JabeZ Brown, an eminent
Mudford merchant and millionaire
who had vanished from mortal ken III
the most unexpected manner and with.
out the slightest apparent reason. The
amateur detective was strong in Sil
Toby. as usual, and he fell to musine
over the fate of Mr.. Brown, and to
evolving ali manner Of theories which
might account for his singular absence
lie was rich, emlnently respectable and
universally looked up to in the com.
mercial world. An examination of his
affairs had proved beyond doubt that
no financial embarrassment existed
Then he was moral man, and there
was no. suspicion that he had eloped
with somebody else's wife-or. indeed,
that lady was in any way connected