Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-01-02

announcing the sudden death Of the
apparently hale old gentleman ! He
had been, as / knew afterward, de-
lighted with my present, had handled
it with hearty appreciation, and was
actually writing his acknowledgment to
me when he had fallen with his head
on the desk, dead man.
/ put away the half-written letter as
last memento of q valued friend, and at
tended the funeral as chief mourner.
His lawyer, who was an aid acquaint-
ance of mine, met me with very long
face. 81 must tell YOU, he said, that
your uncle had very common fancy OF
putting off making his will, and had
only done so on the day of his death.
Even then he would not sign it at once
on the pretext that the witnesses he
meant to have were not at hand. / was.
to come at 9 o'clock that evening. I did
SO and it was too late. 1t was in your
favor as he had always promised it
should be-"
I was considerably taken aback.
ssThat meas" [ said, chat all the
property will be equally divided be-
tween his fifteen nephews and nieces."
mo-" he answered gloomily. 1T
goes in two portions, to his only sur
viving brother and sister, the two who
behaved SO badly to him."
/ sat down rather abruptly. "There,
then, is an end Of it all" said, as /
thought of Marion.
The Malacca cane was the only belong
ing of my good uncle that fell to my
share-nobodv wanted it.
Sometime afterward, while [
was still waiting for an appointment,
which was as coy in answer to my WOO
ing as such matters usually are, friend
looked in with evidence of some other
object in view than merely to smoke
pipe with me and to complain of the
service.
81 say, old chap" he began, ''you re-
member showing that queer stick of
yours to old Hadley the other day, and
what a fancy he took to it Well, he's
going to be married-funny affair-said
it was time he had some one to write to
when he was away, and to keep snug
home for him when he came back, SO
went about with list Of suitable women
in his pocket, and has struck the bargain
at last with widow-rather a good
sort. Now intend making him we'd
ding present, so want you to let me
have that cane"
Well, sold him the stick-that is, I
changed 1t for some cigars of brand
fancied, and my friend carried it off,
[ looked out for Hadley's wedding, but
very shortly after, to my regret, came
upon notice of his death instead.
It seemed that upon the very day my
friend had himself called and presented
the Malacca cane, he had been seized
with sort of fit, from which he died
after lingering few days.
My friend returned the cane to me.
"It seems rather an unlucky sort of
gift" he remarked. [ thought the
same and put it by, but some time lat
er, on going to South America, took it
with me, thinking would use it myself.
I went inland to spend a couple of
days with very old friend, who was
working an estate. He had two sons
just growing up with him, an agreeable
wife and pretty daughter. I tancied
the latter was somewhat like nv
Marion; at any rate she sang: SO did
Marion; and they both had cockiv sort
of light hair, and / am sure that these
were my reasons for the tender feeling
experienced when [ was in her COM
pany. | quite forgot her afterward.
That cane was like very pretty wo-
man, it could not go anywhere without
attracting attention.
My host was completely fascinated
with it. "Look here, Dodson," he
said, cpl give you what you like for
that Mallacca; it's hit my fancy. Do
you set any special value upon it ?''
NO." answered; land yet / don't
particularly want to part with it; it's
carried i'll luck hitherto"
My host laughed this to scorn, and
soon afterward Marion-no, I mean
Kitty really was beginning to mix up
the two girls-begged me to let her
papa have the cane, for he had set his
heart upon it. Of course it would have
been grossly rude to refuse a pair Of
blue eyes such simple request, and /
asked to be allowed TO make it q pres
ent. He would not hear of this, and /
gave me in exchange for it curious old
hunting knife.
| was bound up the river, and on my
return month later found, to my in
CONSERVATION, the cane it.
self awaiting me, with a piteous letter
from poor darling Mari mean Kitty
me that the very day I left
their house her dear papa had been
seized with some fever OF a kind they
did not understand, had rapidly sunk
under it and ed. That happy, hospit-
able home / could not pick up my
spirits after the news for at least three
weeks.
NOInIuS SHOulQ InuuC0 me TO pdrC Win
the cane again. / took it into occasion
al use, Tor at least it had never harmed
me, except. indeed in the case of my
uncle's unsigned will, and the next
event in connection with it happened
at Buenos Ayres. It is the custom
there for business men to take their
meals at cafes, and / was breakfasting
in one of these places with a shore
friend when it disappeared, or, as [ had
reason to know. was annexed" by one
of noisy party at the next table.
These men were mostly in uniform,
and made great row, disturbing our
quiet comfort with their loud, excited
talk. My cane and this party went
away simultaneously, and my friend
declared that he not only suspected
them generally, but was pretty sure
which one OF them had taken fancy to
the stick; he had caught the eye of one
of The men in uniform fixed very long
ingly upon it. He promised to do his
best to get it back for me, as | was
leaving directly Tor the West Indies.
As is not unusual in these parts, .af-
fairs were in a most unsettled state; in