Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-12-20

De OF interest 10 any DOuy Ill tDe HelSl-
borhood. He was accepted as a fact of
the locality, just as the corner grocery
and the hydrant were.
He was rarely quite sober, and when
he was, it was early in the morning be-
fore he had had time to make an early
visit to the rum mill of which he was
the most frequent customer.
1t had become settled fact that he
was a man of property, for he had al
ways enough money to buy drink and
pay his board bill From time to time
he sailed forth from the street, and
when he returned it was known that he
was flush. and so the neighborhood had
come to believe implicitly that these
occasional excursions were for the pur-
pose of collecting his rents and receiving
his interest.
From his life long habit of spying on
people, the Shadow had kept an eye on
him.
Between the front and back rooms
there was space divided into closets
One was entered through a door from
the front room and the other from the
back room.
The Shadow had long ago discovered
that there had been, once upon time,
an opening in the partition which 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 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 deity that it APP
peared as if it had been made by VIC
lent pushing of chair against it.
BY this means he could frequently de-
ter..ine who were in that room.
When he was awakened on this par
ticular morning by a noise apparently
caused by the overtl@ning of a chair, he
sprang out of his bed as if be had re.
ceitcd a 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, heres mis-
chief. never knew that old scamp of
lawyer in anything that was not mis-
chief"
He climbed to the top of the trunk
and listened.
All he heard for n moment was the
scratching of a pen as it was driven rap
idly over paper
Finally he heard Par1er'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"
1T 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 | 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
tbs 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
l can't recollect as | used to. That's be-
cause I'm getting old"
'lt's because you are getting your
skin full Of whisky every day. Now,
see here. You are brother of Charles
Preston"
"Of course l 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"
"Well | was, / tell 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 his brother; that he had
no relations other than you, and no de-
scendants; and establishing these facts
we can take his property. Now, 1 don't
dare take the first step before the surro-
gate until / have seen you have got the
story 30 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.
at was 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't talk of that"
"Well, you served your time out; they
can't take you for it again. 1t was a
rocky path that Of your life, old man,
and have smeothed it very inge-
niously."
keep uuietw cHed the old man. with