Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-01-31

to see looking so well, is the only Occu
patton l can look forward to tonight" ;"
"Well," said Mrs. Carnegie, with {
little toss of the head, "of course yor
will have to dance with Cicely, but it i:
a little cool to inform me that you in
tend to favor somebody else-eveI
though she be our hostess"
Mr.. TwiZzleton assumed an air of as
tonishment which would have dOnt
credit to any actor on the boards.
81 dance with herI" he exclaimed
Surely, madam, misunderstood you
1 cannot believe that lady would dream
of dancing under such circumstances"
"And why not, pray?" inquired the
widow.
because it would be the height Of
imprudcnce-Ih had almost said madness
So far from encouraging her, 1 should
feel bound to forbid anything of tht
kind"
Mrs. Carnegie looked at Mr.. Twizzle-
toms unmoved features, and felt thor
oughly mystified She tried other lines
of conversation, but had no better sue,
cess in persuading him to drop his as
Sumed character.
Before dinner was over she was more
than half convinced that he was not act
ing at all, and that the real author of the
farce was Mr.. Reggie Bunkum, who had
amused himself by palming off this old
fossil upon his cousin for drawing
room comique.
When the ladies had retired, and the
male portion of the company tried their
hands at drawing out Mr.. TwiZzletOn;
but as they succeeded no better than
Mrs. Carnegie in getting behind his dis
guise, the opinion was very soon formed
that the joke was dismal failure, and
that Mr.. TwiZzleton was making an
egregious fool of himself. The last hope
of getting any fun out of the thing ex-
pired on their return to the drawing
room. On being sounded respecting his
banjo, Reggie Bunkum's boasted chum
vehemently repudiated any knowledge
of the instrument, while request from
Mrs. Hardup for the "three dogs in a
barrel" produced a look of hopeless be-
wilderment upon his features which was
almost pathetic in intensity.
In the meantime, however, the strik-
ing realism of Mr.. Twizzleton's perform
ance had made an impression on Jack
Hardup somewhat similar to that on
Mrs Carnegie, only Jacks suspicious
took somewhat different direction from
the widows. When the gentlemen
moved off to the drawing the
master of the house called Thompson,
his trusty butler, on one side, and inter
rogated him closely as to Mr.. Twizzle-
tons appearance on his arrival. The
butler no sooner gathered that his mas
ter was perplexed about his new guest
than he proceeded to unburden his own
mind.
"Beg pardon, sir" he said, "but do l
understand as you think there is some
mistake about Mr. Twizzleton?"
"He is not at all the sort of gentleman
1 expected to see, Thompson. But why
do you askF'
because l see some things, sir, when
1 was unpacking the pOrtmanteau that
l don't like the look of at all"
"What sort of things?" inquired Hard
up.
"Well, sir, p'raps as the gentlemen are
all the drawing-rOom now, you wouldn't
mind stepping upstairs and seeing for
yourself. l can lay my hands on 'em in
a moment.
Jack reflected an instant, hesitating
between the obligations of hospitality
and anxiety to get to the bottom of the
Twizzleton mystery. The latter motive
prevailed, and he accordingly hurried
up to Mr.. Twizzleton's apartment, fol-
lowed by the butler.
Thompson at once produced two black
leather cases. Opening the first, Hard
up found it to contain several mysteri-
Gus looking instruments of the nature
and purpose of which he was ignorant.
In the second, however, he was startled
to find a pair of desperate looking
knives with long blades highly polished,
and keen as razors. The very sight of
them made Jacks blood run cold.
"WeI, Thompson" he said, more puz-
zled than ever, "what do you make of
these?"
"'Taint for me to say, sir" replied the
butler, "but L hope they don't mean
murder, that's all"
"MurderI What do you mean?"
"Well, sir, if as you say you have your
doubts about this gentleman being Mr..
Twizzleton, all can say that some of
these burglars and gentlemen sharpers
have precious artful ways of gettin' into
folks houses, ,and if these tools (ThOmp-
son pointed to the first case) "ain't part
of a burglars stock-in- trade, Pm"
Nonsense, Thompsonl" interrupted
his master. you've got burglary on
the brain. Put the things back and say
nothing more about it."
With that Hardup made his way back
to the drawing room, feeling rather
guilty. He found that Mr.. TwizZleton
was not in the room. Nor was Mrs.
Hardup. Jack was told that Twizzleton
had earnestly begged for five minutes
conversation with his hostess, and that
they had gone together into the library
only moment ago. The company were
busily discussing the mysterious strang-
er.
81 don't believe his face is made up
at all" said one lady. Il could see
wrinkles distinctly, and I'm sure he new
er hired such a bald head as that"
"My impression is that the whole
thing is a joke of Reggie Bunkum's, y
observed Mrs. Carnegie, adhering to her
previous theory.
81 believe" said Mr.. Fred Jarvis, "that
he has gone off his head. have heard
of cases where fellows have played
the fool in this way until they have
come to believe that they are somebody
else"
At that moment piercing shrek re-
sounded through the house from the Ii
brary, causing the guests to look at one
another with Mortified glances. Follow
ed by Mr.. Jarvis and the rest of the
gentlemen, Hardup hurried away in the
direction of the disturbance. Opening
the library door, they found Mrs. Hard
up, to all appearance, half fainting with
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