The Florida agriculturist., 1889-09-04


extraordinary thing occurred; an Eng
ish agent of the Martin estate came over
and told me-supposing me to be Valen-
tine-that by my brothers death was
the heir. did not wish to enter into
explanations, so | simply told him that
did not want the estate, and that it
might go to the next of kin had for
gotten that Val had wife, though, of
course, knew all about her. She had
ruined his life in more ways than one,
and was no better than she should be;
but if his death were known she would
be entitled to share of the estate It
seems she had got wind of the English
agents business, and had followed him
from New Zealand. had a curious In
terview with her; she charged me fin
ally with having made away with her
husband in order by personating him to
get his property. and treating my asser-
tion that was not going to touch the
property as mere buncombe. But the
next day got letter from her In which
she actually offered, in case would
make common cause with her, to go to
England, prove her marriage to Valen-
tine, get the estate and then divide with
mer'
''Poor Valentine!" murmured Pauline,
with trembling lip.
when / refused she declared war,
and said she would expose me as an inn
postor and probable murderer She
learned that was manager and part
owner of valuable mine that had dis
De-
were two high officers of the govern
ment. She went to them with her story.
They told me what she had said | had
already made up my mind what to do; /
gave them the whole history of what had
happened since Valentine and had left
New York; toll them what he had told
me about his wife, and then showed
them the letter she had just written me-
knew was risking everything in max
ing clean breast of it. but the fact was
was tired of living under name that
did not belong to me, and | wanted to
put an end to it at all hazards.
Il am glad of thatl' said Pauline.
''They were rather upset by the story,
and for a while | thought the affair
would go against me. But / suspect they
considered me too useful man to lose
was making a great deal of money for
them and doing all the work, and then
the woman's letter tipped the beam
They said finally that they would accept
me for what was if l could give them
satisfactory proof that l was what l de-
clared myself to be- Let me show let
ters or vouchers from reputable persons
in New York bearing out my account of
myself and they would accept me as a
full equivalent for what had pretended
to be. had a power of attorney that
Val had given me on the steamer, but of
course L could not tell them what had
led to my leaving New York. could
not ask any one here for certificate Of
good character until my name had been
cleared OF the charge against it. But it
wouldn't do to hesitate. so ! said, on the
spur of the moment. that | would go to
New York, get the evidence they re-
quired and return to them with it, So
here am: but | overheard some CONVEX
sation coming down on the boat between
the English agent and New York de-
tective which made it seem probable
that my affairs will be investigated
whether like it or not, and that mean
while the true story of how the robbery
was committed has not been revealed
yet. How is it?"
Tho onCUnr t0 fhio nIocfi0n lod t0 q