The Portland daily press., 1890-05-03
AN UNCLE VANISHED.
CLondon TRUTH

An elderly gentleman, whose chlef Id
iosyncrasies are rooted aversion to
death and fervent hatred for his heir
and successor, is not exactly iovel
character either in real life or on the
stage. But there is a material difference
in his behavior in the two situations, for
whereas on the stage is he almost invari-
ably turned to repentance by tho beaux
yeux Of the young lady whom his heir
has married, or by the maddening pratt
tie Of her tiresome child, and dies in the
odor of sanctity distributing indiscrimi-
nate blessings, in real life he more often
than not carries his spite with him to
the grave and leaves his posterity good
reason to execrate his memory in the
shape of an outrageously malicious will.
Sir Toby Bunsldn, Of B.inskin Hall,
Failowland, and No. $50 Grosvenor
square, London, was not at all like the
traditional old gentleman of the stage.
His hatred for his heir, Capt. Jack Bun
skin, of the Fiftieth Lancers, was not ex-
aggerated, and did not betray him into
foolish excuses, but it was sincere-the
more 50, perhaps, because it was abso-
lutely unreasonable.
And Jack had long ago reconciled him
self to a precarious existence on his pay,
his wits and the money he could raise by
mortgaging his reversion to certain fam
lily estates which Sir Toby had not the
power of willing away from him.
Now, although Sir Toby hated Jack
so heartily, it must not be imagined that
he was sufficiently lost to the decencies
Of society as to ignore his existence, to
insult him in public, or even to be point
eddy rude to him in private. Jack was
always asked down to Bunslzin Hall for
the cover shooting, he was expected to
assist at the annual rent dinner of Sir
Toby's tenants, and at certain fixed sea-
sons he was formally invited to Gros-
venor square. But there Sir Toby's
recognition of his relative began and
ended. He would not allow Jack a six
pence, nor would he have lent him EGO
to save him from the bankruptcy court,
Or even from suicide.
The baronet was not very old-he was
barely sixty-and for bodily vigor many
q man of five-and-forty might have en-
We'd him. He rode regularly to hounds,
was an experienced and successful deer
stalker and could cast a salmon fly with
the best fishermen in Scotland; and he
was addicted to none of the excuses
which sometimes shorten 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
MINIS on
with his doctor His friends said that
he delighted in the idea of keeping Jack
out of his inheritance as long as he pos
gbly could.
Now, all men have their small weak
nesses, and one of the most pronounced
Of Sir Toby's was passion for literature
and for plays of a sensational and blood
curdling description. He reveled in pen
ny dreadfuls and in soul moving melo-
drama; 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
sti1born dramas, declined with thanks.
Sir Toby was firmly impressed with
the idea that had his station and duties
been otherwise he would have made his
fortune as a detective, and nothing
pleased him SO much as endeavoring to
discover the identity of an undetected
murderer or the motive for mysterious
disappearance. Whenever such an event
occurred, which was pretty often, Sir
Toby used to indict long epistles to The
Times, setting forth his theories.
1t was one day in early spring that a
great idea occurred to Sir Toby Bunskin.
BE felt in peculiarly misanthropic
humor, for Jack had been staying with
him, and uncle and nephew had con-
trived to quarrel even more seriously
than usual. Moreover, there had been
published certain damaging facts in con-
nection with one or two charitable insti-
buttons to which Sir Toby had intended
TO leave the greater part of his fortune,
and he began to think that even Jack
might not put his money to much
worse use than pack of overpaid, greedy
officials. 1t was in this humor that he
had taken up a newspaper and studied
the strange disappearance of Mr.. Jabez
Brown, an eminent Mudford merchant
and millionaire, who had vanished from
mortal ken in the most unexpected man
ner and without the slightest apparent
reason.
The amateur detective was strong in
Sir Toby, as usual, and he fell to musing
over the fate of Mr. Brown, and to
1x,,x, oil a. 1,o1,
might account for his singular absence.
He was rich, eminently respectable, and
universally looked up to in the CONNER
cial world. An examination of his affairs
had proved beyond doubt that no finan-
cial embarrassment existed. Then he
was moral man, and there was no sus-
picion that he had eloped with somebody
else's wife, or, indeed, that lady was in
any way connected with the case. He
was perfectly sane and in good health,
and no conceivable reason could be i'm
agined for suicide.
HE may have been murdered, of
course" thought Sir Toby; but this So
luton seemed commonplace" there may.
be woman in the case. Begad, be-
heve he is alive, at any rate. He may
have disappeared out of pure caprice
found his responsibilities too trouble
some; or perhaps he wanted to spite
somebody" This last notion seemed to
interest Sir Toby-it was really original
that man should disappear for such a
gmotive. He pondered deeply for several
minutes, and then he said to himself,
quite slowly:
HE may have bolted to spite his heirl'
And then Sir Toby chuckled. "a
lovely ideal" he continued. "Old Brown
must have an heir-everybody has, or
nearly everybody. Brown disappears
delight of heir-long search after Brown
body found in the Thames-much de-
eomposed-but easily identified as that
of Brown by servants in pay of heir
heir takes possession of property-has a
splendid time for few weeks, when be-
hold Brown redivivus Brown alive and
well-promptly kicks out the heir and
declines all responsibility for his debts!
What a splendid situation! Wonder
how my dear nephew would like it2 I'd
give Ave thousand pounds to see him."
And Sir Toby burst into harsh, unpleas-
ant laughter, and positively rolled about
In his chair with ghoulish merriment.
Tho idea pleased him SO much that he
sat up good two hours later than usual,
and when at last he went to bed it was
with firm determination to carry out
his scheme
upon Sir Toby's preparations it is nm