Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-08

| JUST now, ana the mills are not being
worked to a proflt. But you may rest
assured that shall do fairly with you. -
''But 1 must know what 1t is to be,
cried Dan, firmly, as he picked up the
two certificates and put them in his
| pocket.
| "Whgt do you want?" HARDWOOD
asked Anything in reason I am pre-
pared to give.
''Say hundred pounds down and q
pound week for life. That's reasona-
bic enough, l think, - said Dan.
''I don { think so; it s too much. Say
fifty, TO have done with it altogether. l
cannot stomach the idea of paying a
| blood-tax henceforth.
hAnd l cannot stomach the idea of
throwing away valuable secret for an
old song. What 1 know is worth thou
sands to you, and mean to have my own
terms.
Dan rose and half turned away, as If
he were careless about the matter, and
his attitude had an immediate effect upon
HarwoOd.
''Sit down, DAM Sit down! 1 didn' t
say that would not accept your terms
did 1? 1t shall be as you wish. A hun
dred down
"To-night? Dan INTERCEPTED.
''To- night, and pound week for
life. There, Ashton!'
''That's settled, then. But remem-
Der, there to be no fooling about this
agreement later on. What know will
never lessen in value. It will be worth
as much in month or q year hence as It
is now, and If you ever attempt to cry
off our bargain you know what to expect.
Tomorrow shall get Willard, the pho
tographer, to take a picture of the dead
woman, so that there will be no difficulty
in identifying her at any future time.
You understand me, MIR. Herwood?''
'Perfectly. You shall have q check
for the hundred tonight. -
'Thank you.
The halloween rose, crossed the room,
and unlocking one of the drawers of the
secretaire, he drew therefrom his cheQue
book, and proceeded to write out a
cheque on his banker for the sum agreed
upon. Then he recrossed the room, but
before handing the draft to Ashton he
said
"You will let me make copies of the
two certificates
Certainly; why you can have the GER
rifcatea themselves if you want them. 1
can always get copies, l suppose, IN case
[ should require them. -
Eyes, and these will be much safer in
nv keeping than in yours, Ashton. Two
are enough to know the secret those pa
pers contain. There is the cheque.' -
land there are the papers. -
1t was the forenoon of the day follow
ing that on which the discovery of the
dead woman was made, and within the
snug parlor of the Star were seated the
borough coroner and dozen of his
townsmen for the purpose of making a
full inquiry into the cause of the I'M
known ones death.
The whole of the melancholy proceed
ings did not occupy much time. for the
only evidence rendered was that of the
two mill girls, Nancy Smith and Polly
Pemberton, the constable, and the doc
tor who had made the post norton ex-
animation.
AS the medical gentleman was re-seat-
ing himself after saying that the woman .
death, in his opinion, vas due to starva-
ton and exposure, one of the crowd of
men at the bottom end of the room got
up and said:
chester Coroner, VII yore emission,
ah we getten' word or two toe sey.
elf you have anything to say relating
to the case before us I shall be pleased to
near IL, edlU tue coroner
"Well, it's this heeur. AS were
gooin' womm o. Tuesday meet, deawn
Boscoe lane, ali met that theer woman
he ierked his thumb over his shoulder
in the direction of the room in which the
dead woman lay. tIt wur abeawt
hauve past eleven then, an snowin'
lahke ovid boots. Hoo axed me heaw
far Warringham wur, an an towd FER,
and when hoo wur gooin ali axed her
wheer hoo d COON fro. Fro Mericay',
hoo sed an walked oway tort tehwn. -
"You are quite certain this is the same
woman?' the coroner queried.
''Quahte sure; hood O. baby in her
arms, an All could tell her face amung
o hunderd!''
This concluded the inquiry, and the
verdict was one of accid entail death from |
and exposure.
Two days later the poor, unfortunate !
whoever she might be, was
buried in a pauper's coffin, without a
name, and her little girl found COM
Portable home at an humble Lancashire |
1reside.
END OF PROLOGUE.
Risk