Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-08-19

The next morning, contrary TO his
usual neatness, ne left the broom in its
corner aud the room continued to present
a very dilapidated appearance. ln the
afternoon after returning from class nc
seated himself in his chair and gazed
listlessly at the heap of rubbish on the
floor. STOPPING forward he took up a
bit of broken plastering and slowly
picked it to pieces, thinking of Mary and
wondering if the days would ever
brighten.
He had been pursuing this aimless oc-
cupa;ion for some time, when suddenly
he observed that the face Of the piece
which he held in his hand was less dis
colored than that which surrounded the
edge of the broken patch. He drew his
chair closer to the wall, aud in examin-
ing found that hole had once been
made through the lathing about foot
square. The pieces had afterward been
spliced and new coat OF plasterlng
overlaid. His curiosity was now exited
to know the object Of the opening, and
so he brought hammer from a chest
and proceeded to draw the nails. After
removing the pieces he reached in and
began to explore. There was nothing to
be found. however, so he washed his
hands and began to clear away the deb
ris.
As he was about to replace the pieces
of lath he thought he saw string hang
ing down into the cavity. He reached
his hand again into the opening, took
hold of the filament and pulled, but 1t
promptly broke. He examined the fibers
and discovered that it was an old piece
of silk cord, now extremely rotten and
discolOred. He became more curious
and resolved to trace the mystery to Its
source. He reached his hand into the
cavity as far as he could, following the
cord. Again he pulled, and this time
it resisted aud he felt something at the
other end move slightly. He gave a
stronger pull, but the cord broke, this
time at its point of attachment.
He impovished hook by driving
nail in the end of piece of board, and
with this succeeded in drawing some
thing toward him. Finally he was able
to reach the object. He drew it in
front of the opening, and with both
hands lifted an old mahogany box out
upon the floor For some time he sat
staring at it in curious suspense.
"Well, you are a queer fish in queer
waters" said Severn to himself with sur
pressed excitement. 81 guess you must
have lost your bearings or you would
never have been swallowed by this
shark of wall. I'll find out what's in-
side of you at any rate and taking up
hammer he struck the old lock heavy
blow. He struck it again and again,
but finally it broke and the lid flew
open.
Severn drew back in astonlshment and
wonder, for his eyes rested upon large
leathern bag and beside it were two bars
Of gold. With trembling hands he loos-
ened the strings of the sack and opened
it, to find it full of gold coins. There
we're several compartments in the chest
In one he found a sparkling row of rings
and as he held them up TO the light be saw
by their brilliancy that they were dia-
mouds OF rare value. He found some
papers that purportel possession OF a
large amount of English property in one
Cyrus Holloway, great-graudfather of
his present landlord. There was an in
ventory OF the contents OF the box and
the amount counted up into the hun
dreds of thousands.
He was overwhelmed by the discovery
and sat down to collect his thoughts.
He remembered now of having once
heard that Mr.. Holloway had come Of
wealthy ancestry, but that during the
revolutionary war the largest part OF the
property had been lost, and that the
fortune Of the present Mr.. Holloway was
mostly of his own acquisition. There
could be no doubt that the box belonged
by right to his landlord, but the tempta-
ton was terrible. There was no chance
of discovery if he kept it himself, and
besides it could add no material happi-
ness TO the legitimate owner, for he al
ready had a sufficiency.
To Severn it represented all tho COM
forts of life. He could pay all his debts,
free his fathers farm from the mortgage,
complete his education and afterwards
provide home for Mary.
The perspiration stood in beads on his
forehead as he struggled against the
tempter. Finally he arose aud with CON-
pressed lips donned his hat, and locking