Middletown transcript., 1892-08-04

name OF Mimi heymayne nao not Deen
forgotten in my will-although not for
the world would have had Charlotte
made aware Of the fact.
It was not till seven months later
that permission was given me to SET
ray face homeward, during the whole
of which time, although l had had
plenty of business communicated from
my partner, no personal news of any
kind referring to the circle of lids.
thorpe friends had reached me. When,
therefore, l was told. within ten min
utes of my arrival at home, that Philip
Redmayne had disappeared three days
before, and that all sorts of rumors
were rife in the town, some Of them
limiting at foul play, while others hard
ly yelled the insinuation that he had
gone away ofhis own accord, because
he found the place, too hot for him to
stay in any longer, fslt-to use a
common expression-as if | hardly
knew whether was standing on my
head or my heels. The first thing |
resolved upon dong was to 60 up to
Needwood Lodge and ferret out the
facts of the case for myself.
Mimi burst intotears and flung her.
selfinto my arms the moment enter
ed the room. Isoothed her and calm
ed her as best could, but some time
passed before / was able to elicit from
her a connected account of what
had really happened.
1t appeared that on the previous Sat.
urday morning her husband had left
home at the usual hour for going to
business. After calling at his Office
and looking over his. letters, he had
arranged to walk out as far as the
Haredale limekilns, which, as already
mentioned. he had bought some three
or four years before. Latterly he had
been working the kilns at a considera'
Bile loss, and on that very morning he
had arranged to meet his foreman
there, pay off the hands !" and have
the fires raked out.
1t seemed to him preferable to lei
the kiln stand idle awhile rather than
90 on, being money out Of pocket
week after week. After finishing bis
business at the kilns he would walk
into Perrybeach-it was only matter
of four or five miles where he was to
meet a certain Mr.. Dallison, who had
agreed to buy Reymayne's interest in
a couple of coasting schooners for the
sum of G250. AS tie missing man
had arranged his program, so had be
proceeded to carry it out. He had
settled his business at the kilns in due
course, and later on, had met Mr.
Dallison, who had paid him the
amount agreed on. partly in notes and
partly in gold, after which they had
dined together, and had not separated
till between 6 and I o'clock, by which
time it was quite dark. In reply to
question at parting, Phil had said tina
a friend of his-not mentioning any
name-had promised him q lift home
in his trap. But be that as it might
so far as could be ascertained Mr.
Dallison was the last person who hat
spoken with him. From the momen
of his quitting the roof Of the Ret
Lion hotel Phillip Redmayne ha'
vanished utterly.
In the course of Monday notice hat
been given to the police, and a de-
scription of the missing man circu-
lated far and wide. 1t was now Tues
day Dight and no tidings whatever o
him had come to hand. Minis firm
belief, reiterated again and again. wa
that her husband had been lured t.
some spot and then murdered for tn
sake of the money in his possession
and although pointed out to her hov
unlikely it was that any one excep
Mr.. Dallison could be aware that b
had SO large a sum about him, | coul'
| in no wise shake her conviction OF
that point.
Well, time went on, till a montl
had gone by without bringing any clu
to the mystery of Redmayne's disap
pearance. Meanwhile poor Mimi wa
having hard time of it at the lodge
Phil's unexplained absence brough
to light state of affairs which botl
surprised and shocked me. Not onl
was he proved to have been head an
ears in debt, but the lodge itself, to-
gether with whatever property he hae
on which money could be raised wa
mortgaged up to the hilt. At tn
time of his disappearance he wa
virtually a bankrupt. OF course, th
extravagant style of living into whicl
he had so weakly fallen after his mai
riage had something to do with thi
sad state of things but a few word
with Mimi let fall one day told m
all needed to know. For the las
year Phil had been speculating on tn
stock exchange, with what result wa
now patent to all the world.
In order to stem the storm in som
measure Mimi, by my advice, removes
from the lodge into some quiet lodg