Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-08-16

y
you know"
A dunning letter from the agent. fol-
lowing oonspicaously close upon his
visit 10 Mr.. Holloway, filed his soul
with bitterness. Tae way out Of his
difficulties seemed as dark as the day ON
which We find him brooding over his
evil fortune in the ..Old Holloway
House" The water fell in torrents and
the river in the rear was so swollen by
the rain that IL had oyeriowed It's banks
aud was washing the foundation stones
OF the shaky odd structure. The room
was chilly ard wet, but he built no FIRE.
and though darkness came ON early he
hardly observed the change, bat sat
bordering over the hopeless outlook
without even the ghostly light from
the seams in the rickety stove 10 reveal
the outlines OF the rooyr.
The wind continued TO rise and the
rain 10 fall faster. until the old shell
quivered and quaked. but Severn paid
no attention. His soul was shaken by
storm also. There was as much dark
ness within as without He knew his
own disposition too well 10 attempt to
study until he could quiet his nerves. So
he sat in the darkness until long after
midnight, listening 10 the bowling wind
and the roar of the swollen river.
Suddenly there came crash; there
was a heavy fall of plastering and for
minute Severn thought that the old
house was about 10 give way. To have
its walls fall upon him he knew would
IL
thrill of melancholy pleasure he hoped
for moment that it might happen.
The old building creaked and strained,
but there came lull in the storm and
il finally settled back to its normal con-
dition.
Severn lighted the lamp to see If his
books had been damaged and to investi-
gate the injury to the room. A large
patch Of plastering had fallen from the
wall and lay scattered over the floor.
After the investigation he felt calmer
and went to bed for the night.
/ The next morning, contrary to his
usual neatness, he left the broom in its
corner and the room continued to pre-
sent a very dilapidated appearance. In
the afternoon after returning from class
ne seated himself in his chair and gazed
hstlessly at the heap Of rubbish on the
floor. STOPPING forward he took up
bit Of broken plastering and slowly
picked it to pieces, thinking of Mary
and wondering if the day would ever
brighten.
He had been pursuing this aimless &C.
cupation 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, and on 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 plastering
OVERLAND. His curiosity was now excited
to know th- object Of the opening, so he
brought hammer from chest and pro-
ceeded to draw the nails. After remov-
ing 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 debris.
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 it
promptly broke. He examined the
fbers and discovered that it was an old
piece of silk cord, now extremely rotten
and discolored. He became more curl
Gus 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 and 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 improvised hook by driving a
nail into the end of piece of board,
and with this succeeded in drawing
something 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 ont
upon the floor. For some time he sat
staring at it in curious suspense.
well, you are queer fish in queer
waters" said Severn to himself with
suppressed excitement. Il guess you
must have lost your bearings or you
would never have been swallowed by
this shark of a wall. I'll find out what's
inside of you Mt any rate" and taking
mp hammer he struck the old lock q
heavy blow. He struck it again and
again, but finally it broke and the lid
few open.
Severn drew back in establishment and
wonder, for his eyes rested upon large
leathern bag, and beside it were two
bars of gold. With trembling hands he
loosened the strings of the sack and
opened it to find it full Of gold coins.
There were several compartments m the
chest. In one he found sparkling row
of rings, and as ne held them up to the
hight he saw by their brilliancy that
they were diamonds Of rare value. He
found some papers that purported pos
session Of large amount of English
property in one Cyrus Holloway, great
grandfather of the present landlord.
There was an inventory If the contents
of the box. and the amount counted up
into the hundreds OF thousands.
He was overw helmed by the discov-
cry and sat down 10 collect his thoughts
He remembered now of having once
heard that Mr. Holloway had come u
wealthy ancestry. but that during the
Revolutionary war the largest mart a.