Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-08-31
,ound It difacult to rally his usual light

found It difficult to rally his usual light
ness of manner, for vague PRESENT.
ment had seized him. that affairs were
| about to take some turn that he had
not foreseen nor calculated upon. Mrs.
Maynard's glance tacitly challenged
him to an explanation, but he was not
yet prepared to take up the gauntlet,
and he was therefore compelled to plead
for delay.
ST must throw myself upon your mer>
cy for the present, Mrs. Maynard he
said gravely. 81 trust that / shall be
able to render a satisfactory account Of
myself, but can say nothing more until
brother. May / hope that you will sus-
pend judgment on my course until I am
in position to defend it?''
The look of mystification deepened in
the faces of his auditors; but. perceiving
q perfect acquiescence in Mrs. May
nard's expression, Ollin forebore utter
ing the questions that had almost risen
to his lips. Slowly drawing off his
gloves. he looked at his brother for a
moment with peculiarly close, intent
scrutiny before replying; then he said,
quietly:
$50 far as this matter rests between
ourselves, Allan, it can wait, of course.
But now pray tell ne, If I may ask,
how did you happen to come to A--?''
| 81 came on professional GRAND,
Noll. l am here as the authorized rep
resentative of Messrs. Hunter and
| Tyatchrrp IF New Yorty -
Hunter and Ketchum2 Uow-why-
are you associated with them, Allan?
In what case, pray?"
''Thc same in which you are so deep
~ commemorative Dunkirk will case. -
He spoke these last words in a sig
nifcant tone, looking searchinasly at his
brother to see what effect they would
produce. His expectation was not full
filed. There was no confusion, no
guilty consciousness in Ollin's face as
he answered; only genuine surprise
and amusement.
"The Dunkirk will case? BY Jove,
Allan, that is q coincidence! And so
we've been at opposite ends of this case
all this time? Pray tell me, what par
ticular point have you been at work
upon here? say, Al. haven't you been
rather accommodating the enemy's
camp? Come, now. old fellow, own up"'
81 will tell you fully about that here
after, Noll," said his brother, flushing a
little under the laughing accusation.
'sOh, very well. Since the Dunkirk
will case has been introduced, have q
word to say on that subject which /
shall proceed to say now, as Allan ut
terly refuses to talk!" exclaimed Ollin,
turning to Mrs. Maynard with sudden
animation. ''Of course my brother, be
ing duly informed on that point,
through his own connection with the
case, must have told you about the late
awkward developments in regard to
that will. And right here" he added,
quickly, ''allow me to explain why you
never heard about it from me. The
night before left home, having made
an unsuccessful attempt to call upon
| you, I wrote you, stating briefly how
matters stood in New York, and advis--
ing you Of my proposed absence, though
not entering into any explanation OF
| the object of this hastily-projected trip.
Now l give you my word that solemn
" believed I had mailed that letter,
along with several business letters that
I wrote at the same time; but it now
transpircs that did nothing of the
sort, for last evening on the train,
while making a very thorough investi-
| cation Of my pockets, brought to light
that identical document" holding out
to Mrs Maynard, who mechanically &C
ceptR it, letter duly stamped, sealed
and directed, but not post-marked,
(which hereby offer you as al evil
dence of good faith. And now, to re-
| turn. have crowded some very salts
| factory work into the last two weeks,
Mrs. Maynard, though it has kept me
busy day and night. I have been fol-
| lowing up clew after clew and sitting
all the evidence could get my hands
on, and the consequence is, have final
| ly discovered the whole truth in regard
to that forgery. Isn't that sufficient
cause for self-congratulation?
Allan started perceptibly at these
words, as he exchanged flashing
glance with Mrs. Maynard. Ollin was
TOO wholly absorbed in his own
| thoughts to notice this at all.
''You see," he went on, without pause,
rs, throwing off his ulster and giving it
10 w l1lldL1S, ne returned TO the 1CCIo
| group who were all eagerly awaiting
| his next words, 81 felt little doubtful
about the genuineness of that will
when found that Hunter and Ketchum
were going to contest it. To be sure, it
seemed all right enough, SO far as
could judge from the mere copy that
Jennef sent US; still could not help
feeling some serious misgivings. With
out mentioning this fact to you, set
myself to the task Of discovering whom,
in case the will should prove to be
fraudulent, could suspect. was not
long in arriving at a definite conclu-
sion. That very generous legacy to
Jenner had looked rather significant to
me from the first, and I made up my
| mind that if there was anything
wrong about the will. Jenner was the
first person to be investigated. Her
mysterious disappearance as soon as
Hunter and Ketchum had thrown the
case into court confirmed my sus-
picion; consequently, when I received
a telegram from our New York atto--
neys, announcing the decision of the
court and demanding an explanation
from me-which was natural enough
under tie circumstances-myp plans took
definite shape at once. I resolved to
hunt Jenner up, if it took half my for
tune and all of Pinkerton's raen TO 81
it! It would take too long to
detail the curious circumstances
that gave us our f-st clew; but at last