Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-02

doubtful as to whether you had really
taken it-but ii was my first warning that
you might be playing a deep game against
me- incomprehensible as the action was 10
my mind. 1 subsequently reflected that i
mad been eating an apple, instead of taking
the drink he first offered me. in the dead
wretch's rooms on the night he came to
his merited end. From this / assume hat
your design was in some way to compare
what remained of the two apples-although
DO not presume to fathom the depths of
your detective system. Still, l have heard
OF many of your cases. and profoundly ad
mlre the keenness you exhibit / am
thought to be keen man myself but al
though L was able, to some extent to hold
my own tonight, 1 admit that your acumen
In this case alone is something beyond me
Il do not know by whom you are COM
missloned to hunt me, nor to what extent
you may be acquainted with my connection
with the creature / killed. / have sufficient
respect for you, however to wish that yo,,
should not regard me as a vicious criminal
and couple of hours to spare in which TO
oHer you an explanation that may persuade
you that such is not altogether the case.
hasty and violent temper / admit possess
Ing; but even now / cannot regret the one
crime 1t has led me into-for il is, suppose
strictly speaking, crime. For il was the
man Foggatt who made a felon of my faith
sr before the eyes of the world, and killed
him with shame. 1t was he who murdered
my mother, ana none the less murdered her
because she died of a broken heart. That
ne was also thief and hypocrite might
have concerned me little. but for that.
or my father / remember very little
he must. I fear, have been a weak and in
capable man In many respects. He had no
business abilities-in fact, was quite unable
TO understand the complicated business
matters in which he largely dealt Foggatt
was consummate master of all those arts
OF financial Jugglery that make so many
fortunes and ruin SO many others, in mat
n mn nv
shares. He was unable to exercise them
however, because of a great financial disas-
ter in which he had been mixed up a few
years before, and which made his name
one to be avoided in future. In these cir
cumstances he made a sort Of secret and
Informal partnership with my father, who.
ostensibly alone in the business acted
throughout on the directions of Foggatt
understanding as little of what he did.
poor, simple man, as school boy would
have done. The transactions carried on
went from small to large, and, unhappily.
from honorable to dishonorable. Ny father
relied on the superior abilities of Foggatt
with an absolute trust. carrying out each day
the directions given him privately the pre-
vious evening, buying, selling, printing
prospectuses, signing whatever had to be
signed, all with sole responsibility and as
sole partner, while Foggatt behind the
scenes. absorbed the larger share of the
profits. In brief, my unhappy and foolish
father was a mere tool in the hands of the
cunning scoundrel, who pulled all the wires
OF the business himself unseen and IRE
sponsible. At last three companies for
the promotion of which my father was re-
sponsible, came to grief in a heap. Fraud
was written large over all their history,
and, while Foggatt retired with his plum
der, my father was left to meet ruin, dis
grace and Imprisonment. From beginning
to end he, and he only, was responsible.
There was no shred of evidence to con-
meet Foggatt with the matter and no means
of escape from the net drawn about my
father. He lived through three years of
Imprisonment and then entirely abandoned
by the man who had made use of his sim
plicity. he died-of nothing but shame and
a broken heart.
''Of this 1 knew nothing at the time.
Again and again. as a small boy, / remem-
Der asking of my mother why / had no
father at home, as other boys had-uncon-
scious of the stab / thus inflicted on her
gentle heart. OF her my earliest well
as my latest, memory is that of pale,
weeping woman, who grudged to let me
out of her sight.
Little by little learned the whole cause
Of my mothers grief. for she had no other
contidant, and / fear my character devel-
oped early, for my first coherent remem-
brance Of the matter is that of childish
design to take a table knife and kill the
bad man who had made my father die in
prison and caused my mother to cry.
''One thing, however, 1 never knew-the
name Of that bad man. Again and again,
as l grew older, / demanded to know, but
my mother always withheld II from me-
with gentle reminder that vengeance was
for greater hand than mine.
II was seventeen years of age when my
mother died / believe that nothing but
her strong attachment to myself and her
desire to see me safely started in life kept
her alive so long. Then 1 found that
through all those years of narrowed means
she had contrived to scrape and save a
little money-sufficient, IL afterward
proved, to see me through the examina-
lions for entrance to my profession, with
the generous assistance of my fathers old
legal advisers, who gave me my articles
and who have all along treated me with
extreme kindness.
For most of the succeeding years my
life does not concern the matter I'm hand.
/ was a lawyers clerk in my benefactors'
service and afterward a qualified man
among their assistants. All through, the
firm were careful. in pursuance of my poor
mothers wishes. that l should not learn
the name or whereabouts of the man who
had wrecked her life and my fathers /
first met the man himself at the Clinton
Club. where I had gone with an acquaint-
ance. who was a member. II was not till
afterward that / understood his curious
awkwardness on that occasion A week
later / called (as i have frequently done)
at the building in which your Office is sit
uated on business with a solicitor who has
an office on the floor above your own On
gait. He started and turned pale exhibit
ing signs OF alarm that / could not under
stand. and asked me IL wished to see
him.
mo replied: L didn't know you lived
here. / am after somebody else Just now
Aren't you well?'
HE looked at me rather doubtfully and
said he was not very well.
81 met him twice or thrice after that. and
on each occasion his manner grew more
friendly. in a servile, fattering, and mean
sort of way-a thing unpleasant enough in
anybody. but doubly so in the intercourse of
a man with another young enough to be his
own son. Still. of course. / treated the man
civilly enough. On one occasion he asked
me into his rooms to look at a rather fine
picture he had lately bought and observed
casually. lifting large revolver from the
mantelpiece:
:" You see 1 am prepared for any unwel-
come visitor to my little denl He, her
Conceiving him, of course. to refer 10
burglars. could not help wondering at the
forced and hollow character of his laugh
AS we went down the stairs he said: I
think we know one another pretty well
now, Mr.. Mason, Ell? And IL could do any,
thing to advance your professional prospects
1 should be glad of the chance of course
/ understand the struggles of a young pro-
fessional mamie! he- It was the forced
laugh again, and the man spoke nervously
L think he added, that If you will drop
in tomorrow evening. perhaps I may have
a little proposal to make. Will your
II assented. wondering what this proposal
could be. Perhaps this eccentric old gem
al