The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-11-29

SO long as you should need it, q guar
dams care and protection; request
whichswas made so urgently that Mrs.
Dunkirk was loathe to disregard IT
Has this never seemed strange to You,
Mrs. Maynard?' 81, B. f z. 4. Y " ...
II was evident that the strangeness
Of the fact had now occurred to. North
for the first time; it was equally evil
dent that Mrs, Maynard had long since
ceased to speculate, upon the matter, as
something which she was unable to ex-
plain. ai5nia Issls i q" ~ S'Tait &;.w =.
There has always been a little mys-
terry shrouding that circumstance, Mr..
North,'' she said, with q faint smile.
.'Dear mamma herself recognized the
fact that, in her choice of q guardian
for her daughter, she had made : de-
mand upon. Mrs. Dunkirk's kindness
which her slight acquaintance with that
lady would scarcely justify; but in her
letter to Mrs. Dunlxirk, written just be-
fore her death, she said that would
explain that action satisfactorily. When
Mrs. Dunkirk referred the matter to me,
was utterly unable to account for the
fact that / had been consigned to the
care of perfect stranger, whose name,
even, had scarcely heard before"
''There is only one possible inference
to be drawn from these circumstances,
then" observed North, with thought
full air, as he looked inquiringly at Mrs.
Maynard. ''Mrs. Kingsbury was pre-
vented in some way from communicate
ing to you the explanation that she in
tended to give before her DEATH"
"That is the conclusion at which both
Mrs. Dunkirk and I arrived" answered
Mrs. Maynard, land. accepting II, Mrs.
Dunkirk carried out mammals wishes
with an evident feeling that they i'm
posed upon her q sacred obligation.
have always thought that the very mys-
tery attending our first meeting gave
her special interest in me, to which
was due the great kindness with which
she discharged her duty as my guar
dian"
"No doubt Of it," returned North
with smile. "A touch of mystery is
always great sharpener of ones inter
est. But now, right here let me bring
up another point. You say that Mrs.
Dunllirl1 sintimatcd' to you her inten-
tic-l Of making you her heir; did she,
then, not show you that will?"
s:Oh, no! She was not even aware that
l knew of it's existence. She did not
speak about it to me with any definite
ness; she merely limited at what she
might do, very much as she does in this
letter. Your memory is strangely at
fault, Mr.. North, if you have forgotten
this point. It was Jenner who told me
about the will
'sAh! Then you never saw the will?"
.'Never." at sa ,is, s3 8
..You know nothing about it Of your
own Notwithstanding except what
Jenner told you?" -
ssThat is all; but really, Mr.. North, it
is sufficient. l have no reason to be-
lieve that Jenney misrepresented the
affair to me" 800 ts "a .35..,....
sob, probably not; but I'm after
facts, now-not theories, if you pleaseV
And, smoothing down the edges OF
this rejoinder with his most irresistible
smile, North went on with his investl-
CATION, following up eagerly new
clew which had thus unexpectedly fallen
into his hands.
sNow. that first will, of which, as
Won saw, Jenner told you, was substan-
tiallv the same as this later one which
has lust been exploded in New YORK;
he tossed Mrs. Dunkirks letter down
on the table with an impetuous ar as
his interest in it had suddenly ceased