Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-01-13

| of attempting to secure it by getting rid of | Donald, but, finding the thing impossible
 as he proceeded, abandon the project ere
 any one became aware of its existenceH l Alrthis reasoned with myself over and i over again, and the more I reasoned the
 firmer became my conviction that Donald 1 Gordon must be dead. He did not die in
 the orthodox fashion, else there would be a
 record of his death, but there was no evi- dence that he ever left the city, and he was | not in it now.
 laid my conclusion before the detective,
 before the bankers and some others. They i all said it was plausible. "Only," said one, | you forget Donald's pride. He was the proudest man I ever knew in my life; in- deed he was silly in that way" And, to | be sure, there was Donald's pride to be
 taken into account. But 1t did not aid us. l At the end of two months I had exhausted
 my own ingenuity and that of alT>my i friends, including the detective, without
 coming on single trace of Donald. If he
 was dead, he was buried beyond hope of dis covery; if he had gone away, he had most i eGectually covered up his tracks. There
 seemed to be nothing for it but to abandon l the search, write my dismal report, remit
 Sir Thomas his money and turn to my own l concerns. My friends admitted it really
 was the only thing to be done.
 Indeed, Mir. Kilgour," said Mir. Macdon- | aid, a banker, at whose dinner table the | matter was discussed, Eff it were finan- | cial speculation depending for return of profit on the finding of the volatile Donald Gordon-who, for aught l know, has the power of making himself invisible-I am | bound to confess I would have nothing to do with it. It seems unQuestionable that
 Hr. Donald has gone, desiring no further news of his friends, and I think you are right in giving up the chase. And now that you have disposed of Sir Thomas Cor don's business, might I ask what your plans are for yourself?"
 was obliged to answer that 1 had no
 definite plans as yet, having been so ab
 sorbed in the hunt for Gordon that 1 had
 had no time to think of myself, but now
 would certainly look out for an opening. "As to that" said he. ''there is a desk at your disposal in the house of Macdonald,
 Mactavish 6 Macintosh good Scotch
 names, all of them, you will observe-any time you may feel inclined to begin work. The emoluments will be sufficient to en-
 able you to live pending the finding of something better should you not take kind
 ly to banking"
 II have had some knowledge of highland
 ers," put in MT. Matheson, one of the mer- l chant princes to whom had a letter of in GfOuucU1On- Il nave laQ some knOWleuPe
 of highlanders. and I hardly ever saw one
 of them feel at home at desk. Put a gun,
 or a sword, or a tarry rope, or anything else
 that means fresh air and activity in their | hands, and they're as much at home as a | rabbit in a sand hill. But that's not saying
 that MT. Kilgour would not take kindly to
 banking. If he's after rupees, he will" :"
 and MT. Matheson cast a glance of intelli- gence at his friend.
 l hastened to say that was very grate full to MT. Macdonald for his generous
 offer, and that, with his permission, l
 would keep it under consideration for day
 or two.
 "Quite right, MT. Kilgour, quite right"
 said MT. Macdonald cordially. Look
 we'll before you leap, especially in this land
 of deceits, though, to tell you the truth and
 never flatter, you have done so well in this Gordon business that I should like to catch you. However, say again, you are quite right to avoid a rash decision. A false step involves a change, and though
 the proverb says that changes are light