The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-10-17

called my father, then boy of II or so,
and confided To him the fact that he
had 5000 somewhere, and il was TO
become my fathers property at Uncle
Johns death. But this was absolutely
all he told. The whereabouts of the
money he failed to communicate, for
some reason or other /; perhaps he had
kept it secret 80 long he could not bear
to part with il. He died few hours
later, and no one but my father ever
believed that Uncle John had cent.
There was some search made-not
much-but nothing was ever found"
''Chris," said Winifred, after pause,
''if that money where found to whom
would it belong?"
''To you, darling, responded the in
fatuated man.
''Do you mean, truly, that it would
be legally yours"
"Pm the very fellow"
''fhen, Christopher Schuyler, you
must set about finding it at once"
"MOst happy, Pm sure, but if the
united intellects of the past generation
couldn't study up what had become of
it, don't see much chance for me-"
"What shameful indifference To n
plain duty" sighed Winifred. "Were
Uncle Johns clothes all ripped to
pieces? His pocketbOok picked apart?
His books carefully looked over leaf by
leaf? The walls of his room sounded ?
| His"
"And his house torn down, the gar
den dug up and the nearest pond drag
ged," interrupted Christopher with a
great laugh, "a they stopped in front of
their own door, and he lifted his wife
out of the carriage with the same for
malities which were observed in put
ting her in.
SO reprehensible was Christopher's
indifference that several days elapsed
before it occurred TO him to say to Win
fired, who was hanging about him,
pressing his hair, disarranging his desk
putting flower in his button hole, and
otherwise distracting his attention from
the manuscript he was attempting To
copy. "By the way, this was Uncle
Johns desk"
"And YOU never told me before ~
cried Winifred, flying out of the chair
on which she had temporarily perched.
'How do YOU know that Uncle Johns
money isn't in it, in some secret draw
er, perhaps, opening with concealed
spring ?'
II went through all that nonsense
when | was boy" replied Mr.. Schuy-
Ter loftily. al, too, fancied / should
he the hero to solve the mystery, and
begged my father to let me search for
secret springs and hidden drawers
and the rest Of the trash, but of course,
never found any. Father was very
sure, however, that Uncle John meant
what he said" he added, musingly.
"Yet there may be "a secret in the old
desk which you haven't discovered"
murmured Winifred, walking around
the desk with gaze as fixed a. if she
expected secret drawer to fly out at
her
She sat down on the floor and began
to pull out the drawers one by one.
Each was palpably honest and contain
ed no hidden recepta Gle, though she
searched above, below, behind all. She
restored them to their places with
sigh, and sat down in front of it, Chris
topher looked AT her and laughed.
"How mercenary ~ said he 'What
cupidity -
"Mercenary, Indeed am, / would
walk mile for S3, 900 -
"Now my feelings are quite differ
ent. Iwould indeed like to know the
fate of the shekels, but only in the spir-
it of the Yankee who lost a cent and
spent three days hunting for il, and
when twitted about it, said he didn't
care nothin' bout the cent, but he'd
like to know where the darned thing
went to-
''Chris," said Winifred poering over
large picture which was glued to the
inside of the desk lid, isn't that fun
ny? See this long waisted lady talk
ing To the swOrded gallants, her hair
isn't much longer than theirs; and see
this horse walking with his hind legs
and trotting, no, galloping-with his
fOrelegs. And the the ship in the back
ground, apparently stranded in syl-
van grove, but suppose we are expect
ed to understand that this brook in the
foreground winds round through these
woods and i'm the course of a few min
utes's walk becomes many miles wide
and deep enough to float a large ship.
''And what an odd old inscription
A view of ExtOn park, belonging To
the Rt. Houble, the earl of Gainesbor-
ough, to whom this plate is inscribed
by his lordship's most dutiful and most
obedt servt, T. Smith | suppose this
is T. Smith sitting on the bank with "A
sketching book in his hand, absorbing
AT his leisure the lovely effects of the
deer, the waterfall, the rOw-boat Oh the
river and the castle in the background.
| see that the fashion ofdocking horses
tails is not at all modern, for these poor
things have their tails docked, and the
picture is dated October, 1904. Do you
suppose it is really ~ old rs hat >"
'Very likely"
"Chris," continued she, ''this picture
is curiosity. Let's have it framed"
Certainly, if you wish"
'.I will N glue il carefully and you 1
shall take it in town for a suitable I
frame and glass, and | will hang it
let ne see-in the upper hall between
the Windows
''As my lady pleases."
His lady forwith pleased herself by /
ordering hot water and various cloths |
and towels and sponges, and with these /
appliances went through process of 1
soaking and loosening the picture, /
which left its old quarters with some
reluctance. She finally lifted il dainti-
ly by it, moistened edges and laid it,
time-stained, yellow, but unharned,
on the table AT the moment she did
this she saw another paper, also yellow
and tiua-stained. which the removal /