Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-05-09

dow: then they moved cold. official.
vigilanI. they passed over and Scruti-
niZed the rows of examines. and then
dropped TO the papers lying before him
on the table. Not a CULVER not shade
of change. Not the fainteSt ripple of
emotion TO make it clear to me that
our thoughts mad indeed met for the
moment. l continued to watch him
narrowly for a second or two: but he
appeared either unaware of or indif-
ferent to my scrutiny.
For all this l said TO myself, IF
my recollection is not playing me false.
this refined and imposing Mr.. Marston
is S.Ganuc fraud. Take away his
acade'GIc dress and his official. gentle
manly bearing. clothe him shabbily
and place him IL less prosperous cIr-
cumStances. and he is nothing less
than common thief-a highway rob-
ber-a burglar"
In my excitement l did not consider
the apprOpria teness of these epithets.
but heaped them up in an endeavOr
TO express my sense of disproportion
between the mans seeming appear
ance and the truth as [ thought l
knew il. For this accredited univer-
sity don and that shabby. shameful
young man Of the past, We're they not
ore and the same? How account fer
the mystery? Naturally l distrusted
and even resented this seeming re-
spectability. But my Indignation be-.
in I ncI-o ,1oT-Snlf I,a
of action l ought TO pursue. 1t was
impossible TO denOunce the man upon
mere impressions; some proof must
first be found. and l was not without
resources. About ten minutes OF
spare time remained before the after
noon examination began; this interval
l spent i'll writing to the bank at Mid
dleford to ask that my envelope CON
tanning the four tea-pOund Bank oil
England notes should be sent TO ne
unfailingly by return of post. And
then l went down ID superintend the
examination. and to keep at the same
time a watchful eye upon the ex-
aminer.
$50 much the better" thought l,
when not in his presence: The de,ects
nothing in me 10 excite surmise"
On the third m0rniug-the last day
of the eXamination-5he letter contain
ing the four bank notes duly arrived:
and as I was up early and met the
pOstman. no one saw me receive it.
Two small circumstances had. mean
while, added an element of certainty
to my SurmiSe. \ letter arriving for
Mr.. MarStOn showed that his Chris tian
name was Hubert" and letter writ
ten by him in reply gave me an op-
portunity of studying his handwriting.
l brought down my old registered en-
yelope (Which l had kept as a Gu
riOSity) and compared the address with
that Of the letter lying on the hall Ia
bic. The writing was very similar
almost the same; the lapse of years
might account for the slight difference.
At the same time my hour and my
opportunity having come around. l
found my resolution in a tottering
state.
Nevertheless l drove on blindly. 1
carried the bank notes upstairs, plac
them in the old registered envelope,
and putting that in a new cover, di-
rected the packet TO Hubert MarstOn,
Esq"
The morning examination passed
without incident. Our eyes never met;
if he looked UP. my head was bent
over my books; if l looked UP it was
only when by instinct l had ascer-
tanned that he had turned the other
way. If his bearing were really an
ingenious piece of acting, fiatter my
self that mine capped it! l did not
think-I knew he was unaware that
he was recognized.
To Be Continued.