The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-10-10
CHAPTER ".
MRS. DAVORN'S f c


1t was now about half past Z o'clock.
The morning mist had disappeared
and there was a promise in the sky Of d
fine clear day.
In the front sitting room of 13 Eel
spar road a young girl sat, her arms OF
q small table in the center Of the room,
her head pillowed in her arms.
Ethel Rodney, niece and only living
relative Of the woman lying dead, was
five and twenty years of age. She was
an only child, and her mother had died
before Ethel had reached her fifteenth
birthday. John Rodney, her father, held
An honorable and lucrative post in the
civil service. He was an i]mprovident
man, content always to regard the good
and evil of the day sufficient. He owned
to living up to every penny Of his in
come and was always threatening him
self with retrenchment. At A., when
Ethel was in her nineteenth year, JOIN:
Rodney suddenly died. When his affairs
were wound up, it was ascertained that
not only had he saved nothing, but that
he was considerably in debt. An appeal
had been made to his department, and
a sun of money was privately subscribed
by his colleagues.
After the payment of John ROdney's
debts, for which purpose the money had
principally been raised, it was found
there was a small sum left, and it was
decided to apprentice Ethel to her aunt
"A widowed sister Of John Rodney, who
at that time conducted a fairly flourish
ing millinery business in the west end
of London. When Ethel had been two
years with her aunt, Mrs. Davorn, be-
ing anxious about her own health and
eager to give up the cares of her shop,
decided to sell the business, and pro-
posed to her niece they should live to-
gether in IN quiet London suburb,
Ethel to perform the light duties of a
companion to her aunt. Mrs. DavOrn,
on settling her affairs, found she was
possessed Of a sum of over 60. 600, and
she felt she could safely leave business
and its cares behind her ard be able to
make comfortable provision for herself
and for her niece, whom she dearly
loved.
Mrs. Davorn had taken the advice of
a friend, and had invested her savings
In Il lump i'll a prosperous colonial
bank. Then she took and furnished -
Felspar road, and felt that at II years
OF age all her business cares aVd worries
had been buried forever. In the third
year after she had settled down in Clay
fields the prosperous colonial bank went
into liquidation, and the widowed lady
found her capital reduced from over
&c, 600 to something under 81. 800. She
knew she was untitled to begin over
again a business career. and she knew
that 81, 800 securely invested could not
keep the house going. She was very
much attached to the house. which she
had furnished tastefully and comforta-
bly,; there was a pretty garden at the
rear, and the neiGhborhood was sup
posed to be eminently healthy. There
fore she decided to try the experiment.
Of keeping the house and letting apart
ments. Steinworth and Vickery had
been her first and only dodgers. Both
men found their quarters specially COM
AolldDlt, Dut MIS-. DdNOTu WIS JUST De
ginning to discover that the letting Of
apartments was not. in her case. a very
profitable arrangement.
When things had come to this pass,
she received another shock at hearing
that the bank III which she had invested
el,3OO WAS in a pcrilous condition.
Without waiting to learn if the rumor
was worth her serlous attention she had
On Tuesday, the Sth Of October, gone
into town and drawn her I'll, 800 (Which
had been lodged on deposit at call) Ont
Of the bank.
About II months prcviuuSlv Ethel
Rodney had met at Il dance in the hOus"
Of a friend III C~layfeldS a young doctor
who was at the time an assistant to DR..
Stanley PercivaL Maurice Leclerc was
q tall, slender, young man, about six and
twenty years Of age, with a pale face, a
beautiful square forehead, piercing dark
eyes, and crisp brown hair. Though his
father was a Frenchman, Leclerc had
been born in England. His mother was
OF Irish parentage, and young Leclerc
inherited the volatile nature Of his