The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-17

] cream OF UNN TIE TO AH AlAaA- enc " as
eight years with Lady Templestowe, and
during that time. II her conduct was
not perfect, there were no grounds for any
serious complaint aginst her She was
/ considered 20 be vain and ambitious be-
yond her station, and to be lacking some
what in sincerity.
With this groundwork 10 go upon IL
was easy TO build up a thrilling little
romance OF real life. Miss GwendOline
Wilson was an unusually pretty girl
The old soldier saw her. and was smitten
with her charms. Undeterred by the in
ACCESSIBILITY of May and December mat
ing, he married her. She saw in this
marriage the means Of realizing. to some
extent at any rate. her lodgings and as
piratons. And from relative property
she was suddenly raised 10 a position Of
aftiuence. It was not difficult 70 mag
Inc that very soon she found the society
OF her aged husband pail somewhat. An
old man may worship young woman.
but IL is not often the young woman
WOrships the old man when the bond
of matrimOny links them together, and
our human story is fun of records Of
pathetic misery that has arisen from
youth and age joining themselves togeth-
or in wedlock. In Fenwick's case there
were discussions and disagreements. and
the happiness Of husband and wife was
clOuded- The lady. being in the hey-dey
Of her youth, wanted liberty; the man
objected. In this possibly was to be
found the key to the husbands unac-
countable disappearance.
Having learnt so much of each Of the
persons concerned, / felt sure that Mar
tin Fenwick was no longer in tho land Of
the living. Why did 1 thing so? may be
asked II is not always good 10 give rea-
sons for ones opinions, but in this in
stance I may say my reasons were based
upon the logical aspect Of the affair.
There was no reason which one could
think of or devise which would seem an
Ineligible one to account for Martin Fen
wick deserving his wife and keeping out
of the way of every body who had known
him. If he had fallen i'll anywhere; If he
had met with an accident; if he had sud
denly been seized with insanity and was
detained in some asylum, information
would surely have been forthcoming dur
ing the year that had elapsed. II was I'M
possible to think of him as living unless
he had voluntarily hidden himself. and
there was not the ghost Of a reason why
he should he2SSS-5one that. Besides, # such
had been Ihe case he must have had
means to live upon. And l ascertained
that his banking account, which was very
large, had not been drawn upon since he
left for the continent. No; Martin Fem
wick was dead. i felt as sure Of that a s
felt sure of anything. And what / had
to determine was:
First, When did he die?
Second, Where did he meet with his end7
Third, Was his death the result of nat
ural causes or foul play?
Fourth, What had become of his body?
These were problems l set myself TO
work out, and though considerable time
had elapsed since Martin Fenwick's dis
appearance 1 was sanguine enough to be-
lieve that / SHOULD succeed ultimately in
clearing away the mystery.
Before starting on my mission waited
on Mr.. Fenwick's lawyers. They informed
me that he had provided very handsomely
for his wife when he first married her
and that by his will he left the greater
part of his fortune to her. But In the abb
sence of any proof of his death the estate
could not be administered. In reply to
my question asking them for their opin-
ions about Mr. Fenwick's disappearance.
they said they could not avoid coming to
the conclusion he was dead, for on no
other hypothesis could they account for
his silence They had done business for
him for a great many years, and he had
always shown himself to be most precise
and punctilious and methodical in his bus
mess matters.
WAS he a man OF weak intellect at
alp l asked.
ooh dear. no, unless the fact of his
marrying a young girl was sign of
| weakness of intellect"
Did it ever occur to you in your rela-
lions with him that he might suddenly
go out of his mind and do something
| desperate?"
NO, such an idea never occurred TO US.
! We looked upon him as a man Of strong
| intellect, and unexcitable temperament
| He regarded life and all it's relations
| from a philosophical standpoint"
II understand that he had frequent
| disagreements with his Wife
| Possibly he had. We don't know. But
1 MO will this far-enaa king from our
| knowledge of him-that any disagreement
| that arose she must have been the sole
cause of them. He was an exceedingly
good-natured man, with big heart, and
a forgiving disposition"
one more question" I said land
have done Do you know if there is any
| truth in the rumor that Mrs FenwicH
contemplates marrying again."
Possibly she would like to do so; but
whether she would run the risk or not il
another thing"
IF she herself had very strong grounds
for believing her husband to be dead
she would not think of the risk"
We'll no. we don't suppose she would. >
"And if it is true that she is think
ing of remarTying, it would rather tend
to support the idea that she had no feal
of her first husband reappearing.' To
this question, which was Intentionally
suggestive, the lawyers declined to give
| a
did not wish TO commit themselves, but i
was easy to see that behind their pro
fessional reserve they were not indif
ferent to the drift of my question. As
was anxious to have some personal knowl
edge of the lady, they undertook to write
and ask her to call upon them with ref
erence to her husbands affairs. day
was fixed for the interview, and 1t was ar
ranged that l should be present in thu
| character of clerk. On the day nance
she drove up to the office in a brougham
and was duly ushered into the room O
Mr. Henson, the head Of the firm. l sa
apart at a table, apparently deeply alb
sorbed with some writing. I sat with my
back to the light. and she was placed 81
that the light fell full upon her As sh'
raised her veil 1 thought I had rarely
seen a more beautiful woman, and We
the face was without softness and win
someness which should go with feminine
beauty The blue eyes were cold and me
tallic. while the lips were thin and some
what drawn. AS l studied that face, an(
listened TO the way she talked, 1 came t
the conclusion that though she was beau
tiful physically, she was morally a devil
She had a naughty, disdainful, iropica
way of speaking that suggested the self
! -,trfllad q nd worldly rott4ra