Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-05-09

trance-that was ALL My gaze be-
came, however, gradually Concentrated.
Mr.. Marston had striking face, re-
fined, handsome; in figure he was tall
and athletic, and he appeared to be
about twenty-eight years Of age. But
had | not seen him before? No, that
was surely impossible; must be mis-
taken.
He applied himself at once TO the
duty of christening the bundle Of
papers which he carried, and then
went down the room handing a list Of
questions to each pupil in turn. When
had delivered the hast, he paused for
a moment and called out:
Half past nine! The examination
win now begint'
Then he walked back again to his
seat.
But that voice. most assuredly had
heard it before This second impress
sion was one too distinct to be disre-
garied or set aside. What did 1t
mean? My eyes followed him mp the
room. / seemed to know beforehand
how he would walk. had some in
delible recollection connected with that
easy, swinging gait.
/ looked out Of the window, making
mental effort to compel something
clearer from my memory. In this at
titude l remained some moments, then
turned my head sharply and suddenly,
and again directed my glance upon Mr..
Marston. He was leaning over his
table looking steadfastly at me; the
gaze l encountered was singularly
penetrating one from remarkable
blue pair Of eyes; for one brief second
our thoughts were like written SEN
fences one to another. Stay! Was not
all this delusion? Had | really en-
countered his glance at all? Appar-
emily he had not moved a muscle, yet
now his eyes certainly We're fixed alb
sently over my head on the open win
dow: then they moved-cold, official,
vigilant, they passed over and scruu-
nized the rows of examines. and then
dropped to the papers lying before him
on the table. Not CULVER, not a shade.
of change. Not the faintest ripple of
emotion to make it clear to me that
our thoughts had indeed met for the
moment. | continued to watch him
narrowly for second or two; but he
appeared either unaware of or lndif-
ferent to my scrutiny.
For all this" | said to myself, "lf
my recollection is not playing me false,
this refined and imposing Mr.. Marston
Is Gantic fraud. Take away his
academic dress and his official. gentle
manly bearing, clothe him shabbily
and place him ir less prosperous err
cumstances. and he is nothing less
than a common thief-a highway rob
ber-a BURGLAR
In my excitement | did not consider
the appropriateness 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
knew it. For this accredited uniyer-
sity don and that shabby. shameful
young man of the past, We're they not
one and the same? How account for
the mystery? Naturally l distrusted
spectabilty. But my Indignation be-
ing spent, | asked myself what course
of action | ought to pursue. 1t was
impossible to denounce the man upon
mere impressions; some proof must
first be found, and | was not without
resources. About ten minutes OF
spare time remained before the after
~ INT
spent in writing to the bank at Mid
dleford TO ask chat my envelope con-
tanning the four ten-pound Bank vi
England notes should be sent to ne
unfailingly by return of post. And
then | went down to superintend the
examination. and to keep at. the same
time watchful eye upon the eX-
amner.
80 much the better" thought l,
when not In his presence: che de,ects
nothing in me to excite surmise."
on the third morniug-the last day
of the eXalninalion--the letter contain
ing the four bank notes duly arrived;
and as | was up early and met the
postman no one saw me receive +.
Two small circumstances had, mean-
while, added an element of certainty
to my surmise. a letter arriving for
Mr.. Marston showed that his Christian
name was Hubert" and a letter writ
ten hy him in reply gave me an OPP
portunity of studying his handwriting.
| brought down my old registered en-
yelope (which | had kept as a Gu
riosityl and compared the address with
that of the letter lying on the hall ta-
bile The writing was very similar
almost the same; the lapse of years
might account for the slight difference.
At the same time, my hour aad my
opportunity having come around
found my resolution in Il tottering
state
Nevertheless drove on hlindly I
carried the bank notes upstairs. placed
them in the old registered envelope,
and putting that in a new cover di-