The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-09-23

puhclually remembering them. They
WeTo introduced merely TO provide a
background and an atmosphere for the
evsnls OF tho Story tsslf, Stories Of
mystery, such as this ia, need back.
grounds and atmosphere In order to pro-
tuce their fnh OBJECT. Little except
mystery will ba found In what Is 10 FOL.
lowi aud II you arc able to sound the
depthA OF lE before the evolution OF
events brings II to light, oil eau say IL
that YOU are clovarsr than the present
GhTOniCler was at the time, or than any
OF the neighboTS. Meanwhile YOU will
appreciate Mr., Homer's artistic pur.
pose in enysloping hiS sketch In that
dreamy, mysterious, lndian.aummer
haze, IL there not something ghostly
In that wreath Of mist stealing along
the middle distance, behind the big hut
ternu, tree?
should have mentioned another
reason for the local suspicious OF Mr..
Corvin, We have Sesn that Matthew
was wealthy mani his money was in
vested chiefly In real estate and rail.
roads. But Il became known that,
shortly b0fore his disappearance, he
had Alling'in those Investments,
aud turning them into hard cash, with
tho design otputting the money In cor.
tain western enterprises that paid n
higher interest He must, then, have
had great many thousand dollars &C.
tuAlly in his hands; for there was no
trace OF hiS having deposited any OF 1t
in the local banks. What had become
OF III Like himself, 1t had dissolved,
every dollar Of II, into thin air 1t was
gomez but, on the other hand, Mr.. Cor.
via soon after began to show symptoms
Of decided solvsncy, His luck took
turn he was looking up in the world,
at last. Instead OF forfOitiug his estate
TO tho BillOps he presently iouUd him.
self IN pOaitioh to add some Of the
Billops acres TO his own. Nancy, bs.
ing so uneXpscledIY reduced In CirCum-
stances, and having no more head for
business than hen, was thankful to
exchange parcels Of her land Tor little
cash. The nsighbors shook their heads;
but what could they do? or aay even,
above their breath'P Corvip was a
lawyer, aud a hard Que; he would have
been down on any one OF thom to whom
he could trace an inslnuRtion against
his perfect integrity, They might
thiuE what they liked but Ito vas mnch
more apt to put them in goal for libel
than they wero to get him hanged Cor
murder, They had not even corpus
deficit.
What they did venture to say wac,
that C9rvin meant bit BY Bit to lIosSsis
himself OF tho entire Billop estate,
house aud all, and turn poor Nancy out
10 shift for herieli. For it was rGmem.
bered that at the time Nancy had been
betrothsd to Brent, Colvin had himself
been paying attentions to her; aud that
he had taken tho rebuff very i'll. OF
course, his marriage with Miser Billop's
sister would have been the making OF
him. lie had married another girl i'm.
mediAtely afterwards; but he was OF
temper to cherish grudgeS; and now
that he had his chance. he meant to
satisfy 1t.
Thua do tho guilty triumph in this
world. and there Is no help for 1t. In
this case, though, ono hope was still In.
dulged by few Of the more innocent
aud credulous OF the community II
was recalled that, during the lifetime
Of Matthew, the Billop house was be.
lieyed to be haunted. Matthews spir.
II, instead OF adding 70 the supernatural
crew, however, had apparently taken
tue existent ghosts away with IL; at all
events, tho manifestations had come 10 |
q stop with his disappearance. But it
was plausibly argued that house which
had once been hauntod Is likelyt to be
haunted again; indulgence in spirits
clingS to house Just as II does to man.
Now largued these philosophers) al.
though Matthews immateriAl part
might very well forbeRr to disturb the
peace OF his good slater, who had never
doua anybody any harm, but who was
MORALLY afraid OF disem bodied intolli.
gencles; yet the saturninO old miser,
ioreseoing the future, might DO only
biding his time, aud saving up his ener.
GIGS to harry the man who mad shed his
blood, 80 soon ~ the latter should ven.
ture to set foot in his ancient domicilo.
Yes, he would haunt Lawyer CorVin as
never lawyer had been haunted before;
and 1t would 20 hard, but the whole SO.
creG OF the lnurder-it murder there had
been-would DO revealed, the lost mon.
oy recovered, and Nancy reinstatod
once more In her own.
Certainly. that would DO political just
ice, and things az strange arc said to
havo happened. We shRil 500 what did
happen, shortly,