The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-23
Il opyright lS9a by Irving Bach ,ller.I

sort of a woman. But she had the lit
| tie girl brought up North. and took care
of her. and made her daughter of
her own. Betrayed by both her lover
and her friend, she loved their little
Nellie all the more tenderly for their
sakes.
This transaction took place about
1870. Now, Sally. before her death. had
presented her husband with Il son.
Thomas: and thus Thomas became an
orphan At almost the date of the New
Orleans tragedy. Thomas was eight or
nine years Nelles senior. 1t will not
surprise any one To learn that Nancy
adopted him also; being her own
nephew, and destitute, she could hardly
do less. Thus. although an old maid,
she was provided, at the age Of tsaY
five and thirty. with IA son ana daugh-
ter whom she cherished and indulSed
as only an old-maid mother can. but
how did Miser Matthew like these pro-
ceedings?
Why, nobody knows; for Miser Mat
thew had died the year before the pro-
cecdngs took place. When l say that
he died, however, | speak hastily, |
should have said. he disappeared. As
he never reappeared, and sent no mes
sages, IL was finally assumed that dead
he must be- And since his disappear
ance tor DEATH happened To occur at
the very period when that mortgage of
Corvin would naturally have been fore
closed; and since no trace of deed of
mortgage, or anything else referring
10 affairs with Corvin was discovered
among his papers; and Qinally) since
the last he was seen alive was the even
ing he left home, after telling Nancy
that he was going down to have a chat
with Corvin-why, people were free to
form their own opinions. and they did
So. But if their opinions had any sinis-
ter signitcance-if. for example, they
leant toward connecting the vanished
mans fate with the fact that Corvin
was thereby relieved of the necessity
of losing most of his worldly posses
sions-nothing ever came OF them; be-
cause nothing ever transpired to indi-
cate that Corvin knew of or had a hand
IN the taking off of his creditor. on
the contrary, he was quite active in
searching for him. But Matthew had
gone out of sight like soap-bubble,
leaving not a trace behind him
Hitherto YOU will have observed that
there has been a good deal of chrono-
logy and Senealogy. But there is no
need of punctually remembering them.
They were introduced merely to pro-
vide background and an atmosphere
for the events of the story itself. Stories
OF mystery. such as this is, need back
grounds and atmOspheres in order to
produce their full effect. Little eXcept
mystery will be found in what is to
follow: and II you are able to sound the
depths of it before the evolution of
events brings it to light. all can say is
that you are cleverer than the present
chronicler was at the time. or than any
or the neighbors. Meanwhile YOU will
appreciate Mr.. Homer artistic purpose
IN enveloping his sketch in that
dreamy. mysterious, -Indian-summer
maze Is there not something ghostly
In that wreath of mist stealing along
the middle distance, behind the big but
ternut tree?
should nave mentioned another req
son for the local suspicious of Mr.. Cor
Win. We have seen that Matthew was
wealthy man; his money was in
vested chiefly in real estate and rail-
roads. But it became known that.
shortly before his disappearance. he
had been calling-in these Investments.
and turning them into hard cash. with
the design of putting the money i'm
certain western enterprises that paid
higher interest. He must then have
had great many thousand dollars ac-
tually In his hands; for there was no
trace of his having deposited any of it
in the local banks, What had become
of it? Like himself 1T had dissolved.
every dollar of, into thin air. It was
gone; but, on the other hand, Mr.. Cor
vim soon after began to show symptoms
of decided solvency. His luck took 2
turn; he was looking up in the world,