Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-07-23

Poor Mrs. Loring was laid to rest in
the village burying ground, sincerely
mourned by the new friends among
whom her life had ended. Her foibles
were forgotten, and only her courtesy.
her kindliness, her generosity, were re-
membered. She had done little of harm
and something of good in the world
a better record than can be placed to the
credit of many whose pretenslons have
far exceeded those of this victim of a
morbidness of imagination approach
ing hypo,:hondria.
Week after week passed, but Dorothy
Gray was still in Rodneytown, reluctant
to quit the kindly circle whose mem
bers had shown heartfelt sympathy IN
her affiiction. I doubt whether she had
been able to decide whittier to GO in
case she left the village. She had no
near relations, certainly none to whom
she would turn at such time. In her
wears of wandering with her aunt she
had made few intimate friends. In
short. she was left without anyone from
whom she might naturally seek conso-
lation and counsel. The good women
of the neighborhood did their best T.
take the place of kinsfolk and old
friends; they wept with her in the days
when her bereavement had just come
upon her, and afterward, when the first
bitterness of her loss was past, they
kept her company and strove to cheer
her, after the homely fashion of their
kind. And so it happened that she re-
mained with us, bearing her sorrow as
best she could.
Not long after the death of her aunt
I had confirmation of the story Mrs.
Weston had brought me. The trustee
of the estate, the income of which Mrs.
Loring hal received, came to Rodney
town to attend the funeral services.
Ee was a lawyer, cautious and reserved
in manner, and supposedly as free from
sentimentality as the desk in his office
Yet under the professional mask there
was, after all, something of the emo
tional man, which asserted itself in a
practical way. beftting the weakness
of an eminently practical man.
''Dr. Norris" said he, on the eve of his
departure, there is result of this re-
cent tragic occurrence to which your
attention may not have been called.
Mrs. Loring had only life interest in
the property left by her husband, for
she had surrendered her dover rights.
On her demise the estate passes to her
husbands brother and sister, with
whom, 1 regret to say, her relations
were not amicable Though she often
told me that she proposed to lay aside
part of her income in order to make
provision for her niece, Miss Gray, it
seems that she utterly neglected to put
the plan in operation. In fact, she lived
very close to her income, and had it not
been for u reduction in her expenses on
coming here, it is probable that the rev.
enue coming from the property, cal
culated to the day of her death, would
not have suf1iced to pay the outstanding
claims against her. AS it is, however,
l find that there will be a balance of
about $500, which will be at Miss Gray's
disposal. 1t is very little for young
woman reared as she has been, but, un--
fortunately, it is all that she can hope to
receive from her aunt"
"She must suffer, then, for another's
carelessness," said I.
"Atonement for carelessness is too
often vicarious," said the man of law.
"It hardly lessons her misfortune to
realize that il is O common one. Do you
know whether she has anything in her.
own right?"
"Next to nothing. AS have said, DR..
Morris, the case is distressing one, aDd
I regret exceedingly that must be the.
bearer of such bad news to the young
lady. She is very likely to come for adj
vice to you, and it is to put you in pos
session of the facts that 1 have spoken.
A check for your services to my late,
client will be mailed to you Immediately
upon my return to the CITY,"
Thereupon the lawyer went his way,
leaving me by no means so disheartened
by his remarks as might have been the
case with a man whose regard for
Dorothy Gray was entirely platonic
He was as good as his word in settling
Mrs. Loring's affairs, and in a few days
my check arrived. Another valuable bit
from q very different source, one from
which it was decidedly unexpected.
Jones, the mysterious farmland, In
trusted it to the mails not long after
/ had seen him safely on train south
bound from BASKERVILLE. In parting
he had thanked me with good deal of
heartiness for my attendance upon him,
+ntn tc C,11
as to the character of the business which
had brought him to Rodneytown with
results so disastrous TO himself. The
size of the check, though, was sufficient
to prove that when he entered Mrs.
Weston's employ he was in a position
to care little for the pittance she paid
him. Banks, too, received substantial
token of the mans gratitude, but he
was even less able than to guess what
Jones' mission had been.
These reinforcements to my financial
strength helped me to arrive ut decls-
ion, though it was decision burdened
with conditions. In the matter of for
tune, Dorothy Gray and were not very
far apart; and surely her position was
such as to encourage the most timid OF
wooers. So far, found clear sailing
But, once this point had been attained
in my calculations, there arose a rem
nant of the old perplexities. Lamar was
still the disturbing factor, for, in spite
of the deadly malady which had him in
its unrelenting clutches, could not be
certain of his plans. so long as strength
-, 20 iG
quarters should he desire to do so. 1t
could hardly be supposed that he would
survive more than a year; at least that
was the limit I had fixed, after allowing
him whatI believed to be wide margin.
\ second examination had shown that
the disease was advancing steadily
His precarious condition had in no way
decreased my aversion for him, but 1T
had the effect of ending any idea 1
might have entertained of resigning my
post. To desert him now was out of the
question. Yet to remain with him
meant postponement of the inevitable
struggle for n professional foothold in
some city, or even of partnership with
Banks. So long as was in the hermit's
employ I must be free to follow him
If need arose. 1t was my duty, strive
as I might to disguise the fact.
Dorothy and did not continue quite
the old friendship. There was subtle
difference in our relations. We were
together often, though she seldom drove
with me and there were no more boat
ing excursions, but there was some
thing of our former comradeship lack
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