The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-09-02

than little foolish Irritation between the
young lady and myself He seized the
girls hand, tucked it undor his arm and
marched of. .-
"As for having an opportunity of meet
ing her again VIII take precious good
care that you DON'T" he threw ut me over
his shoulder.
Alas, there could be little doubt of itl
And the letter. l had no doubt that ii
was note to her lover. 1t seemed just a
little hard that, anxious as was TO serve
her, this should be tho particular service
required of me.
At the first pillar box came to / took
out the missive she hrd ., en- me. 1t was
her programme for tn, 2 cning dainty
card folded bookwise and secured at the
edges by number of postage stamps stuck
all around 1t. 1t was stamped W it'll penny
stamp and addressed In pencil OF course
had no business to read the address
knew that well enough. 1t was perhaps an
ungentlemanly thing to do; but, then, my
curiosity was greatly excited l hoped that
the name penciled on the buck of the pro-
gramme might he that Of q woman. But
was disappointed. BY the light Of gas
lamp read;
Immediate Arthur Bellingham, Esq,
- Furnivafs Inn Holborn, E. c."
Dillingham;? Dillingham; l seemed to
know the name. For minute or two I
stood trying to remember whom 1t was I
had once met that owned It, but in vain.
What did it matter? The affair was at an
end dropped the queer letter into the
letter box and went home to my lodgings
few months later I was strolling along
Oxford street. heard my name called out,
/ and looking up saw Arthur Bellingham
standing before me. recognized him at
once-a young engineer whom had met
once in country inn on wet day in the
Lake district. We had been capital friends
for week, and I could not understand
how had forgotten him when had tried
to remember what Bellngham l had
known.
We greeted each other warmly, and he
would have me 60 with him to his cham
bers in Furnival's inn and smoke cigar
with him.
"Bellingham," said as I stood on his
hearth rug, did it ever happen that you
received letter written on ball pro-
grammes'
His eyes and mouth opened in pure as
constituent.
what do you know about thatP' he
calculated.
II ought not to have known anything
about it, but plead guilty to having read
the address I posted the programme to
you one night on my way home from
ball.
My friend sprang up and wrung my
hand as if he would wiring it off.
"My dear fellow" he cried, II am in
flnitely obliged to you for your tact and
kindness on that occasion. If you had not
posted that note it would have meant ruin
to me. Maud told me how awfully good
you were about 1t"
Maud? Do you mean
"Maud, my sister-the girl who slipped
the note into your hand
as she your sister?'
Certainly she Is. It's rather an I'M
common story. Shall I tell it to you?"
IF you don't mind. confess am
burning with curiosity"
1.-THE fact is, then, that some three years
ago my poor mother, who was widow,
did what turned out to be very foolish
thing-she married again, and married
without making proper inquiries My
stepfather, Mr. Maddox, turned out to be
very bad egg My mother lost the great
err part of her fortune when she married
him, and we wore for n time practically
dependent on my mothers uncle an ecccn-
trio old gentleman, rather fond of money,
called Hodgkinson.
Maddox Is neither more nor less than
an adventurer, and for long time it was
the main business of his life to exploit my
grcatuncle At last he nearly succeeded
Maddox and some friends of his got hold
of bit of land in South Africa, which
they wanted to sell as gold mine 1
don't believe there was an ounce Of gold
on the premises. But my greatuncle said
that he would buy it at the high figure
they asked for it II would go out and see
1t and send him private telegram advis-
ing him that tho gold was there in paying
quantities
"Of course was ready to go, and I was
to have sailed the very morning after the
night of the ball that you and Maud at
tended
well, Maud happened to be in tho con-
servatory attached to the ballroom when
she overheard two men talking rather in
discreetly. She was standing behind some
Towering shrubs and heard every word
they said:
THE two men were Mr.. Maddox and
one of his associates, and she heard enough
to make her understand that the thing was
fraud, and that l was to DO made the
means of their swindling Uncle Jonas on a
large scale l believe the plan was that
they should send a false telegram to the old
man in my name days before could even
see the pretended mine. One thing know
If the thing had come off, Uncle Jonas
would never have forgiven me- He would |
have believed to his dying day that l had |
been squared. You may imagine what
state Maud was in. Shot
The door opened and Maud herself |
walked into the room.
1t seemed that her stepfather had treated
her SO harshly on account of her having
spoiled his schemes that she had been
forced to leave his house and take refuge
with her brother
For some time the old man refused to
believe that the reason Arthur gave for
not going to South Africa was the true
reason, but in time he came round, and
both brother and sister are now good
leal at his house. go there occasionally
myself, which is not surprising as Maud
and have been engaged for the last six
eeks.-Cassells Journal
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