Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-12-19
TlG Evil Genius.
A STORY.
BY l. COLLINS.
BEFORE THE STORY.

lohg w JIG ohi ~ AAHN W =
had already proposed to take sgd into train
ing as a pupil teacher. ''Ill force the child
on Miss Wigger promised, It'll she can
earn her board and lodging by taking my
lowest class. When she gets older she will
replace my regular goyernessa and | shall save
the salary"
With this proposal waiting for a reply Mrs.
Westeriield had only to inform her sister that
IL was accepted. Come here" she wrote,
"on Friday mex at any time before two
o'clock and sgd shall be ready for YOU. II.
ST. am TO be married again on Thursday
and start for America with my husband and
my boy by next Saturdays steamer"
The letter was posted, and the mothers
anxious mind was, To use her own phrase, re-
lieved of another worry.
AS the hour OF S drew near on Wednesday
evening Mrs. Westerield's anxiety forced
her To find relief in action of some kind. She
opened the door of her sitting-room, and list
ened on the stairs. II still wanted a few
minutes to : o'clock when there was a ring
at the household. She ran down to open the
door. The servant happened 10 be in the
hall and answered the bell. The next mo-
ment the door was suddenly closed again.
Anybody there?' Mrs. Westeriield asked.
"No, ma'am."
This seemed strange. Had the old wretch
deceived her, after all? Look in the letter
box" she called out. The servant obeyed
and found a letter. Mrs. Westcriield tore il
open. standing ON the stairs. Ii contained
half a sheet of common note paper. The in
depreciation of the cipher was written on II
in these words:
Remember No. - Purbeck road. st.
Johns Wood. Go to the summer house in
the back garden. Count 10 the fourth plank
in the floor, reckoning from the side wall on
the right rs you enter the sunmer house.
Prize up the plank. Look under the mold
and rubbish. Find the diamonds"
Not a word of explanation accompanied
these lines. Neither had the original cipher
been returned. The strange old man had
earned his money and had not attended TO
receive it-had not even sent word where or
how il might be paid! Had he delivered his
letter himself? lie (or his messenger had
gone before the house door could be opened.
A sudden suspicion of him turned her cold.
Had he stolen the diamonds? She was on
the point of sending for "A cab, and driving TO
his lodgings, when James came in, eager TO
know if the Interpretation had arrived.
Keeping her suspicious 10 herself, sho
merely informed him that the Interpretation
was in her hands. lie at once asked To see
il. She refused to show ii To him until he
had made her his wife. "Put a chisel in
your pocket when we go to church tO-mOr-
row morning" was the one hint she gave
him. AS thoroughly worthy of each other as
ever, the betrothed lovers distrusted each
other 10 the last.
At IL o'clock next morning they were
united in the bonds of wedlock; the land
lord and landlady of the public house in
which thcy'had both served being the only
witnesses present. The children were not
permitted to see the ceremony. On leaving
the church door the married pair began their
honeymoon by driving TO 81. Johns Wood.
A dirty printed notice, I'm a broken window,
announced that the house was to let; and u
s0ur-tempered woman informed them that
they were free TO look at the rooms.
The bride was in the best of humOrs. She
set the bridegroom the example of keeping
up appearances by examining the dilapidated
house first. This done, she said Sweetly TO
the person in charge: May We look at the
garden?'
The woman made a strange answer to this
request. That's curious" she said.
James interfered for the first time. Whats
curiOus?" he asked, roughly.
Among all the idle people who have come
here, at one time or another, to see this
house." the woman said, ''only two have
wanted to look at the garden
James turned on his heel, and made for
the summer-house; leaving his wife to pur-
5ue the subject or not as she pleased. She
did pursue the subject.
II am one of the persons, of course" she
said. "Who is the other|'
IAN old man came on Monday"
The brides pleasant smile vanished.
''What sort of person was hep" she asked.
The sour-tempered woman became s0urer
than ever. "Oh, how can / tell? A brute.
Therev'
"A brute?' The very words which the
new Mrs. Bellbridge had herself used when
the expert had irritated her. With serious
miSgivings, she too turned her steps in the
direction of the garden.
James had already followed her instrlic-
tons and used his chisel. The plank lay
loose on the floor. With both his hands he
rapidly cleared away the mold and the rub.
biSll, In a few minutes the hiding place was
laid bare.
They looked into it. They looked at each
other. There was the empty hole, telling its
story. The diamonds were gone.
9.-The Mother.
Mrs. Bellbridge eyed her husband, pre-
pared for a furious outbreak of rage. lie
stood silent, staring stupidity straight before
him. The shock that had fallen on his dull
brain had stunned it. For the time he was
a big idiot; speechlcss, harmless, helpless.
She put back the rubbish, AM replaced the
plank, and picked up the chisel. Come,
James," she said, 'pull yourself together"
1t was useless to speak TO him. She took his
arm, and led him out TO the cab that was
waiting at the door.
The driver, helping him to get in, noticed
a piece of paper lying on the front seat. Ad-
vertisements, seeking publicity under all
possible circumstances, are occasionally sent
flying into the open windows of vehicles.
The driver was about TO throw the paper
away, when Mrs. Bellbridge (se"ing it on
the other side took it out OF his hand. 1T
isn't print" she said; tits wiiting.' A
closer examination showed that the writing
was addressed to herself. Her correspOn-
dent must have followed her TO the church,
as well as to the house in st. Johns Wood.
He distinguished her by the name which she
had changed that morning, under the sane
ton OF the clergy and the law.
This is what she read: Don't trouble
yourself, madam, about the diamonds. You
have made a mistake-you have employed
the wrong man."
Those ~words-and no more. Enough,
surely, 10 justify the conclusion that he had
stolen the diamonds. Was it worth while TO
drive TO his lodgings? They tried the expert
ment. The expert had gone away on busi-
n~ess-nobody knew where.
The newspapers came rs usual on Friday
morning. TO Mrs. Bellbridge's amazement
1t set the question OF the theft at rest, on the
highest authority. An article appeared, in q
conspicuous position, thus expressed:
Another of the many proofs that truth Il
stranger than fiction has just occurred al
Liverpool. A highly respected firm of ship
owners In that city received a strange lettel
at the beginning OF the present week. Pre-
missing that he had some remarkable circum
stances to communicate, the writer OF the let
ter entered abruptly on the narrative wheel
follows. A friend of his connected with lit
erature had, it appeared, noticed a lady!
vlsiting-card left on his desk, and had beer
reminded by it lin what way 1t was no
necessary to cxplain) of 4 criminal east
which had excited considerable public inter
est at the time, viz. the trial of Capt. West
erfield for willfully casting away a ship un
der his command. Never having heard o
the trial the writer at his friand's suuuas