The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1897-01-08
Dealt the scofina banker q blo,p.

DeUtJ utC SCOUUty DUUheT u OCOU.
$50 this, ;" the banker went on mock
ingly as if enjoying the situation, lis
the profession upon the profits of which
you contemplated matrimony! had no
idea that the solicitation of eleemosy-
nary pennies was so good q resource.
You must have become very proficient
to make it support so well the social
phase Of your career. Evidently there
is much to be said for mendicancy as
business. Do you think my daughter
would b. an apt pupil in it under your
instruction."
'Mr. Willmarth, replied Chester,
breathing very hard and speaking with
difficulty through jaws that were trying
to clench themselves together, 81 have
been terribly unfortunate, but you have
not the right to insult me, and even if
,ou have, you had better refrain from
it,"
Insult you! My dear sir, how can
you so mistake the expression of my adj
miration for your genius? You do not
appreciate how you have awakened my
interest in your profession. The next
time you honor my house with visit
shall want you to show Irma your ar
tistic style of work. Your price Of
meal act is oharmingly realistic, and
with proper accessories, such as cold
victual basket, would, should imagine,
be quite irresistible. "
1t seemed TO Chester Sewall as if
that hooking scorn was an insolent ex-
ultation over his accomplished ruin and
despair. as if the man before him was
the personification of all the cruel an
tagonism with which the world had
met him, as if Richard Willmarth was
personally responsible for all the i'll
that had befallen him. In a sudden ac-
cess Of blind rage he dealt the soothing
banker q blow so violent that it felled
him as if he had been struck by light
ming. The next instant the young man
half regretted the act, but only half, for
with what there was Of regret blended
a sullen self justification.
"Why didn't he keep civil tongue
in his head?' he said to himself. II
gave him fair warning.
The man laid where he had fallen,
very still, and silence as Of the grave
was all about. Even the wind had
ceased. An indefinable dread of some
thing sent tremor through Chester's
nerves. He stood waiting, he knew not
for what, and held his breath. A por-
ton Of the clay bank Of the excavation
behind him, softened by the rain, gave
way beneath the weight Of rock piled
on it and fell with loud splash into
the stagnant pool below. The mist thick
ened into fog so dense that the street
lamp three yards away looked like lit
tie phosphorescent patch upon the vast
white, ghostly obscurity of the night
Still the man laid motionless. Ches-
ter's dread took definite shape. Quickly
STOPPING over the PROSTATE form, he put
a hand beneath its shoulders and raised
it to sitting posture. 1t yielded limp
ly, and, the head falling back as he held
it up he heard the sound Of something
falling in slender stream from the
hair to dark puddle on the ground.
Simultaneously he felt that the hand
with which he supported the shoulders
was covered with some fluid warm and
slippery. Suddenly conscious Of what it
was he uttered an exclamation Of hor-
ror, let the body fall back, and, tearing
open its coats and vest, placed his hand
inside theroover the heart. 1t was still.
Richard Willmarth was dead.
In the very act Of making this hideous
discovery his hand came in involuntary
contact with wallet in an inside pock-
ct of his victims vest. Acting upon
o momentary, desperate impulse, he
snatched it out, thrust it into one of
his own pockets and, rising erect, fled
swiftly.
He fancied that something he could
not see nor hear ran noiselessly at his
shoulder with him.