The Delta independent., 1897-03-10

words notary public" beneath II, anu
tho gummy ink of the stamp was still
fresh enough to be blurred by the
thumb of the reader.
Philip read the papers leisurely
second time and handed them back to
the attorney.
"I'm sorry you went to SO much
trouble" he said. Il have given up the
idea of buying inside, and have been
thinking more particularly Of trying
something in the resident district"
Sharpless met him half way, and
Philip thought he surprised i!eetiEg
expression of relief on the chrewd face
ofthelawyer. .That'sa sensible change.
Between us, and leaving Mr.. Fcnch out
of the question, ] believe there's more
money to be made in Cheltenham
Heights than on broadway. I've scat
tered my own little bit Of capital
around on the edges"
Philip got away as soon MS he could
decently,. and went back to his room to
piece together the deductions which
might fairly be drawn from the inter
view. The first point made clear was
the pndoubted guilt Of the conspira-
tors; II they had committed forgery for
the purpose of imposing on a sirgle
customer, it WINS reasonable to conclude
that they had not hcsitated when the
necessity was far more urgent. An
other deduction was of even greater i'm
portance. Fcnch and Sharplcss had
a confederate in Pragmore, and here
was a vulnerable point. If the notary
set price upon his silence. he might
also be induced to speak, IL it were
made sufficiently profitable for him to
do SO. A third inference was that the
original forgery and the deed. from
Gates had disappeared; otherwise the
conspirators would not have been Mt
the trouble OF fabricating new ones.
Philip sat up late that night, study
ing the problem and trying to deter
mine what he should do next, but his
perseverance was rewarded only by the
turning of one more conjecture into
certainty. The note which had called
him to the attorneys Office was in
typewriting, and comparison OF its
mechanical inaccuracies with those in
the anonymous letter to Duncan proved
that both were written on the same ma
chine.
LOSS AND GAIN.
II was early in July when Philip
began the campaign of restoration. He
made up his mind in the beginning
that it was to be race with death,
aud, believing this, he did not spare
himself, though the heat during the
weeks that followed was terrific. II
| was a dry summer, and in a drought
the climate Of the Chiwassee valley is,
to say the least, something less than
| invigoratiDg. For the first fortnight
Philip went about with the feeling that
the next day would finish him. Then.
as the barriers hedging him on the
side toward accomplishment grew into
respectable mountains of difficulty, n
winged spirit of energy, which was.
perhaps, only an unused heritage from
his hard-working father. began to pos
sess him, breaking the bonds Of habit
and lifting him out Of the rut OF in
trospection. One morning he forgo:
to count his pulse, and the daily analy
sis of his symptoms wns omitted for
the first time in weeks; and that night
he slept with open windows, through
which the cool breeze from the noun
tain blew across the bed, and no harm
| came OF it. He was too busy to think
much about his infirmity at the time.
but q week later he stepped upon the
patent weighing machine in the ro-
.unda of the Johannisberg, and when
the pointer failed to record the usual
decrease he went to his room AMI
dropped the half-used bottle Of hyPo-
phosphites into the grate. That was
the turning of the tide, and by the
time his fellow-migrants in the exotic
city were beginning to wilt under the
fervid summer sun, Philip wns growing
stronger in body and saner in mind;
finding a certain tonic in series Of de-
feats which were sharp enough TO slim
ulate without being heavy enough TO
crush.
And while he wrest1ed with the DIFF
hculties Of the legal problem. the IRE
burned within him, consuming some
rubbish and shedding new light into