Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-10-28
III.

That evening Harold and his sister
sat moodily in the room in which their
father had died. They had always
avoided the room, and now they won
dered at their presence in it. Some
strange fascination was upon them.
They were growing morbidly supersti-
tious of late. A candle sputtered on a
table between them, Illuminating feebly
the darkness. The white covering of
the bed on which the miser died doomed
family in the shadows and looked not
unlike crouching ghost about to
spring from the gloom. Harold gazed
intently at the blurred drapery until
the whole scene flashed on him again;
he could see his fathers face distorted
in death agony, and bear the whispered
words drop from his lips: He sprang
to his feet, exclaiming harsh!y: "On,
on" Then turning to his startled sis
ter, asked;
"Hettie, can't you think what father
would have said after ON? See ify you
can't put your head to work. This is
the point at which we should have
started long ago."
After thinking, with knit brow, in
silence for aespell, he began: "on, on
top-On, on, on-On, upon the On top
of the On, on what, sister? On the top
of the what? We ought to guess what
would come next. On, on" he looked
searchingly about the room-"on the
the clock" he cried, springing to his
feet rs his eyes stared into the face of
an old, silent cuckoo clock in the cor
per. cts there, Hettie; don't you re-
member how father stared at the clock
when he was dying? Yes, we'll find
some clew on the cock. I.have pre-
sentiment that our disappointing quest
Is at an end" he continued, nervous
ly mounting q chair. His sister stood
at his side, holding aloft the Pickering
candle. Harold was feeling in the dust
and cobwebs when the old clock gave
groan, the cuckoo came to the door and
repeated it's hollow note; there was
harsh screeching, and the dilapidated
timepiece tumbled in q heap. There
was a shrek; the candle fell splutter-
ing to the floor, and the two ran like
guilty things from the room. They
stood in the empty hall for a moment,
painting with fright and peering fur
lively into the dark; then fastened to
their apartments.
Morning was STEALING gray and shad-
owy through the quiet old building
when Harold stole down the stairway
to where lay scattered the wreck of the
old clock. He searched amid the debris,
and brought to light a bit of yellow,
time-stained paper. He brushed the
dust from it and read, in cramped
handwriting. the words: ITO my wife"
At last. There was no hurry now.
Harold was perfectly calm as he pushed
the paper in his pocket and stepped
to the stairway to call his sister. She
came hurrying down presently, her
heart all a-nutter with agitation.
Harold have you found it?" she
asked, huslily.
He bowed his head, and the glow of
triumphant satisfaction on his face was
pitiful. He led his sister gently along
the hall to the old rotting stoop. Here
they sat down in the crimson glow of
sunrise, and Harold opened the paper
and read:
Dear Wife: In trying to atone for one
sin have been guilty Of neutrality-suspicious.
a greater But, when you know all, am
sure you will forgive me. / will be brief.
When a child I wss left an orphan. A
wealthy and childless couple adopted me.
I was reared in luxury and when QUO
enough I was sent off to college. While
there I made the acquaintance OF some
dissipated young men, and soon learned
In drink and gamble. II was not long until
I was deeply involved in debt-debts OF
honor. as they were called. was ashamed
to ask my foster-father for the large sums
I needed, but being threatened with ex-
posure I promised to satisfy my creators
on nv return from vacation, If they would
wait
"Banks were not as common then as now
and I had learned that my father Kept ms
money in an iron box in the study. HIS
keys he always carried with MIN. me
night before I was to return to school
7 stole to his room and secured them.
had intended to take only sufficient sum
10 nav nv debts, but when the chest with
its treasure lay open before my eyes a
wicked impulse overmastered me and !
decided that 1t all should be mine. packed
the money in my portmanteau, locked the
box, fastened the study door, returned .he
KEYS to my fathers pockets, and, returning
10 my room, waited impatiently the COM
ing of day. 1t CHANGED the following morn
ing. 1t being busy season, that servant