Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-02-15

we waited lmpatenty Tor the 1ull eA-
planation which might OF might not
come.
The second thing which kept rs in Lon
don was this. | determined that before
left | would have the fact that when
married Philippa l married Lady Fer
rand fully acknowledged. | found my
way to the gentlemen who were winding
I'D the dead mans affairs, and stated my
case to their incredulous ears. At first
they treated me as an impostor.
But not for long. Indeed, my task was
half done They had already, without
any assistance from Mrs. Wilson, fer
reted out the date and particulars of the
had but TO assure themselves that the
marriage certificate which | laid before
them was no forgery, and surrender at
discretion.
1t was poor estate, the administrators
told me. Sir Mervyn had died intestate.
He had during his lifetime made away
with nearly all he could ALLEVIATE. Still.
there was some personal property, OF
which my wife could claim her share,
and a certain amount of real property on
which she was entitled to dover. but 1t
was a very poor estate.
[ cut them very short. tod them
that. let the deceased's wealth be great
or little, not one penny piece OF 1T should
soil my wife fingers. II Sir Mervyn
Ferrands heir was in want Of the money,
it should, provided he was dlherent
stamp of man from his immediate pred
ecessor be given to him Il free gift. IL
not some hospital should be benetted by
it. All | wanted was, that It should be
understood that Sir Mervyn Ferrand left
widow.
The administrators, one of whom was,
by the bye the heir, evidently looked up
on me as a most eccentric parsonage
Perhaps it was for this reason. or-as
do not wish to cast unm"rited blame
perhaps it was because the estate wound
M to nothing-well, any way, even to
this day we have received no communl-
cation. much less remittance, from the
administrators; nor, to tell the tfutn
have [ troubled them again. Phlhppa
marriage admitted, | washed my hands
of all the Ferrand brood.
The confession did not arrive; nuI Il
persuaded Philippa to leave England. MI:
Crisp could send whatever he had to send
to Seville just as well as to LONDON. 30
once more, and this time in all but per-
feet happiness, we took that long Journey
which was by now quite familiar TO us.
The 10y, the wild joy. with which
Philippa threw herself into my mother
| arms checked all the upbraidings and
! reprcach which we apparently merlted.
| Our return was like the return OF prod
| igal son and daughter. Laughter, tears,
| and happiness!
Although I told my mother nothing as
| to the object Of our mysterious journey;
although she asked me. nothing: although
| no word cvidencing her knowledge OF
| what had passed has ever crossed her
| lips, | know that all has been revealed
| to her: that Philippa has sobbed out the
whole strange tale on her breast. KNOW
| it by this. that since the day of our re-
turn my mothers deep love for my wife
has shown itself even tenderer, sWeeter
and deeper. Yes. | was spared the tell
ing of the tale. My mothers eyes the
next day showed me that Philippe had
| given her the history, as | have given 1t
here from beginning TO end.
No, not quite the end Sit by me once
more. as / asked you at the beginning
| of my story to sit by me; but this time.
not by the side of a smouldering fire. but
out in the fair, gay patio OF our Andalu-
sian home. Philippa and | are side by
! brought me a bulky packet, on which.
| in a clerkly hand, is written my name
| and address. [ tear the wrapper open
with eagerness. / know what it con-
tains; Philippa knows | wish to read it
| first alone, but the appealing look IN
! After all, there is nothing to fear. there
can be nothing which she should not
| know. SO, with our cheeks all but touch
| ing, we read together Sit by us, lean
over my shoulder, and read with US.
''The confession Of William Evans,
|
| tence of death:
son the 9th of January, this year, [
returned from New Zealand ! worked
my passage home When / reached Lon
don | had but few shillings in my peck
ct | had no articles of value which /
could sell. All | owned: except my
| clothes and the little bit of money, was
a pistol which a man on board the ship
had given me. 1t was a pistol of his
| own invention. He had several with
him, and said he wanted to get the sort
| known. Why he gave it to me God
| knows; but he did, and a couple of cart
ridges.
81 spent my money-all but shilling
! or two. | tried to get work. but none
was to be had Then [ remembered that
| / once had friend who lived near Rod
| ing. | went there by train. ] had just
| enough money to pay my fare. / found
that the man l knew had left the place
| town. penniless and desperate.
''The first thing | did was to go to
the pawnbroker's, and try and sell the
! pistol. The man wouldn't buy it at any
| price. He said his shop was full of pis-
| tolls. | went away, and walked to the
railway station to try and earn q few
pence somehow. | was in despair-all
| but starving.
about o'clock the train from Lon
don came in. A tall gentleman came out
of the door of the station. | asked him
if he had any luggage / could carry for
him. He told me to be off. Then |
asked him, for PHYS sake. to give me 4
! shilling to buy some food. He cursed
me. and / began to hate him.
"He stood under the gas lamp and
| drew out great gold watch and looked
| at the time Then he asked man that
| stood near which road he must take to
get to a village named Cherwell. The
| man told him | saw him walk away,
and I knew where he was going.
II shall be hanged next week; there
is no hope for me. But ] tell the truth
when | say that, bad fellow as / have
been, | had never committed such Il
crime as the one which at that moment
entered my head That tall man had
money, jewelry and good clothing; | had
nothing. l was starving So / ran on,
got before him, went miles up the road,
and sat down in the bitter cold on a heap
| Of stones, waiting for him to come, and
making up my mind to kill and rob him.
] knew / must kill him. because he was
so much stronger and bigger than | was.
! Ny pistol was loaded.