The herald., 1897-10-10

to hear no more. and the doctor had
some difficulty in keeping up with him
Hurrying behind him. and becoming
more and more enraged as he thought
OF what awaited him when this man
should swear to the truth, he was filled
with furious desire to punish the OBJ
stinate fellow; If he could have
knocked him down with his fist he
would have done it.
Suddenly in the darkness, the doc
tors foot struck against something
which was heavy and which moved.
Instinctively he stopped; he wanted a
missile. He picked up the object,
which seemed to be a piece of lead,
and. holding it in the palm of his hand
with the largest end downward, he ran
up behind Farris and struck him on the
top of the head. Being tall man, he
dealt the blow very fairly. Farris
dropped, and the doctor threw the
piece Of lead into the road. Then he
left the spot, and hastened homeward
as fast as he could. 1t was not half
past ten o'clock when he got into his
bedroom window, and putting on his
slippers and dressing gown, he went
out Of the office door and entered the
| room where his two men were busy
with their usual game Of cards. Re-
marking that his eyes were tired and
that he should go to bed, although it
was rather early for him, he left them,
and when the messengers from Cam
borough came to inquire about him. his
ASSISTANTS were positively certain that
he had been at home all the evening
and had gone to bed early.
Doctor Latimer had been greatly
troubled about what he had done; he
had feared that Farris would die and
he would be murderer, and when the
patient recovered, there was perhaps
no one in Camborough who was so
truly glad as Doctor Latimer. He had
conscience of a peculiar Sort and
now that it had ceased to prod him
on the subject of taking the mans life
the doctor gave it holiday and in
his relief he cared little what might
happen next.
The next morning Craig Wilson
found me in my office; was there be-
cause it was too early to go anywhere
else.
Now then" said he, "since you have
proved that you are such shockingly
bad shot that you can't even hit a cat
under your window, think you had
better give up that sort of thing and
take to fishing again. 1t suits you
better. Suppose we go this afternoon;
we won't take any Of those murderous
dipsy leads you seem to fancy, but we'll
have decent tackle"
| instantly declared that I could not
go fishing with him that day. 1 had
something 1 must attend to and really
1 hadn't a bit of time for that sort Of
thing.
"Come, come now" said Wilson,
chat won't do. She's going to the
Culture Club this afternoon and my
sister has made an engagement to go
with her, so you might as well come
along with me. We are all trying to
do as much as we can for you, consid-
ering how badly you must feel about
missing the cat, and the best thing 1
can do for you is to take you fishing"
Reluctantly I consented to accom-
pany Wilson. I would have preferred
to stay at my office and write letter,
but considering that 1 could say some
things a great deal better than I could
write them, and not wishing to make
myself a subject for raillery,-I had
had enough Of that-I agreed to go
with him.
"By the way" said Wilson. as he
was about to leave. 1--WE have been
discussing that matter of your dipsy
lead and the cat. In the first place,
you must have attempted the poor crea-
ture's life some time before Farris
came along, for Latimer says that
when he threw away the weapon you
so kindly provided him with, he glanc-
ed up at this building and there was
no light in any window; and, in the
second place you could not have struck
anybody fair and evenly on the top Of
| the head with the broad end Of that
dipsy We have tried experiments
with it and when it Is thrown from
any height it will always turn over and
over and come point end down, so that
if you had hit Farris with that thing,
you would have killed him dead, and
what is more, If you had struck the
cat you might not have killed it. for
that is no easy thing, but you would
have hurt it dreadfully and have made
yourself an object for the Society For
The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals.
But fortunately, you are bad shot;
no wounded cat has been found"
That was Craig Wilson's way of COM
forting people who had been under
nervous strain, but I needed no COM
fort, and we had a good time together
that afternoon.
1t is years since all this happened.
AS there was no true will signed by
Nicholas Kefford, the original of the for
gerry having been destroyed by Doctor
Latimer, the old mans property came
to Mr.. Archibald Kefford and Mrs.
Crown. / married Natalie, and it was
not long before we were living in a
house of our own. l have had very
good success in the law, but for some
years 1 never pressed an investigation,
never endeavored to find out the orig
in of some evil action, without stop
ping to consider whether or not it
might be possible that, under some pc
culiar circumstances. and in some way
which did not understand at the time,
| | might not be the man l was looking
for, and that the legal blow l was
about to deliver, might not be turned,
boomerang-like, upon my astonished
self.
THE END.