The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-29
4 DEAD MANS PAPERS.
By GEO. X. SIMS,
Author of THE White Dog "Bilys Rose" Etc.
Copyright, 1895 BY George X. Sims.

I shan't have time 70 come and see you,
| and give YOU instructions for a fresh VIII,
] but / have drawn up the enclosed codicl,
which please take charge of as evidence
of my intentions. You win observe hat
it provides for my wife 10y giving uer
third Of whatever sum % mOEey or prop
erty | may die possessed of. Yours sin
Cerely Arthur Hastings
There is no enclosure in the letter, l
said, land you have never received the
codicn?.
There is no enclosure" replied Mr..
Hastings, but here on the inside page Of
the letter is document which is perfectly
legal. In one short seuteuCe-Arthur 1e&-
ham leaves to his wife Marion. should she
survive him, one-third Of any property he
may die possessed of, the residue to be di-
vided among his relatives as set out in
his will"
And that is legally executed?'
"Oh, yes, here are the signatures OF Two
witnesses, probably servants in his employ
at the time, for one describes herself as
cook aud the other as housemaid.'
why was the letter never posted, l
| wonder?"
Impossible 10 say" replied the lawyer,
Struggling his shoulders. "HeXham might
nave altered his mind or he might have
put the letetr in his pocket ana then never
worn the coat again. and remained under
the impression that ne mad posted it,
II don't think that" / said, The would
have expected your acknowledgements, and
written if he had not received it. II Is
more probable that something occurred
TO alter his mind or to make him pause,
and he did not post the letter and left iC
in his coat pocket and then forgot it, 1t IS
a most mysterious affair
1T was tereibly careless and unbusiness-
like under any circumstances, but here is
the codicil, and where it was found makes
no difference 1t has not been destroyed
il . fa
is undoubtedly entitled 10 one-third of Ar
thur Hexham's estate. We must commune
cate with her"
That set me thinking. Carefully as l had
examined my late friends papers, l had
found no letter from his wife, no refer
ence 10 her present Notwithstanding
! concerning her but the detectives Dos
sier" ] asked Mr.. Hastings if he had any
knowledge of any deed of separation or
any allowance
He replied that he had none. that Hexham
had never communicated with him on the
subject al all, and that in fact since the
marriage he had seen and heard very lit
tie of him.
l went home that evening and went care
| fully over all the business papers Of my
| dead friend that l had preserved. There
was absolutely nothing beyond the mar
riage certificate and the detectives par
| uculars to show that ne ever had a wife
found nothing on the counterfoils to sug-
| gest payment to her or to any firm of
solicitors on her behalf. To all intents and
! purposes she had passed completely out of
his life the day they separated.
on the following day l went TO see the
| solicitor again, and l took with me the ten
blue foltos which contained the past his
| tory of Marion Lethbridge.
It was a strange life story, and one could
| quite understand a sensitive man like
| Hexham, who probably was ignorant of
| his wife past, ceasing all connection with
| her as soon as he discovered what she had
| been. His reasons for making the enqui-
! ries were probably that some circum-
| stance had reached his ears, or some thing
had aroused his suspicious, and he had de-
! termined TO know the truth at all costs
| The woman had been an adventures al
/ most from the first. Al the death of her
| father, retired sea captain, she had in
| herited a small sum of money and had
! Travelled abroad, In Italy she had met
| an opera singer, one Tomasso Ravoletti
| and had become his mistress, for they
| were proved by the detective to have been
/ living together as man and wife in apart
! ments in Regent street during the Italian
/ opera season of 1855.
Two years later she had left Ravoletti
! who seems 10 have fallen on evil times
! probably due TO loss OF voice for at this
! ECl 4ON ic vas lOuUQ Playing very small
parts indeed and to be in poor circum-
stances.
The next trace that the detective found
of her was in a boarding house in Mon
| tague Place, Russell Square, and then size.
| became acquainted with an elderly colonel
formerly in the Indian army, who SO far
fell into her tolls as to pay her a large
! sum of money TO prevent an action for
breach of promise of marriage with which
| she had threatened him.
With this money She took fat in
| Bloomsbury in her own name, Marion
| Lethbridge, and managed by some means
| to get circle of acquaintance round her
and to have visited one or two well-known
| people.
Her fiat she left rather suddenly after
selling off her furniture, and inquiries made
by the detective of the han porter led
TO the discovery of a mysterious incident
which might have influenced the lady's de,
parture.
Miss Lethbridge came in one evening
about midnight just as the hall porter
having closed the door, had gone down
stairs to his own room in the basement
where he lived with his wife
About 1905 o'clock, just as he was sit.
ting down to supper. he heard a sharp cry
and ran up stairs. He heard the from
door pulled to, as though some one were
leaving the house, and he would have run
out 10 see what il was, but his attention
was arrested by groaning from Miss L.eth.
BRIDGES room. Her door was aiar. h,
knocked and inquired If anything was th5
matter Receiving no answer he pushed
the poor open, ana found Miss Lethbrdge
with. her bonnet and jacket sill on ap.
parentiy in a dead faint in the armchair
on touching her arm 10 rouse her hs
found 1t wet and then he noticed that hei
hands were covered with blood
lie called TO his wife to come up at once
and by that time Miss Lethbridge bat
come to herself. She appeared dazed al
first. and she explained that Just as she
was letting herself IN a man had riet
TO pick her pocket She had turned rounl
to give an alarm. and had suddenly felt
some sharp instrument pierce her arm
5 She had staggered into the house gol
/ into her room. winch was on The stree
: level, and had tainted.
The hall porter went for a doctor. ana
on his way told a policemen what haC
z occurred, and the policeman who was or
} duty near the house told him that h,
had seen lady and man on the doorsto;
about midnight. They were conversinl
2 together apparently angriy but the ladN
had opened The door, and the man hac