Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-06-20

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thought, and had not heard any one
enter, when suddenly the words:
"Are you q lawyer, sir?" caused me
to start violently.
Rising from my seat and turning
up the gas jet on the table, I turned
and surveyed my interlocutor, who
proved to be a well-dressed, rather
good-looking man Of forty or there
abouts, of middle stature, and pos
sessed of small, piercing pair of
eyes, which returned my gaze un-
finchingly.
'"The business on which I come, g"
he said, taking off his hat, and fixing
his keen, black eyes upon my face,
will require yonr services until late in
the night, if not until tomorrow morn
ing. My niece, who resides some
miles from London, is dangerously
ill, and her recovery being extremely
doubtful, she desires to make her
will. For this purpose 1 have ap-
piled to you; promising you, should
you accede to my request, any fee you
may demand"
L communed with myself for few
moments, eyed the man suspiciously,
and then asked the distance to the
young lady'n residence and the mode
Of conveyance thither.
"About five or ten miles" he re-
sponded, handing me his card, on
which 1 read Martin Jackson, Lon
don Wall" SIT is short distance
from Kew, and as train does not
leave London Bridge for some time. I
have provided carriage and driver,
which waits in the street. May I
consider your services as engaged?"
L responded that he might, and q
few minutes sufficed to find us en-
sconced in o close carriage, which
took a westerly direction at a mod
crate speed.
My companion meantime enlight~
ened me with au account of his nieces
sickness and previous history; and,
an hour after leaving the place of
starting, we found ourselves about q
mile from Kew Bridge. was a young
man, and my nervousness and sus-
picions of the man beside me may be
excused when his evident anxiety in
employing myself, on inexperienced
lawyer, are considered. His story,
too, did not sound consistent in all
respects, for he spoke of his niece,
Miss Blanche Pickering, as being at
times subject to short fits of insanity.
When the carriage stopped it was in
front of a large, dark-looking building
of stone, standing a short distance
back from the road, and surrounded
by tall poplars.
One thing struck me as rather curl
GUS as L walked up the gravel walk to
the mansion and tended to arouse nv
suspicious once moro. Jackson dis.
missed the carriage, after paying the
driver, with few low, whispered
words, the import of which 1 was un-
able to ascertain, and the hack turned
sharply, rs if to retrace the road to
London. [ said nothing, however,
but shifting q revolver which | always
carry into u more convenient position
in my inner breast pocket, entered the
house with my companion, who un-
locked the door with latchkey, and
ushered me into the parlor, which
was poorly lighted by hanging lamp.
Having seen me seated by a table
on which were spread refreshments
jackson left me for a short time, and
returned shortly with a large, we'll.
built man, whom he introduced as
Mr.. Cooper, his cousin. This latter
individual took a seat beside me, and
pouring out some wine requested me
to join him, which l courteously re.
fused, on the plea of being a teetotal.
er.
Jackson had left the room again. A
short time after, by request Of Cooper,
followed him up the staircase into
the gloomy hall above, and into a
room where Jackson was seated by the
side of bed, apparently in conversa-
tion with some one lying there.
1t was no wonder that / gazed long
and earnestly at the countenance OF
the woman w-o reclined there. A
moro perfect face I have never seen
pale, and with an expression of care
and pain, it might have been, yet there
was no trace of sicknessor disease, and
as my eye wandered from those beauti.
full features, the sad yet tsweetly smiling
eyes, down to the white, plump hand
which rested in the large brown one
of Jackson's, 1 felt that there was some
mystery in the case, and that he had
been uneruthful in his revelations.
Suddenly the man arose, ard drop,