The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-12-05
NY
LUCKY
ESCAPE.
How q Man Came Near Losing .
Fortune.
Observation-Disclosures

A lucky fellow? Well, yes; no doubt
| am. To have come into this fine
place and $1,000 year Is bit Of luck
for any man.
You never saw may uncle and aunt
They were two nice old people, ex-
tremely kind and good natured, but a
triGe eccentric. My uncle was self
made man. He amassed his fortune at
cotton spinning. Ny aunt, before she
married him, was a drapers assistant
in Manchester.
YOU really should have seen John
Simmonds, the butler, . dear. delight
full, faithful old creature, perfectly de-
voted to the family, but one of the odd
est men you ever saw.
He never took liberty or presumed
on the affectionats regard with which
he was treated by them. Yet he often
said to them things which II spoken by
any other servant or in any other man.
ner than his own would have sounded
inexcusable and even outrageous.
"Doan't thee be fule, master" /
have often heard him say in his broad
Lancashire to my uncle when the lat
ter was proposing some step Of which
his butler disapproved.
When my uncle died-an event that
nearly broke Johns heart-the faithful
servant constituted himself more than
ever q guardian Of the family interests.
He looked after my aunt almost as If
she had been a child. 1t gradually be-
came evident that she needed some
looking after too.
Her intellect had begun to fail q lit
tie since my uncle's death. And this
weakmindedness of hers assumed a
most incongruOus form.
She imagined herself still suscepti-
BILE to the tender passion-at rs. She
| discovered quite a penchant for hirta-
tions. Really it was downright laugha-
| ble-at first. But the time was not
| long in arriving when the lAughable
| aspect Of the matter grew less pro-
| nounced.
There had lately come into the neigh
borhood a certain retired major, by
named Mallaby. q well kept individual
who looked 45 and was probably 65-
tall. handsome and Of ingratiating
manners and address. Anything SO
flagrantly absurd rs an affair between
my aunt and this elderly bachelor
had never imagined.
| And IL it had not been for John, my
eyes would probably have remained
shut until 1t was too late. One morn
ing. however, John came into the libra
ry, where I was alone reading, with q
very perturbed expression on his sol
emn face.
master Charlie" he blurted out
coming close up to me and dropping
his voice to a low, confidential pitch
"this won't du."
"what won't do Johnr"
"This what's going on between thy
aunt and yon major"
"You don't really mean that yor
think anything serious 10 likely to come
OF these foolish firtations with Major
Malahy?"
depends what thee calls serious
Some folk might call marriage serious
Some mightn't. That's what's coming
OF it, anyways"
Pooh, man! impossible. Why, aun
is 10"
IF she was S5 and the marrying Fl
took her, age wouldn't be no hindrance
as 1t hain't a-been to many silly OLE
women before now," answered Johl
sententiously. "And l warn thee sol
emnly, Master Charlie. that II you or
or both Of us doan't Interfere at onc'
Major Mallaby will marry the mistress
which is the same thing as saying tha
he'll get her to leave i'm the property
she being In that weak, foolish stat
as she'll do anything at the word o
one who gets an influence over her"
Johns solemn words were beginning
to alarm me. l knew he was shrew'
old fellow, by no means the sort to TAX
fright at nothing.
"We nun think, Master Charlie-w
mum think what can be done. I'll Civ
the matter my attention, and thee mul
. give it thine. In the meantime" h
added. keep aboot the hoose. Maste
Charlie, and if the major calls doan'
on any account leave him alone wit
the aunt"
The major did call that afternoon
and carried out Johns advice, takin
care to be present In the drawing ROOF
all the time. Very glad. too, felt tha
, | had not neglected this precaution, fo
from the way the major kept lookin
toward me and from the various a
tempts my aunt made to get me out c
the room by transparent srbterfuges
found myself wondering that l ha
; hitherto been SO completely and culp,
bly, blind in the matter.
Next morning John came TO me agail