The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-11-10

uncle's DEATH
"Why, goodness, man, don't remem-
Ter exactly, this minute. / have it at
the office. and can give it to you the first
thing in the morning. Or send over and
get the date of the will. He died the
same night, you know"
''f have the date of the will. What l
want is what you personally remem-
ber."
"B'm. Well, remember the storm
and the Gre, that night. My Ruth was
vsyT Ric&, and the wife was with her
whHN Tarl oavpa FOR me, aud went with
thinking Id be gone half hour; but
1t was after IL before left your house.
] left suddenly when those walls fell in.
The fire was near us, and | knew the
wife would be frightened. Why, didn't
even know of your uncle's death till the
next morning. But, if the date of the
will and the storm and the fire are not
enough, look up the death certificate.
My memory wouldn't help anything"
''The date on the death certificate is
the same as the will-December 5, 1882"
Stanton replied.
"Well," the judge muttered. "And-
Stanton! For Heavens sake! That
was ten years ago tonight! Oh, Stan
ton, are you crazy?"
II think not" said Stanton.
"You are You are!" cried the Judge.
"Do you know that some one else will
claim the property?"
"The papers were served to-day"
do you know who the claimant is 2"
II met him once year ago." said
Stanton. The judge was too excited to
see the muscles of his face contract.
"Met him once, did you?" the judge
almost shouted, with sneer, "Met him
the time he walked away with your
wife, did you? Well, sit down, young
man, and keep quiet, l have something
to say to you, I'm pledged to your uncle
never to speak, but will. You deserve
1t. Your uncle and your mother were
turned out of their home when your
mother was only child to make room
for daughter born to their stepmoth-
er. They never saw their father again,
or their half-sister, but years after
wards fellow named Raymond-the
father of the one you met-settled
down ON John Olmstead, calling himself
his brother-in-law, loafng on him, liv-
ing on him, cheating him, even forging
his name time and again. Why, for the
last ten years of his life John Olmstead
couldn't be forced to repeat the name
of Raymond. But this son, by some ras-
cality, got hold of some papers that
were frauds from the beginning, only
there was no way to prove them so eX-
cept by bringing into court the life his
tory of your upcle's wife, and he would
never hear of that for a moment. He
let them bleed him instead.
"Now your uncle loved you and did
everything in his power for you. He
wantedyou to marry, and he had right
to. 1t was common sense, and it wasn't
common sense for you to stick it out
this way. When he died he left you
everything, ON the one condition that
you would marry within ten years.
No man could have been left freer to
take his time and make his choice. He
left this Raymond ten thousand If he'd
give up those papers and sign off his
claim. But he wouldn't take it. He was
playing for the whole. No one else
thought you'd be such an eternal fool
as to stand out for ten years against
your uncle's wishes, your friends and
common sense.
'He kept his eye on you, and when
did a hlunla INT ytr,r
he deliberately walked off with your
wife. He didn't want the woman. Oh,
no. Lombard thinks he already had an
other wife, out west. AT all events, be-
fore she'd been out there long she wrote
back that she'd made q terrible discov.
cry and was coming home at once. She
never reached home. Young Raymond
was not with her when she started, but
his father followed her. She died, sud
denly, on the way. No one found out
what it was that she discovered, but
Lombard satisfied himself that she was
murdered, and that 1t was the old Ray
mond who did 1t. He disappeared, and
nothing could be found of him till 1T was
told that he died, year or more ago, in
California.
''Now the son comes up for his re-
ward, and you have paid it."
With savage grunt Judge Russell
rose, stuffed his hands deep into his
pockets, and stood glaring at John Ohm
stead's nephew,
Slowly Stanton rose, too, and, speak
ing deliberately, replied:
"You knew that l was ignorant of
this, but you expected me to follow
ESA