The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-07-07


back and handed me the letter.
'There was no doubt of the chiro-
graphy being exactly similar to Whit
ing's. / saw the same old fashioned
capitals and crisp, sharp endings of
each word, and as for the signature,
his bank would have sworn to it. Be
sides, there was his crest and seal,
which l now knew so well. l don't
know what l said in thanking her,
for my head was In a whirl, but l
had enough sense to say good night
and quickly withdraw.
"How Davis could have obtained the
paper and seal, or how he learned Of
all those college scrapes of Writings,
l could not imagine. But l saw that
his relations with Miss Wiley had gone
so far that 1t would do no good for me
to interfere, and that l should only
be snubbed by her for my impertin-
ence In meddling In other peoples
business.
whiting was out when l called
at his rooms next morning ana his
servant told me that he had gone to
the country for rest and left no
address.
1T was perhaps a month afterward
looking more CHASTITY than ever. He
would not say where he had been and
positively ueclineo to discuss the Davis
matter.
81 know he talked wildly about hyp-
motto control and kindred subjects, un.
til we thought his mind affected, and
tried to calm him, but he grew more
and more excited, until finally l saw
him turn pale and clutch the back Of
chair, and noticed little stream Of
frothy blood oozing from between his
clenched teeth as he staggered out Of
the room.
Il Jumped up from the sofa and fol-
lowed as quickly as l could, but when
l reached the front door he was gone,
and l met Davis just coming In. He
walked leisurely into the cafe and
leaned against The mantelpiece. To
my excited inquiries about Whiting he
simply smiled and said he had not
noticed him going out, but / saw him
scratching small red spot from his
cuff with his finger nail and felt sure
they must have met.
Gentlemen said Davis, In his
drawing voice, Il beg you will con-
graduate me on my approaching mar
riage, and pardon my not mentioning
lie lady's name in the club. Steward,
please take the orders
Most of us refused to drink with
him, for we despised the man, and l
leIt him chatting with a few of his
particular cronie3 and went up to
Writings room. l heard afterward
that Davis left very shortly after I
did.
whiting had not come home and I
spent the night hunting through hotels,
police stations, hospitals and even the
Morgue, for 1 felt sure that he had
ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs,
which must quickly prove fatal. But
l could find no trace Of him, and final
ly, utterly worn out, went to my rooms
to toss ABOUT until midday with a
horrible nightmare, In which Whiting
and Davis were struggling in one an
others grasp, each striving to kill the
other.
AT lunch l picked up a morning
paper and scanned the society news
listlessly u til my eyes lit upon the
rumored engagement of DR.. j. II.
Davis, formerly of New Orleans, and
Miss Isabelle Wiley, the well known
belle, &c.
81 sat musing over the strange
vicissitudes of fate and wondering
what had become of poor W hitting.
Suddenly a newsboy rushed into the
restaurant calling extras, and the first
heading l saw was:
Sudden death of DR.. Davis
eagerly read the usual detailed account
of how he had been found that MORN
ing dead in his bed, evidently, the
paper stated, from a ruptured blood
vessel, as the bed clothing and carpets
were saturated with blood, but no
wound was found on his body.
strangely enough, he lived In one
of the old tenements back Of Writings
home, and measurements which I
made subsequently showed that his
rooms and Writings must have been
on similar floors and directly back to
back. Remembering the stolen note
paper tried to find some entrance be-
tween the two houses, but the walls
were solid, and even the wall papers
showed naughr but few little cracks
due to their many years service.
1" This, gentlemen" said DR.. De
Forrest, drawing his glass and taking
I'D his hat and cane from the sofa,"
is a story of actual life, and II any
Of you have an explanation to offer
l should be happy to hear it."
We could say nothing for moment,
and then the irrepressible Merton
found his tongue. But how about DR..
Whitingr' he asked.
"As for him, gentlemen" said DR..
De Forrest, solemnly, as he stood by
the open door, 81 know nothing further
except that he was never found. But
l have my theory. Good nightg And
he closed the door.