Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1899-12-21

might have happened. Now was out
in the sweet night air, hurrying had
no idea where. Only to leave the place
and that prone scoundrel behind!
Heavens! that struggle was shudder-
ing upon me still. The precions dis
patch-the colonial office
'Brian! Bran-it's Brian! Quick
here!"
W-what was that? The wild cry,
from woman's lips, pulled me up and
partially back to sense before, as it
seemed, had gone a hundred yards.
''Brian!" rang through my confused
brain. Was that--was that Lottie's
own dear voice ?-had the world come to
it's end? 1t was wholly too much for my
strained nerves; there came sort of
blank. They told me afterwards that
I caught at railing and slid down be-
side it helplessly. Why, yes, think of
it.!
A sob, broken "Thank God! oh,
thank God for this!"-and my eyes
opened. What dream! My Lottie
herself, white and sweet, holding both
my hands. Quite enough! After that I
know what the touch of firm ground to
the feet of drowning man must be.
"Got it, dear-the diamond-for the
wedding!" Irecollect whispering up, in
quite childish ecstasy. "Shines SO
beautiful"
"Better, sir?" asked policeman.
sAye, better now, old man?" echoed an
other deep voice, that startled me to my
senses as nothing else could have done.
Why, the man who had been supporting
me in his arms
"J-Jack!" gasped, staring wildly.
eyes, yes, we know all-or we guess.
Never mind, so long as we're here in
time. Ssh, not a word now, for his own
sake, if not ours!" He whispered it in
my ear-and I knew it was indeed my
Jack Hamlyn, if only by the touch Of
his beard ''Tell us all afterwards. I've
Numbered; and scoundrel has taken
advantage of it to try on the dirtiest
trick of his contemplate life. Wilfred!
Here, consta BILE, it's all right;
show us to decent hotel!"
In less than an hour had come out
of darkness into sunshine indeed, and
was able to see to the end of what had
seemed such an appalling mystery. My
fatal slip-my cablegram in code!
Jack, it appeared, who rented bach
elor apartments near the city, had re-
ceived the message from Madeira in due
course. Mystified at first, he had at
length managed to translate the words
into sense, and made arrangements to
| be at Southampton to meet the vessel.
On the all-important day while at
breakfast he recollected some vital
business affair and hurried off to catch
his business partner, leaving the mes
sage and it's solution beside his plate,
and in that unlucky interval something
happened.
Wilfred, his scapegrace brother, had
called therefor money, doubtless, as
he often did-seen the message, and,
quick Drained as he was INSCRIPTIONS,
had instantly conceived some idea of
meeting me in the character of Jack
and making off with the valuables I
had limited at. How? There was Jacks
coffee on the stove-the landlady said
Mr.. Hamlyn would be back inside half
an hour-the schemer saw his likeliest
chance in flash. The half hour had
suficed. Without knowing why or how,
Jack had come out of a deadly stupor
late in the afternoon, to find that the
locked door had been forced, and Lottie
and a doctor, sent for by his landlady,
bending over him.
Drugged!- probably with the bulk of
the very opiate which had been put into
my own glass at the hotel hours later.
Only recollecting that Wilfred had
been, and had seen the cablegram, Jack
instantly went off to catch the even
ing express to Southampton - and,
needless to say, nothing in the world
would prevent the woman I loved from
accompanying him. An anxious tramp
with the policeman through Southamp-
ton streets, making inquiries every
where-and then l had rushed by them
like a ghost.
Yes, it was clever plot, conceived so
swiftly and carried out with stag
| gering successfully that my over
wrought brain had resisted the drug
and turned the scale just in the nick of
time. And not the least strange part
of the affair was that, making inquiry
late that eventful night, we found that
Wilfred Hamlyn had contrived to come
to his senses and slip out Of the hotel
unnoticed- only my small tin
trunk and it's few contents to compen-
safe him for his cunning and risk.
"He is welcome to that!" says Lot
tie, with tears in her eyes.
And, all things considered, I agree.
For, as it turned out, the contents of
that dispatch were never divulged to
the public. In the light of subsequent
events can only tremble at thought of
what might have happened had they
seen the light of day in the columns of
an enterprising news sheet!-Tit-Bits
Taken at His Word.
Evan P. Howell tells good story
about a southerner who brought suit
against the South Carolina railroad for
damages to his property. He lost the
case in the superior court, but insisted
upon carrying it to the supreme court,
where he represented his own cause.
He began his argument by saying,
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