Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-05-15
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Y@ - PATIENT.
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NaNI~v cep,,sn. $50. by :, lr s Company,


Xxx.
Poor Mrs. Loring was laid to rest in
the village burying ground, sincerely
mourned by the new friends among
whom her life had ended. Her foibles
were forgotten, and only her courtesy,
her kindliness. her generosity, were re.
membered. She had done little of harm
and something of good in the world
better record than can be placed to tho
credit of many whose pretensions have
far exceeded those of this victim of n
morbidness of imagination approach
ing hypc.hondria.
Week after week passed, but Dorothy
Gray was still i'll Rodneytown, reluctant
to quit the kindly circle whose mem
beers had shown heartfelt sympathy in
her aflliction. doubt whether she had
been able to decide whittier to 20 in
case she left the village. She had no
near relations, certainly none to I1i-hom
she would turn at such time. In her
years of wandering with her aunt she
had made few intimate friends. In
short, she was left without anyone from
whom She might naturally seek conso-
lation and counsel. Tho good women
of the neighborhood did their best !,
take the place of kinsfolk and old
friends; they wept with her in the days
when her bereavement had just come
upon her, and afterward, when the first
bitterness of her loss was past, they
kept her company and strove to cheer
her, after the homely fashion of their
kind. And SO it happened that she re-
mained with us. bearing her sorrow as
best she could.
Not long after the death of her aunt
I had confirmation of the story Mrs.
Weston had brought me. The trustee
of the estate, the income of which Mrs.
Loring hal received, came to Rodney
town to attend the funeral services.
Ee was lawyer, cautious and reserved
IN manner, and supposedly Us free from
sentimen.ality us the desk in his office
Yet under the professional mask there
was, after oil, something Of the emo
tional man, which asserted itself In Il
practical way. betitting the weakness
of an eminently practical man.
"Dr. Morris" said he. on the eve of his
departure, there is q result of this re-
cent tragic occurrence to which your
attention may not have been called.
Mrs. Loring had only q life interest In
the property left by her husband, for
she had surrendered her dover rights.
On her demise the estate passes to her
husbands brother and sister, with
whom, I regret to say, her relations
were not amicable. Though she often
told me that she proposed to lay aside
part of her income in order to make
provision for her niece, Miss GRAY, it
seems that she utterly neglected to put
the plan in operation. In fact, she lived
very close to her income, and had it not
been for reduction in her expenses OH
coming here, it is probable that the rev.
enue coming from the property, cal,
culated to the day Of her death, would
not have sut'iced to pay the outstanding
claims against her. AS it is, however,
l find that there will be balance of
about $500. which will be at Miss Gray's
disposal. 1t is very little for young
woman reared us she has been, but, un-
fortunately, it is oil that she can hope to
receive from her aunt"
"She must suffer, then, for another's
care1essness," said I.
"Atonement for carelcssness is too
often vicarious," said the man of law.
ut hardly lessons her misfortune to
realize that II is common one. Do YOU
know whether she has anything in her
own right?"
"NeNt to nothing. AS have said, DIR.
Morris, the case is Il distressing one, and
! regret exceedingly that l must be the
bearer Of such bad news to the young
lady. She is very likely to come for id
vice to you, and it is to put you in pos
session of the facts that l have spoken.
a check for your services to my late
client will be mailed to you Immediately
upon my return to the city"
Thereupon the lawyer went his way,
leeving me by no means SO disheartencd
by his remarks us might have been the
case with a man whose regard for
Dorothy Gray was entirely platonic.
lie was as good as his word in settling
Mrs. Loring's affairs, and in few DAYS
my check arrived. Another valuable bit
of paper reached me about this time
from a very different source, one from
which it was decidedly unexpected.
Jones, the mysterious farmland, in
trusted 1T to the mails not long after
] had seen him safely on train south
bound from BASKERVILLE. In parting
he had thanked me with good deal of
heartiness for my attendance upon him,
hut had maintained his old reticence
as to the character of the business which
had brought him to Rodneytown with
results SO disastrous to himself. The
size of the check, though. was sufficient
to prove that when he entered Mrs.
Westons employ he was in position
to care little for the pittance she paid
him. Banks, too, received substantial
token of the mans gratitude, but he
was even less able than to guess what
Jones mission had been.
These reinforcements to my financial
strength helped me to arrive at dccis-
lon. though it was . decision bl,rdened
with conditions. In the matter of for-
tune, Dorothy Gray and ] were not very
fur apart; and surely her position was
such as to encourage the most umid OF
wooers. So far, found clear sailing.
But, once this point had been attained
in my calculations, there arose rem
nant of the old perplexities. Lamar was
still the disturbing factor, for. in spite
of the deadly malady which had him in
its unrelenting clutches, could not be
certain of his plans, SO long as strength
remained In him to leave his present
quarters should he desire to do so. It