Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1901-12-26

the picture of the surprised, pleading,
distorted face; hut 1t had been SO hor-
rible that, after the first moment, he
had averted his own from 1t: and. in
removing the body, had been careful to
cover that ugly thing. So that 1t is not
surprising that he should not have rec
ognized the careless description given
of the man by Reeke-a description
which might, moreover, apply equally
we'll to hundred men one meets on the
street every day.. He shook his head in
perplexity.
mo, that's not the man at all. But I
think I see daylight on this matter, and
1t means black midnight to me. II Tn
not careful" he added. under his
breath. "All that know Is that a
man, giving your name, picked UP
well, picked up Gilbert Rickerby in the
street., and took him to the hospital;
followed him to the grave with me. I
asked his name. and he said George
Reeks., A tall, fair man. with a tanned
skin, as though he'd been abroad a lot
| fair mustache-and a deep scar right
across his cheek bone: not disfgur-
ing scar. but enough to be noticeable"
While he spoke Mr.. George Reeks had
been drawing himself more and more
upright; had the other man looked at
him, he would have observed that the
lite man was clutching each side Of
the seat of his chair with his hands,
while his eyes seemed almost to be
starting out of his head. Fortunately
| for him, however, Nugent Leathwood
| OF Loorfro h3Q
| eyes on the floor, he asked, quickly:
do you know any such man as
that?"
| Properly, Mr.. George Reeks ought at
once to have said YES" But he saw
himself in serious difficulties If he did
| He had heard already that Gilbert
| 2ickerby, was dead; that this man now
talking to him had seen him die, and
had followed him to the grave. Yet he
knew, with absolute certainty, that the
| description given of the man who had
| declared he was George Reeks was q
| very accurate description of Gilbert
Rickerhy And that man. had followed
some other Gilbert Rickerby to the
| grave! Poor George Reeks felt his
brain reeling; for the moment he was
| ros at all certain who he was or where
| HI " as or what was happening; or how
| many Gilbert Rickerby's there were,
and how many of them were alive and.
how many dead. He decided to get out
of the tangle as easily .s possible.
"No-not-not exactly" he treplied.
But it's certainly not the seryant-not
a bit like him."
| "Well, it's puzzle, that's all itiis,"
said the other. After few moments
| thought, he turned abruptly to Reeks,
! and spoke with a frankness he could
assume easily enough when he liked:
Forgive me-" he said-"I forgot my
self just now; but shall hope to make
amends in the future. AS matter OF
fact. L am placed in a great difficulty
and I think that you are the man to
help, me. Now, would not ask anyone
| to help me without an adequate pay
ment; you shall not suffer on that ac-
| count
You are very good" began Mr..
| Reeks, mildly.
| "You have certain papers belonging
| to the late Gilbert Rickerby. AS his
| cousin, and the next-of-kin as regards
| the estates, could claim these papers;
but that would be hard and ungentle-
manly thing to do-and I am dealing
with gentleman" He bowed, with a
flourish of the arm. towards Reeks.
THANK you; you are extremely
good" said Mr.. Reeks, again.
"Not at all. In word, I desire to
| behave handsomely. I know that you
will not talk about matters which do
not, after ALL concern you; and am,
| therefore, the more disposed to deal
generously with you. will buy those
papers from you; more than that, I
will Fay for them with a sum of money
which was found at the hospital on the
person Of the unfortunate Gilbert Rick
| erby-a sum of G500." ......
Now, this was, of course, absolutely
nutrue; the sum of money in question
had been found in notes on the person
OF poor James Holden, whom he had
murdered.
Really, this is very generous!"
gasped George Reeks.
Not at all. desire merely to do
what is right: I pay for certain papers
| belonging to a dead man, with money
| left behind in my hands by that dead
| man; that is ALL" He might have add
| ed that he had the superstitious fear of
| the murderer, of handling money taken
from the dead; more than a supersti-
tious fear-a fear that it might lead, in
some way, to his undoing.
Five hundred pounds! You shall
have every paper he left-every mortal
thing that was his" calculated Mr..
Reeks. "And as for silence-never a
word, I swear to you. Five hundred
pounds!''
well, that's settled" said Leath-
wood, in a cheerful tone. Now, bar
gain for bargain; when the papers are
placed in my hands you shall have the
money. Will that do?'
Nothing could be more fair" cried
! Mr.. Reeks. Indeed, his one desire, at
that time. was to get rid of the whole
bewildering business quite apart from
the fact of making anything out of it..
VERY good. For the present. we will
say goodbye. Just let me have your
address; that is it-write it down
here" He motioned towards the writ
ing materials, which stood on the table.
Then, as MIR. Reeks was writing, he
bent down, to say, IN lower tone:
''You spoke about girl, who was men,
toned by the late Gilbert Rickerby in
certain papers. Let me assure you that