Daily camera., 1901-08-10

San Francisco, the Perkinses had dis
appeared. Two of the sisters were liv-
ing the lives of adventuresses. Old Per
lsins was dead and buried, and no one
knew where the rest had gone--a host
of Sacramento tradesmen wished they
could find out.
Then McLane came east, bringing his
sheaves with him, and his family not
unnaturally forgave and welcomed
hun. Prosperity followed him. lie
fairly coined money, and Uncle Abe
Mellen was only too glad to have him as
a partner; and then after a lapse OF
years, when he thought her dead and
honestly wished her SO, his blissfnl
bachelor life was broken in upon by the
temperance of his Sacramento wife,
now a handsome woman of nearly 40
and a stalwart stripping whom he
recognized at once as his long-lost son.
For two years he provided for her and
tried TO educate the boy, but never
again acknowledged her as his wife,
and so long as she was amply paid
and housed, lodged and cared for, she
never protested. Macs club friends
Sometimes winked and nudgcd each
other when the tall young fellow ap.
reared at the waiting-room with let
ter, or when occasionally a dashing.
looking woman patroled the neighbor.
hood until he would come out and join
her. The boy was wild and wouldn't
study, and was expelled from the
schools at which he was entered by the
name Of Perkins, and the landlords
complained of the people Mrs. Perkins
received and entertained; then Mac put
the young man in Mellen's bank, and
there he was when the Hayward nieccs
came bac! from Europe, and Charlotte
married Ned Parry and Fan wished to
marry Merriam. 1t was J. II. McLane
Jr., who did Uncle Abc's work for him
and went around among Merriam's
creditors and got them to unite in their
complaint to the war department; but
by that time he had seen something OF
Randy, had taken shine to him." as
he expressed it, and when he learned
that Merriam had been barished to the
frontier as II consequence he told the
old man that he was done with that sort
of dirty work. and was minded to go
and confess to Miss Hayward what he
had done. To buy him off Mellen gave
HIM all the money ne needed and bade
him go and live the life he always
lcnged to live, that of a prUSpeCtor and
miner in the Sierras. McLane, the IA
ther, was away and had been away for
several months. Mrs. McLane, the
mother, after furious quarrel with
her protector something over year be-
fore, had agreed to return to California
and never trouble him again upon pay
ment of a big, round sum in cash. She
would not listen to a pension, and the
story that came to the husbands ears
soon after was that at last his Sacra-
mento wife had rewarded the fidelity Of
her cid friend, the steamboat engineer;
but TIE lawyers sent to trace the matter
were confronted by unlooked-for news
-unwclcome news, and therefore news
they fully investigated before report
ing, since, if true, it would put an end
to what promised TO be most profit
able case. That S25, 900 was practically
wastcd-Mrs. John II. McLanc was
dead.
They found her grave, headstone and
all, but could get no trace of her long
devoted lover. 1t was surmised that he
had taken what was left of the money
and gone elsewhere in search of con.
ISOLATION. McLane came back to New
York, met Fanny Hayward, fell in love,
and Uncle Mellen urged the match in
every way; and we know the result
There was fortnight in which McLanc
seemed the happiest of men. Then came
shock, Fanny found him nearly
crazed with trouble. \ letter had come
purporting to be from that supposed.
to-be-dcad woman demanding further
heavy payment as the price of her 81
lence. McLane honestly told Fan the
truth, and was astonished at her de.
cision. She bade him pay the money
and have done with it"
They might have doubted the genu-
ineness of her letter, but there was no
doubling that of young McLane's dying
statement, witnessed by the officers
from Sedgwick. He declared his moth
er alive. And so one crime led to an
other. No sooner had they reached
California than the whole Perkins
family seemed resurrected, and black
mail was their business. The eldest
sister demanded heavy hushmoney,
and it was paid. The second sister
turned up with her husband and pre-,
posterous demand. 1t was they who
haunted him at the San Francisco club,
and the man, drunk and triumphant,
insolently demanding money that
night, had fired that well-nigh fatal
shot when repudiated, detied, and
struck. The very next day at their
hotel came letter warning them to ST.
lence as to the identity of the assailants.
So long as these latter were allowed to
escape arrest they would keep the Sc
cret, but if arrested and brought to
trial they would proclaim McLane a
hlS dIuIsl' .AIl lblS WAS liltilit hiIUNll tO
Uncle Mellen, and he, too, backed the
niece's cause and kept up the deception.
Eut no one could tell where the first
wife was hidden. She will be pro-
duced when needed, and her money
must be paid through her sister" The
money, large sum, was paid, and then
there was temporary peace. But Nc
Lane drooped and died under the
weight of shame and anxiety. There
was quarreling between the widow and
the guardian and further demands
from those cormorants, who now open
ly threatened to claim the dead mans
estate for the widow and her son-they,
at least, knew nothing Of the latter's
death; and then Fanny, coming to Sedg
wick, tried to reassert her old sover-
eighty over Merriam and to gain pos
session of the papers of which her hus-
band had told her and which Randy had
long since sent to Parry, but concern
ing which she had never spoken to her
brother-in-law, believing him to be ig-
norant of their existence; and it
pleased Ned Parry to let her live on in
Ignorance that he had them. He tool,
curious interest in making study of
her, and had. without consultiny his