Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1901-03-14

FLOUR.
address as the Office of the newspaper,
but after four or five days l received a
call from him in person. He gave me
his name as James Bennett and his
address as London and left me to infer
that he was a man of leisure.
l was not exactly pleased with Mr..
Benefits personal appearance. He
was tall, dark faced man of troubled
countenance. His eyes had furtive
look, and he was nervous and Ill at
ease. Had met him while travelling l
should have been inclined to look upon
him with suspicion. He told straight
enough story, however, though rather
queer one. Being left an orphan at the
ago of Il years, he had been brought
up by an uncle living In Hartford coun-
ty. He had always been given to I'M
derstand that he would be his uncle's
heir, and he was sure that a will had
been made to that effect, but three
years previous to his call on me the
uncle had passed away, no will had
been found, and the property had gone
to the next of kin. While the uncle
was rich. he was also an eccentric. Be
ing a single man and living almost
alone, he had been almost a hermit.
The house he had occupied was a ram
bling old structure at best and now
that 1t had been untenanted for several
years was In a bad state. What Mr..
Bennett had come to believe was that
the will was concealed In the old house.
He had searched and searched without
avail, and he wanted my assistance for
a new search. There might be secret
closets he had passed over. II 1 would
give him nay faithful services for three
days, he would pay me EOS. If the
will was found, he would present me
with 1900 more. was to say nothing
of my quest, make my appearance at
| the old house on a certain date, and he
would assist in the search.
l didn't like Benefits personal ap-
pearance and actions, as 1 have said,
| but there was nothing out of the way
with his story, and / was glad to nc
| cept his offer 1t would be combining
romance with business to come upon
the hidden will and restore the ousted
heir to his own. His caution to me to
make my way alone from the nearest
station without asking or answering
| questions might have seemed queer but
for the fact that we would both be tres
passers while making the search.
had not a single suspicion. 1 was to
arrive by q train which would enable
me after a walk of three miles to ar
| rive at the old house at dark, and be
would have provisions at hand and fix
up the best lodgings he could. l was
especially warned not to betray my
destination to any one l happened &c
meet en- route, and l was to bring nc
baggage.
All these things seemed all right tc
me at the time. / reached the station
by the train named, but found the
distance to the house to be five mile,
instead of three. This brought abou
my arrival quite a .spell after dark
and Bennett was waiting for me
quarter of a mile up the road. TIL
first question he asked was IL any on
had spoken to me, and when l assures
him that even the people at the station
did not know where was bound 70
he was somewhat elated. 1 found b
had provisions for cold lunch, Blu
nothing very appetizing, while W
must sleep on the bare boards of tn
family sitting room. It was while ca
] Ing sumner rs 4 nst.esd . MIX