The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-15

The man was seated at a table, and ne
appeared 10 be asleep; his arms were
thrown forward upon the table, and his
head was resting upon them. The intruder
was about to withdraw, when some curious,
weird stiffness about the figure, some
strange hush in the room, checked him;
he went forward cautiously. scarcely know
ing why he did So and stood close beside
the man who lay asleep.
AS he stood there his quick glance fell
upon little scattered pile of letters at the
sleeper's elbow; he bent nearer and then
gave gasp Of surprise. The topmost let
ter. which had been opened, was addressed
to James Jolly. Esq"
He ran half round the table and crouched
down beside it, so as to get his face on a
level with the face Of that quiet figure; bent
| lower and tried to peer into it; called the
name softly.
"Jiml Old Jimr'
There was no movement-no futter OF a
breath. Startled, the tramp bent nearer and
touched the shoulder of his brother; nearer
yet and pushed him into an upright posture;
let him go with cry and started back.
James Jolly, the prosperous, was dead!
Heaven knows how many thoughts, good
and evil, flashed through the mind Of that
| gOod-for-nothing brother as he stood there,
trembling and looking at the dead man.
Gradually, however, all the thoughts set
tied down to one point-narrowed down, I'M
til there was only one idea worth considera-
ton. Stealthily. as though half afraid of it,
he crept up to the dead man and raised him
| and stared into the sightless face; dropped
him and ran to the looking glass over the
fireplace; stood before it and smoothed his
III I'd NTH nc
fingers.
Its my chance!' he whispered TO him.
self. Hes Dead you can't rob the dead,
| because nothing belongs to them. He
robbed me once; stole my birthright from
me, when 1 wanted money. He's lived in
luxury all his day; he will have made
will. no doubt, leaving it to some one, Of
whom 1 know nothing. No one saw me
come in, no one knows l am here: and we
are as like as two peas. Well-theres no
| harm in trying, at all events"
He ran to the door. and turned the key
| in the lock; coming back, he began rapid
| ly to slip off his rags. until he stood as
| naked as when he was born in that prim
and we'll ordered room. Then he caught
| hold of the body and stripped that, too, and
drew its clothes upon himself Finally he
dressed the thing awfully in the rags he
had cast off, and laid it full length upon
the floor Looking about him rapidly he
| ran to a writing table and searched among
| the contents of the drawers, found a pair
| of scissors, and, taking careful note of the
| dead man all the time, shipped and
| trimmed his own ragged beard and hair,
and got them into decent shape In a
marvelously short space of time he stood
up, erect and dignified, and was, in every
particular, to a casual eye, Mr.. James
Jolly. He tousled the hair of the dead
man, and made him look as unlike what
| he had been in life as possible.
| Then, having everything ready, he softly
| unlocked the door and violently rang the
| bell, ran out on to the staircase and called
| in a loud authoritative voice to the serv-
ants Greatly startled, they came hurry
! ing UP to find their supposed master in the
| greatest state of indignation, not unmixed
with terror, and with the body of vagrant
| lying at his feet in his own private room.
What does this mean?" he stammered.
Where were you all to let a fellow like
this into the house and into my room with
out so much as a question? He staggered
in here and muttered something incoherent
and fell at my feet. Pick him up some Of
you-pick him UP and see what is the mat
ter. He is probably merely shamming in
order to gain sympathy"
He stood aside watching them eagerly,
alert for the first note Of alarm or suspi-
cion; no such note was sounded, save when
they picked up the man and found him
dead. They let him go in a hurry then,
and there followed much ringing of bells,
and saddling of horses, and riding for doc
tors; but. of course, all to no purpose.
1t was remarked in the neighborhood that
Mr.. James Jolly had behaved wonderfully
we'll to the body Of that unknown vagrant
who had died in his house He caused him
to be buried in place where better people
had been pleased to lay their bones, and
he erected over him a simple tombstone
setting forth modestly that the man had
died unknown and without friends, and
with the beautiful line at the foot Of the
tombstone, For all men are brothers."
1t took the neighborhood quite six months
to dry it's eyes and to get over talking
about this new manifestation OF the vir-
tues Of Mr.. James Jolly.
But during that six months a very re-
markable change had taken place in that
gentleman. In the first place, his pew at
church remained empty: and the idea that
illness was the cause was secuted, when 1t
was discovered he NdQ De6n seen, rlQ-
ing furiously across country, with half a
dozen dogs leaping and barking at his
heels. But the greatest wonder OF all was
that this strict and sanity man should sud-
denly develop a taste for the society Of his
interiors; certain it is that he seen, on
more than one occasion, at the little inn
down in the village, where, after the first
surprise and distrust had worn off, he
proved to be an exceedingly jovial fellow,
who could sing a good song, tell capital
story and chuck the buxom landlady under
the chin with the best of them.
But he did something better than all that.
Whether he felt, in those last years of his
life, that some atonement must be made
for all the years he had wasted, or whether
some contrition entered into his soul for
the brother who lay in a nameless grave,
it is impossible to say; but his charities be-
came the talk Of the place. The James
Jolly the world had known hitherto had
shut himself up in his splendid house and
had been reported to be the hardest nut
to crack for a subscription anywhere in
the country; but the changed James Jolly
had an open purse for all and sundry.
Above all, he gave the strangest instruc-
tions to his servants regarding Migrants
and tramps of all kinds. He called them