Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-11-28
Copyrighted, 1900, by Florence warden.)

on his face, his nephew came up with
a magazine the Doctor had asked for
Rather to my surprise. Dick, who GER
tainly had no particular reason. one
would have thought, for seeking my So
ciety drew a chair up, sat down, and
joined in the conversation.
| But instead of talking about medi-
cine, he tried to draw me out on the
subject of books. He seemed quite an
xious to place himself on a friendly
footing with me, and talked rather well
| as II seemed to me, on the subject OF
! oxford. and then about a couple Of nov
els which had been all the go that
season
| The odd thing was that under all this
| friendliness. | seemed to feel that he
was acting less from inclination than
from some sense of necessity or of
! duty.
1t was all little puzzling. but |
was interested enough to talk. too;
and the Old doctor soon dropped into
the role of listener, sitting back in his
desk chair, tapping his fingers together
and nodding his head with great ap-
probation when his nephew made any
'N'4'ttA n ~ 'oHolutItu just anu 4.
Presently, as a matter of course. the
talk came round to the subject of mar
riage. upon which our views were diff
ferent, he taking much more favorable
view than J of the institution
Then why don't you marry" | was
moved 70 say at last, with just that
touca OF superiority in my tone that
the cynic always takes in a conversa-
ton.
Dicks face changed suddenly. cloud
ed over in fact with its usual look of
somewhat sullen heaviness.
Cant afford it," he replied briefly.
And he rose as he spoke. with an evil
dent wish to cut short the conversation
But the doctor broke in almost sharply:
Can't afford it, You can afford to
marry anyone, anyone anyone, You'll
have my money when die; and though
| know you wish me good many years
of life in the nature of things that's
not possible or desirable So. to all
intcnts and purposes, Dick you're we'll
todo If not a rich man"
Now 1t was one of the most extra
ordinary things | had ever seen to
watch the way in which Dick Mullion
took these words of his uncle's Ii was
evident to me, who could see something
of his face, though the doctor could
not, that the affectionate speech OF the
old man caused him not only distress,
but something like acute terror. He
would have cut it short if he could
But the Doctor, who saw in the young
mans gestures only the natural impulse
of a grateful heart, went on serenely
with his speech and wound up with
gentle God bless you, my boy" which
he uttered in the most kindly tone.
1t was IN vain that Dick Mullion
tried to recover his self-possession suf-
ficenr to join once more in general con-
versation: in a very few minutes he
found an excuse to leave us, and walked
away with an expression even more
sombre than usual. But to the sugges-
ton that his nephew was morose and
gloomy of temper DR.. Mullion would
not listen for an instant.
We had concert on board that night.
and this break in the monotony put
the millions out of my head. Then
followed another odd little incident.
There was a young fellow on board
named Netley who suffered dreadfulIy
from seasickness He had an inside
cabin and as he had fancy that this
was one OF the reasons OF his proingei
suffering ! offered to exchange cabins
with him, to which he gratefully agreed
On the following morning however,
to my great establishment. Netley. who
was rot in the habit Of appearing at
breakfast, did come to that meal and
made his way to where | sat, with a
deadly white face and haggard eyes.
What's the matter, Netley?" cried
/, starting up.
'I'm-l'm hanged IL I'll sleep In your
cabin again" he stammered out husk-
lily. "one-some one got in last night.
and tried"
Tried WHAT" said l.
"1ritd to NM murder met" STAN
mered Netley as he sank into a chair