Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1901-04-25


FLOOR.
address as the office of the newspaper,
but after four or five days 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 n man of leisure
| was not exactly pIoased- with
Bennetts personal appearance. He
was tall, dark faced man of troubled
countenance. His eyes had a furtive
look, and he was nervous and i'll at
ease. Had l met him while travelling l
should have been inclined to look upon
him with suspicion. He told q straight
enough story, however, though a rather
queer one. Being left an orphan at the
age of Il years, he had been brought
up by an uncle living in Hertford coun-
ty. He had always been given to un-
derstand that he would be his uncle's
heir, and he was sure that 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 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 it 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
new search. There might be secret
closets he had passed over. If would
give him my faithful services for three
days, he would pay me Eos. If the
will was found, he would present me
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 l have said,
but there was nothing out of the way
with his story, and l was glad to ac-
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. l
had not single suspicion. l was to
arrive by train which would enable
me after walk of three miles to ar
nj = 11I 10 ~
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 to
meet en- route, and l was to bring no
baggage.
All these things seemed all right to
me at the time. l reached the station
by the train named, but found the
distance to the house to be five miles
instead of three. This brought about
my arrival quite Il spell after dark,
and Bennett was waiting for me a
quarter of a mile up the road. The
first question he asked was if any one
had spoken to me. and when l assured
him that even the people at the station
did not know where | was bound for
he was somewhat elated. l found he
had provisions for n cold lunch, but
nothing very appetizing, while we
must sleep on the bare boards Of the
family sitting room. 1t was while eat
ing supper that | noticed n wild,
strange lock in the mans face and be-
Gan to doubt him. He was restless
and distiait and watched me in
c-rtive way. and it wasn't long before
| felt th. had somp sinister de-
signs in iuriLg me 70 the lonely old
house. | put a bold face on the mat
ter and demanded an explanation, and
at that lie attacked me and threw me
to the floor. From his savage manner
I believed lie was going to murder me
outright, but after growing in his
throat like Il wolf he lifted me up and
showed ne into n closet and bolted the
stout door on me. or course | protest
cd, argued and struggled but without
avail. | heard him laughing to him
self after ne had locked me in, but l
did not hear him eaye the house. Fifty
times during the hit | kicked on the