The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1901-07-27

4@.
She had never heard such q laugh.
the allowance to Bessie, Mrs. Abbott.
When he ran away he had changed
his name to Packard and she had new
er traced him. though his invaluable
legal man had once carelessly con-
veyed to him the impression that a
vindictive and spasmodic search for
her strangely missing husband was
now and then made by his clients ben
efciary, Mrs. Abbott. Packard had
thanked his legal man gravely with
out vouchsafing any information con-
corning the recalcitrant husband to
his .expectant legal man, and had gone
to his club to offer up thanks that his
trail was covered.
DR.. Packard, the scientist, the ia
vored. the admired by the lovely and
gracious women of society and by
men Of affairs-what had this man in
ommon with the hot-headed boy of a
quarter Of a century before, whose
name was Abbott and who had been
a fool?' She could never find him.
With a short sigh DR.. Packard set
down the retort he held and reached
for the glass of water he had drawn
some moments before. The day was
warm and he al thirsty He drank
every drop before he emerged from
his mental wanderings and. stood
blinking as n whose sleeping, eyes
have opened suddenly on a glare. of
light. Then he stumbled, sat down,
and stared stupidity at the empty
glass. Two feet away from where 1t
had stood was another glass similar
in shape, filled with q colorless liquid.
One of those glasses had held water,
the other had been filled with a solu-
ton he had made Of q peculiar, color
less, tasteless poison. And he had
drunk one Of them.
. There was a dampness on his fore
head. II it was the poison he had
swallowed he was a dead man inside
an hour. Then Of a sudden he squared
his shoulders and laughed harshly
with relief. Hastily he reached for the
other giass-he could test It's contents
and the suspense would be over. AS he
grasped 1t his trembling hand shifted,
the glass slipped into the sink and the
contents disappeared down the drain.
The man groaned. It had come on
him so suddenly. he had awakened to
the everyday world so abruptly he had
not had time to get his balance. He
was not in q normal condition to face
such q catastrophe and he sat clutch
ing the table edge with starting eyes
and q ghastly face. He did not want
to die-he would not! "A blind panic
had him fast as he realized there was
no use calling for help: No one could
save him. With nerves tingling he sat
waiting for the first twinge Of pain, his
imagination lending hideous afd to
reality. In q few minutes everything
would be ended for him IL It was the
poison he had swallowed and some
thing OF his old. dominating willscame
back as he rabidly adjusted his point
of View. Stubbornly his thoughts res
turned to- Bessie Abbott but not with
LcontempiAtive leisure this time. She
doomed i solemn fact In the life he
had suddenly become separated from
and the idea sof Q full. expiation seized
him and was insistent. With the odd
notion growing he rose and waveredS
toward his desk IA. the next room and
wrote hnrriediy. There was really no
one else With 30 good q claim on his
wealth and the child young man BY
80 III, . .n0hfta ALTTlA ~ 80 49, 1.SNA