The suburban citizen., 1902-11-15

remained. Well. that morning he took
me to it and removed a part of the
case, showing me that the rear Of the
musical framework was double. with
space enough between the boards to
admit ones hand. In that space is a
peculiar bit Of mechanism OF fathers
own devising, which he termed laugh.
ing-iack. 1t can be connected with the
musical apparatus by means of very
slender wire, which is brought around
past the sounding board in such way
that no one can find it unless he knows
beforehand just where to look for It,
ITO show me how il worked he at
tached the wire to the hammershank
of q string near the centre Of the in
strument, and struck that note with his
finger. At once the laughter began,
just as it Will do now He played
strain or two and'the thing kept laugh
ing as long as the piano continued to
sound. This amused me so that
laughed in earnest. He feared that
you might hear us, so he released the
hammershank from the secret wire.
"He then told me that he was think
ing seriously of deposting his money
in bank in a foreign country, so that
the lawyers and sharpers would not
be so apt to discover it and perhaps
purloin part of it in case l should not
| be at home. He mentioned England
and France, because Of his factories
being at the capital of each country
l sanctioned the suggestion, whereupon
he explained that If he deposited his
money in England, at London, he
would attach the laughing-jack to the
/ note e, by which should know that
letter OF introduction to the cashier Of
| the Bank of England was secreted in
this recess at the back of the piano.
If he left the money in Paris he would
attach the wire to the note F, mean
| ing France; If in our home city, to the
note G, signifying Germany. Of
course when he gave me these instruc.
tions he took it for granted that l
would get word Immediately If he
should die ere 1 returned, so that you
would not need to be alarmed by the
laughing-jack merrlment. He said
| luIlutE
denly that he could not attend to this
matter, then 1 must look for the letter
| in the secret recess in his desk at
home, with which you also are fani'
| liar. searched for it there as soon as
/ reached home, but finding nothing, l
concluded that you had either taken 1t
or that it was in the piano."
II found nothing of importance" re-
turned the sister. "There was no letter
there, at any rate-nothing but some
old bills and about fifty marks in
money"
"Then I'll inspect the piano"
With that Karl Vandofen arose and
moved the instrument to n lighter part
| Of the room. In a very few moments
he had taken away a portion Of the
| casing, and his first act was to show
| his sister the thread-like wire attached
| to the base of one of the hammer
| shanks. the prime cause of all that
hideous laughter. With a small stool
which he had brought for the purpose
he unwound the wire, whereupon he
struck the middle G note Of the key
board to prove to her that the en-
chantment was gone.
He next gave his attention to the
double back of the instrument, dis
closing the unusual bit of space to
which he had alluded with its queer
| piece of mechanism within--the laugh
ing jack. Near the latter was care
fully sealed envelope, addressed to
Karl in scrawling hand and lettered in
faultless German--the fathers special
legacy to his son and daughter.
With trembling hand Karl opened 1t,
to find therein the following message,
also in German:
"AIy Dear Son--The money awaits
you, as promised-all in twenty-mark
pieces. Present this letter to the cash
ier of our national bank, whereupon
he will produce an exact duplicate Of
it and will give you the key to box
in the safety vault. Take the money
and divide it equally between yourself
and Gretna; but first give the cashier
100 marks as a reward for his fidelity,
although l have already paid him a
handsome sum. Sell our interests in
Paris and London, and live in the old
home, remembering the blissful days
when your mother lived and we were
an unbroken family Awaiting deaths
call, GOTTLIEB VANDOFEN."
Thus the magnificent piano delivered
it's message, which touched n tender
spot in the heart of each recipient.
Nothing was left them but TO obey,
with Karl as the principal actor In
. the drama.
A few months later the wishes ex-
pressed in the letter were all fulfilled
=. save one And Karl had taken the in
, ttial step toward its consummation.
having begun to pay attention to a
buxom little lass in Berlin with a view
TO installing her finally rs mistress of
! the Vandofen mansion.--New York
, Times.
A Multiplication On-AdditiOn Table.
The following table was worked cut
Inv n Harvard nrofpssor IL is Interest,"