The Jennings daily record., 1902-07-21
came Peter Phipps with that famous
,IJh ,nat 10 Shuff3o Of his

cue he's a.yOing on summat orfuI He
didn't ought to be allowed in in that
there state
WHAT state:" / asked
The state o drink as he's possessed
with. Nor that amt all. SIR
AS Phipps looked fearfully sage and
solemn l urged him to continue his
condolences.
1T amt all. or nigh all, Mr.. Rupert.
for he's had the imperence to say,
welly as good as. that he could kick
up q ru,npuS at MI Winstanley's il
he'd a mind to. but that be knew bet
tern any one else what buttered toast
meant.
Now this was serious enough for
anything. for l could put two and two
together and q remark of that sort |
was inuendo sufficient even for the |
understanding of a fool.
Does he say that. Peter?" ! de-
handed
He do. SIR
Very good. Then I'll ask you to
step across to Sundew House when
you've locked up the church.
Phipps tried 10 get out of the mess
he had landed himself and us in, bu,
of course l insisted.
He promised to visit MS AS soon as
the bell practice was over. That prac-
tice however. was destined never to
-hegir- r-And on its omission hangs an
incident that was of the highest i'm
poytance to all the Winstanley family.
The girls came in to supper tired and
in bad temper. The curate had. it
seemed. lef, them much to themselves.
instead of Offering them advice as to
the arrangement of the dahlias and
wheat leaves that had been put at their
disposal. For one thing. though. l was
thank ful: they had not heard a word
OF Tom Fortescue's tipsy utterances as
PhippS had related them to me. They
We're openly indignant ut his presence
il the church. aud made stepmothers
eyes fash by their reference to him
That. however. was all.
The governor was helping his wife
to some cold beef when We heard the
big bass bell Of the church toll one
stroke. The noise was rather eerie.
At any rate it had a strange effect on
plate and put her hand to her heart.
AS a coincidence this was. we
agreed afterward. extremely odd. The
Psychical Society are of the same opin
ion. l have told them about it.
They're only fooling in the belfry,"
said Mabel. in contemptuous tone.
Yes" said I; that means Il fine to
somebody
Th. governor was meanwhile saying
divers distasteful endearing things to
stepmoIher.
''Turley uhe doctor shall certainly
| he requisitioned to give you something
| composing. my love" he added.
Stepmother's My dear Richard. l
want for nothing. I do assure you"
| made Mabel and Agnes exchange
naughty looks. l don't believe the
| girls would have credited her with
anything but an attempt at shamming
if she had suddenly dropped dead from
| her cnair.
| 1t couldn't have been much more
than five minutes after the tolling Of
the bell when our doorbell was tugged
violently. and almost as soon as it was
J
the village ringers, appeared in our
room. needless of the maids, with the
| cry:
| If you please. sir. and mum, Mr..
| FOrteScue's been and hanged himself"
! WHAT" exclaimed the governor.
| He was proceeding to rate the mes
senser of evil tidings for his impudence
when Mabel cried:
Look at herr
The her" was stepmother. She had
gone white as sheet and fallen back
ward. but upon Mabers words she
seemed to recover herself.
1T isn't true:" she said in whisper,
quite appealingly. to Grazebrook.
Its as true as l stand here. num-
was the lads reply. His neck S
broke
The next instant stepmother fairly
sohbed into her hands.
"Oh. Tom. my poor Tom she cried
again and again.
/ left her in that condition. In the
beIfry I found Phipps, two or three of
the ringers and the doctor. There was
not the smallest doubt about Fortes-
cues demise. He had. it appeared. un-
der spirituouS eXhilarat on. climbed the
belfry steps Il minute or two only be.
fore the practice was to begin. The
toll of the bell was his death knell
How he had done it or why or whether
it was q mere accident-my view Of IL
no one could possibly tell for certain
But when the lads ran up the stairs
they found him with the noosed rope
of the bass bell tight round his neck
The cord had been drawn up and laid
across the beam above, and the as
sumption is that he had clambered up