Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-01-02
By TOM GALLON


in my life / was going to do a great and
people happy"
mented Mr.. Reeks.
II pictured to myself this girl, whom
I had loved, and love still, as being
somewhat unhappy at the Thought OF
the wrong she felt she had done me; !
pictured the man as being remorseful,
too. And / meant that night to put
them both at their ease; to cry to
them, L will not stand in the way OF
your happiness; / will not bind any
woman to a promise made when she
was too young to know what 1t in.
volved. / will join your hands; more
than that, I will enrich you both with
what would have been hers had she
married me; and l set out that night TO
do it,"
without saying a word to anybody,
and taking your servant with your
supplemented the little man.
Yes; hat was the beginning of ev-
erything; that was the one fatal mis-
take / made said Gilbert Rickerby,
with a mournful shake of the head.
"At the last moment I changed my
mind. / had dealt in mystery all my
life; had wandered, a mysterious, I'M
known man since / was a boy, n /
wanted, for this last time. to be myste-
rious still. / took my ervan with me
that night in order that he might spy
out the land, as it We're; in order that
he might say to this cousin of mine:
My master will not put in an appear
ance yet; ne sends me. in his place, to
tell you that he is really here. to bring
you the good news he has travelled so
far to tell So I gave my servant a
card of mine, and put i'm his possession
a sum of $500 as an earnest of what /
meant to do, and to show him that the
man did not come with a mere idle
tale.
"Well, what happened them" asked
Mr.. Reeks. leaning forward, in his ca
gerness TO know more.
THE servant never returned: and, a
day or so afterwards, Nugent Leath-
wood advertised for me, demanding to
know why i had not kept the appoint
ment made. More than that, Nugent
Leathwood claimed the body Of anoth-
err man-an utter stranger TO meas
Gilbert Rickerby; and that man / saw
come from this house on the night he
met his death in the street. / followed
the body of the stranger side by side
with Nugent Leathwood to the grave;
I stood by while hat body was buried,
under my name"
'.But how is it that Leathwood did not
recognize your" asked Reeks, bewild-
cred.
He had never seen me-" replied Gill
Lert- w had merely corresponded by
letter: that vas one reason for my
scsiding the servant before me, because
/ felt that Leathwood might think that
! had gone In person and might blurt
out in that first moment his real feel
ings about the matter"
but the servant-what of him."
"Dead-murdered, apparently at the
very hour he entered the house. The
$500 you were to have, Mr.. Reeks, was
taken from the body of James Holden"
The brain of the little man began to
reel again: he started form his seat,
and came forward. tremblingly. to-
wards Gilbert. But l don't under
sand" he gasped. How do you know
all this?
Because I have found the poor fell
NV - WHY al III ely uOuSC-tl Lie
room above where we are now-don't
start; he's past hurting you, or any
one. That's a matter about which I
want your help. / must stay here
hidden-for the present; and that body
must be got rid Of"
II ever Mr.. Reeks had wished him
self safely back in Little Pond street,
even though a cloud of brokers and
uns were lowering about the house, it
was surely at that moment. For Mr..
Reeks, despite his mistakes and the i'm
pecunious condition in which he usually
li-ed, was. before III things. a law-abid-
ing citizen; and the disposal, for how
ever good a reason, of the body of a
murdered man. is not a thing to be
lightly undertaken. He drew back. pro-
testing, feebly, with his hands.
Indeed, Mr.. Rickerby, 1 do assure
you that / have a most serious objec-
ton to having anything to do with the
matter. Whatever / might be disposed
to do, If ! stood alone III am generally
considered a bold and reckless mani, I
I'M bound to remember Mrs. r. Mrs.
X. las no one to protect her in the
event OF anything happening-in the le-
gal sense-to me; / must. really. de-
cline"
My dear Mr.. Reeks. I feel sure that
when 1 tell you that / am not the only
one involved In the matter, you will be
willing to help me. There is IN this
house the young girl about whom I
nave spoken. She is very ili-mentally
Ill. b u h is kept a close prisoner In
the other part of the house. I cannot
tel! whether her imprisonment il forced
upon her. or whether she lives there
voluntarily; in n case she is not IN
a fit state to judge OF the matter"
But what Is the matter with her?"
asked Mr.. Reeks.
"She came here, as far as I can learn
on the very night that / crept into the
house." replied Gilbert. 'She must
have been Informed Of my supposed
death; 1 fear"-he ground his teeth in
helpless rage as he thought OF 1T
fear that she must have been offered
some Insult. probably at the hands of
that villain. my cousin. At any rate
she fed from him, and found her way
in here; wandered about in the dark.
ness all night. and stumbled, accident.
ally, upon me. You may imagine wha,
h must nave felt, in coming sudden
w IN fho txrytvlrl& - L.