The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-05-22

yOu on" from the linlStCaG lniirmaTv?
IF you think that will lie The h.st
course to take. Hut | shall certainly
wait upon my uncle principally myself.
And SO Kate did And day Ivy day IT
his visits Edgar ArEtun met her and FL
more deeply i'll love. Not that h aban,
dpncd in any degree his determination t.
refrain from becoming Rates sutton.
That resolve was as firm as ever. lie
simply elected to drift with the tide
The patient gradually recovered, an,!
bore grateful testimony to Edgar's pro.
fcssional skill.
The.mcnd was not for long, though, =
message in the dead of night some f>w
weeks later took Edgar hurricdly away
to Ri,ixhy Lodge to find that another
seizure had proved fatal
katc's grief was intense. Edgar must
have appeared cold and distant in the
dark days before her unclc's funeral, for
he now felt himself compelled to keep
down his sympathy with an iron hand
and to breathe coincidence in the most
conventional of phrases. But for so do
ing he felt morally sure that his vow OF
personal silence would have been i-retr;yc-
ably broken.
Butin the course ct TING an odd rt::n"r
reached him. The old mans will had
been read and Kate was not heirrss
after all. With a chaos OF conflicting
emotions within MS breast Edgar
called to see Mr. Trent and learned the
truth.
The document is dated ten years bacl,
before Miss Gcrrow came TO live with
her uncle, said the solicitor; there i; no
doubt rs to its gcnuinencss. Everyone
| thought he had made later unc--I did
mvsclf-but none can be found bcsi,ie
this. suppose he put the business off,
as so many people do, until it was too
late. The property all goes to a wealthy
| Lancashire manufacturer.
Glow does Katc-Aliss GcIrnw-tal:c
~"
"As quietly as YOU may guess. Some
girls would have been almost kiIici Ivy
the disappointment, but not she. You
had better 90 up and see her; she is not
III hcircss now. Indeed, she'll have
barely sufficient to live upon, unless his
cousin Goes something for her"
Edgar took his advice and went up to
the dcsoiatc great house the same after
noon. Some commonplaccs passed and
then chat old, old story burst forth
which somehow always seems to me far
too sacred to he written in detail Edgar
made Il full confession, ard not in
vain.
"Thc, Saddcst experience of my
youth, he said, "camc through marriage
for money, and through misplaced con.
tidcncc. Very early / vowed that that
mistake should i'll no shape ever be nine;
that nobody should ever throw fortune
hunting Of that kind in my teeth. And
yct-with a smile of infinite content i
ar! not certain, Kate. after all, whether
love would not have beaten ne in lie
end"
II hope so." the maiden answered,
sh1ly.
There was a sale ut Brixby Lodge and
in due course one ofthc Lancashire manu-
facturcr's sons, who had recently married,
came down and was installed rs his
fathers representative.
Edgar Arnton had arranged that Kate
Gcrrow should reside in London with Ills
sisters, until such an interval had passed
as etiquette prescribed. At the sale he
was large purchaser, and poor, as by
comparison, he had once STYLED himself,
the house he furnished was one of the
best in the village.
Wedding and honeymoon were both
over, Edgar had just come in from his
days round of visits, and was standing
with his wife, at the window, gazing out
at the fast falling snowtlal;cs.
Suddenly there was q crash behind
that caused them to look round. A
Persian kitten, gamboiing mischicvously
on the top of an cscritoirc had knocked
down the plaster figure of an antique
cupbearcr. The fragile article of venture
was broken into a dozen fragments,
amidst which tiny silver key revealed
itself.
There is where the key ofuncles Japa-
ncSc cabinet went TO, them" said Kate;
tile hand and arm of the image must
have been hollow, and the key, once put
Into the cup, slipped through into the
interior
odd, certainly" answered Edgar 'Iet
us try ii it is the one
lie went out, and from the next room
fetched small, inlaid cabinet ofexquisitc
workmanship. The key fitted at once.
81 was sure it would. l knew it again
at first sight, said the lady. Tits fortu-
nate We waited and did not trouble to
force the box open; that would incvita-
bly, have spoiled it. don't suppose there
is anything in the caskct, though"
ooh, hut there is calculated Edgar, as
at that instant he poised up the delicate
lid and caught sight ola tight little roll of
paper.
Kate watched in silent surprise; Edgar
slowly undid the bundle, Il shrewd Sus-
picion Of what he had found dashed upon
him and making his ordinary firm, white
fingers hot and bungling.
''It * YncIe'S real will his last and I.o11
will, l should say rather said Edgar
with grasp, found Just where he might
have been expected to have placed it, and
where scarchers might equally have cx-
pcctcd to miss it. Quite a wonder l
bought the cabinet
And then he read slowly, till the full
moment of the discovery had been re-
allied by both brains, how land and
houses and money snugly invested i'll
consu!s had all bccu devised, without
reservation or qualification, to Mr..
Gcrrow's beloved niece Kate, the COM
panion Of his age, and the faithful guar
dian of his interests.
despite all precautions you have mar.
ricd an hcircss, then Edgar" said Kate,
mcrrily; "thc pity of it is its quite to"
late i'll the day to disown her now"
AS if could possibly wish TO-"
Nh Trent laughed likewise
ANS well that ends we'll, Ec said
lie WAS speedily put iHtu possession of
I IN. recovered document ,,,,frYir.t.,i NJ