The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1905-08-11
A SOmnambulist
tOriginal.l


land The wife and mother had died,
leaving a small portion of her estate to
her husband and the balance to her
daughter. Anna was a lovely girl and
extremely fond Of her stepfather,
whom she had been brought up to con-
slider a father and who was all she had
to cling to. But circumstances oc-
Cured to cause me to think that my
uncle was not worthy of her conf
dence-that he was trying to possess
himself of her estate, which had be
come entangled. At any rate he was
very much worried over something
connected with the matter, and l In
ferred that he was afraid of the law
which Is very stringent with guard
ians.
The house was under the care of a
Mrs. Lawson, who had been its man
ager for many years--a grumbling old
woman whom my uncle and his ward
were perpetually trying to keep in
| good humor, but always falling.
Put two young people of opposite sex
under the same roof and in time there
| is bound to be n love affair. Such
| was the case with Anna Wayland and
myself. But it was nlpped In the bud.
AS u boy / had been troubled with
somnambulism, bat 1 had not walked
in my sleep since / was fourteen. Now
while in my uncle's house l had re-
lapse, and with very Notifying re-
suits. One night In summer when VIC
all slept with our doors and windows
open l suddenly awakened standing
over Anna Wayland's bed. She awoke
at the same moment and as the full
moon was shining In ut the window
she recognized me at once. l was in
no condition to explain the matter; in
deed, l bolted from the room without
a word. The next day I endeavOred
to set myself right, but Anna was not
In n mood to listen to my excuses.
The consequence was that by the time
she showed a conciilatory disposition
l was too much disgruntled to make
an explanation. From that time
stood in the, position Of a sinner.
One day my uncle called me into his
study and told me that "shyster at
torney' was trying to bleed him in the
matter OF his administration OF his
wards estate. Certain papers neces-
sary to his clearing himself of viola
ton Of the law which he supposed
were in his safe were not there. The
safe stood in a hall room next to his
own, and he alone knew the combina-
ton. l asked him If he had ever writ
ten the combination on paper and left
1t where any one could see ii, and be
replied that he had not. He consulted
with me as to what it was best to do
whether 1t would be advisable for him
to pay hush money OF throw himself
on the mercy Of the courts. | advised
doing nothing till he was Obliged to do
something. This was all he could do.
A few days later / surprised Mrs
Lawson and Anna Wayland in an ami
mated conversation. From Il few
words l heard | was sure that they
were talking about whut my uncle had
revealed TO me and that Mrs. Lawson,
who had been Annals nurse, was using
her influence to convince the girl that
her stepfather was robbing her.
Trouble thlckened around my uncle
Papers necessary to enable him to
show clean management of the estate
were continually missing, no matter
where he kept them. He had ne office:
consequently he must keep them at
home, and he always locked them in
the safe. Meanwhile the lawyer, who |
had in some mysterious way got wind |
of his position, was threatening him /,
with exposure IL he did not give him |
money. The household was not q
pleasant one. was not on good terms
with Anna, who was induced by Mrs. |
Lawson to believe that her stspfather |
was swindling her out OF her fortune. |
! had become convinced Of my uncle's1
innocence and treated Anna all the
more coldly for listening to her ad-
visep though I would not advise her
myself.
One night l woke up under clrcum-
stances involving coincidence would
not have believed had it not happened
to myself. l was standing in front of
my uncle's safe. Mrs. Lawson had the
safe door open and was rummaging
the contents. The start l gave at
waking caused her to turn, and when
she saw me she gave moan and sank
down on the floor.
Never did the right thing to do occur
TO me so quickly. Darling to Annals
room, without stopping to put on other
clothing than the nightshirt | wore, |
called to her, "Come quick and will
prove your guardians innocence" In
n. -. a.
we found Mrs. Lawson hurriedly pick
ing M papers that lay on the floor and
putting them into the safe.
81 will do that for you" l said, and
pushing her aside l gathered the pa
pers and took them to my own room.
As soon as the culprit had gone Anna
insisted on going with me to my UNI
cle's room, waking him up and telling
him that we had solved the mystery
that was troubling him. He was as
tonished that one who had so long
been trusted in his family should have