The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-24


glanced at the box 1 noticed. with
start, that upon the lid were printed
the treble X which | had read in the
morning upon the envelope.
4 want you, john said my un-
Gle, to witness my will. | leave my
estate, with all it's advantages and all
it's disadvantages to my brother, your
father, whence it will, no doubt, de-
scend to you. If you can enjoy it in
peace, well and good! If you find you
cannot, take my advice, my boy, and
leave it to your deadliest enemy.
am sorry to give you such a two
edged thing, but l can't say what turn
things are going to take. Kindly sign
the paper where Mr.. FOrdham shows
you
II signed the paper as directed, and
the lawyer took it away with him. The
singular incident made, as you may
think, the deepest impression upon me
and | pondered over it, and turned it
every way in my mind without being
able to make anything of it. Yet |
could not shake off the vague feeling
of dread which it left behind though
the sensation grew less keen as the
weeks passed, and nothing happened
to disturb the usual routine of our
lives. / could see a change in my
ever, and he was less inclined for
any sort of society. Most of his time
he would spend in his room, with the
door locked upon the inside, but some
times he would emerge in a sort of
drunken frenzy, and would burst out
of the house and tear about the gar
den with a revolver in his hand,
screaming out that he was afraid of
no man, and that he was not to be
cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by
man or devil. When these hot fits
were over, however, he would rush
tumultuOusly in at the door, and lock
and bar it behind him, like a man who
can brazen it out no longer against
the terror which lies at the roots of
his soul. AT such times / have seen
his face. even on a cold day, glisten
with moisture, as though it were new
raised from a basin.
well, to come to an end of the
matter, Mr.. Holmes, and not to abuse
your patience, there came a night
when he made one of those drunken
Sallies from which he never came back
We found him, when we went to
search for him, face downward in a
little green-scummed pool, which lay
at the foot of the garden. sThere was
no sign of any violence, and the wa
jury having regard to his known &C.
centricity, brought in a verdict of sui
eide. But /, who knew how he WINGED
from the very thought of death, had
much ado to persuade myself that he
had gone out of his way to meet it, The
matter passed, however, and my father
entered into possession of the estate,
and of some FLA 900, which lay to his
credit at the bank"
zone moment" Holmes interposed.
Your statement is, l foresee. one of
the most remarkable to which 1 have
ever listened. Let me have the date
of the reception by your uncle of the
letter. and the date of his supposed
suicide
The letter arrived on March 10,
1888. His death was seven weeks Ia
ter, upon the night of May 2nd."
THANK you. Pray proceed"
when my father took over the
Horsham property, he, at my request,
made a careful examination of the at
tic, which had been always locked up.
We found the brass box there, al
though its contents had been de-
stroyed. On the inside of the cover
was a paper label, with the initials
of X. K. *. repeated upon it, and
Letters memoranda, receipts, and a
register written beneath. These, we
presume, indicated the nature of the
papers which had been destroyed by
Colonel Openshaw. For the rest,
there was nothing of much Importance
in the attic, save a great many scat
tered papers and notebooks bear
ing upon my uncles life in America.
Some of them were of the war time,
and showed that he had done his duty
well, and had borne the repute Of
brave soldier Others were of a
date during the reconstruction of the
Southern States, and were mostly con-
cerned with politics, for he had evil
IDENTIFY taken strong part in opposing
the carpet-bag politicians who had
been sent down from the North.
well, it was the beginning of "a
when my father came to live at
Horsham, and all went as well as
possible with us until the January OF
'S5. On the fourth day after the new
year | heard my father give sharp
cry of surprise as we sat together at
the breakfast table. There he was,
sitting with "a newly opened envelope
in one hand and five dried or
ange pips in the palm of
the other one. " Nad always laugh
ed at what he called my cock-and-a-
bull story about the Colonel, but he
looked very scared and puzzled now
that the same thing had come upon
himself.
why, what on earth does this
mean John?' he stammered.
My heart had turned to lead. 1t
is x. X X said l.
He looked inside the envelope. So
it is, he cried. Here are the very
letters. But what is this written above
them?'
Put the papers on the sundial.
/ read, peeping over his shoulder
"'What papers? What sundial" ne
asked.
1.-The sundial in the garden. There
is no other, said /; but the papers
must be those that are destroyed.
Pooh! said he, gripping hard at
his courage. We are in civilized
land here, and we cam have TOM
foolery of this kind. Where does the
thing come from 2
:. e1,., T,,ndee answered glanc-