The Caldwell tribune., 1905-05-27
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esss, As time passed ON / did all /
possioiy could to instilt into his mind
rhat sne must be dead. to which belief
! fealy inclined; but he obstinately
clnng 20 thesidea that she still lived. md
mat ne should and her some day.s ri,
the meantime, I kept on the best of
terms with him. If she never turned
up, felt pretty confident that the bulk,
az Least Of the old mans fortune would
EaA tognye share Years went on, and /
oegan to feel quite certain that Clara
would never. again be heard Of: when.
fancy my consternation upon one day
receiving a; letter from the old man.
which informed me that he was in the
ciey' consequent on having obtained some
trace of his lost granddaughter. He
lent some tramp money uDon a suit of
| clothes, and out of one of the pockets
mad dropped q miniature of Clara, This
tramp fellow had told him that he was,
going to- the city, and thither my uncle
Had SET on at once to endeavor to gain
| some tidings Of him. He had not been
N town many daYs before he, CHANGED to
see a picture Of his own cottage in a
print sellers window. He bought it, and
found the name Of Clara in the corner.
That l might check any further search
| upon his part, I undertook to send round
to every picture dealer to make inquiries.
| called at q number of shops myself.
and l sent you to others; you know
| with what result rm
S'but 4 did discover her, after all," in
terrupted Montgomery, although In
quite another way; and had not stay
| ed at Bury so late into the Monday, you
would have known Of it. However, moth
Ing could be neater than the way we
managed It Luckily you had such
snug place to take her to-"
Yes; / have found the house useful
more than once. An old maiden arnt,
who used to reside there, left it to me
| as a legacy. Fortunately. it had only
been recently vacated. As soon as
had secured my fair cousin l began to
consider what was the best thing to do
with her. After q mature consideration,
l came to the conclusion that marriage
was the best solution Of the difficulty.
By making her my wife should seal her
| lips regarding the past, and secure my
gncle's fortune In the future. To my
surprise, she received all my advances
| with the utmost zepuSnance. The cause
of that, / have discovered, is a connec-
tion she has formed with some low fell
low, who actually turns out to be Judith
Stokes husband. By the bye, how came
you to think Of introducing those peo-
pie at my house? You must have been
made to have entrusted my secret in
the hands Of a woman who has spite
against meY
"a spite against your echoed Mont
gomery. This is the first l have heard
of 1t. Now. I was deeply interested
in getting him back into Judith's hands.
bethought me. of the house that l had
taken the young lady to the night before.
There must be plenty Of spare rooms
there, thought; and as Judith and Mr..
Rodwell are old and confidential friends.
l don't see that he can possibly object
to oblige her so far
"And do you not think such an act
was piece Of impudence upon your
partW
mot at ALL" answered Montgomery,
coolly. II had my own private interests
to serve in the matter-vitai interests
thought Of myself first, as you did
of yourself when, years ago, you enticed
away from me the girl who was making
my living. Tit for tat!'
Rodwell glared at him fercely. "If
| that is your mode OF dealing with me-"
he said, "how do know that you may
not one fine morning call upon Mr.. Jona-
than Rodwell and blow the whole thing
to him?"
"No, shall not do that" answered
| the other, quietly; "honor among thieves.
If the plot succeeds, 1 know that
shall get more out of you than l possibly
could out of him. Besides, there is a
stronger bond even than interest that
binds me to you-reVenge"
"Upon whomF"
"Upon Silas Carston."
'In that case, think we can work to-
gether better than l suspected; but as
you have greatly complicated my diff
culties by, introducing Judith into the
same house, 1t Is but fair that you should
be the more ready to help me In any way
out of them" ~ ~
"What do you meanY
"Tn the first place, my marriage with
CLARA would have to be brought about
Immediately; and as she is not likely to
consent, and as the days OF enforced
marriages are all gone by, it is more than
probable that the whole plot will have
to be abandoned. am convinced that
Judith fully intends to betray me. Her
evil disposition would never let such an
opportunity of revenge escape. Such a
revelation would overwhelm me with de-
struction. My father, at his death. left
me property to the value of two thou
sand per year. Bit by bit, it has been
sold and mortgaged. lost q thousand
on the last Derby; that was the last
straw. My debts amount to some eight
or ten thousand; my doors are besieged
by duns; my credit all but stopped, and
am all but penniless. If could once
show proofs that was my uncle's heir,
my creditors would cease to press, and
could raise more money. On the other
hand, II things remain as they are,
should have to fly the country, beggar."
"But how do you propose to induce
your uncle to alter his will while he be-
lieYes that his granddaughter is aliveT
Suppose it could be proved to him
that she was dead2"
The two mems eyes met in a long,
searching look; each one was trying to
read the others secret thoughts.
''Supposing," Rodwell went on, 81