Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-01-04

placed beside that Of his wife
in his granite mausoleum at
Woodlawn OH the Sunday fol-
lowing his death Two days later his
will. which had been drawn up by Mr..
Graham and deposited in the office
safe, was read and duly admitted to
probate. AS was expected, he had left
all his property. without condition or
reserve, to his daughter Frances.
There were few requests to old serv-
lnts, Rogers receiving handsome leg
acv; about half million was given to
.ar!ous charities in which he had been
Interested during his life, and the re
nainder was placed at the absolute
disposal of his daughter.
We found that his fortune had been
)yerestimated, as is usually the case
With men whose wealth depends upon
he fluctuations of the Street, but there
till remained something over four mil
ions for tie girla pretty dowry. She
old us at once that she wished to leave
her affairs in our hands and in tinan
eial matters would be guided entirely
by our advice. Most OF this business
was conducted by our Junior, and.
while, Of course, he told me nothing. II
was evident that Miss Holidays kind
" feelings toward him had suffered NJ
liminution. THE whole Office was more
Or less conversant with the affair AMI
wished him success and happiness.
So a week or ten days passed. The
utmost endeayor of newspapers and
police had shed no new light on the
tragedy, and for the great public 1t
had passed into the background Of
the forgotten, but for me, at least
1t remained Of undiminished interest.
and more than once I carefully Re
viewed its features to convince my
self anew that our theory was the
right one. Only one point occurred to
me which would tend to prove it I'M
true If there was an illegitimate
daughter, the blow she had dealt her
father had also deprived her Of what
ever income he had allowed her or of
any hope of income from him; SO she
had acted In her own despite Still,
Godfrey's theory of sudden passion
might explain this away. And then
again Miss Holiday could probably
be counted upon, her first grief past,
to provide suitably for her sister.
Granting this, the theory seemed to me
quite impregnable.
One other thing puzzled mellow
had this woman eluded the police? l
knew that the French quarter had been
ransacked for tracer Of her, wholly
without success, aid yet felt that
the search must have been miscon-
Quoted, else some trace Of her would
surely have been discovered. Miss Hol-
laday, of course, rigidly refused her
self to all inquirers, and here again l
found myself OH the horns of dilem-
ma. Doubtless she was very far from
wishing the discovery Of the guilty
woman, and yet felt that she must
be discovered, if only for Miss Holla-
days sake, in order to clear away the
last vestige of the cloud that shad-
owed her.
Then came new developments with n
startling rapidly. 1t was toward quit
ting time one afternoon that clerk
brought word into the inner Office that
there was woman without who
wished to see Mr.. Royce at once. She
had given no name, but our Junior,
who happened to be at leisure for the
moment, directed that she be shown in.
I recognized her in an instant, and so
did he-it was Miss Holidays maid
I saw, leo, that her eyes were red
with weeping, and as she sat down
beside our juniors desk she began to
cry afresh
why, what's the matter" he de-
manded. Nothing wrong with your
mistress"
"She amt my mistress any more"
sobbed the girl. "She discharged me
this afternoon"
discharged your echoed our Junior.
"Why. l thought she thought so much
of you?"
"And so did l, sir, but she discharged
me just the same"
But what fof?". persisted the other.
That's just what don't know, sir.
l begged and prayed her to tell me, but
she wouldn't even see me. So came
down here. thought maybe you could
help me-"
"Well, let me hear about it just as 1t
happened" said Mr.. Royce soothingly.
perhaps I can help you.'
ooh, If you could, sir!'' she cried.
you know, thought the world and
all Of Miss Frances. I've been with
her nearly eight years. and for her to
go and treat me like this-why, it just
breaks my heart. sir! l dressed her
this afternoon about 2 o'clock, and
she was as nice to me as ever-gave
me little brooch. sir, that she was
tired Of. Then she went out for
drive, and about an hour ago came
back. l went right up to her room to
undress>her, and when | knocked, sir,
a strange woman came to the door and
said that Miss Frances had engaged,
her for her maid and wouldn't need me
any more, and here was months
wages. And while stood there, sir,
too dazed to move, she shut the door
in my face. After I'd got over it
bit. l begged that l might see Miss
Frances, if only to say goodby, but
she wouldn't see me. She sent word
that she wasn't feeling we'll and
wouldn't be disturbed"
Her sobs mastered her again and