The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1906-08-08
The CIink Of God.


BY STRAND C. BULLET
scoryrsrAs. ls& b. nan1 ssors F'rh. ce1
On a visit 10 the Lakeland hos
pItal for the insane. the patient
who attracted my attention most
vas an old man. with white hair
and beard. He sat constantly AZ
a table. with pile Of golden
coins before him. which he coant-
ed over and over. muttering at
I the same time. drops % blood;
drops Of blood; Fifty drops Of in
nocent blood
This mans action and words
we're so peculiar that ! begged
nv friend. Dr. Carey. 70 tell me
his story. "a We went into an
adjoining room. where. over a
couple Of excellent Havanas- the
doctor complied with my wishes
eThat man. in there. is Henry
Gilbert. who was no6ed for being
the stingiest. as well as the
wealthiest man in Carsvale- In
fact. he was miserly. aud. though
worth upwards OF Sj0.0O0, he de
MED himself and his daughter
the very necessities Of life.
sYes. he had a daughter
Helen. she was a beautiful girl,
and any other man would have
been prOud of her. but newell,
he considered her as an extra ex-
pense, and begrudged every pen
nv spent upon her. Her mother
had died when she was only
seven years old, and the girl had
had. literally, TO rear herself.
But she was possessed, natural
| ". of a refined and lovable dis
position, and, at the age of 20,
she was a beautiful and intel
lectual woman.
Lovers she had in plenty, but
she only cared for one, and as
she was in no ways a hirt, the
others had gradually drifted
away. Will Cost was the favored
suitor; he was a farmer, and,
while not wealthy, he would be
able to give a wife good home.
The two were betrOthed, but the
miser refused to let his daughter
marry.
"He, DESTROYS of getting back
some of the money spent on the
| girI-and goodness knows it was
little enough-had resolved that
she should make rich marriage,
and Harry Melton, arriving on
the scene at the time, the old
man thought he saw the way for
the c0nsHmmationr OF his desires.
"This Melton was very rich; in
fact, a millionaire, and Helen's
pretty face attracted him; he
saw that there could be nothing
gained by a dishonOrable pro
pOsal. SO he offered to marry the
| girl. Gilbert eagerly consented,
but Helen was Obdnrate; she
would marry Will Cost.
"FinaIly, Melton got tired of
waiting, and, going to Gilbert.
told him that he would receive
81 900 in gold on the day Helen
should become Mrs. Melton. This
sum, while comparatively small,
assumed enormous proportions
in the eyes of the miser, and be
made every effort to get the
money.
GAS a starter, he attempted to
cause trouble between his daugh-
ter and VIII Cost. The latter
was compelled to go into an
other state, on business, and Gil
bert intercepted all letters that
passed between the lovers. In
this way he raised doubts of her
lovers fidelity in Helen's mind;
then Melton got in his fine work.
Cost was in Arton, and Melton
paid a visit to that town. There
was a newspaper published
there, and he, by a free use of
money, persuaded the editor to
print an extra copy of the paper,
removing a news item and in
sorting in its stead, a bogus re
port of the marriage of Will
Cost TO a girl in Arton. This
doctored copy was sent to Helen
Gilbert, and, after reading the
report, she was almost heart
broken.
Il