Ladysmith news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1906-1907, 1907-01-05

time, recalled the answer he addressed
to the writer of it in expression of at
fectiOnate sympathy and deep regret.
He recalled the waiting for the bank
er's draft which never came. He went
on to the next document in his Sheaf:
Dear Mr.. Aloysius: [ regret to be
the bearer of i'll news. My poor, dear
old master has disappeared. | had
been away on three days leave to bury
my brother, and when | got back your
poor uncle had not been seen for more
than fOrty-eight hours. Mr.. Alexis IS
quite i'll and seems distracted Master
had lost his temper with Mr.. Alexis
and went out about 9 o'clock at night,
taking his latch-key with him. MI.
Alexis, being not wishful to see him
again that night, went % his own
room early. The woman who had been
called in for service took masters cup
of tea to his room at o'clock. She
says she supposed that master was
sleeping out on a journey or at
friends house. She said nothing, and
master was not missed till afternoon.
Since then we have moved heaven and
earth to find him, but there is no news
and no sign. You must excuse me tax
ing the liberty of enclosing five
pound note, Mr. Aloysius. for know It.
has not been your uncle's habit to keep
keep you very flush, and You are want
ed here so badly that you must not
lost one hour in coming. With affec-
tionate respects and deep sorrow,
Robert SeWar"
Aloysius, reading this. recalled all
the old anxieties and fears of the
dreary journey Londonwards, and one
horrible suspicion which would in
trude upon him in spite of all the rea-
son he brought to bear against it, He
fought it down loyalty and he strangled
it. But it sprang to life again, in
spite of the fact that everything known
to him made it improbable. He feared
lest Alexis should have been in some
way responsible for the old mans dis
appearance Alexis might be weak.
He had often reproached him for want
of stability. but it was madness to
suppose that he had done anything de-
liberately A chance blow, perhaps.
given in q moment OF intense irritation
and despair!
It might we'll be that SO full life
may have ended thus. And then the
horror lest in fear the hapless victim
of his own nervous rage should have
striven to conceal the body, and so
have given himself over beyond RENE
DIV into the hands Of the law, But
there was not one corner Of the OLD
Georgian house in which his uncle had
lived which would not he ransacked by
the police. If the dread were we'll
founded. detection was certain.
And then, on the other side-on the
right side. so AIOysius protected him.
self-Alexis was not man Of strife
Tor violence. He had had a genuine re-
spect for his relative and protector.
And if the old man had threatened
him with disinheritance Alexis would
know quite clearly that it would make
mo difference to him. and that AlOySlu5
was not the man to profit at his cous-
FMS cost. even though the cousin had
been guilty of an act for which ne
would bitterly reproach himself
throughout his lifetime. That was
thing between his Maker and the sin
mer's cOnscience-nOt thing for Alloy
sfus Brangwyn to reap a profit out Of
Z; Alexis would know all that with
Instructive certainty. But the chance
blow suggested itself over and over
Iagain. Aloysius seemed to see it in
lficted in a dozen ways The horror
was not there, but in the thought OF
'concealment. In that matter OF the
EgirI whom he had betrayed the unpar-
,donable part Of the whole business
was that he had run away from the
consequences of his WrOngdOlng. AnG
there he might-he might-he mlghC
have acted on the same Impulse, ana
iso have converted accident into con-
fstructive murder If he had played the
toward and the mailman there they
would find the body soon or late, ana
would hang Alexis or send him INTO
'penal servitude for life.
All the old fears thronged into MS
mind. He lived that journey from
Paris over again, as he sat muslng
with the letter in his hand. He re-
lived the arrival at his uncle's mousse
the hurry and confusion which pre-
vailed there, the search carried on by
the poIice-so minute that not cat
could have been concealed about 1t
the hubbub in the press, the excite
ment Of the public curiosity and Won
der. the false scents on which the
search was started, the drowned
bodies, the starving yagrants-nelther
one nor the other bearing the remotest
resemblance to the missing man
IAlexis's outbursts Of wild grief ana
Self-accusation.
'The old man and I quarreled," he
admitted, land that quarrel sent him
ito his death. He flung out of the
house in a rage, and from that hour
was gone. He carried money he
wore a valuable diamond on his finger
tand another in his scarf-pin. HIS
gold watch was worth fifty pounds.
There has been foul play, and if had
IL aYII n