Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-07-04

chapel or the lecture room in ones pri-
vate automobile.
MIR. Brandon was comforting with his
fellow members of Il committee on sports.
and the others listened to him with a de-
ference which disappointed me until l dis
covered that 1t was due to his great knowl-
edge of the subject and not to any less
worthy consideration. A fine official of
the games was old Sam Brandon, and
under his eye the best man had to win.
/ discovered presently that he had a
great affection for Tom Mason. and as
they stood together therr-ideal figures of
American youth and age-suddenly the
whole truth leaped into my mind. Here
was the man whom Mr.. Brandon had
chosen in his own heart. / understood In
Il flash Toms letter to me, which had
been Il cry Of anguish for the ear of Il
friend. the cry of a man crossed tn love-
Then there arose in me the desire that
l feel too seldom and can never summon
at will the desire to do a tremendous
amount of work In the shortest possible
time. Eoundless confidence always ac-
companies this impulse and a clearness OF
thought which l vainly seek 1854 days In the
year. l excused myself to Tom and Mr..
Brandon. and for the remainder of that
afternoon l was the busiest man in the
state OF Illinois
/; Shortly before S o'clock. having had no
dinner meanwhile. though apparently 1t
was being served ali over the place. l
hunted up MIR. Brandon. who was super
vising the arrangements for the display
OF fireworks. which was to begin at .. l
found Tom also. and we had u serious
talk. To sum up the matter In the brief
est form. let me say that l laid before
them evidence to support these allega-
tons:
On the morning when the check swind'e
was p~erpetrated at the bank Lord Colewyn
and Bitters had started from the Stanch-
field hotel on foot for the Brandon resi-
dence. They had proceeded to a certain
place beside the wall surrounding the
grounds and had climbed over. There they
had found another man waiting in some
~shrubbery, where the ground had fortu-
nately been in an excellent condition 10
receive and preserve footprints. The man
whom they had met had been dressed and
made up in imitation of Bitters, who after
a brief conferences had again climbed the
wall. Lord Colewyn and the other man
had then skirted the wall or the inside
until they had come to n path, by which
they had approached the house.
Inc double of Bitters had stopped at a
small summer house on the edge of the
lawn in plain view from the veranda and
iihA tAl'it an nun vi iiiCi', WiiAlt
Lord Colewyn. with Miss Brandon-and
her mother for a part of the time-had
sat on the veranda. During this period
Lord Coiewyn had frequently directed at
tention to "Bitters' seated in the sum-
mer house. Finally (and doubtless upon a
signaD he had sent Il servant to summon
Bitters. and the real Bitters had respond
ed. coming up to the veranda. where of
curse he rad been Enthusiastically recog-
niZed by Mrs. Brandon and her daughter.
the latter of whom was able to declare
from the depths of honest conviction that
he had not been out of her sight.
Yet the fact was that Bitters had been
to town and had cashed the check. creep
ing secretly into the arbor afterward in a
way which l was able to point out and
even in part to trace by actual markings.
thus taking the place of his double, who
who then crept out as Bitters had come
in. returned to town, packed up his be-
longings in the hotel and fled.
The resemblance of the double to Bitters
had been strong enough to permit of this
deception at the distance of the arbor
from the veranda, but would not have suf-
feed for the fraud at the bank.
When Mr.. Brandon had heard my story
and had hastily verified a part of it his
natural impulse was 20 give Colewyn a
chance to defend himself. but as we were
about to summon him Mrs. Brandon brok,
in Upon us. having overheard so much
that the remainder could not be con.
cea!ed.
Mrs. Brandon at first supposed that
/, was attacking the validity of Lord Cole.
Z wyn's title-that I was trying to prove
r him a bogus lord. Such had been hel
, own first fear in regard to him: he hae
seemed too good to DE true" She hat
read the newspapers. and she knew tina
. bogus lords are permitted to exist by al
i, ~tnscrutable providence and to disappoin'
: the fondest hopes of ambitious mothers
/ So she had taken shrewd measures to as
4 sure herself of Lord Colewyn's genuine
: ness. and in this crisis she overwhelmed
me with proofs of 1t.
In vain 1 protested that his title and m,
accusation had nothing to do with eaci
other. Mrs. Brandon seemed Incapable o
n perceiving the possibility that a real lor,
could do wrong. The scene was fast b
. coming hyster,cal, and Mr.. Brandon wise
e ly broke 1t of and went in search o
Colewyn. Tom and l led Mrs. Brandon I,
the darkest and quictest spot CO the yer
9 anda, and in a few minutes Ethel cam
flying around an anglia OF the house.
''Mother!" she cried. Something dread