The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-06-10
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CHAPTER KILL

wood shook him heartily by the hand, put
him into an easy chair. profered him
tobacco in al shapes, and then said
"Now you shall tell me what there is
10 tell about dear old Bob; by the time
you have done that l hope you will feel
that 1 am no longer a stranger"
Jack Phillimore heartily responded to
his hosts cordial welcome. and briefly
told the little there was to tell about Bob
RiDgwood.
by the way he continued. "that
was very curious bit of news that you
sent me in your last letter to him. l
never heard my uncle make the slightest
allusion to being engaged in any such
big lottery as you mentioned. Of course,
understand that it Is only a chance, but
IL it did come off il would be trenend-
Gus windfall for him. l should think it
Would enable him to clear Laketown"
THAT, of course, 1 cannot say, hav-
Ing no conception Of the extent of his
liabilities but since l wrote Lord LAX
tngton has taken steps TO ensure that a
big slice of that hundred and sixty thou
sand pounds falls to himself. / was talk
ing over the whole thing with Mr.. Car
buckle, one Of the great guns of our
profession, and an old friend of the Wis
counts, and he said it was quite one of
the smartest moves he had ever heard
Of"
What the deuce do you meant" said
Phillimore.
why, surely you have heard that your
cousin, the Honorable Miss Beatrice, is
about to be married"
70 foIl
told. And why on earth she is going to
marry him we can none of us understand.
unless it is that the beast has lots of
MONEY"
Il can make that clear TO you in a
very few words. Pegram senior is one
OF the three nominators left in the Great
Tontine.' His son is to marry Lord
Lakington's daughter, so that the Wis
count and Pegram senior may share the
whole hundred and sixty thousand pounds
between them as soon as they can prove
the death of the nominee of Miss Cater
ham, the third nominator left in. He
was an old man Of wandering habits, and,
as be has not been heard of for some
time. the probability is that the result
Of the inquiries the Pegrams are insti-
tuting will result in the discovery of his
decease."
What rascally plot" exclaimed Jack
Phillimore passionately. Il begin TO see
1t all now. Beatrice is sacrificing herself
and me for the sake of her father Do
you know that 1 looked upon myself as
engaged to my cousin when / left Eng
land some few months ago."
"No. 1 cannot say 1 did nor did 1
know Of this projected marriage till about
three nights ago. l certainly did know
that Lord Lexington had q daughter, be-
cause. as Miss Caterham's representative
of the Great Tontine,' / made it my duty
to inquire about the other competitors. /,
Ike the Pegrams, am diligently searching
Tor Miss Caterham's missing nominee, al
though, Of course in diametricaly opposite
interest to theirs; my object being to find
the Old man alive. and theirs to And him
dead Do you love your cousin Beatrice
In genuine earnest?'
do 1 love her? What nonsense you
are talking; she is the only woman l
ever cared a rush about in the course Of
my life. Have l not come home to claim
her my bride, and prevent this dis
graceful marriage, If possible?'
''Then you will excuse my asking you
one more delicate question Have you
been at all successfulf"
"No; my uncle won't listen to me. He
nys the marriage is all arranged, and
must take place, while Beatrice refuses to
see me-"
well, Mr.. Philllmore, you cannot be
said to have done much for yourself as
Jet. What do you say to entering into
partnership with me? If some vague sus-
picions I have formed should happen to
be justified, there will be an end to this
marriage at once"
II will do anything to save Beatrice
from her imprudence. She may never
be mine bat l am convinced that she
Is marrying this man very much against
her own inclinations, and Is likely to be
4 very miserable wife in consequence"
Just wait a bit, while | think il
over" replied Ringwood, and he began
to walk up and down the room Two or
three minutes thought, and he came to a
stop and said: Now listen to me. and
don't interrupt me till 1 have finished.
You can easily understand that to gain
such a sum as this INSCRIPTIONS per-
son would not be likely to stick at any
lection. A very clever man, upon hear
Ing that | was acting for Miss Cater
ham, remarked, Il can only say, that. in
rour case, / should scrutinize the other
competitors pretty closely That is how
| come to know so much about your uncle
and the Pegrams as l do. Now, although
policemen at times have shown themselves
by no means exempt from the fraiIties
Of their baser-born brethren, still I am
not for a moment insinuating that Lord
Lexington would condescend to foul pIay
Of any description: but, about these Peg
rams, strictly between you end me.
don't feel implicit confidence. They ar.
lawyers, and the old man especially has
the reputation of being a hard, crafty
man, very INSCRIPTIONS In driving a bar
gain, and dabbling a good deal of specu-
tation and money lending. I intend to
Investigate the proceedings of the Peg
rams during the last few months pretty
closely. and, IL possible. find out who is
their nominee. Now this ought to suit
you as well as me- IL Pegram has COM
mitted a fraud, this marriage will, of
course, fall through or we may succeed
10 finding such strong presumption that
he has done so as TO justify a postpone
ment of the marriage. That would suit
you; while, on my side. 1 should get rid
Of one OF Mss Caterham's adversaries
perhaps"
THAT is a splendid idea. I will 60
In with you heart and soul"
very good; then the first thing we
have got to do is to ascertain, If posi-
bic, who is likely to be old Pegram's NOM
inee. I have a friend who, / think, will
give a valuable hint on that point if
be can only be convinced that this mar
rage is against Miss Phillimore's inclina-
lions"
But when he hears all that / have to
tell him surely that will be sufficient"
replied Phillimore hastily.
well she refused to see you. Is there
not any friend of the family who takes
yoS- partY'