Evening journal., 1909-05-17
THREE LINKS
By NORMAN p. WHITE.
in A CHAIN OF FATE.


[Copyright, 1903. by American Press Asso- |
ciation.l
Fate be hangedl There's no such
thing as fate. Napoleon said, I will
make circumstances. And he did--that
is, TIL they became too powerful for
him by the union of all his enemies"
THAT may do for Napoleon, but not
for me- That / am a resident Of this
city, that am the husband of my
wife, the father of a boy named Alan
and a girl named Lucia and that we
are all rich is the result of not
one incident-that wouldn't be so sin
gular-but Of a number Of incidents
happening in succession, the absence
Of any one Of which would have made
entirely different surroundings for me.
1.-THE first incident was this: On
certain day u man took up a paper he
had never seen before and saw an ad
of mine. / was a young lawyer, with
no clients. advertised to secure the
care Of estntes. The man was a stran-
ger in town and wished for some one
to be agent for building there. See
ing my ad.. he came to me. II he
hadn't seen it wouldn't be talking
with you now. He told me that the
building, one Of a scattered estate, be-
longed to some one he was looking for
and couldn't find. The interview re-
suited in his giving me the agency, the
building being a part of the Pendleton
estate.
zone afternoon, being bored by hav-
ing nothing to do, / went out and
strolled into a vitascope show. One of
the pictures was the arrival of an ex-
press train at Schenectady, N. Y. The
passengers poured out OF the cars, and
one. a girl about seventeen years old,
came walking. with a satchel In her
hand, toward the audience. 1t seemed
as If she were going to step right into
the showroom. She had a timid look
on her face. such as a girl might have
arriving in a strange city. She was
looking about her, fearing some of the
many vehicles passing hither and
thither would run over her. / wanted
to go and put my arm about her to re
assure her. Then suddenly she passed
out Of the picture.
"There was something In the face
and figure that took hold of me. The
performance lasted half an hour. then
began all over again. / waited till !
had seen my little girl get out OF the
train and run the gantlet Of wagons
, and carriages three times. Not only
! that, went to the show every day till
the picture was taken Of BY that
time was desperately in love. Odd,
J isn't It?
"The next in the chain of incidents
was a trip TO Schenectady on business.
That was two years after falling in
love with a moving photograph. While
there l went into a merchants Office
and saw sitting at table jabbing type
keys with her fingers-whom do you
suppose2 ! recognized her at once
the original Of my moving pictured
What sent me to that city and that
very counting room2 Fate.
Having found my love, didn't pro.
pose to lose her ! learned her name
Evelyn Brickworth-offered her a bet
ter salary than she was receiving to
work for me. and she Joined me at
the end Of the month.
''You may rest assured l made it
! pleasant for her, and l made love to
her in a delicate. gingerly way-she
was very sensitive aud reserved-and
won her. But was still poor law
yer with too small an income to marry
! on. so she stayed on as my typewriter
till would be better fixed financially.
, That she might be of more assistance
I to me. / taught her to keep my ac-
t counts.
r "One day the man who gave me the
/, agency Of the building l spoke OF came
J to town. aud ! paid him some collec-
tions. He told me that he had been
y unsuccessful in finding the heirs to the
i estate. and he rather thought the pro
e vision made in the will in case they
r were never found would be carried
out. The provision was that at the
d expiration of a certain period the prop
d erty was to go to specified charities
$ That period would expire in a few
y months. ] asked him II he knew who
j the heirs were. he said he knew thai
all were dead except the children Of
Eliza Pendleton. At the name Elizs
Pendleton noticed that my assistant
fiancee-I mean my fancee-assistant-
looked up. After the man had gone
she asked me;
"'What was that man saying about
Eliza PendletonT
"'Why do you askr
because that was my mothers
!, name before she married my father
1T was probable that there were &
great many Eliza Pendletons, but 4
., struck me the matter was worth look
i ing into. Evelyn told me that sh'
- knew nothing Of her fathers family
d but that her grandfather en- her moth
& er's side was named Nathan Witridge
. / had her typewrite a letter TO th'
j. manager Of the property. giving thii
e information. He had gone back 4
h where he lived and didn't get the let
k ter till the next day. Then I received 1
e telegram giving an affirmative repl,
: and asking why I wished TO know
This began to look peculiar. ! replied
: by telegraph that my typewriter wa
= the granddaughter Of Nathan Witridg
Pendleton. The reply 10 this was. I
y she can prove It am ready TO pay he
Se00,O00.'
:. Evelyn Brickworth had no Difficult
= ty in finding the requisite proof and
being the only living heir. got th