The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-07-15
HE CAUGHT HIS RIGHT WRIST.

HE CAUGHT HIS RIGHT WRIST.
peared to be solid. even upon the
closest inspection.
The hinges of the lid were ingen-
iously concealed. The line between
the two parts was invisible, and the
hidden lock was operated by secret
springs most cunningly devised. Nat
urally so strange an object was the
centerpiece of many queer stories.
which were collected by one of the
Olmsteads about sixty years ago and
set down by him in manuscript in a
leather bound book originally intended
to be a ledger At the end of the book
is very difficult cipher which con-
tains the directions for opening the
casket.
But for this cipher the secret would
have passed out of the world. A few
months ago. when the present head
Of the family. Mr.. Stephen Olmstead.
stumbled upon the old book Of tradi-
tions. the casket itself had been for
gotten.
Stephen Olmstead found the casket
in sort of vault in the wall of the
country house which his father built
in Marchmont twenty years ago, and.
having solved the cipher after q pro-
tractcd struggle which nearly wreck
cd his intellect (as he Informed me).
he opened the ebony box and was dis
appointed because there was nothing
in it. He had no reason to expect any
discovery of treasure. but he is not
the sort of man to be Indifferent to
the possibility.
He was engaged to Mrs. Clara Hol-
ton, rich and charming widow, with
country house near the Olmstead
place. Mrs. Holton's lack of enthu-
siasm for jewels is conspicuous. She
has never been known to wear an
expensive ornament. Nevertheless
casket than lie was possessed with
the idea Of buying something rare and
precious to put into it, ostensibly as a
wedding gift.
Accordingly he appeared at his
| Marchmont home one evening with
| a dazzling diamond piece of historical
as we'll as intrinsic value, a stomacher
that had once been worn by titled
| lady of the old world. Miss Sylvia
! Olmstead. yister of Stephen. ridiculed
| this purchase when the gewgaw was
| displayed to her and told Stephen that
Clara Holton would divorce him rath
er than wear it.
"She'll like the casket." said Sylvia
"It's quite in her line. How do you
| open it,
The diamonds were already within
and the lid closed.
Couldn't tell you." said Stephen.
He put the casket away in the vault
and locked the door. Immediately
after this they heard some one OH tht
veranda just outside the windows o1
the library where the conversation
which have tried to reproduce
| from their recollection Of 1t occurred
Both supposed that the person on thu
veranda was George McKellar, a neigh
Dor. and that he was coming to cal
on Sylvia.
Neither Olmstead nor his sister spok'
of hearing the footsteps. for Mckella
was a delicate subject with them
Olmstead opposed him as a suitor TO
Sylvia's hand on the ground that b.
was not financially sound. McKella
had inherited from his father a busl
ness in a rather bad tangle, and b
was having a hard struggle with it.
They waited for McKellar to be an
bounced. and one of them was disaT
pointed. while the other was agreeabl
surprised. Half an hour later NJ
Kellar called Sylvia by. telephone an
told her that be was occupied wit
business affairs.
It may hare been about O'cloc