The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1910-08-26
CHAPTER VI.

When Roger Hews was dispatched
agent Of Carboy. Passavant & Cozine
to verify the strange story told by
Andrew Meleen on his death-bed he
unearthed far more curious and
complicated series of episodes. so
unusual and unexpected as to suggest
to his fertile and not over.scrupulous
mind a plot by which the knowledge
thus gained might be turned to his
own advantage in several ways.
Briefly told, this is what he discov-
cred after much painstaking piecing
together of fact and inference:
When Minna Meleen found herself.
as she supposed. deserted by her hus-
band so soon after their marriage. un.
able to bear the taunts and gibes of
the village women, she left the out
skirts of Hazleton. then little more
than hamlet, and tramped across the
mountains to Nanticoke. Here. being
a complete stranger, she resumed her
maiden name of Minna Tod. passing
herself OF as widow, and making a
living by sewing and doing chores.
Here a daughter was born to her. A
year and more had elapsed since
leaving Hazleton. when seemingly
authentic tidings reached her that her
husband. Andrew Meleen. had been
killed In battle. So to her the erst-
while fiction became q cruel and bit.
ter fact.
Believing herself q free woman, and
being still young and handsome, her
scolding tongue and fiery temper
somewhat cooled by her misfortunes,
she permitted herself to be once more
wooed and won. this time by an arti
san named John Trevecca.
In less than year she presented
Tevecca also with a daughter. but
this time she died during her nc
couchement. and the infant with her
and was buried In Nanticoke. exactl,
as Roger Hews reported. This even
It must have been which reached tn,
ears Of Andrew Msleen. denuded o
the one vital fact that Minna ha,
married again and that his own chill,
still lived.
To the day of her death John Treyes
ca supposed she had been really
widow when she married him-as. @
course, did Minna herself. The onl
deception she had practiced consiste
In the concealment of her true nam,
When Minna died. John Treyecc
cherished her first-born.. the littl
Eunice. as his own. bringing her u
under his name. giving her a goo
education. even sending her to
country seminary for couple
terms: then. In turn. he moved ava
end no one In Nanticoke heard of hi
tor many years.
So much Of the past Roger Hev
had discovered when he returned
San Francisco to report to Mr.. Ca
boy. We have seen how he su
pressed the essential facts, complet
~ misleading the astute lawyer. VIII,
he went east for good it was WI
the idea OF tracing John Treyecea a,
his stepiaughter. He hoped that Il
girl still lived. and that. fortified wi
proofs Of the foregoing facts, he cou
eventually produce her as the rigl
ful heir to the millions of old Andre
Neleen-for that she was his legi
mate daughter. born in lawful We
lock. no one would be able to gains
In the face Of the evidence he cou
produce.
In one Of two or three ways He
proposed to turn this valuable sec,
TO his own profit: II the girl We
alive and unmarried and In huml
circumstances. he would try to ma
her his wife and divulSe the tru
afterwards: In which case Roger He
would have somewhat to say q
corning the spending and scatteri
Of old Andrews boarded wealth.
the girl we're already welded 70 ,
oehsf. tAea he hoped to md his
egRnt hy sslliag her and her husba