Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-17
The Argus Daily Short Story
How Her Fortune Came.-By Anna Bentley
Copyrighted. by Associated Literary Presa

What relief: | cannot inherit IN
less by will. And yet what singu-
lar position in which to be placed.
If will is found making me an heir
ess / shall doubtless have to answer to
charge of numbering the man who
loved me well enough to leave me his
property. God grant that no will may
be found. or, if one is found, may
some one other than / be the bene-
fciary. / would rather work and
starve than go through the ordeal of
being mistaken for a murderesS. Think
of the long wait In jail for a trial.
my portrait everywhere staring me In
the face. gaped at in n crowded court
room. My God. shall go mad!
May 20.
For a week 1 have been dreading an
arrest. / fancy every one with whom
l come in contact is detective watch
ing me. l am getting thin and have
lost all my color. must divert my
mind and look less worried or IT will
be assumed that my crime is preying
upon me. ! Will try to read. Perhaps
a sensational novel would draw my
thoughts from this frightful sensation
Of my own.
I hive been 70 the library and
brought home book How kind that
librarian was TO me! wonder X be
knew that l was dreading terrible
misfortune. When he was telling me
about the singular things he finds be-
tween the leaves OF books returned to
the library l forgot my trouble. He
says be Ends everything from a love.
letter to a hairpln. How careless we
women are. Men seldom leave things
between the pages of books, but men
don't read as many books as women.
May 81.
The will has been found. 1 am heir
ess TO a great fortune. l have been
congratulated 1 limited to one Of my
congratulations that shall be suspect
ed of having poisoned uncle. He re-
piled that / would at least have mil
lions for defense But that would not
remove the charge. the trial and the
stain to follow. The same person babe
me not worry. He says that detec-
tlves have been watching my every
act since the crime was committed
and they have admitted to not getting
a single item of evidence against me.
l knew it. That woman who insisted
on coming in to make a dress for me
for a song was one Of them. That
man I saw ct so many places, In the
shops, on the street, everywhere, was
another l am not treasured by the
person who has comforted me, but j
have finished my book and will so for
another. l long TO talk to my friend
the librarian about what is on my
mind. He has become my only conf
dant.
am electrified by a spark of hope
This morning received a letter ad
dressed in a strange hand. 1 studied
the superscription n long while, but
could not make out from whom it
could be. It was postmarked as sent
from this town. Finally 1t occurred to
me TO open It. / suppose would have
done so before had my mind not been
so tortured by the frightful specter
that has been hanging over me. What
was my surprise to see at the bottom
Of the letter. Your friend The Libra
rian.'
This Is what he says:
After talking with you yestera ay went
q detailed report of the doctors who were
deputed to nnalyze the poison found In
the case OF your late uncle. Suddenly
my fingers released their grip on the pa
per- and II fell to the floor. An idea had
flashed upon me. What a singular fac
uity n memory, and how marvelously IL is
awakened. ] remembered a wet. dismal
night q month ago when i was sitting at
my desk In the library. young man.
stranger to me, came in and asked for
rare work Of q foreign author. Since II
had never been called for before should
not have remembered Il except for its
rarity. ! went TO the shelf. whore
found 10 covered with dust. took it down
and gave IL TO the stranger.
II was q treatise on poisons.
group OF events recorded in my brain
had led mo TO this remembrance. Ny
chats with you as 20 your uncle's death.
all ! have heard about It and lastly this
report OF the doctcrE-rnight not that book
contain mention OF the poison reported by
them as having been used TO kill your I'M
clio. and might not this in some way con-
naot this stranger with the murder?
hurried to the library. found the book.
which had been returned. and ananed it.