The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-07-20
ASINGULAR.
LETTER
BY JOHN Y. LARNED


tives, guardians or executors, but Their
are quite a number OF such instances
on record. When we remember wha
temptation a fortune Is and tn,
number Of INSCRIPTIONS persons in thu
world it is wonder that there are not
more such cases.
When / was In the high school
formed an attachment for girl nam
ed Hazel Mansfield. She belonged &c
wealthy family, while my parents
were poor Indeed, when | went L
college | was obliged to work my way
by teaching and other expedlents.
parted with Hazel Mansfield when we
were graduated at the high school and
did not meet her again for many
years.
After leaving college l studied law
and in time put out my single as an
attorney. had not practiced long be-
fore received by mail copy Of a
book handsomely bound and altogether
quite an acceptable gift After tearing
VII Lut IOfCLF Nhth was cohtup
looked eagerly on the fiyleaf for, the
name of the donor and was surprised
to find the leaf as blank as the day 1t
came out Of the manufacturers hands.
] ran through the pages, expecting
that a card would appear. but found
none. Then l opened the book and
shook it. There was nothing in it.
l examined the writing on the cover,
which was in woman's hand, but 1T
was not familiar to me: at least ! did
not remember II. was addressed as
an individual, not IS lawyer. | looked
all over the wrapper, but saw nothing
to give me any clew. The book, con-
sidering the way 1t came to me. was
a mystery.
A few days later | concluded to read
the book, hoping that there might be
something in the text that would sug-
gest an explanation. 1t was book OF
travels and to me very dull. l was
about to give up its perusal when |
came to light lead pencil mark under
the word my" l noted the fact and
read on. On the next page the word
dear" was similarly underscored. This
began to look as though l was on the
track of something. / now ceased to
read, but looked for another marked
word. 1t was odd" The next was
school" was somewhat dsappoint-
ed. for my dear old school" meant |
nothing to me. But turned the leaves |
till came to the word mate"
These FIVE words were revelation. |
My mind at once turned back to my |
school days, but | had number OF |
friends among them and could not set |
tie on any one who would be likely to
send me any such mysterious commu-
l read on and evolved the /
following sentence: II need both
friend and a lawyer" At this point
was SO eager to learn who was my
correspondent that | turned to the
back of the book and examined 1t from
the end to the beginning. Here I
found letters, not words, underscored.
The first letter marked was ID"
the next an a." the next an "e," the
next an a." the next an IL" l knew
was noting the letters backward and
kept trying by reading them in reverse
order. When l came to the #" / no.
ticed that thus far they spelled field"
Four letters more, read also in reverse,
gave me mans" The two syllables to-
yether gave Mansfield"
Could the communication come from
ny old chum Hazel Mansfield? looked
eagerly for the next letter, and, sure
enough. it was an a." / ran over the
pages rapidly, coming to re-" ~" "a"
h." In sequence.
Having discovered my correspondent,
was now impatient to know why she
lad need OF a friend and a lawyer.
Turning to the forward part Of the
,ook where / had left of, I began q
gain reading the message. 1t inform h
d me that the writer was held pris- g
ner in country house with no other S
ear neighbors by the executor of her #
ather's estate. She was kept there G
rafting legal permission to place her is
r to be disposed of in some other way
nat would enable the executor to ap-
ropriate her estate. A part of this she
new and part she surmised. She T
egged me to do something 20 extricate
err from her terrible position.
Her reason for sending me the book Sc
as that she was not permitted to Ily
,mmunfcate with any one She had st
,und the book in the library and at in
mes when she was not watched had da
1derscored the words and letters that
imposed the message. She was per- OF
tilted TO go out riding guarded by a
oman who was her jailer. She had "
the book. which she had =,
raped. addressed and stamped, in -
IT muff and while being driven out m
anaged, when the woman was look
s the other way. to drop ii out of the
rriage
All being explained. went to work
the case ut once. applying to the
urt for a habeas corpus, and before "a
ything could be done by the enemy of
{ Miss Mansfield out Of her jailer's an
secession. unearthed so much ras- ne
llty that before long had the ex- 80
utor Of the estate fleeing to some for co
N land. where he went into hiding TO
ep out Of jail he had squandered M,
e-half the estate that be had been TO