The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1917-06-08

belle Of the region In those days, but
she Is still Miss Stanbury; so there's
the romance, all right. The girl with
her Is her brothers daughter. an or
phan. In fact, that's the whole Stan,
bury family over there"
"a beautiful girl" said Drummond
And he turned his mind again to the
story Of the nameless soldier. with an
obvious effort. as II constrained by
some impulse of his nature. an Unborn
love Of the curiosities of life.
Couldn't the man tell who he was? r
he asked.
Il believe there was some slight pa
ralysis OF the muscles of the jaw. re-
sulting from wound" said l. my
father could tell you. They understood
him to say that he was William Pendu
lum. and his gravestone bore that
name for many years. But nothing
could be learned about him. He was
never traced back beyond Portland.
And ten years or more ago. when the
war department records were over
hauled and saved from chaos and de-
cay. the local q. A. II. investigated this
case and came to the conclusion that
no such man as William Pendulum
was ever in the army. So the name
was erased from the stone. There's no
doubt. however. that this man was a
soldier. with the rank Of second lieu
tenant His uniform gave no clew TO
his regiment. however. There was no
number on 1t: 1t had seen too much
service and he had not a scrap Of pa
per In his pockets"
Nobody ever knew why he came
here, eh?" said Drummond. "Could he
have got off the boat by mistake?"
II wasn't born till some years after
ward" 1 rejoined. my information is
all secondhand and in very misty
condition. If you're really interested
I'll Introduce you to Miss Stanbury- the
elder
Both, If you please" said Drum
mond. with smile. And we strolled
across to the spot where they stood.
my friend muttering to himself: pen
dumm. Pendulum. Never heard Of a
man named Pendulum before"
In spite of Drummond's expressed
desire to meet pretty Margaret Stan
bury. he devoted himself to the maiden
aunt while we remained in the burial
ground and during our walk to the
little old house where they lived
Moreover, he was enthusiastic In praise
of Aunt Jane afterward.
"a fine mind and true heart" he
declared. "a thoroughly cultivated wo-
man and hot the least embittered.
She could shine in the most exalted
circles of society except for the very
hard up?"
'She is, indeed" | answered. land
Margaret, of course, has nothing. She
has an eye on the typewriter, poor
girl. But what did Aunt Jane tell you
about the soldier?"
"She is sure about the name," said
he after a pause. 1T was Pendulum.
sure enough. 1t seemed that the un-
fortunate fellow repeated it over and
over again. But Miss Stanbury says
that his first name was not William.
To her ear it sounded more like Willis.
Willis N. Pendulum-that was the way
she heard it-but the doctor was
strong for William and carried his
point. And l always thought that
Yankees were smart!'
This exclamati ton hardly seemed to
dit the context, and / asked Drummond
what he meant.
EITHER there are stupid folks In
Kingsford or l am misled by a wild
delusion," he replied, but declined to
give me any clear view of his mind.
This matter Of speaking in riddles"
he told me in answer to a protest, lis
reporters habit We go out on stories
together. and every fellow Is trying to
beat the others. We keep our points to
ourselves. and as it is very hard to re-
frain from speech entirely we learn to
talk without saying anything. And that
reminds me that I'm thinking of going
back to the trade. | haven't much Of
stake except this property down here.
That's enough to save a lazy man
from work." said |. "Cut 1t up into
sites for summer cottages. and you can
sell them to the elect Of Boston. This
place is getting fashionable. tell you
It's fortune"
II believe you. my friend" said he.
And yet I'll bet that go back to re
porting"
"You have my permission" said |.
somewhat annoyed. but more per
picked.
"By the way" he remarked mo-
ment later. IL suppose you know where
Miss Stanbury found Lieutenant Pen
duum? No? Well. she found him In
front of her own gate.
what Of it, said |
Arthur Merrill. the man TO whom
she was engaged. was dead at that
time. but the news had not reached
Kingsford. The cousin. George Mer-
rill. knew II. however. or had known 1t
a few days before. He. too, was dead
on the day When your wandering sol
der arrived here. He bad died In
hospital In Pennsylvania. got these
facts from Miss Stanbury. and your
father verified them"