The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-05
CHATTER VI.

A few days after tho nows of MT. Knights accident Bertram and Eva decided that they would take a trip to Wimbledon. visit the alms-house and find out for certainty if it was Uncle Rufus who was there. They wanted to have no doubt about 1t and to find out if hts mind was affected and to what extent he was afflicted with the loss of his memory. The official who brought them the news thought 1t was very kind of them to take so much trouble concerning him as he was nothing but a worthless servant and made haste to tell them so.
 They were taken into tho infr1nary. a long room with cots ranged along the sides. In the cot at the farthest lying.
 Yes. yes, that Is the man. It's Pierce all right He was our gar dener for two years until I finally could not stand his intemperance any longer" Bertram deliberately lied.
 Well. Pieroe." said Eva, as che looked down at him, ''I hope you TO- a1izs now how dangerous drink Is. I warned you a good many times about 1t but you would pay no heed
 The poor old man looked puzzled
 
 doctor. He cannot speak a word, you know" said tho latter, but by the look in his eyes we feel that he understands what Is being said to him |"
 Isn't 1t rather an unusual case7- asked Eva.
 ''Sot as unusual as you might think"
 'Gs there any hope of recovery" broke in Bertram.
 "A very slight chance at his age And then if, as you say, he led a dis sipated life there is hardly a possibil- fly" replied the doctor cautiously.
 Well, it's too bad. but l do not feel that we are in any way respon- sible for his maintenance. I hap pen to know that he has not a single relative living, SO l guess he is in the right place. What a blessing there are such places as these where such q man can be taken care of Come Eva, we must go now" and the heartless pair left the room and went out to their motor-car that was stand ing before the high gates. a motor car paid for with the money tho poor old man they had just left had worked so hard to earn.
 Well, we got through that rather well. I'll say" laughed Bertram. We fastened the name Pierce to him pretty securely. I guess we do not need to worry now. We cer- tainly fell on our feet Poor Uncle Rufusi I should never have thought of wanting him to meet with such an accident. but as long the accident did happen I'm not very much averse to spending his money. He never knew how to spend it, anyway, and hen be fed and kept warm there. so what more does he need?" He urged the chauffeur to show some sased and away they few.
 Meanwhile the olG man was won dering while he lay on his bed. That was all he could do. There was A fog in his brain-a peculiar misty feeling that he cos1d not penetrate. And what was the matter with his tongue He could not seem to move it. They had said his name was Pierce. Perhaps it was; he didn't know. He could remember nothing --abso1utely nothing. If they had uaid his name was Smith and that he had stolen the crown Jewels he would not have known any less about 1t. Ac- cording to what they had said he was fin an alms-house. He wondered how he got there and stil1 more anxiousIy he wondered how he would get out. Tears came to his eyes and with frantic desperation he tried to speak. Not word could he form. The harder he tried to recall some thing from his past the thicker the veil seemed to grow that shut his eormer life from him. "Oh. God have