The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-02-28

1OuSHL JACKSON army, ana
 wards under Hood, where he rose to be colonel. When Lee laid down
 his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for
 three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe, and took 0 small estate in Sussex, near
 Horshann. He had made very con siderable fortune in the States. and
 his reason for leaving them was his
 aversion to the negroes, and his dis
 like of the Republican policy in ex-
 tending the franchise to them. He was singular man, fierce and quick
 he was angry. and of a most retiring disposition. During all the years
 that he lived at Horsham I doubt
 If ever he set foot in the town. He
 round his house. and there he would take his exercise, though very often
 for weeks on end he would never
 leave his room. He drank great
 heavily. but he would see no society l and did not want any friends, not
 even his own brother.
 "He didn't mind me. in fact, he | took a fancy to me, for at the time
 when he saw me first ! was a young
 ster of twelve or so. This would be
 in the year 1873. after he had been eight or nine years in England. He | begged my father to let me live with him ,and fe was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fond of playing backgammon and drnughts with me, and he would make mo his representative both with the servants and with the trades
 people. so that by the time that was
 house. I kept ali the keys. and could
 go where I liked and do what liked.
 so long as I did not disturb him in
 his privacy. There was. one singular
 gle room, q 1umoer-room up among the cities, which was invariably
 locked, and which he would never
 permit either ,ats me & or any one else to
 peeped through tho key-ho1e, but I
 was never able to see more than such a collection of old trunks and bun dles as would be expected in such a room.
 ''one day-it was in March, 1sss-l g letter with foreign stamp lay upon plate. It was not a, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. From In dicllerry postmark: What can this be-? Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried orange pips. which battered down upon his plate. began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. HIS lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding. his skin the envelope which he still held in his hand. K F. K.!' he shrieked, and then, My God, my God, my sins have overtaken ms!'
 "'What is 1t, unc1e?' I cried.
 Death said he, and rising from the. table he retired to his room, 1eav- | ing me paipitating with horror. took up the envelope. and saw scrawl- | ed in red ink upon the inner flap, just | above the gum. the letter K three | times repeated. There was nothing | elsa saye the iTa drted pjPs- What | .could be the reason of his overpow- 'ering terror? left the breakfast | table, and as I ascended the stair I l met him coming down with an old rusty key which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a, small brass box, like a cash box, in the | other
 "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still.' said he, | with an oath. Tell Mary that shall
 want a-hre in my room today. and | send down to Fordhan, the Horsham | lawyer
 q did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived was asked to step up to the room. The lire was burning a mass of black, fluffy ashes. as of burned paper while the brass box 1 stood open and empty beside it. As l glanced at the box I noticed with a start, that upon the lid were printed the treble Y which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
 ''' T wish you. John.' said my uncle, |
 to witness my will. leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages to my brother, your father, whence it will. no doubt. de- scend to you. If you can enjoy it in | peace. well and good, If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where MT. Fordham shows you
 ''I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with him. The singular incident made, | as you may think, the deepest impress sion upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every way in my mind without being able 10 make anything of it. Yet I could not which it left behind though the sen sation grew less keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened ito dis turb the usual routine of our lives. could see a change in my uncle, how ever. He drank more than ever. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his time he would spend in his room. with the sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a revolver in hlS mana. screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and that he was not ko be
 cooped up, like sheep in a pen, by
 man or devil When these hot its were over, however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door, and lock and bar it behind him like man
 who can brazen it out no longer
 against the terror which lies at the roots of his soul At such times l have seen his face, even on a cold
 day, .rlisten with moisture, as though it were new raised from a basin.
 Well, to come to an end of the matter, MT. Holmes, and not to abuse your patience, there came night
 when he made one of those drunken
 salIies from which he never came back We found him. when we went
 to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There