The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-08-15
CHAPTER vi
How Was 1t Got

than /, and she stepped into che hall
as readily as II there were nothing
strange in this-to me-surprising
visit. had left the door of the sit
ting room open; she glanced through
and saw Naythorne, and her first
words were businesslike enough.
you've Mr.. Maythorne there?
That's betterr' she said. "Well-"
l followed her into the room and
closed the door. Mayth0rne had
jumped to his feet; for second or two
the three of us stood gazing at each
other. AS for myself. felt utterly
at a loss: MaythOrne was quite calm
He drew chair in front of the fire.
silently motioning Sheila to 1t.
Miss Merchison Is here because
something has happened" he said
Exactly"
She thrust her hand into some inner
pocket and drew out a folded paper
AS quietly as If she were giving me
an ordinary letter to read she held it
out to me.
mir. MaythOrne is right she said
Something has happened. That's the
will! brought it 70 you-myseIf."
gave one glance at the signature
at its fOOt--here, without doubt, was
the will, made at York. of which
Postlethwaite had spoken ~ the in
quest. | handed 1t across to May
thorne.
"Where did you get this. Miss Mer-
Gibson? he asked.
The answer came promptly and
sharply-with a certain hardness Of
tone
"Stole it,"
"Stole it? FrOm-whOmf"
mo use beating about the bush
now! | stole il from my own mother !"
MaythOrne and exchanged glances !:
SheiIa looked from one to the other
81 dare say you've heard perhaps
known, of cases where daughters have
had to tell the truth about their own
mothers. Mr.. MaythOrne?" she said.
"Well-whether it's wrong or not, I'm
going to tell the truth about mine.
stole that will from her this morning,
because knew she'd no right what
ever to be in possession of it, and
when I'd got it, jumped on my
bicycle and made off to Black Gill
Junction. and caught the next train
going sOuth-tO hand ii over! If
hadn't, who knows what would have
become of it?"
"Yes?' said MaythOrne. Exactly.
But-yOu know a lot more than tn 1t.
Miss Merchison. And-we three are
alone"
She put her fingers together in her
lap-I noticed they trembled a little.
YES" she answered. 81 know. a
lot more than that. Let me ,ell you.
for it's no use denying it, that my
mother is one of those women who
love money-mOney. t. her, means all
sorts of things-never mind what.
saw from the beginning that as soon
as il was put into her mind that
Mazaroff was really Merchison. the
idea of getting hold OF his fortune be-
gan to shape itself.
swell, didn't know what my moth
er might do: don't know now, tell
you both, and at once, what she has
done-I only know that somehow or
other she became possessed of that
will. and that I've stolen it from her
and given II up to you. That came
about in this way. Night before last,
latish i'm the evening. my mother did
a most unusual thing for her. Some
little time after dinner she went out,
saying that she was going TO see an
old man who is living Ill i'm the VILLAGE.
Now, my mother is not by no means
women who are i'll and | was sur
prised that she should take so much
trouble in this particular instance.
tell you both | suspected something
then, but didn't knew what! Could
help it?"
'Go on" said Maythorne. quietly.
Tell us everything"
well, last night. the same thing
occurred again." continued Sheila
'She went out, on the same excuse,
and she was away still iOnger. heard
her come in-I went to see If there
was anything | could do for her. And
it was then | made a discovery. She
was in the inner library. | saw her
through the curtains that shut il off
from the big library. There was a
she stood by ii examining q sheet of
paper. And-I don't know if ii was
intuition, or WHAT flashed across
me that what she WIS looking at was
the missing will! SO-weil. then
watched her-I'll confess it. She read
the paper through, folded it up. looked
round, and then went over to one of
the bookcases, and slipped the paper
into a big vO'ume in a corner. Then
| went Off-and | didn't sleep.
knew there was-mischief. was GER
tain-dead certain THAT paper was
the will, wherever aid however she
had got it, And in the middle of the
night | got up, and went down, and
got the paper out in the dark, and
then just struck a match-and of
course one glance was enough. | put
il back, and went back to bed. And
then there was no sleep. | felt-Oh.
| don't know what | felt There was
devilry sOmewhere-clOse at hand.
My own mother or not what bust
ness had she with that will? Where
did she get it? By what means? Was
she mixed up Without | didn't dare
to think about wha: she might be
mixed up with What did realize
was this-the probability was that If
the will remained in her possession.
she'd destroy it, and then-well then,
all sorts of things would happen that
| didn't want to happen. And so !
determined to take matters into my
own hands. got up early. took the
will got on nv bcycle and SET off