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THE FATAL REQUEST
OR FOUND OUT
By A L Harris Author of Mine Own Familiar Friend oic
Copyright 1801 by Oat tell Pub II t hlng Company
Copyright 1002 by Street Smith
CHAPTER XVII Continued
Ive been dreaming he said to
hlmseir I thought everything had
been made quite clear to me about
Was he dreaming still or was there
some one in the room beside himself
Some one sitting before the writing
table and bending forward as though
The figure had a pen in its
hand but it made no sound as it
traveled over the paper The next
moment it had raised its head so that
he saw the face It is the continua
tion of my dream he said and rub
bed his eyes He looked again There
was nothing there
How does that chair come to be
there in its old place I thought I
had pushed it back against the wall
and I have no recollection of moving
it again It is very strange
He rested his hand upon the back
of the chair Oh it was real enough
There was no mistake about it But
he could have sworn he had never
moved Ah what in heavens name
was that A simple enough thing
surely to cause so much amazement
and what surely not fear in the
beholder Only a pen lying upon the
blotting pad beside a sheet of paper
But the pen was wet and there were
fresh words added to those he had
himself written before he fell asleep
The sheet of paper was the one
upon which he had written those
vague and disconnected phrases
which had caused him so much per
plexity and unprofitable speculation
Tney had been written irregularly
just in the same order that they had
occupied on the mutilated sheet with
blank spaces between each broken
sentence Nov each blank space had
been filled in and it was with per
fectly indescribable sensations that he
read the copy as it now stood
If you have not forgotten the
friend of twenty years ago you will
on receiving this letter start at once
for Dover which place I expect to
reach to morrow morning There is
sisted of only a few lines but those
few lines seemed to afford him con
siderable satisfaction judging by the
play of his features Indeed to the
two who were watching him it seem
ed as though the expression which
overspread his face were almost one
of triumph
Doctor he said will you excuse
me a moment I have to send an
answer to this by the bearer
He spoke rapidly and still that
spirit of elation was perceptible in his
words and actions He seemed quite
to have cast off that air of abstraction
which had characterized his demean
or previously He quitted the room
leaving his sister and friend
Now said the latter to himself
Go it Jeremiah Nows your chance
Make yourself agreeable for once in
your life But dont forget that you
were forty four last birthday and you
look it every bit Ahem I suppose
you are very much attached to your
brother Miss Burritt
Attached to him was the ex
clamation Of course I am
Exactly so and Im sure its very
much to your credit Your brother
seems hardly to be himself I dont
remember that he was as nervous and
shaky as he appears to be now when
I first met him though he had a lot
to try him and
She put her finger upon her lips
and gave a nervous glance at the door
before she answered sinking her
voice to a whisper
He lias been like that ever since
the funeral He goes and shuts him
self up for hours and I know that he
is always thinking of that man who
killed my father and planning how
he can hunt him down and bring him
to the gallows I dont mind telling
you because I know I can trust you
but leaning across the table toward
him I cant help feeling sorry some
times for that other man
My dear young lady I agree with
The figure had a pen in its hand
that between us which I think will not
allow you to deny this favor which I
ask I have much to say to you and
many questions to put which you
alone can answer to my satisfaction
If you refuse I shall think rightly or
wrongly that you still regard me
more as the criminal than what I once
was the friend of ycur youth
J
The young man read this through
Who had written it Whose hand
had completed the broken sentences
and given them the meaning which
they had heretofore lacked Could he
have done it himself while in a state
of somnambulism No for the hand
writing was not his At a glance he
could distinguish the words which
he had written himself The
words over which he had labored
and perplexed his soul The words
which had seemed to cast a slur upon
the memory of his dead father which
was now removed
He turned the sheet over There
on the other side were those words
the last probably his father ever
wrote My dear together with
date April 2Srd
He looked again at those mysteri
ous sentences upon which the ink
still glistened They were written in
the same hand
CHAPTER XVIII
The Advertisement
Next mornirg a party of three were
assembled at breakfast
You dont seem to have much of
an appetite this morni ig remarked
Dr Cartwright addressing his host
who appeared rather distraught with
a tendency to start when spoken to
Hows that
The young man replied as he fid
geted with his knife and fork That
he didnt seem to care to eat any
thing somehow
At this moment there was an inter
ruption A maid presented herself
with a letter which had just come by
hand and gave it to her young mas
ter stating at the same time that the
bearer wes waiting for an answer
A letter and come by hand He
started as though he had been
dint mid the doctor noticed that his
hand went up to the breast pocket j
of his coat as though tnere were
something there he The doctor shook
his head as he made this observation
Ted Burritt took the letter held out
to him glanced at the superscription
and tore it open It apparently con-
wtmwMmjLw
every word you have said and I am
much flattered by the confidence you
have shown in me But Im afraid
its no use talking to him I was
the same at his age he continued
but at forty four one sees things dif
ferently
Are you forty four Dr Cart
wright she inquired innocently
Then you are not quite a quarter of
a century older than I am I shall be
twenty next month
T wish I hadnt been in such a devil
of a hurry to be born thought the
doctor I wish I had waited another
ten or fifteen years or so I wish shed
got red hair and a squint or that I
was cut out after a different pattern
myself
Later in the morning he paid a visit
to the lady of the house She sat up
in bed to receive him with her Indian
shawl over her shoulders and allowed
him to feel her pulse in the friendliest
possible way But when Dr Cart
wright had left the room he shook his
head and remarked to himself Un
less Im Tery much mistaken that
woman is dying of just nothing at
all
Doctor said Ted Burritt meeting
him at the foot of the stairs I am
afraid I shall have to leave you for
an hour or two a little matter of
busiress you know
Dont hurry back on my account
i shant miss you in the least Hes
off Ill just go and No he isnt
Why whats he coming back for For
gotten something
Ive dropped a letter the one I re
ceived this morning I thought I put
it in my pocket but it isnt there I
suppose you havent seen anything of
the kind lying about ho cast a
hasty glance round him but not see
ing it Ne er mind he said After
all it is not cf much consequence and
I know the contents
The doer banged again and he was
gone A few moments later his sister
crossed the hall
I wonder what the doctors doing1
she said It is very rude of us to
leave him to himself in this way
Whats that
Her eye had been caught by some
thing white lying on the mat at her
feet She picked it up and saw that
it was a letter the contents of which
merely consisted of a couple of lines
as follows
Dear Sir The luggage has been
claimed Can you call upon me at
11 oclock this morning
Yours
obediently
JOHN SHARP
i
Dr Cartwright did not return homo
by the first train next day Tho mere
mention on his part of such a pur
pose being scouted as preposterous
by his entertainers
I thought you spoke of three days
at the least as the length of your
visit said his host and I want to
have a long talk with you to day if
you dont mind
Mind said the doctor its just
what I should like
They were at breakfast when this
occurred and the morning paper had
just been brought in Ted Burritt
had been glancing over its columns in
a careless way with the air of one
who feels certain that they are not
likely to contain anything to interest
him when turning the sheet his at
tention was accidentally caught and
held by something which appeared
among the advertisements There he
sat his mouth slightly open and a
vivid spot caused by excitement or
some other feeling on each cheek
Anything very remarkable in the
paper this morning asked the doc
tor with an affectation of indiffer
ence but noticing every change in
the countenance before him from be
hind his spectacles This remark re
called the other to himself He seem
ed annoyed that he had betrayed his
feelings so openly and crumpling up
the paper threw it on one side before
answering Nothing whatever There
is absolutely no news worthy of the
name
Now thought the doctor is ho
deliberately telling an untruth or
what Oh certainly I must get to
the bottom of this Aloud he merely
observed There never does seem to
be much in the papers nowadays
Now when I was in the 47th etc
Notwithstanding this last remark he
did not forget to take an early oppor
tunity of examining the paper
I wish I had noticed which page
it was he said to himself as he ran
his finger down each column in suc
cession But I dont see anything like
ly to account for the boyss peculiar
behavior Oh here you are as the
door opened Think of the devil
you know and Hullo you look
very much excited about something
What is it
I am excited was the answer
And youll be excited too when you
have heard all I have to say
Dr Jeremiah stared at the young
man in astonishment Then All
right he said fire away and aston
ish me as much as you like
Not here he answered I want
you to come with me to the room that
was my fathers study and where
we shall be sure of not being disturb
ed as I keep the key myself and
never allow any one to enter it
They crossed the hall Ted unlock
ed the door they entered and he lock
ed it again behind them
Dr Cartwright looked round him
with considerable interest He notic
ed the dust now lying thicker than
ever upon every object small and
great He dusted a chair with his
pocket handkerchief before venturing
to sit down Then he took off his
spectacles and polished them care
fully Now he said as he settled
himself Im quite ready to be aston
ished
You asked me a moment or two
back whether I had found the other
man said Ted meaning of course
the murderer I have
Quite sure said the doctor still
preserving his equanimity
I will give you the whole story
from the day we parted You know
all that went before
He began with the accourt of the
burnt letter and the little doctor lis
tened with an interest he found im
possible to disguise Its a sad pity
it should have been so nearly des
troyed was the first remark he
made because of course it is im
possible to tell now what the rest
of the contents might have been
To be continued
MISTAKEN IN THE DIAGNOSIS
Doctors Error Affected the Size of
His Pocketbook
Albert Levering the black-and-white
artist responsible for so many
comics used to live in Chicago but
lecently transferred his allegiance to
New York He took his hypochon
driacal tendencies with him and they
are still in good working order His
favorite pastime is to read of some
deadly disease preferably a new one
go to bed imagining he has it lie
av ake all night seek his doctor in the
morning and get assurance that he is
in perfect health and then go back
cheerfully to work
One morning not long ago he turned
up at the doctors just as the man
of medicine was getting into his car
riage
Im in a hurry called the doctor
and cant stop to see you but its
all right you havent got it
Havent got what demanded the
astonished artist
Whatever it is you think youve
got Not a symptom of it Good bye
and he drove away
Well now said Levering turning
to a lamp pdet as the only witness of
the scene thats the time hes mis
taken I know I have got it ten dol
lars in my pocket to pay his last bill
but if hes sure I havent Ill try tc
get in line with his diagnosis am
he went around to the nearest jun
shop and invested the money in a
pair of brass candlesticks and a cop
per kettle Philadelphia Post
Russian Doctors
Russia is very short of doctors hav
ing only eight for every 100000 inhab
itants Great Britain has ISO for the
same number
TELLS PLAIN TRUTH
CHAMBERLAINS POWERFUL AD
DRESS AT CARDIFF
Upon the Consuming Capacity of
Their Own People All Producing
Countries Must Mainly Depend for
General and Permanent Prosperity
Among the speeches delivered by
Joseph Chamberlain in his vigorous
campaign for protection in Great Brit
ain that of Nov 20 at Cardiff is
one of the ablest and most interesting
His main endeavor was to enforce
the proposition that it is upon its own
home market that a country must
chiefly depend for substantial and en
during prosperity In this he succeed
ed thoroughly He told the Cardiff
coal operators that it was of far more
value to them to sell their coal for
use at home than to export it to for
eign countries and that they would
suffer from any condition that should
work against the industries of Great
Britain as a whole
The story of the lost trade in tin
plate must have made a strong im
pression upon the Welshmen who had
lost it In 1892 Mr Chamberlain told
them they exported 450000 tons and
the United States was tneir principal
market Last year they sold only
65000 tons to the United States The
McKinley tariff of 1891 was what
brought about the change As the
United States now produces 400000
tons of tin plate yearly and employs
50000 wage earners in that industry
He warned the Welshmen that they
could not hope to hold even the trade
of G5000 tons for the United States
will soon make all of the tin plate
which it requires
Just at this point Mr Chamberlain
made a curious slip He declared that
in 1890 if Great Britain had had a
protective tariff as a basis for corn
tariff on the tin plate could have been
prevented Said he
What special interest had the
United States of America in keeping
a trade which only amounted to 550
tons of tin plate if we had been able
to go to them and say If you will
leave tin plates to us we will in
return give you something or even
if we had said If you will leave tin
plates to us there is something we
will take from you And in either of
these cases if we had dealt with busi
ness men as business men ourselves
I believe we could have made an
than at the present time The hotels
and cottagers along tho great St Law
rence river if free trade wore estab
lished would buy their commissary
supplies much cheaper than at tho
present time The American camper
along the St Lawrence can steal over
into Canada and buy a leg of mutton
for about half the American price and
he concludes that that is a nice thing
to be able to do Everything is cheap
er in Canada than in the United States
because there is a greater demand in
the United States and more people to
be fed If our tariff laws wero
changed several millions of Amer
icans living near the Canadian borders
would be fed and fatten on the prod
ucts of Canada These are the issues
as they are and not as they are made
to appear to be at the so called reci
procity conventions The reciproc
ity sentiment comes from Minneap
olis where the mills are sighing for
Canadian wheat from Detroit where
the people would like to have the
American wage system continued and
also like to have the benefit of the
low priced farm and family supplies
from across the border in Canada
The Minneapolis mills are now owned
by English capital and the Minneapolis
newspapers announce that they are in
favor of reciprocity with Canada
which would include free wheat A
great many people in Boston are in
favor of reciprocity with Canada be
cause they could buy beef and pork
butter and eggs cheaper from the Can
adians than they can buy them now
trom the people of Iowa By the way
how could a Canadian treaty be ar
ranged Are we to swap wheat for
wheat corn for corn hogs for hogs
cattle for cattle butter for butter
eggs for eggs These are competitive
articles They are the staples of both
countries Blaines idea of reciprocity
was to swap northern products for
tropical products He never proposed
to try to trade with the people that
wprp in thn samp hiiKinosK ns the neo- t
pie of our own country Reciprocal
treaties with Canada have been diffi
cult and unsatisfactory because both
people are in the same business The
Americans have the advantage of the
Canadians because we have a great
country and a great home market
They have a great country and no
home market Therefore they are talk
ing glibly about reciprocity and
sugesting that the American people
are mean and ungenerous because
they do not trade and buy more stuff
from Canada Some of our own peo
ple say that we ought to be good and
SOUNDING THE ALARM
izj ijrm V Jftlfe
rangement It would have been bet
ter worth while for Mr McKinley to
have allowed tin plates to remain to
us provided on his side he had em
ployment for American workmen to
a larger extent in some other industry
in which America was interested
We think Mr Chamberlain is mis
taken in supposing it possible to have
made such a dicker with Mr McKin
ley just as we think he will experi
erce great difficulty in persuading the
colonies to refrain from industrial de
relopment along lines that conflict
itsh British production The tenden
cy of live progressive peoples of the
AigiO Saxon race is to make things
for themselves not to pay foreigners
for making them Mr McKinley had
the sagacity to see in tin plate the
possibilities of a new and valuable
industry if suitably safeguarded by a
protective tariff and it is idle to sup
pose that he could have been persuad
ed to side track his splendid project
because of any trade dicker which
Great Britain could possibly have pro
posed Neither do we think that Can
ada and Australia will consent to
stiO their own industrial develop
nec in return for the proffer of tar
irf preferences on their natural
pro li cts Mr Chamberlain will un
dotbvedIy succeed in displacing free
t a m and installing protection but he
Lar yet to learn what protection is
roi and that the old plan of keeping
the colonies in a state of industrial
subjection and dependency will not
work The world is moving too fast
for that
FREE TRADE STALKING HORSE
Reciprocity Being Used as an Indirect
Way cf Surrendering the Home Mar
ket
The proposition to establish closer
trade relations with Canada has been
stirred up once more The stirring up
comes -from the towr and cities in
the United States located along the
Canadian border Such towns and
cities for their own benefit would
like to have free trade with Canada
As a result of such free trade they
would secure family supplies such as
butter eggs beef and pork cheaper
blow our money into Canada Reci
procity as a general proposition is
now simply used as a means of giv
ing up part of the American home
market to the foreigner Some people
are attempting to do by reciprocity
what they have been unable to do bj
free trade Des Moines Capital
Olive Milns Protectionist
I was driven out of England says
Olive Iilns in a contribution to the
American Economist Why Not
for any crime not because of any of
fense or dereliction Simply because
as a woman she could not support
herself in that free trade country So
she came to this protected country
With what result she tells most forc
ibly and entertainingly Denied the
privilege of self respecting self-support
in the land of her birth she sail
ed for this glorious country as she
says where industries are protected
from foreign competition where a
woman can be somebody and do some
thing for herself No American can
read the story told by Miss Milns
without a feeling of pride at the tri
bute which she pays to the superior
corditions which prevail here in rela
tion to womans work No fair mrd
can reject her conclusion that it is
because of protection that women finC
in our country opportunities ard pos
sibilities such as are not to be had in
fvee trade England It is a potenc
plea for protection from a womans
point cf view
A Food Tariff in England
The fear has been expressed in
some quarters that a food tax in Eng
land will lessen the market value oi
cur exports of agriculture Singular
ly enough this sort of opinion comes
from those who have all tneir lives
held that the consumer pays the tax
It cannot be denied that a British tax
on food might have some effect on the
price of our agricultural exports but
it would be because of a lowered con
sumption on account of higher British
prices and not because the Britisher
can transfer his import tax to the
American producer Kansas City
Journal
PBOUD SHIP WAITED
WHILE LONGSHOREMEN SHOWED
RESPECT FOR COMRADE
Story of How a Great Ocean Liner
Strained at Her Dock While Work
men Attended Funeral of One of
Their Brotherhood
Once upon a time an ocean liner
had to wait five hours for a man Tho
man was only a dock hand Ills name
was Jim
Tho story amazed me It was re
peated by several men before I could
believe it For of all things under
heaven there Ik nothing more symbolic
of power and wealth and the rising
surge of a whole worlds commerce
than an ocean liner
The ship must sail Men strained
day and nights on the docks often
thirty hours without sleep to load
late rush cargoes of freight
Men toil in a turmoil of tumbling
crates and barrels of huge loads
swung by derricks Men slip and are
maimed some are killed and forgot
ten The ship goes on The ship
must sail
In this cane it had to wait and for
a dock hand
It happened two years back The
B was unloading Jim was far
down in the bottom of the hold Every
few seconds the daylight was almost
blotted out by a great mass of cargo
dragged twisting and turning up sixty
feet to the deck above
Presently a massive mahogany log
weighing seven tons was to be raised
and Jim helped fasten the rope A
comrade signaled by the wave of his
arm to the men far above The great
derrick strained The rope tightened
Jim gave a short startled cry The
signal had been given too soon He
was wedged in between the huge logi
and the steel side of the hold and was
crushed to death in an instant
The legal term for this is contribu
tory negligence On the docks each
year brings scores of deaths and hun
dreds of accidents Most of them
are legally due to negligence and
the man gets no damages
Still even a negligent man must
be allowed to live His wife and his
little children must not starve And
so on pay day you will find at most
docks a box by the pay window into
which the big hearted longshoremen
drop part of their pay for the sake of
a comrade maimed in the weeks ir
regular surge of commerce
So Jims funeral expense were paid
by the men Fortunately he had no
family Jim was young in his early
twenties with a kind heart and a
cheery wit that had already been felt
and loved by his three hundred com
panions
He was killed on Saturday I lis fun
eral was to come Tuesday morning
On Tuesday morning the great ship
must sail It must be loaded
Suddenly there occurred to some
one a startling unheard of idea The
ship can wait Once started this
heresy was hotly discussed It spread
with lightning speed It mot with
amazing success Not a man could be
found on the dock Tuesday morning
The great ocean liner was delayed
five hours simply by the death of one
negligent longshoreman whose 300
mates loved him well enough to attend
the funeral even though it should
have cost them their jobs Ernest
Poole in Chicago American
WHAT THE STARS ARE
Ohemical Matter Is the Same in All
the Twinkling Lights
In concluding a valuable series of
articles on the Chemistry of the
Stars A Fowler writes as follows
Notwithstanding the divergence of
opinion on some points there is a
general acquiescence in the view that
the matter composing the stars is
essentially the same as that with
which we are acquainted on the
3aith
This leading idea is admirably ex
pressed by Sir William and Lady
Huggins in the following passage in
their Atlas of Representative Stellar
Spectra As the conclusion of the
vhole matter though there may be
no reason to assume that the propor
tions of the different kinds of chemi
cal matter are strictly the same in
all stars or that the roll of chemical
elements is equally complete in every
star the evidence appears to be
strong that the principal types of star
spectra should not be interpreted as
produced by great original differences
ot chemical constitution but rather as
successive stages of an evolutional
progress bringing about such altered
conditions of density temperature and
mingling of stellar gases as are suffi
cient presumably to account for the
spectral differences observed even
though with our present knowledge a
complete explanation may not be
forthcoming
Inestigations are still in progress
in many lands and it is not too much
to expect that sooner or later the
story of celestial evolution will he
completely elucidated Knowledge
The Wheat Song
Brothers brothers lis dark down here
Brothers brothers O fel the sun
Yvhisp s the wheat beneath our feet
In the glow of life begun
Tro there brothers the light fs good
Brother- brothers my sa runs strong
Mi rmurs each blade bv the warm wind
swayed
In an endless whispering sonsr
Brothers brothers Im fair and troas
Brothers brothers Im crowned with
Kold
Vhicers the wheat with its task con
plfte
And tile tale of its labors told
Brothers brother th earth was dark
Brothers brothers the world is fair
But we struggled on and we gained a
crown
Whifh eJch of u mav wear
Etafr B yj on m The Reader