Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1904)
|i THE FATAL REQUEST I I OR FOUND OUT By A. L. Harrie Author of "Mine Own familiar Friend." etc. 9 Copyright, that, by C n * • e l l Publishing Company. ® Copyright, l y o tt , bystreet Smith. CHAPTER XIV.—Continued. All. though still legible, were more or less injured by the fiery ordeal to which they had been in some degree subjected. The fire, which had stopped before reaching the upper part of the hotly, had been sufficient for this. He ran his eye over then) again. What was that? Something which ■crackled as he laid hiv hand upon one of the pap* rs nearest to him. it was i sheet of foreign note paper, much singed, and written only upon one side. He pushed nil the other papers to gether in a heat). Then, with the burnt letter before him, with an elbow planted on each side, and iiis head supported between his hands, he bent f’imscii to the task of deciphering what still remained. At last, after et least an hour spent in this way, he made a gesture of despair. "! suppose I must give it up. Tim task is beyond me- at least, this por tion of it.” He cast his eve again over the words. "They ti ll me nothing as they are. They even serve to east sonic implica tion upon my father’s honor, and-” He broke off abruptly, and the color forsook his face. What was it the doctor had hinted at? Something dis • red!table in the past ? lie glanced at tin) paper again. "But this speaks of something worse-” He gave a hasty look round, as though he half-feared the possibility of the presence of a listener, as he whispered the words—"Something criminal!" He took up his pen again, and once more concentrate d his whole attention upon the- burnt letter. The paper before him contained a number of broken phrases—the be ginnings and fragments of sentences. The upper part of the letter had been vealing another compartment behind tlie first. This at first seemed to contain noth ing but i packet of old letters, tied round with a faded blue ribbon. They were his mother’s letters, written be fore her marriage, and treasured ever since. A bundle of old love letters. Was that all? No. there was something else. A photograph, faded and yellow, like the letters. A photograph of a young man. in the dress, that now seemed old fashioned and ridiculous, of twen ty or thirty years ago. The features were hardly distinguishable, but on the back was written a name and a date-—"James Ferrers, taken June, I8.0S.” CHAPTER XV. The New Client. Mr. John Sharp's offices were situ ated off the Strand. And at 11 o'clock one morning Mr. John Sharp was seated in his private room, expecting a visitor, or, as Mr. Sharp would have expressed it .himself, a client. While waiting for the latter to put in an appearance. hj whiled away the time with the morning paper. At the particular moment to which we refer, his attention was engaged by something in the top right hand corner of the outside sheet, which seemed to afford him a considerable amount of satisfaction. "It certainly does read well.” he re marked to himself complacently. ‘ I can't deny that, though I did draw it ui) myself. "1 wonder.” he continued, rasping his chin with his forefinger, "whether the g"ut who's made the appointment for 11 o’clock came from the advertisement, or whether he was recommended?” The advertisement referred to was as follows: , "Sharp's Detective Agency. Swift, “Something I can do for ycu?’’ burned away, and the Hist word which was decipherable was his father's name—‘‘Silas." Below this might be read, with some difficulty, the following inco herent scraps of sentences, in which, after all, there was a good deal of guess work: “H've not forgotten ... of twenty years ... on receiving this letter ... at once for Dover . . . expect to reacli . . . There is that between us which . . . not allow you to deny ... I ask . . . and many . . . you alone.can . . , If >011 refuse l shall . . . that you ... as the criminal . . . of your youth.” Beneath this last sentence he could main out what he took to be the letter J. which apparently stood for the initial letter of the Christian iianie. but the rest of the signature was burned and obliterated. At this moment something again re called to him the mysterious words which he had heard the night before the funeral, and he looted round for a possible interpretation of them. His eye roamed from one object to another, and his tongue repealed the words—“The spring at the hack of the recess!” What recess? Where? Ho rose from Ills chair and took a sharp turn round the room. The recess! What was meant by the re cess? “Father.” he said, as though ad dressing some one present. “Show me what you mean." Ho drew up his chair and resumed his seat: but there was tHat in his behavior which sug gested one under the control of some mesmeric Influence, or who walked in his sleep. immediately in front of him, his eye rested upon a small door. To his surprise, he now observed for the first time that the key was iri the lock. He turned it and saw papers within, tied up in bundles, and en dorsed. Some were quit.- yellow with age. and some were more modern. He went to work deliberately until he had quite cleared the space. It was not very large, but now that it was empty it formed a sort of He did not finish the word even in his own mind, but began to pass his lingers over the panel at the back, slowly backwards and forwards, an inch at a time. A* last, something seemed to catch his sail—something which projected over so slightly. He pressed it—the spring at the baek of the recess firmly. There was a little iarring sound, and the hack of the partition fell forward, re sure and secret. AH inquiries con ducted with the greatest skill and dis cretion. Evidence obtained on any subject. All communications regard ed as strictly private and Confidential. Mr. John Sharp promises to all those who honor him by seeking his aid the experience of twenty years and the secrecy of the confessional.” Mr. John Sharp, as regarded his outward appearance, was somewhat of tlie weasel order. As lie himself often said, “Sharp was his name and sharp was his nature.” "My new client's late,” he con tinued, looking at his watch. He | opened a door of communication and j put his head through, j "Jennings!" "Yessir.” "When the gentleman comes, don't forget to tell him that I'm engaged for the moment, but shall be at lib erty shortly; and mind you come in when you hear me hang the door, and ask if I am disengaged and can see the gentleman now.” The faithful Jennings performed his duty to the letter. "I think,” said Mr. Sharp, rising and referring to a memorandum, as the gentleman was I ushered in. "that I have the pleasure of addressing Mr. Burritt? Will you ; he good enough to lie seated.” The visitor admitted that was his ! name, and took the seat indicated. “Something I can do for you?" in quired Mr. Sharp, placing the tips of his fingers together interrogatively. The new client, who had with him a small leather bag. opened it. and produced three articles, which he placed upon the table before him. They consisted of a square, flat pack age, a photograph and a ball from a revolver. “Suppose you begin from the begin ning and f('ll me all about it. i shall not interrupt you," said Mr. Sharp, as lie opened the note-book and mois ; tened a stump of lead pencil with ,’>ls | tongue. He kept his word, though lie made I copious notes, and for some moments i there was only the monotonous sound of the one voice, as the new client re capitulated all the circumstances which had led to his seeking Mr. Sharp's assistance, and which have already been fully gone into. When lie had finished, “I thought the name seemed familiar to me,” said the other. “To be sure, I remember all the circumstances connected with the sad affair. And so you think you have It it upon the guilty party?” "1 am certain of it," was the deter mined answer. “1 believe l know his name, and have proof in mv own mind that he committed the deed. What I want you to do is to trace him for me—or. rather, put ine on his track and let me run him down " “Phew'" whistled Mr. Sharp, softly, under hl?i breath. "This Ls something quite out of the common, this Is Sup pose," he said, addressing the young man, “that we examine the evidence. This is the bullet, you say; and this a photograph you found among the deceased gentleman's papers. Might 1 inquire what this is?" laying his hand upon the other article. "That is the letter I spoke of. which made the appointment which my fattier kept, and was thus, indirectly, the cause of his death, it is partly destroyed; but enough remains to show that there was”—here he hesi tated for the first time—"something of the nature of a secret between them." Mr. Sharp ran his eye down the page. “Humph!" he remarked; "something vague and unsatisfactory. It certainly seems to hip! at some thing of ;t auspicious nature between the two.” "Don't make any mistake." put in Ted Burritt at this point; "whatever there may L>c of that nature does not —cannot apply to iny father." “Probably not! Probably not! But you must allow a certain amount, of ambiguity—of cutting both ways. It' we could prove the knowledge of some nefarious—some" here he referred to a sentence in the copy of the letter —"some criminal proceedings con cerning the writer on the part of the —er—the unfortunate gentleman who was shot—something which lay be tween those two alone. Why. then, we should be able to see our way. Suppose there was a strong provoca tion. Suppose those two to be alone in a ttrst-class carriage. Suppose that a sudden quarrel arises between them; that the deceased, as 1 have just said, is provoked to utter threats as to what he may or may not do. Suppose the one threatened, who car ries a revolver, makes up his mind to silence him once for ail by the means of a bullet through his brain.” His client nodded. "Now," continued Mr. Sharp, "be fore proceeding farther, just let us come to an understanding ns to what you want me to do?” "I want you." was the answer, "to trace this other from the time that lie was last seen." "Very good," from Mr. Sharp. "And to trace his history back wards from that time." "And the party's name?" Ted handed him the photograph and showed him what was written on the back. "Very good. sir. I think we under stand each other. And you would wish me to begin my Investiga tions-?" At once; There was a little discussion hero about terms, expenses, etc., which, be ing satisfactorily arranged, the client rose and prepared to take his depar ture. "You will leave me this"—the de tective indicated the photograph— “and your copy of the letter?" Ted Rhrritt assented and replaced the other articles. "I shall make a point," said Mr. Sharp, "of going through the report of the inquest again to refresh mv memory, and in case there should be any little fact that may have escaped yours. You have to prove”—checking the items off on his fingers—“First, that the man we want wrote that let ter; secondly, that ho was the other passenger, and, thirdly, thut he fired that shot.” The answer was firm and concise; "I don't require you to prove the murder so much as to trace the man. and, when you have done so—leave him to me!” (To be continued.) A Yankee Trade. The old Yankee skill at driving a bargain is not being lost. A woman visitor at a fashionable resort on the Maine roast, last summer went to the Universalist church in the place the lit st. Sunday morning of her stay, and was politely shown to a seat. There was no hymn book, however, but the occupant of the pew behind her reached over and placed one in her hands. At the' close of the service the visitor turned and thanked the person, saying as she was to attend that church all summer she would like to buy a hymn book. ‘‘Well.” said the other woman. "I guess you can have that book if you'll give me a pair of black gloves. No. 7. ’ Very well," said the visitor. The next day she went to Portsmouth, purchased the No. 7 black gloves for $1.60 and duly re ceived the use of the hymnal in ex change for them on the following Sun day.— Boston Herald. One Thing to Avoid. ‘Yes,” said the great man. "I am going to write a book of personal rec ollections. I think I ant prominent enough to do that, don't you?” "Oli, yes. you’re prominent enough, but I’d like to caution jou about one tiling.”' ’’What’s that?” "For the purposes of publica ion. don’t recollect anything alnmt p:emi nent men now living.” “But they're just the people I want to write about. Those are the kind of reminiscences that will make the book soli." "Oh, well, suit yourself, but remem ber that 1 warned you.” “What's the danger?" "Why, just as soon as you begin to recollect things about them they will begin to recollect tilings about you.” “I hadn’t thought of that,” remarked the great man.-Cincinnati Post. Women Inventors. Tito United States has granted 3,500 patents to women. : AMERICAN SINGER WHO HAS ♦ ! ! WON FAVOR OF BERLINERS * i ♦ ♦ I ..-.. (ZmMPfMW? Miss Geraldine Farrar, a native of Melrose, Mass., uncording to a state men i in the Preussische Correspon* den/., was slandered In an article in a recent issue of Die Welt, which in sinuated that relations existed be tween Miss Farrar and the German crown prince. Miss Farrar's father visited ihe house of the writer of the article and compelled him to sign a statement declaring the article pure invention. Miss Farrar lies been sing ing at the Royal opera h mse in Ber lin. The kaiser has closed the house until more exits can be built and fire proof stairs substituted for the pres ent wooden stairs. Miss Farrar sang In Boston a few si asons ago under Melba's training. She has won great fame in the Ger man capital by her singing of the role of Marguerite in "Faust." ARE NOT REAL DIAMONDS. Society Hears Rumor About One of Its Members' Beautiful Ornaments. The shocking rumor lias gone abroad in the New York "400” that Hie won derful diamond tiara worn by a fa mous matron is bogus —in fact, that the jewels are really beveled glass. The imitation, if imitation it be. is a marvel of beauty, the tiara being six inches high and fashioned after the m drifter of an antique crown. The pos sessor is a handsome woman who moves in the most exclusive little group of society. It is true her htts I band is not rich according to the quali fication of these days. He is u lawyer I and his wife inherited no great for tune. The liara was made in Paris some two years ago, and until quite recently no one had dared hint that it was not made of real diamonds. FIDELITY TO BE REWARDED. Appropriate Recognition of Forty-Year Term of Service. The Parish Soetety for the Encour agement of Well-Doing has awarded a gold medal to Mnie. Metteiller, who lias been a box opener at the Comedie Francaise for forty years. Edouard Thierry was the manager when she first went to the theater. She was at her post all through the war of 1870 and aided the actors in installing am bulances in the "House of Moliere.” During the commune she never quitted her place. She has seen many “stars” rise and pass at the Comedio Fran caiso—Coquelln. Bernhardt, Madeline Brohnn, who were very fond of her, and the admirable actor Got, whom she saw die and whom Bhe applauded as a young man in "Duke Job.” Ex-President Cleveland's Experience. Grover Cleveland lias lived in the time of more administrations than any other citizen who has ever boon president,, beginning with that of Mar tin Van Buren and coming down to that of Theodore Roosevelt—in all eighteen, exclusive of his own two. He lias also lived to see six vice presidents succeed to Hie presidency, three. of them. Johnson, Arthur and Roosevelt, coming to the white house through the assassination of their predecessors. The others were Van Buren, Tyler and Fillmore. Kentucky Poet Recovering. Col. Will S. Hays, the Kentucky song writer, who recently sustained a blight stroke of paralysis, which affected his left, side and his organs of speech, is greatly Improved, and the doctors now ent( rtain hopes of his recovery. He has partially re covered the use of his left side, and is able to express himself as feeling much better. Col. Hays is 68 years of age and has been suffering from kidney disease for more than a year. Valued His Wife at $1. Rev. J. 15. Toomay married a negro couple in a shoe store at Carthage, Mo., the other day. After the cere mony the groom asked the minister how much he owed him. "Tell me whf ‘ your wife is worth to you and that will lie my price," answered the minister. The black man grinningly handed him $1. The minister seemed to approve of the groom’s estimate, for he pocketed the money without returning any change. REMARKABLE FACTS IN LIFE. Earl of Leicester Holds Unique Posi tion in British Peerage. The octogenarian earl of Leicester, who is on his deathbed, it Is said, holds a position unique in several re spects in fhe British peerage. He lias boon the father of eighteen children, of whom fourteen survive, and lie numbers among his sons-in-law four earls, a viscount, and a baron. There is a difference of age close on half a century between his oldest daughter and his youngest son, and he is at once a great-grandfather several times I over and also the proud father of a boy of 10. Tiie most astonishing fact, however, in Lord Leicester’s family I history is that his marriage to Miss Georgians Cavendish took place ex actly BW years after his father’s, the respective dates being 1775 and 1S75. The dowager duchess of Abercorn and the earl of Iadcester are the two re markable living progenitors in the En glish nobility. ELKINS AND THE REPORTER. How Railway Magnate Squelched Per sistent Questioner. The late William L. Elkins, the Philadelphia street railway magnate, was not easily Interviewed by newspa per men and the fresh young journal ist found him especially difficult. One of these self-confident persons once opened fire with "How did you make your first $1,000?” “By hard work,” was the laconic answer, but the re porter, nothing daunted, continued: “What lias been the happiest moment of your life?” “It hasn't come yet.” “When will it come, then?” asked the young man eagerly, for lie scented something. “When people cease to ask such damphool questions,” said Mr. Elkins. Even the budding genius was not proof against such a shot, and he took his leave. Andre Has Made Many Enemies. The French minister of war, Gen. Andre, is one of the best abused men in France because of hi3 recently an nounced purpose to promote equality in the ranks of the army. To further this object he has recently abolished the custom of "presenting arms" as a mark of respect. He is accused of fostering socialism in the French ranks and of deliberately following out a policy of religious and political pe" secution. He condemned to t«u years’ hard service in the ranks sixty Polytechnic students who rebelled against the severity of an examination. Gen. Andre is a great favorite with the common soldier. He began life in the army as a lieutenant in the Imperial guard. Not Much Impressed. Congressman Williams, the now Democratic leader, tells of a party of English noblemen who were travel ing in Texas. They visited one small town where the local magnate took them to the best saloon in the place and Introduced them to the bartender, saying: “Jim, these gentlemen are marquises and earls and lords. What do you think of that?" “Well, Bill,” answered the bartender, “they aiu’t but two classes In this here place. One is them that takes sugar in theirn and the other is them that ain't so dam particular. Wattteyehave, I gents?" < Prolonged Sitting Needed. “You want me to tell the whole truth?" asked the witness. "Certainly." replied the judge. “The whole truth about the plaint iff?" "Of courrte.” “How long does the court exoect to sit?" “What difference does that make?" “It makes a lot of difference, t couldn’t tell the whole truth about that scoundrel inside of thirty days, talking all the time.” The Secret Out. “I think," said the kittenish maid of some thirty-odd summers, “i'll go in for portrait painting. Is it difficult to learn?" “No. it's comparatively easy,” re plied the great artist. “All one has to do Is select the right colors and put them on in the right place.” Hi3 Objection. Fred— Why is it 1 never see you with .Miss Buddington any more? Joe- Because of niv dislike for her father, lie is a regular old pirate. Fred—A pirate! Why. how's that? Joe- Well, I know from personal experience that lie's a freebooter. Working on Time. Stork—Say, Monk, what’s become of ihc cuckoo bird that used to live in tin* third bough back? Monk—Oh, he’s moved to the city, lie's got. a job as mode1 in a clock factory. An Isthmus. Barnes—Howes and 1 have been arguing about the meaning of the word ‘‘isthmus.’' He says it means a neck of land separating two bodies of water, and 1 hold that it is a strip of land connecting two continents. Now, what do you say? Shedd—I say that neither of you is right. An isthmus is a thing that con nects conspiracies and revolutions and separates governments. Switching Off the Old Man. Mr. Elder—There is something I want to say to you, Bessie—er—that is, Miss Kutely. Miss Kutely—Call me Bessie if you wish. Mr. Elder—Oh, may 1? Mis.-; Kutely—Of course; all old gen tlemen call mo Bessie. Orthography. Uncle George—I notice you have spelt the word “sore" w rong in speak ing of “sore throat"; you have written it “soar." Willie—I was speaking %>f a giraffe, Uncle George. Nothing was the mat ter with his throat, only it soared. Business Instinct. Jinks—Confound that hat! Where’s it going next? Street Vendor—Map of the city, sir? Common Phrases. - ■ "A mere slip of a girl." Decidedly Stuck Up. Phamley—Coodart railed on us the other day and 1 never saw a man so 'k up in all my life. —Nonsense! That Isn't his style at all. Phamley—I know, liis Btyle was simply ruined. He brought our chil dren candy and held them on his lap while they ate it. Af It Referred to Him. Wife—How many people gaze at my new dress! I presume they won der if I've been shopping in Paris. Husband—More likely they wonder if I've been robbing a bank.— New Yorker. Family Diplomacy. "1 turn all my bills over to my wife." "Hoes she have the money?” "No, the nerve." Classing Him. Sharpe—There goes Heeler. He was a big gun in the election. Whealton—Yes; I understand ha wa3 a repeater.