MV 1 V. I i I I I I RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA, CHIEF ".. II? i. (' g. ttWjrsOwsrtasoOOOCOOO! c Mystery of Hartley House J Copyright by Core II. Doran Co. CHAPTER XIV Continued. 15 Ho paused nnd looked nt me ns If to see wlictlicr ho won reaching nny hidden spring which If touched nnd sprung would open the secret. He did not believe I wns truthful. ' "Mr. Sidney's life Is open, honornhlo nnd full of nothing hut Rood for fifty years back," Morgan continued. "Wo Jrnvo investigated very thoroughly. IBut fifty years bnek, Mr. Sidney dis appears, evaporates. Thcro Is no Mr. Sidney thnt enn be found. Wo find )n young ninn of twenty, nnd nothing back of lilm. Tlicro wo stop. It Is n. blind alley. You como to nothing but n wall. That stopped Investiga tion. "Now, I go a good dcnl by hunches call It Intuition, guessing, Inspiration. It Is not good detective method. I don't claim H'h good detective work. I nover work on n hunch nnd neglect a rational method, but frequently when I do work on a bit of guessing wo got results. "I've been working, around here, on n guess that was so wild when It first started thnt It seemed too preposter ous oven for me. I'll tell you that we are not Investigating Mr. Sidney nnj more. We aro looking fop nnother person, nnd I believe wc arc going to find him. Then we are going to find some ono else. Doctor, I tell yo, If you don't know It, ns you say, It Is the strangest caso I ever have known. It In ono of hate. Mind, I'm only ,(cupsslng." Thnt touch was so Impressive that H betrayed an emotion. He saw 1U "I had yon there," ho said. I "Mr. Morgan," I said, "you will not believe me, and for thnt reason It Is lusclcss for mo to say and keep on say ting that I know of. nothing hero I icould help you on. You suggested 'something to me just now, and you ,saw that you had done so. But thnt was because of a coincidence Imma terial to what you call a case." "Very well." said Morgan." "I did not expect to get ahead by coming here, but I wnnt to be fair and reason able. You do not know anything, but I am not nl lowed to talk to any ono tho might know," "You huvo talked to Jed," I said. Zou cannot reasonably expect to bo tallowed to annoy the Indies of the thousc or to flutter the servants. Mrf fSldncy is very 111 nnd very weak. SCven you would refrain from Introduc ing your case to him If you saw him. If wo seem to avoid your Inquiries, It ils unfortunate. Wc Iiuve nothing to avoid." t "I follow my hunch," snld Morgan, letting to his feet. "If I am right, something will bo revealed that even I could not compromise. I am nfrald you must prepare yourself for somo publicity." "I have told you before thnt you must select your own course," I re plied, nnd Morgan took his leave, driv ing away through tho snow. We had our Christmas evo In Mr. Sidney's room. He was very feeble physically and could bo raised on pil lows In bed but nothing more. Hut ho wns tho spirit of joviality. He had Jed sit in a grtmt armchntr by his bed, and early In tho evening he hnd a bottle of claret opened for him. Nothing would do but Mrs. Sidney nnd Isobcl should have n bottle of Madeira, and I had n whisky toddy. A great punch-howl wns brought In, and Jed mixed gallons of liquor and many spices In It. Four of tho men servants came In with a great log' for tho fire, and had Mr. Sidney Evidently Was Determined to Corrupt the Whole Household. large cups of punch beforo they went out. Mr. Sidney evidently was deter mined to corrupt tho whole household. I'll never be able to give an ade quate Idea of tho joviality of that Ohrlstmas evo In tho sick-room. Mr. 'Sidney and Jed hnd conspired for onto months to make a festival. Our dinner, served In Mr. Sidney's room, brought a boar's head, carried by a laughing maid. Wine was Bent to the semtnts. Tschri found a pes! m mm )oocoooeoooooccooccoocoooccocccco?: necklncc In what had seemed to be a baked sweet potato. I fouud n gold watch In n box under n few leaves of lettuce. Mrs. Sidney found merely n note In a hunch of violets which was given her with ceremony. She read It and had difficulty to re main wholly composed. She aroso and went to her husbnnd, taking ono of his hands and putting an arm about his shoulders. Then she kissed him and stood a moment before the lire before Bhe trusted herself to come back to the table. When the dinner wns done nnd the covers were removed, more wine was brought In. A large Christmas tree wns lighted, nnd nil tho servants were called. Each found a vnlunble present In the tree; each had punch from the greut bowl, nnd each, coming to shake Mr. Sidney's hnnd, wns given by Jed an envclopo which, I learned aftor ward, contained, a hundred-dollar bill. There was no constraint nnd no awkwardness such as might mark such proceedings; the people of the house knew Mr. Sidney too well. One of the maids kissed him, nnd then we hnd them nil doing It. I wns fearful that the excitement would Injure him, but ho wns placid, smiling nnd happy. When we were alone, wc sat an hour by the fire, and then I dismissed every one peremptor ily. Jed, who hnd been nbout his duties, returned. The firo wns tended. An other bottle of wine wns ordered. I had my last look at Mr. Sidney alive as I stood by the door giving Jed his final Instructions for tho night. Jed sat In the armchair. All the lights except one by Jed's chnlr had been extinguished. The Persian cat was stretched by Mr. Sidney's side. Tho cannrles were nsleep perched on tho head of his bed. Tho Are was glowing. "Good night, Mr. Sidney," I snld. "Good night, Jed. A pleasant eve ning." "Good night, doctor,"- said Mr. Sid ney. "Just n minute, boy. Come here." lie reached out his hand. "Good-bye," he said. CHAPTER XV. Mr. Sidney died between three nnd four o'clock Chrlstmns morning. He passed so cqslly that Jed, sleeping In tho lounge-chair beside him, did not know thnt death had gone through the chamber until an hour after the event. Jed awakened me. In the case of such an expected happening ns this, the perceptions start slowly. The fact that tho benignity which so Im perceptibly had dominated the house had ceased to exist took hours tous sort Itself. Jed was composed when he aroused me. Later, when the sun came up to make radiant all the white witchery the storm left, his sense of loss began to nssert Itself, and acute ns was the grief In tho house, nono wns deeper seated or more profound than that of tho rascally old servant. Mrs. Sidney accepted the event with a serenity which I discovered after ward was born of n long-fixed resolu tion. For years her life had been a denial of her moral Instincts happy, In splto of thnt, because of her great devotion to tho wonderful man she loved. The chapters which ho doml 'nnted In her book were ended. With tenderness she laid them aside. Isobcl did not permit herself In dulgence In nny wenkness. What had happened was written In the contract of life. In later full knowledge of Isobcl, I nover censed to admire the wonderful ncceptlvlty with which she met her trials. Nothing came to her with catastrophic shock. She had reality within her vision, and she per ceived. For myself I saw the end of n mode of life which, even when unhappy, had been ecstatically so. My reason for being In Hartley house lay dead In bed. I should look hnck, I knew, many times, as a struggling practitioner, possibly In poorer districts of the city, possibly In a small town, to tho strange hut beautiful time when I was at Hartley. This experience would ho only nn episode, remnlnlng as the memory of n time when my Ilfo halted for a wonderful moment, satisfying, rich nnd Joyful, and having hnd this moment went on In tho drab fashion ordained for It. An occasional kludly letter from Mrs. Sidney, or possibly from Isabel, might quicken tho mem ory, but I nnd this period would fade from their lives as It never could from mine. I should be packing a pill caso on late nnd unprofitable rounds In thnt soul-destroying routine with Its ceaseless Invasion of tho Intimate personal economics of uninteresting people, abnormally egoistic in tho pnln of n small or largo disorder the cheerless life of n small physician, serving his useful purpose, I have no doubt, but how little serving his own 1 We got through Chrlstmns day in a dnted fashion. The necessary ofllces for tho dend compelled a routine which relieved the tension, although they contributed a dulled terror to the day those terrible, exacting practical details witrt which some one In the bereaved family must occupy himself. Maatuary details aro Jocose to tho pes- CLIFFORD S. RAYMOND Illustrated by IRWIN MYERS )QO9O(l0CO0CCCOO0O0QOQCCO slmlst. I know no more comic figure than an undertaker, no more gigantic shaft of human egotism than u tomb stone. Mr.- Sidney, we found, hnd left brief hut explicit directions for his burial. This, In the enso of a man with life so well conceived, wns strange, but his wishes, ns we found them, were simple nnd startling. He was to be burled by tho river, close to the pool which had been Invested with tho add ed charm of a ghost-story. Ills grave was to be marked by an unostenta tious stone. The Inscription was to be as he directed in n noto in a scaled enclosure to bo opened nt the time Mrs. Sidney thought appropriate. It might be, he hnd written, that Mrs. Sidney would not want the stone erected during her life. Her wishes wero to bo consulted. When the grave was marked, If It ever, was, the In scription wns to bo as he directed. Mrs. Sidney, acquainted with the terms of this extraordinary mortuary note, said thnt It was her wish to have the sealed envelope opened Immediate ly and its Instructions carried out. Chrlstmns night bad set in, and the place was a fairyland of glistening white. Fnr-off-church-bells sounded faintly across tho snow. In the in creasing cold, following the abatement of the storm, timbers In the old house creaked nnd snapped, and when one of tho people of the house, on nn outdoor chore, pnsscd within earshot, the sound of footsteps wns audible und tho crisp crunching which, oven ns does a high wind, emphasizes the comfort of a secure nnd warm shelter. I, was In tho office when Mrs. Sid ney's Instructions to open the sealed enclosure were received. I proceeded to do so. There was a brief note, ns follows : I desire tho marking' on my gravestone, when It la put up, to read: ARTHUR DOBSON t Born May 22, 1840 Dlod , I was holding that document, star ing nt it, and grasping for elusive threads of perception, when Jed came In. He carried a manuscript fh his hand. Jed draw a chnlr up to the fire by my side. It' was with a strange feel ing of relief that I accepted the sig nificance of the manuscript he carried. "I'm a strange man, doctor," he said by way of beginning. "You'd never understand me. I'm a strange man and I do strange things. I'm going to do one now. I've seemed conscience less, haven't I?" "T'ia iinirnlt t.n.l nnnmint mif opinion of you," I said. "No, you hnven't. I like a candid, man. Thnt's why I've always liked you, although I can't say much for your Intelligence But you're honest. I'm not honest, but I'm intelligent. I've looked nt my life an something to make the best of, nnd I haven't been foolish about scruples. "I've managed my chances, nnd I have not allowed scntlmcntallsm to stop me when something real was to be gained. It's it renl world, not if fanciful one. That's tho wny I think." "Half the people would be swinging on gallows," I suggested, "If your nml ablo Ideas prevailed generally." "Thnt'H copy-book stuff that's so Ir ritating," he said. "The only thing extraordinary about me Is my candor. My Ideas do prevail, but the people who adopt them have less frankness. But whnt I want to'sny Is that I'm going to do a strange thing. You'll probably think It an acP of contrition. It Isn't at nil, but you'll think It so. However, thnt's unlmportunt. "You may not know It, but I was very fond of Mr. Sidney. Ho wns the best friend I ever had or ever shall have. "Nov, I have guarded against act ing Impulsively or sentimentally. I know I am In nn acutely emotional condition'. I have guarded against that. I am still considering the world ns n real world and myself as a real creature In It. And here's the way I llgure It. Mr. Sidney's death has taught mo that materialism Is not enough. It Is necessary, but there Is something else. I'vo got to find an other something else. That's more important than nny money or comforts physical that I can And. "Where Is this something else to he found again If not right here In this family? I have determined to remain In your service after you marry Miss Sidney, nnd to twko care of you and her -und Mrs. Sidney. I couldn't leave. Tho roots are too deep. 1 could bo cut down but not dug up. I'm too old. So as a renl crcaturo In a real world I consult my real good, now as nlwnys, nnd I hope I do not seem to you to bo acting sentimentally." J,You seem to mo to bo wholly crazy," I snld. "When you speak of Miss Sid ney's marriage to mo, you nro not only lr6nlc; you are cruel. I should think that this particular day might make you nt least considerate." "You'ro the blindest man I ever knew," said Jed, "but I'm not dealing with what you think but with what I know. I told you onco your engage ment wns nn unreal thing and that I did not consider It at all. Later I took that back. Now I can tell you that It Is a very real thing, but It is different now with me. I have suffered a shnptc. Something's the mm : ' my world. It Is not so hold or en dent. "What I'm getting at Is this.' I held up the manuserlp' "This Ir .Sidney's diary. I hav; talked to M Sidney. She thinks, as I think, tl. you should read It. You'll ptohuli want to confirm whnt I say: You have to ask Mrs. Sidney. I know'yo arq Itching to read It. I also kno that If one of .your scruples lute, vened,' you'd let your Itch go uiiscrate! ed. Hut this Is what I came in foi utid here's the manuscript. "You understand that In giving I to you I surrender unconditionally. 1 know 't, hut I wnnt friends. The onlj one I had is dead ; I must make othei ones." T?io extraordinary fellow shook mj hand, left the manuscript In my hit add went out, a more pathetic llgun of sorrow than I ever expected U see in Jed. I went nt once to Mrs. Sidney. Jed I snld, had left the dlury with me "I Think You Should Read It, John," She Said. Would It serve nny useful purpose for mo to read It, or should It not go di rectly to the fire? "I think you should read It, Jotm," she said. "I told Jed so. Ho Is very shrewd. Ills Judgment and mine la this case agree." I went back to tho office, put n log on the fire and sat down to read the diary. CHAPTER XVI. I shall not pretend to give more than an Idea of the manuscript I rend there by tho fire that night It was narrative and reflection nnd contained tho story of the life of Arthur Dohson, known to me heretofore as Mr. Sid ney. I shall give extracts from It: "A family is nn odious imposition of cruel conventionalities upon Indi viduals who, accepting conventions, however odious nnd cruel, are helpless. The bond of blood Is one no animal (animals being rationalistic) tolerates, even recognizes, but It Is Imposed up on li,uman beings, who find that the most antagonistic natures must rec oncile themselves to an nrhltrary rule of life which can come only to hide ousness. "Tlicro were In our family two chil dren, my brother Richard and myself. Our parents were tho ordinary folk who marry and have a family. My father was an uncommunicative man. whether from n habit of silence or n lack of anything to say, I do hot know. "My mother, as I recall her, was gentle but, I Imagine, futile. I think If she had had a chance of establish Ing a nerlunullty my silent, glum fa ther had destroyed It. "Richard was my elder by two yenrs, My father was wealthy, very, wealthy, and Richard and I were not disciplined ns to money. My father was not pe nurious, but I never knew a man who obtained so little good of his money. He had no social Instincts ; he had no Joviality. "He liked occasional ostentation n. petty form of vanity and egotism. 1 regarded him, or my memory of him. ns wholly detestable a sentiment which will offend the sentimentally conventional, or the conventionally sen timental. I know lie wns the last man I would have chosen as a father. (TO DK CONTINUED.) Autograph Hunter's Coup. Autocranh hunting sometimes proves u most profitable pursuit. Lud ovlc PIcard, a French Bohemian of the TiOs, mado n stendy Income out ol It for several years. One of his most successful coups wns accomplished with a letter In which ho posed as "a member of tho unhappy raco of tho unappreciated who Is meditating suicide nnd seeks for counsel and aid in this hour of soro distress." This drew a number of celebrities, Including Bernnger and Heine. Lncor dalre sent him ten closely written pa,ges, which were promptly converted Into cash. . Dickens also fell n victim of his wiles nnd took the trouhlo to nnswor him in French. Eventually PIcard waa shown up In tho press by Jutes San deau and had to seek auotl'ier occupa tion. Why the Aspen LeafNQulvers. Tho aspen leaf quivers easily be cause It Is broad and placed dn n long very flexible stock. The upper pari of tho stalk .Is flattened, nnd, belnj: at right angles with the leaf, lo liable to ba moved by the falateat Lrvt'zu. COUNTERFEITER AT 92, FEARS PRISON Craves Freedom for the Few Days of Life Remain ing to Him. San Frnnclsco, Cnl. "There Isn't! nny V'nco left In the world for me. Kven If I did hnvo a homo It wouldn't he any use. I'm too near the end." The white head of William Smith, ninety-two years of age. held In the enmity Jail at San Jose on counter felting charges, was sunk In bitter grief. Ho was" ragged and dirty and old. Ills white hair hung In shaggy, un kempt locks about his pitiful, fright ened face. His paralyzed arm In tho ragged overcoat sleeve hung limp ut his side. "I hnvo worked for eighty years. My father died when I was two, and nt twelve I had to leave .school and go to work. I feel as though I hud lived for centuries, always tolling. "I wns apprenticed ns n carpenter and sent away from my home in Hng- Trf II .1 He Was Ragged and Dirty and Old., land. I soon forgot whnt a mother nnd a home were like. Nothing but work, work, work. "I cnifte to Callfornln In 1800. For a time I worked on Ross ranch at Snn Jose. Most of my life here has been spent about San Jose and the bay cities. "I was not nfrald of any tomor row that might come. I felt I had my two strong hands and could work. But the years went on., and ut Inst I found that the world had little use for Its old helpless men. I began to be afraid. 4. "One morning I nwoke Ih n cheap lodging house In Snn Frnnclsco. My left arm ,vns paralyzed. I do not know why It should hnvo come upon me so. "Well, thnt was the end. I tramped nbout, grinding scissors. It was all I could do. It Is all I can ever do. "I wns old and homeless and lonely. There wns little I wanted, yet I could not get even thoo few things. The Vimes I tramped by, tfle people turned me from their doors. "One day I raised a $1 bill to .$10. "When I was caught I find to serve a year at McNeil Island. Then I was turned put on the world ngaln. Whnt can nn old man do? I struggled for a time, then I raised more bills. Even there ore nights In winter when. I hnve to sleep out of doors In ,my rag ged blanket. "If they send mo to Jail I will die. I am near my Maker, very nenr. ' 1 was treated 'better In Jnll than ever before In nil my hard life. But oh, I don't want to go back into tho Jnll." The sad old mouth quivered and the pale blue 050s sickened with fear. "I want to he free," ho whispered, choking. "Oh God, every ono wants to ho free. I don't want to die In there." Smith was asked If he would like to bo sent to n home, or a charitable In stitution. This seemed to terrify him as much ns tho mention qf Jail had done. "I am afraid of those places," he Bald. "I've heard stories that frighten me. I Just wnnt to ho free. I'm too old for nnythlng else." When nrrested Smith hnd In his pos session $27, tho result of much pains taking 'work on tho part of his ono hand. Jailed for Kissing. Madrid. A severe reprimand nnd n warning not to let tho mls,demennor occur ngaln has Just been adminis tered to n visitor to Madrid, wTio, when he assisted his wife Into a cab at tho door of his hotel on tho Puerta del Sol, kissed her good-by. A po liceman led him off to face his cap tain, who Informed tho offender Ig norance of tho law waa no excuse, but that he had vlolated'a law df Madrid wh'ch forbids a man to kiss any wom an whHo In the streets of tho city, with or without her consent AND , DIZZY SPELLS The Cause of such Symptom. and Remedy Told in This Letter. Syracuse, N. Y.-"Whon I con menccd the Chango of Life I was poorly. naa no nppotite and had fainting spells. 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