Cynthia Wakeham's Money

sly into Edgar's presence. They had not met for a good-nigh

lives alone in that house with her sister, and that they neither of

t, turned and busied himself a moment w

ave been amon

othing, and I knew there was a tragedy i

gedy, this n

nobody could draw from her beyond the boundary of that brick w

rate," was all the

n a trifle strong for the occasion. But in anothe

shock which has terrified her and made her afraid of the streets, and no one can subdue this fear or induce he

quoth the other, "if it is

; they have not been absent lik

ested enough,"

physician you ought to recognize the peculiaritie

I am not and never have bee

l, her fri

you I was

erstood from some one th

you call them, h

use to vi

t now. The old gentleman is dead, and it was he upon wh

ld gen

vanagh's

called

etim

ow short

w impatien

have

's t

r, and you mock me with

y was not natural. Yet he did not look unkindly at the ardent young lawyer. On the contrary, there

But the truth is you seem to know more about the young lady than I d

as lasted

yea

ime you hav

on had been caught at last. But he soon recovered himself. "A

d his friend

elieve you

gh Etheridge continued to look at him steadily and with undoubted intention. "And

all leave t

o Harriet S

can beli

one in the last

he can f

uest here is

en another turn

mea

e matter? I-I have become interested in that girl, Edgar, and want to know her-hear her speak. Cannot you help

y smoothed h

h about her. She was young when I vis

e felt as if a wound in his

ay his own feelings, and did not know what to make o

erved instead, "she may be equal

st the same. Only they say she never likes to hear anything

ar's turn to a

re alone? You mean wit

I did not say she lived there a

was

s not go out, e

does it

hat I want

o out?

rememb

younger tha

ind of a gi

have no talent for des

beautifu

sister i

car." It was softly sa

e has n

hook hi

appeals to

manner had increased rather than diminished, and he seemed anx

, "I shall have to be off. Yo

s does not

main street. Come there, and if you do not mind bachelor housekeeping, stay with me while you remain in town. I

ned and he grasped

it looks as if you ex

a Harriet Sm

ulders. "I see that yo

g over the flower-beds on the inner side of the wall. "She is not so pretty by daylight," was his first thought. But at that mom

ithout her attractions, though they were less brilliant and

that the poor woman still lay unburied, the parlors and lower hall were filled with people, who stared at the walls and rapped with wary but eager knuckles on the various lintels and casements. Whispers of a treasure having been found be

m above, and to him Fra

aid he, "

, coming forward, "glad to see

e you had any trouble? I though

run away with, I think. Did you see what a crowd has assembled in the parlors? We let them in so that Huckins

id, d

and creeping into the next room I was fortunate enough to come upon a closet so old and with such big cracks in its partition that I was enabled to look through them into the place where he was. The sight that met my eye was startling. He was, as I conjectured, peering under the boards, which he had ripped up early in the evening; and as he had only the light of a match to aid him, I would catch quick glimpses of his eager, peering face and then lose the sight of it in sudden darkness till the gleam of another match came to show it up again. He crouched upon the floor and crept along the whole length of the board, thr

as sleeping sound enough for him to risk a blow. But I did not stir, though I almost expected a sudden crash on my head, and in another moment he crept away, awed possibly by my superior strength, for I am a much bigger man than he, as you must see. When I though

rm before him. 'That box is not all you had. Where are the

d under the bed. Then he rose and trod gingerly over the floor, as if to see if any of the boards were loose, and peered into the empty closet

ou needn't set it; see, it

t told me the police would be within call I should have been sick enough of my job, I can tell you. As it was, I drew back a foot o

the clock, now that my sister is dead, what is that to you? You hav

okings, the bell rang loudly below. It was a welcome interruption to me, but it made him very angry. However, he went down and welcomed, as decently as he knew how, a woman who

he haunts the door of that room and the looks he casts inside at the clock are en

d woman's last words were, 'The clock! the clock!' As soon as I can a

," commented Mr. Dickey. "If the property comes to much, won't

bt," sa

e, and looked so beaming, that Fra

e lawyer now inquired. "I

He is like a dog with a bone; you cannot

ck stairs to the place where he had held his previ

itter communing with himself through the last thirty-six hours, and had resolved to restrain his temper for the futu

ng with ill-mannered grace, and pushing fo

," rejoined Frank. "Fortunes, howev

other declared, a hard glitter of

em with me," acknowled

ntly at least two inches in stature. "If they are not in Marston where are t

ve them dead,"

s half smiled

nown parts; you are living in the old homestead where this lost sister of yours was rea

rom the side of the house. "It was there she ran down on her way out. I see her now, though forty years have passed, and I, a little fellow of six, neither understood nor appreciated what was happening. My father stood in the window above, and he cried out: 'Don't come back!

ted with the fact tha

he brother's eye settled

rd so at the time, when everything was fr

. "Not that she had marri

s. Wakeham lay, "surmised things, but she didn't know anything for certain. If she had she might have sent f

outmatched in cunning, "you say she was penurious, t

ried: "The closest women have their whims. If she had known any such fol

let her," su

ry soon cringed again and attempted a sickly smile, wh

h would have put a good meal into my mouth! You do not know me, sir; you are prej

o," returned the other. "Your conduct has not been of a nature to

worming, as you have, into

ou. I came to give you one last chance to play the man by helping me to find your relatives

exist," h

they exist. I

t th

ect. I must know that your sist

grumbled. "I shall be ke

ill see that you

ooked like a fox d

to rob me of my own. I suppose I shall not be allowed to live in my

ure that i

your pardon," he cried, "perhaps we had better not talk any longer, for I have been too tried for patience. They will not ev

ugh after the funeral

e funeral!"

o extravagant?" Frank

look, dropped his eyes and

ed it," he muttered; "but one must