2
of the adopted children of Father Grey
son. They were unublo to stand and con
verso with one whom they felt sure had
wronged them as well as the dead, and
they therefore pushed almost readily by
her, and entered the house.
The morning subsequent to the funer
al, Arthur Clayton and llonoria held a
long, and what seemed a stormy inter
view in the library. The doors were care
fully closed, but loud and angry voices
were heard issuing from thence, inure
than once. Mr. Clayton finally came out
looking cowed and sullen.
" The idiot I She holds the reins in
her own hands, and thinks to ride over
me with impunity !" ho was heard to
mutter, as he strode across the hall.
Passing out, he mounted his horse, a
fiery, untamed creature, and went dashing
down the avenue at a frightful pace. His
actions were those of a madman, or one
driven nearly to desperation.
Two hours later, a messenger drove up
to" the Hall, calling for Phil, Dote and
llonoria.
"Mr. Green has sent for you," he said,
" There is business of importance to
transact, and I am to take you directly to
his office."
llonoria made some demur at first, but
finally consented to go, and the whole
party was soon en route for the village.
The ride was a silent one. Mr. Green
met them at the door his face very grave.
" 1 have sad news to tell you," he said,
taking Honoria's hand. " A terrible ac
cident occurred. While returning from
the hall this morning, Mr. Clayton was
thrown from his horse upon a pile of
stone and nearly killed."
llonoria become ghastly pale, and
screamed out in sudden terror.
" It is the hand of fate she cried.
" lie has a confession to make," persist
ed the lawyer, relentless, like his kind.
" Mercy 1 mercy I"
The blow was sudden, crushing, unex
pected. It found her at a disadvantage.
Some awful fear 6eemed to confront her,
and reluctantly she allowed herself to be
led into the office.
Arthur Clayton lay nearly dead on the
couch and was only barely able to whis
per his confession, which was of the fol
lowing purport :
It was he who had given Father Grey
son tho chloroform, aud he who had per
sonated him in the marriage ceremony,
which was easily done, as neither of them
were personally known to the clergyurtin.
llonoria and himself had long been
lovers and had mutually agreed upon the
plan, promisiug to share the proceeds of
the enterprise. llonoria, by means of a
mask and light drapery, had represented
the ghost; her object being to obtain the
letter written by Father Greyson, before
it had been seen by Dote. The secret re
vealed in that letter was, that Dote was
his own lawful child, by an early mar
riage, which circumstances had compelled
him to keep concealed uutil after the
death of his wife.
This secret had long been known to
llonoria, and she was anxious to keep it
from Dote, as the knowledge or that tact
would interfere, with their plan. Tho
will had been stolen by her and was de
stroyed. When in spite of all her efforts,
the letter had been conveyed to Dote she,
had given her patient sufficient chloro
form to stupify him, had crept along to
Dote s room, as has already been stated
During her absence Clayton entered the
room occupied by the invalid, and had
given more chloroform which had pro
duced his death, intending to put him be
yond tho power of making further, disclo
sures. When llonoria returned from the
visit to Dote's chamber, he had adminis
tered the drag to her to prevent suspi
cion from pointing in that direction.
Their plans worked well, but during the
interview that morning, a quarrel regard
ing the disposition of the property arose
between them, and he had left, reckless
and desperate. A moment or so after ho
had furnished his confession, ho was be
yond tho reach of man 8 vengeance.
llonoria was glad to be allowed to go
away without punishment, for her share
in the work of that night, and Phil, and
Dote both felt that in her defeat she had
Already been sufficiently humbled.
The after events, our readers can easily
imagine for themselves, and if any
of them Miould ever visit " Bunker II ill,
Mr. Phil. Merideth and his pretty wife
once Miss Emerson, will gladly extend
to them to cospitahty ot Greyson Hall
JJ " You ay," said a judge to a wit
ness, " that the plaintiff resorted to an
ingenious use af circumstantial evidence,
state just exactly what you meant by
that." " Well," said the witness " My
exact meaning is .that he lied.
A Singular Story.
A MOST remarkable case of domes
tic infelicity has just come to light
in that part of Jersey City hitherto
known as Hudson. The parties to the
affair are all of the highest respectability.
All but one of them the injured hus
band are possessed of valuable property,
which fact led to the trouble. Whether
there is anything criminal in the matter
is not known ; but from the respectabil
ity of the parties it is supposed they are
innocent of any evil except that of very
persistent malico toward their deceased
relative's husband. Still, as the property
in question, at least so far as the dead
woman's share goes, is entailed under cer
tain conditions, a very nice legal point is
involved.
Three years ago this spring, a young
man named Starkey, of good habits and
respectable connections, was taken into
the employ of a Mr John Tice, who keeps
a dry goods store in Hudson city, and
whose family is one of considerable
wealth. The Tice familv inherited this
from their father, a hard-working farmer,
who owed his prosperity to the rise in
property which he purchased in his
youth. When they took young Starkey
into their employ they intended that he
should act simply as their clerk. liut
there was a young lady in the family, a
Miss Mary Tice, who conceived other
ideas. Starkey beiig a rather goodlook
ing young fellow, of pleasing manners
and address, Miss Mary was not long in
discovering his good qualities nor in man
ifesting for his company a decided pref
erence over that of the other young gentle
men ot her acquaintance, Starkey, in
his turn, was rather impressed by the
young lady s good looks, nnd the result
as was but natural under the circumstan
ccs, was a reciprocal attachment.
The family, discovering how matters
stood between the young couple, and
having rather higher notions than tho
girl, at once dismissed Starkey from the
shop, and forbade his ever setting foot
in the house again. They also denied
the girl the privilege of meeting or con
versing with her lover. The result may
be imagined. Opposition only fed fuel
to love's fire, and within a month after
the clerk's dismissal he became the girl's
husband. She immediately left her re
lations a brother aud sister to live
with her husband. Her relattves finding
their opposition useless, gave a tacit con
sent to the marriage, and furnished the
apartments in which the young couple
went to housekeeping. Young Starkey
being a man of good habits, had made a
great many friends, and bore a good name,
so, being offered assistance, he at once
went into business on his own account,
and succeeded in making a very comfort
able living for his family.
Things went smoothly and happily
with him until a year after marriage,
when his wife gave birth to a daughter,
after which her health failed. Thinking
that her sister and other relatives would
be able to give her more care and atten
tion than she would otherwise receive,
she proposed to her husband that she
and tho child should -go to her sister's
and remain until she should recover. Mr.
Starkey, although ho and his wife had al
ways lived together in the happiest man
uer, the two never having had a word
of difference, gave his consent. Thereu
pon Mrs. Starkey removed with her child
to her sister's residence. It was a sad
day for Starkey when he gave his con
sent to the removal, for from that time
he never saw his wife nor child again.
What arts tho family used, or whether
his wife was confined to her bed by illness
he does not know, but certain it is he
never saw her, nor could ho gain access
to the house. The child, as he learned
from tho neighbors, was sent away, and
the family would tell neither him nor his
wife where it had been taken. This latter
fact he subsequently learned from a let
ter his wife loft for home Time passed
and Starkey went three times to the
house where his wife was lying sick, but
each time he was refused admission to
her bedside, although he knew she was ill.
When Bhe died he was not informed
of the fact by the relatives, but learned
it from the death notices in the news
papers, tho woman's death having been
advertised, strangely enough, under her
maiden name. Starkey then went to
the house and asked to see his wife's
corpse. Even this consolation was denied
him by the heartless relatives. Not
knowing what course to pursue under the
circumstances, and overwhelmed with
grief, the doubly-bereaved husband went
to Justice JM aires, to whom be related tno
particulars of tha affair, when the Jus
tice called on the lice family and inform
ed them that unless they manifested
decent respect for the husband's feelings
he would at once issue a warrant empower
ing the husband to take tho corpso and
bury it himself. This sudden threat of
the law, which they had overlooked
brought the unfeeling relatives to their
senses, and they then accorded tho hus
band the- required permission. They
even allowed him to ottend tho fuucrul
but compelled him to ride in a cariage of
his own hiring at the tail-end of the pro
cession, instead of giving him the place
he was entitled to that of first mourner.
Small as was this poor consolation, the
family had their revenge, for no sooner
was the funeral over than they sat up the
claim that as they had given tho young
couple tho furniture they had, it still be
longed to them, and so they replevied
the property and carried it off. tho hus
band offering no objection. 13ut hardly
had this trouble been smoothed over by
time than another came. Tho afflicted
Starkey indirectly learned that he was
also childless, his little daughter - having
died and been buried at some convenient
distance in the country when, where, or
how, he has never learned, and does not
know to this day.
And here is where the'legal point arises.
When old Mr. Tice died he left his prop
erty to his children, to bo divided equally
between them. Should cither of the
children die without heirs, his or her
share was to be divided between the sur
vivors. low, if Mrs. Starkey's child
died before the mother, then tho child's
right to the property as heir would re
vert to the mother, and the brother and
sister would be her heirs; but if the
mother died first the child would be
come the heir to the mother's portion,
and she dying subsequently, her title
as heir would be vested in her next kin
her father. As tho property involved is
worth $200,000, the question becomes one
of considerable importance.
A Spunky Girl.
A GIRL living with her father in
Bartlett, New Hampshire, per-lui-uied
a deed which showed that she
had tho true spunk of her ancestors.
Her father was a Crawford and followed
the profession of a guide among the
mountains. Her name was Bessie, and
she was the only daughter remaining at
home a dark-eyed, brown haired girl,
of slight but compact frame, just enter
ing her nineteenth year. Her mother
had been dead several years, and upon
her devolved the whole care of the house
hold. One day Crawford went, with a party
of travelers, away to the head waters of
one of the many mountain streams' that
empty into Sauo, and Bessie was left
alone. Eveu tho dogs had all goue with
the pleasure seekers. Near the middle
of tho afternoon, while the girl was Bit
ting byan open window in the front room,
engaged in sewing, a man came up from
tho ruud aud asked her if she would give
him a drink of water. Bessie had seen
this man before, and had not liked his
looks. He was a stout, broad-shouldered,
ill-favored fellow, and the bits of moss
and spikes of the pines upon his clothes
indicated that he had slept in tho woods.
But JJessio did not hesitate. She laid
uside her work and weut to get tho water,
When she came back the man had enter
ed the room. She did not like this for
she was sure he had come in by the win
dow; but she hauded him the tin dipper
without remark. The man drank, and
then set the dipper down upon the table.
Then he turned upon the girl, and drew
a broad-bladed knife from his pocket.
" Look ye, my young lady," he said,
" I know there is money in this houso ;
aud I know that you are alone. Show
me where the money is! If you don't I
shall kill you, and then hunt it up niy-
seit I i m in earnest and there is uo
time to waste. Don't make a fuss for if
you do, you'll feel this jack-knife quick."
Bessie shrank back aud looked into
the man's face, and she could see that he
meant just what ho said.
" If I show you where the money is
will you promise not to do mo harm ?"
" Show me, honest, and I won't harm
you.
" Then come with me. But you will
take ouly the money you won't take my
lather s papers f
?' Only the money, girl."
Bessie led tho way to a small bedroom
on the ground floor, where there was an
old mahogany bureau, the upper drawer
ot which she unlocked, lhe man, when
he saw this, thinking doubtless that Craw
ford's gold was within his grasp, shut up
his knife and put it in his pocket. The
girl opened the drawer, and quick as
thought, drew forth a largo navy revol
ver one with which she herself had
killed a trapped bear and cocked it.
" Villain 1" she exclaimed, planting
her back against the Wall, and aiming the
weapon at his bosom, " many wild beasts
have I shot with this good pistol, and I'll
now shoot you, if you do not instantly
leave. this honse I I will give you not
even a second ! Start, or I fire 1"
Tho ruffian could read human looks
as well as could the maiden, and he could
read very plainly in the firm-set lips and
in tho flashing eyes but more clearly in
the steady hand which held the pistol
that fhe would not only fire as she had
promised, but her aim would be a suro
and fatal one.
And he backed out from the bed-room
backed into the sitting room then
leaped from tho open window and disap
peared. Bessie kept her pistol by her side un
til her father and his guests came home ;
and when she told her story, search was
made for the ruffian. But he was not
fonnd. Our heroine had so thoroughly
frightened him that ho never came that
way again.
Outwitting a Thief.
A robber's adventure.
'7OU won't be afraid to stay alone
1 to-night?" said my husband, as
he kissed me, and wished me good-by.
" No," I answered, " I don t think 1
shall be afraid ; but, at the same time,
I should feci better satisfied if you were
in the house, or the money out of it."
He laughed and said, " I am sorry to
leave you, dear, but I don't suppose there
is any danger, though 1 fear it is pretty
generally known that tho long-looked for
monev to pav off the men arrived to-day.
Perhaps 1 should not tell you this; but,"
he said, patting mo on the cheek, " you
are a brave woman, and thieves are always
cowards.
So, with another kiss, he left me. We
had been settled at Miltown, in Canada,
for about six months ; they were running
a new line of railroad through the town,
aud my husband was chief eugineer of tho
party. Miltown was a pretty little place,
but somewhat scattered, so we had no
immediate neighbors; but upon one side
was an apple orchard ; back, and in front
of us, open spaces, and upon the other
side the church, a large wooden building,
whose white back arose perhaps thirty
fect'from the side of our pretty little cot
tage, which I believe had formerly been
the parsonage. I tell you this, so that
vou may better understand the rest of
my story-
After my husband had left, I called
Maggy, my maid-of-all-work, and told her
to close the kitchen windows, and lock
the back door, meanwhile doing the same
myself to the back of tho house. My
husband everthoughtful, had brought me
home a new book ; and once absorbed
in its columns, I forgot that I was alone
with only Maggy, a raw Irish girl of per
haps sixteen, and with a considerable
sum of money in the house. The even
ing passed quickly away ; and much . to
my surprise, as 1 tin is lied the lasc sketch
in my paper, I heard the clock strike
twelve. It was time for bed, I thought ;
for I knew it certainly was useless to
wait up for my husbaud who having been
called away on important business, would
probably bo unable to return until the
uext day ; so I went to tho kitchen to
rouse Maggy, whom 1 found noddin
over the tire, afraid to go up stairs until
I went.
" Come, L said, " Maggy, J. am going
to bed now."
I had scarcely spoken the words, when
I heard a cautious footstep in the front
piazza. I listened. Had my husband
come home? Again I heard it, and then
the door-knob softly turned. I took off
my slippers, and went noislessly to the
front door and listened ; the steps sound
ed again in tho piazza, and then I heard
them in the crisp snow, as they went
round tho house.
" So you are going to try the back door,"
I thought. " Well, you won't get in
there, for wo are safely locked up,
know."
But the next moment I thought with
horror of the windows that faced the
back of tho church, which had no fasten
ing of any kind. Maggy was white with
terror, and commenced wringing her
hands and crying :
"Och 1 it's murdered we are ihtirely 1"
she exclaimed.
" Cease your noise, you idiot," I said,
more forcibly than elegantly.
I must see about those side windows
for I well knew the next trial would be
thero, and that it would be an easy mat
ter to reach them, as they were not far
from the ground. As 1 again entered
the parlor and drew up the window-blind,
I caught the reflection of myself upon
the white back of the Methodist church
opposite. Quick as a flash, I dropped the
blind again.
" llun, Maggy," I said, and get meiny
husbands great coat from the hall, and
that old hat of his that hangs behind the
kitchen door. Quick !" I said, as she
hesitated, afraid to venture alone.
At the same time I louked eagerly
around for something that would have
the appearance of a revolver. I found
what I wanted the case of my husband's
meerschaum pipe.
" Just the thing," I said, seizing it.
By this time Maggy had returned.
bringing me the old coat and hat, ami
stood with open eyes and month regard
ing me, as I hastily dressed myself m
them.
" Now open the window wide," I said
to the wondering Maggy.
fihe tremblingly obeyed. I took my
place directly between tho lamp '-which
1 turned up so it would burn brightly
and the window, and saw, with a thrill of
joy, tho shadow of my figure presented
on the opposite church. Maggy looked
hrst at me, then followed my gaze out of
the window.
" Shure it's a man you've made of
yourself," she said, as she saw tho shad
ow.
And it was ns perfect a deception as I
could have wished. I listened and heard
the steps coming round tho house, and
at once fixed myself in the best position
possible, holding the meerschaum case in
my hand, as though I were loading a re
volver. The steps ceased ; evidently the
owner ot them was regarding the shadow
on the church. It looked formidable.
Then I heard them cautiously retreat ;
the gate was soltly shut and Maggy, peep
ing out of the front windows, saw a man1
hastening off.
" Shut tho window, Maggy," I said to
the delighted girl ; the danger was past.
" Thank heaven 1" I said, reverently, and
Maggy added, "and that old coat and
hat."
My husband, much to my surprise and
joy, came homo about an hour afterward,
and found me still dressed in my strange
masquerade. When I told him my story
he laughed heartily, and said, " I'd buck
one brave woman against a dozen thieves
any day."
But, nevertheless, his next present to
me was a handsome revolver.
1 Judge In Difficulty
A Judge in this State went into the
river to bathe the other morning, and,
while he was swimming about, some aban
doned scoundrel stole all his clothes ex
cepting his high hat and umbrella. We
won't undertake to explain how mad tho
Judge was, because, although the Eng
lish language is copious, its most efficient
and vigorous ajectives are entirely une
qual to the expression of certain degrees
of emotions. But he stayed in tho water
about four hours, experimenting with
the different kinds imprecations and en
deavoring to select two or three -of the
sturdiest objurgations for application to
the thief. At last ho came out, and, af
ter mounting the high hat, he opened the
umbrella and tried to cover his retreat
up the street toward his house. It ap
peared to the Judge that all the female
pupils of tho boarding schools and tho
members of the Dorcas societies and tho
women's rights conventions were out
promenading that day, and the Judgo
had an awful time going through the
zouave drill with that umbrella. When
ho reached home ho heard that tho thief
had been captured. Tho Judge is now
eugaged in writing out his charge to tho
jury, in advance for the trial. Those who
have seen the rough draft tay it is the
most picturesque law paper drawn up iu
that section of the country.
JBS5 Over tho fire-place, in a quaint
old mansion, erected nearly two hundred
years ago in Mamaroneck, the following
inscription is carved in stouo :
If the B nit, put :
If the I) . putting :
The present occupant of tho man
sion, Hans Van Hamburg, was for s
long time at a loss to decipher iti
meaning. The matter was brought be
fore a number of antiquarians, and finally
referred to the Tautog Club, when tho
following, and probably correot, solution
was given by the (Edipus of that famous
fraternity :
If the grate be empty, put coal on :
If the great bo full, stop : putting coi
on: