People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1893 — ALITTLE COMEDY OF ERRORS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALITTLE COMEDY OF ERRORS

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lished by special arrangement! CHAPTER IX. jDuke—Then go you forth, fortune play upon your pyospercrtis helm. —All’s Well that Ends Well. Returning to the Clement house, Iforth retired to the privacy of his own apartments, intending to give himself up to a serious review of his position. He had brought with him the noon ■edition of one of the daily papers; and, suddenly recollecting it, he drew it from his pocket and glanced carelessly at the telegraphic news. “Oh, I see!” he exclaimed, with a sudden start of recollection. “The Daily Times; this is the paper that Warner connection with my friend Clipper. By the way, let me see if that •eulogistic leader is in it. ‘A Retrospective Glance’ —that is not it, of course; ‘A Word to the Wise’—that might refer to me; ah, here it is. ‘Our Candidate tor City Attorney.’ Now I shall see what my friend Clipper has to say about me." And he immediately became absorbed in the editorial, which ran thus: “It has always been tho policy of the Times to support the administration; consequently when, two yegrs ago,the popular outcry for ‘Noyes and Reform’—aided, as tho public has since had reason to believe, by such practical illustrations of reform as bribery, intimidation and Tiallot-box stuffing—turned the scale against the men whom we had supported and would gladly have seen filling the chief municipal offices, ■we accepted our defeat gracefully and commenced at once to fight the battles of the gentlemen who been fairly or otherwise elected. They started out with flying colors and such glowing prophecies of what they wore going to -do, that the Impression grew abroad that the millennium was about to dawn upon X . For a time all wont well, and the besom of reform with which the new administration had promised to sweep away all cobwebs from tho structure of city government was shaken vigorously in our faces. Nevertheless, the public waited in vain for any substantial results. A few policemen were removed from the force, ostensibly for neglect of duty, but really bemuse it had been ascertained that thoy had voted against Mayor Noyes! This was reform! A clerk was removed from one of the departments at the urgent demand of the city press, becauso of bis flagrant misdemeanors in office He had ■done efficient campaign work for the successful party, however, and in recognition of this service he was soon after put into a position ol trust, where to-day ho flaunts his incapacity and loose morals in tho face of tho public withthe defiant ‘what are you going to do about it?' which has always been the favorite taunt of auch pampered scoundrels. This also Is reform, with a very big R 1 A few such instances were ■enough for the Times. “We could not,even for the principle of publlo unity, defend an administration that pormltted and committed such glaring abuses of executive authority, and we therefore renounced all allegiance to tho reigning.powers, calling upon tho people to take the work of reform out of the incompetent hands to which thoy had Intrusted It and carry it on themselves, beginning at the seat of government, where they would And an abundant Held of labor. For this we have been assailed and falsified by the zealous friends of tho administration, whose championship has not been ‘like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought,’ but, on tho contrary, has been knocked down to the highest bidder in the 'peremptory sale' •which their circumstances rendered necessary; but In our war upon the unblushing malfeasance in offleo which has already brought contempt upon X ,wo have had the cordial support of all good citizens. There are men In X to-day who feel the disgrace Into which our unworthy officials have brought us as keenly as if it were a personal reproach, and ■who are willing for the sake of public good to undertake the formidable task of purifying our local politics. Conspicuous among these tlemen is Ollin North,esquire, the distinguished •citizen who has honored us by becoming our candidate for city attorney. It will be rememered that the Times was the first paper in the city to suggest Mr. North’s candidacy for this ■office, though he now has the unanimous support of our reputable press, Irrespective of party. In consequence of our active participation in the movement that secured this gentleman’s nomination—and to no one can this happy result be attributed more directly than to •Col. Clipper—we feel a peculiar interest in the fortunes of Mr. North; though of course tho Times, cordially desires and confidently anticipates a sweeping victory for our entire ticket “Of Ollin North’s blameless record as a professional man and as a ciitizen we could not say one word of praise that Would not be heartily Indorsed by all our readers, whatever their party bias or affiliation. Socially, professlon--ally and politically he Is a man of unmeasured popularity. Ever since he first came among us, stow three years ago, a young lawyer with no credentials save a polished address, >a genial, ■courteous disposition aad a knowledge of his ■profession that soon placed him long strides ahead of even older and more experienced practitioners, he has possessed a strong hold on the regard of the public and an undisputed social position of which he may well be proud. Altogether, the candidacy of such a gentleman as Ollin North means something more than the mere elevation of one man to a public office and ■the stepping out of another, which Is commonly the sum and substance of an election. It means that the people of X , awakening from the lethargy in which too long they have indulged, havo determined to place In office men In whose purity theycan feel implicit trust and to whose after-record they may point with pride. Mr. North is conspicuously such a man. Of his especial qualifications for this office no one that has watched his professional career for the past three years can have any ■doubt; and the social prestige that he will carry with Mn into the office will do much toward elevating the tone of our local politics. “Voters, consider well tho situation. The greatest danger that can possibly threaten us is at our doors. A gulf deeper and wider and more Implacable than that which threatened tho destruction of Rome is yawning at our feet;it demands the sacrifice of our noblest talent, the prido of our social Ufa, the flower of our chivalry, ere it will consent to close. Mr. North, like bravo Curtius of old, stands forth as our deliverer, and Is ready to fling himself into the gulf, that our municipal government may be saved. The office can confer no honor upon tiim; he will honor the office. Since he has con-

seated to act as our candidate, not for the sake of any good that may thereby result to himself, but from the patriotic desire to take the control of our public affairs out of the hands of the unscrupulous demagogues who have already brought us so perilously near the verge of ruin, let us show oar appreciation of his service by ■niting one and all, whatever onr party, whatever our prejudices, whatever our feeling toward the other candidates may be, by giving him a vote that shall be as one voice—the unanimous vote of the elty.” The expression on Allan North’s face as he reached the conclusion of the article furnished a rather grim commentary on CoL Clipper’s enthusiastic eulogium. But when, after a few moments’ meditation, with that cynical little smile lingering on his lip, he tossed the paper aside, it was merely with the comment: “I must try to call on Col. Clipper today. After I have seen and talked with him I shall be safely past one more danger which at present seriously embarrasses my peace of mind. ’ Having settled himself in an easychair with a perfumed cigar which called up'a momentary amused recollection of Wee and the office, he fell to reviewing his second call on Mrs. Maynard and summing up the results. “On the whole,” he reflected with a self-satisfied little smile, as he lay back in bis chair and watched the blue smoke circling in delicate puffs and wreaths around his bead, “I may consider this morning’s call quite a commendable stroke of business. I find that .every hypothesis upon which I started out has been strengthened, every suspicion confirmed. The links are not yet connected, but I see before me a chain of evidence which I am positive will in time be complete. I have a much more confident feeling now in regard to my position with Mrs. Maynard, and my future investigations, so far as she is concerned, will be comparatively easy to pursue, if 1 proceed with due caution. I think when I next see her I will question her in regard to that letter of Mrs. Dunkirk’s, of which, by the way, neither of us spoke to-day. I can scarcely determine what use Noll hoped to make of such a document; though probably he had no definite knowledge of its contents and took it entirely at Mrs. Maynard’s valuation. If she imagines that it would constitute for her a legal claim to that fortune, she is greatly in error. However, I will be indulgent to the fancy, if it exists, and thus derive whatever benefit to my side of the case a thorough canvassing of the document may furnish. By skillfully arranging my questions concerning it, I may be able to gain some insight into her personal relations to Mrs. Dunkirk: not that this is material exactly, but it is relevant. I wish, if possible, to learn her whole personal history so far as it has any near or remote connection with this case. To be sure, I know the story set forth by Hunter and Ketchum, in which she is made to figure as a sort of juvenile adventuress with a chronic weakness for coveting her neighbor’s wealth, and consequently a soul not above the temptations that beset the lovers of filthy lucre. She is an orphan, so H. and K. maintain, the only child of a widow with whom Mrs. Dunkirk was once intimately acquainted, who, when her own mother died, leaving her a slender bank account, managed to gain admission to Mrs. Dunkirk’s household; in the hope, I am further assured, that by skillfully playing her cards she might become the childless old lady’s heir. Well, after living with Mrs. Dunkirk for five years, and presumably insinuating herself into the good graces of the old lady, she married this Maynard —Maj. Maynard—and they went abroad for a few months. This much I have learned from Hunter and Ketchum; however, I am not satisfied to accept the story on the mere strength of their assertion. I should at least like to hear the case stated by Mrs. Maynard herself. “Now,” North’s soliloquy ran on, “H. and K. stoutly maintain that there never was any legal adoption of Mrs. Maynard—Nina—what was her maiden name? Oh, Nina Kingsbury—by Mrs. Dunkirk; that her. position in the household during those five years was merely that of —well, a ward, though there was no legal guardianship, either. They admit that during that period of five years Mrs. Dunkirk made a will in which she bequeathed her fortune without reservation, except for a legacy of a few thousand dollars to one old family servant, to her young friend, Nina Kingsbury. Shortly after the marriage of that young lady, how-

ever, some rumor revived Mrs. Dunkirk’s old belief that her brother’s daughter was still living, and could be found; and acting upon that belief, the old lady destroyed her will And now the mooted question is: Did she ever make another? Hunter and Ketchum say, ‘No,’ and they have kept to this denial through everything, but Hopkins and Shepherd, acting upon the instructions of Mrs. Maynard and my brothera Ollin, bring forward a document apparently genuine and well certified, and affirm: ‘She did make a second will, and here it is!’ Of the manner in which this forgery was handled by my colleagues, I can only say that it was merciless, but masterly. “Now, Mrs. Maynard was awar&, it seems, of the existence of that first will, and she also knew about its being destroyed; though how she came to be in possession of such direct means of com-

munication with Mrs. Dunkirk’s end of the line, and how she contrived to gain information which that lady would not be at all likely to furnish her, I cannot for my life conjecture. Here is the place where a missing link most be ■applied. There is evidently a third party somewhere! However, acting upon her own knowledge of the circumstances whenever, wherever and however gained, she proceeded, with the aid of my brother and that third person, whose identity I must yet discover, to concoct the conspiracy out of which grew this forged will. “At this point arises tho question: How came this forged will to be discovered in Mrs. Dunkirk’s desk after the first fruitless search for a will had been abandoned? This is one of the mysteries that I must try to solve. That Noll did not place it there I would Btake my lliat Mrs. Maynard did not do so, seems equally evident. Who, then, did? That undiscovered third person! Nothing could be more obvious. Now, where is the clew that shall lead to the discovery of that third conspirator? Mrs. Maynard must furnish it; and this is one result toward which I must bend my energies when I see her next. * * * Taking it all in all, this case grovrs sufficiently interesting! I anticipate even some degree of pleasure, from a purely professional standpoint, in tracing it all up; taking a more personal view of the matter—” At this point his thoughts, instead of pursuing the straight line of definiteness, began to circle dreamily around the many possibilities of the case. A vivid recollection of that last little scene with Mrs. Maynard came over him; there was a grave speculative smile on his face as he now reviewed it. “ I wonder how often these interesting little crises are liable to occur?” he mused, apprehensively. “Mrs. Maynard evidently regarded my proposition to take upon myself all the consequences of this forgery without revealing her share in the transaction as a particularly edifying exhibition of tenderhearted chivalry. Little does she know Allan North! Before I would languish in durance vile for lovely woman’s sake I should try to keep the laws of my country in something at least approximating an unshattered condition. That isn’t my way of showing devotion. On the contrary, I indorse the sentiment of the poet who sang in immortal verse:

' I’d sigh for her, * I’d cry for her, ‘ But hang me If I’d die for her!” or sacrifice myself in any other way! True, there’s no telling what I might do if I were in love—that semi-dement-ed condition in which no man should be held accountable for his actions. I never was in love but once, and that time —well, I’m none the worse for it now! But at first —By Jove! it was hard to believe that Myra could be false to me, that such a strange inexplicable shadow could come between us and separate us forever! Well, it didn’t break my heart! Fortunately that important organ isn’t made of such-brittle material; but it has hardened my character, increased my recklessness, intensified all my faults. At least my friends, with true friendly eandor, assure me that I have changed thus within the last four years; and I know only too well what is the bitter drop that has thus diffused itself throughout the whole draught of my life. The wound in my heart healed quickly and left no visible trace; but there is a restless discontent and longing there that nothing has ever satisfied. Myra! Myra! It is you that I want—you alone!” He started up and [paced, to and fro for several moments. In that brief time he seemed completely transformed, there was such forceful emotion, such passion and longing in his rapidlychanging countenance. But he was resolutely fighting against this mood, having sworn long ago that he would never yield to such weakness; and at last he conquered himself, though it was with sternly-set lips and a few hard lines in his brow. Resolutely forcing his thoughts from the bitter past to the present and future, he took out his memorandum book and wrote briefly the results of his first twenty-four hours in X ; then, having still an hour’s leisure before dinner, he decided to improve it by making his meditated call upon Col. Clipper.

CHAPTER X. Plit—l beseech you all, be better known to this gentleman. —Cymbelline. “I hope I shall find my friend Clipper in his office,” was the reflection with which Allan North started out, after carefully noting the address of the Times building. “What a facile quill he wields! I dare say he doesn’t exaggerate Noll’s popularity in the least. Noll is just the sort of fellow to take everyone by storm, and I have already had abundant evidence of the devotion that is showered upon him here in X ; a devotion of which I am just now the unworthy recipient—the lightning rod toward which run all the currents of electricity with which the political atmosphere is overcharged. The bright sunlight of popular favor is somewhat dazzling to my unaccustomed eyes; no wonder that so many public men, after basking for a long time in its rays, become so defective in their visual organs that they cannot tell black from white or right from wrong!” With these rambling reflections North pursued his way to the Times building, a large and pretentious granite structure on one of the principal business streets, and but a few blocks from the Clement house. As North approached he saw a group of gentlemen standing on the steps of the building, engaged in a heated and informal debate on some political question. It was evident from their vehement and threatening gestures, their reckless and extravagant expressions and the unceremonious freedom with which contradictions and epithet were passed to and fro, that there wey some decided differences of opinion in course of ventilation; and, as North passed calmly through the excited crowd with a gracious acknowledgement of their salutations, he said to himself: “The excitement is evidently running high. lam fortunate to be out of the active canvass. Verily, there ia no

one calm, so peaceful, so undisturbed as the blameless politician who places himself and is contented to remain in that haven of security, the hands of hit. friends!” As he stepped into the elevator North casually inquired of the boy: “Shall I find CoL Clipper in his office?” “Yes, sir,” the boy answered; and in another moment, after a rapid plnnge upward, the elevator was stopped at the third floor of the building, and the boy, throwing open the door, looked at North with so plain a suggestion in his expectant face that the latter immediately acted upon his unspoken hint. Finding himself in a wide, handsomely tiled corridor with sphinx-like office doors on either side which gave no clew to what lay beyond their ground-glass panels, North was somewhat in doubt which way to turn; but suddenly the door directly facing the elevator was opened and a very tall, portly, handsome man appeared on the threshold,

with a rather less impressive-looking individual, whom he was with much gracious hand-shaking and fraternal patting on the shoulder dismissing from his presence. At sight of North these parting courtesies were abruptly suspended. “Is that you, North?” came in tones of sonorous greeting the tall, portly gentleman, while tho other seized North’s hand and wrung it violently. • “I’ve been wondering where you were. Glad to see you. Come in.” “Well, good day, Clipper; I’ll see you again to-morrow,” said tho departing caller; and,while he made a rush for tho elevator, Col. Clipper, having transferred his hand-shaking to North, drew him into his private office and closed the door. [to BE CONTINUED.]

HE FELL TO REVIEWING HIS SECOND CALL.

ENGAGED IN A HEATED DEBATE.