Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 342, 10 January 1907 — Page 7

7iie n.ci'hiio.id Palladium, Thursday, January 10, 1907,

Page Seven.

The Mystery of Agatha Webb, gj

By Anna Katharine Green. Author of "The Leavenworth Cae," "Lost Man's Lane," "Hand

n would like td explain Defore an further measures are taken bow J came to know that Agatha Webb bad money In her house," said Mr. Sutherland as they stepped back Into the other room. "Two days ago I was sitting wftb my family at dinner. Old gossip Judy catue In. Had Mrs. Sutherland She, pointing to the grass at her feet, said quietly, "ScethtsT" - oeen living she would not have presumed to intrude upon us at mealtime, but as we have no one now to uphold our dignity this woman rushed Into our presence panting with news and told us all in one breath how she bad just come from Mrs. Webb, who had a pile of money in her house; that she bad Just seen It with her own eyes; that going up stairs, as usual, without knocking, she had seen Mrs. Webb through the crack of, the sitting room door walking toward the fireplace cupboard with a huge roll of bills in her band; that listening she heard her say:Just fifteen hundred! Too much money by far to have ia the house.' After which she heard first one lock turned and then another, and, satisfied t h 1 1 the j money bad been put into some recepta-! cle in the cupboard, she crept out as quietly as .she had come In and ran away to tell the neighbors. Happily I was the first cne she told, but I have no doubt that In spite of all my Injunctions she has rented the news to every oi;i who wuuHi usu'iz. "Was the young wctr.an I fiee down j jonuer hi me lauif uuu yau 1 Judy told this story?" asked the coro- j uer. pointing towaru ine yarn. Mr. Sutherland pandered. "No; 1 do not think she wa.-. Frederick was seated at the table with n e. and my housekeeper wfi pot:riti; I lie tea. but Miss Pate b.-.:J nor yet ec:ne down. 1 think. She ban been putting on great airs of late." "Can it be possible that he does not know that his foii Frederick wants to marry this girl?" muttered the clergyman into the constable's car. The constable shook his bend. Mr, " Sutherland wan one of these debonair men whose very mildness makes them Impenetrable. The oor:ier on leaving the house was followed by Mr. Sutherland. As. the fine figures of the two men appeared oo the doorstep a faint cheer was heard from the two or three favored persons who were allowed to look through the c.-ite. Vat to this token of welcome neither gentleman responded by so much as a" look, all their attention being engrossed by the sight of the solitary figure of Miss Page, who still held her stand upon tbe lawn. Motionless as a statue, but with her eyes fixed upon their faces, she awaited their approach. When they were near her, she thrust one hand from under her cloak ami. pointing to the grass at her feet, said quietly: "See this?" They hastened toward her and bent down to examine the spot she Indicated. "What do yon find there? cried Mr. Sutherland, whose eyesight was not good. "Blood," responded the corocer, bucking up a blade of grass and sur.'ylng it closely. "Blood." echoed Miss Page, with so sugsrestlve a glance that Mr. Sutherland stared at her in amazement, not understanding his own emotion. "How are you able to discern a stain so nearly Imperceptible?" asked the coroner. "Imperceptible? It Is the only thing 1 see In the whole yard," she retorted, end with a slight bow which was not TfrlfhouVJU". elehieiir of mo'ekery she turned toward the gate. "A most unaccountable girl," commented tbe doctor. "But she Is right About these, stains. Abel," he called to the man at the gate, "bring a box or barrel here end cover up this spot. I don't want it disturbed by trampling feet till the jury I shall soon call shall have had an opportunity to look at it" Abel started to obey just as the young girl laid ber hand on the gate to cpen it. "Won't you help me?" she asked. The crowd is so great they won't let tue through," "Won't they?" The words came from without. "Just slip out as I slip in. and you'll find a place made for you." Not recoguizing the voice, she hesitated for a moment, but seeing the gate swaying, she pushed against it Just as a young man stepped through the gap. Necessarily they came face to face. "Ah. it is you." he muttered, giving her a sharp glance. "I do not know you," she haughtily declared, and slipping by him with such dexterity she was out of the gate before he could respond. But he ouly snapped his finger and thumb mockingly at her and smiled knowingly at Abel, who had lingered to watch the end of this encounter. "Supple as a willow twig, eh," be laughed. "Well, I have made whistles out of willows before now and halloo! whore did yon get that?" He was pointing to a rare flower that hung limp and faded from Abel's buttonhole. "Tpl8?Uh. I found it. ln.the house

yonder. It was lying on the floor of the Inner room, almost under Datsy's skirts. Curious sort of flower. I wonder where she got it?" The intruder betrayed at once an unaccountable emotion. There was a strange glitter in bis light green eyes that made Abel shift rather uneasily on his feet. "Was that before the pretty minx you have just let out came In here with Mr. Sutherland?" "Oh. yes; before any one had started for the bill at all. Why, what has this young lady got to do with a flower dropped by Batsy?" ".She? Nothing. . Only and I have never given you bad advice. Abel don't let that thing hang any longer from your buttonhole. Put it into an envelope and keep It. and if you don't hear from me again in regard to it write me out a fool and forget we were ever chums when little shavers." The? man called Abel smiled, took out the flower and went to cover up the grass as Dr. Talbot had requested. The stranger took his place at the gate toward which the coroner and Mr. Suth erland were now advancing with an air which showed his great anxiety to speak with them. He was tLat one of the five musicians whom we saw secretly entering the last mentioned gentleman's house after the departure of the last servant. As the coroner paused before him he spoke. "Dr. Talbot," said be. dropping his eyes, which werje apt to betray his thoughts too plainly, "you have often promised that you would give me a job If any matter came up where nice detective work was wanted. Don't you think the time has come to remember me?" "You, Sweetwater? I'm afraid the affair Is too deep for an inexperienced man's first effort. I shall have to send to Boston for an expert. Another time, Sweetwater, when the complications are less serious." 1 Th vnun-? fellow, rrlth a race wnite oa .-nil I- ifc f nrnimr otpflf 1 luuui 11 tin 1 1 1 1 1 " 'i uj . 'Rut you'll let uie staj around here?" he pleaded, pausing and giving the oth- , , ,n ,ook "Oh. j-et," answered the good naturi ( enrrmer. ,,I-nton will have work t eDoush for vou and half a dozen oth- j ers (Jo d tfil hira l sent you t "Thank you returned the other, his fat.t, SiUjjr.ly losing its aspect of acute ! difnrpotrtmwit. "Now I shall see wUt;.u tbat flo;Ver fell." be murmured. CHAPTER VI. DENUNCIATION. Mr. Sutherland returned home. As he entered the broad hall he met his son Frederick." There was a look on tbe young man's face such as he had not seen there in years. "Father." faltered the youth, "may I have a few words with you?" The father nodded kindly, though It ia likely he would have much preferred his breakfast, end the young man led him into a little sitting room littered with the faded garlands and other tokens of the preceding night's festivities. "I have an apology to make," Fredcrick begaa. "or rather I have your forgiveness to ask. For years." he went on. stumbling over his words, though he gave no evidence of a wish to restrain them, "for years 1 have gone contrariwise to your wishes and caused my mother's heart to ache and you to wish I had never been born to be a curse to you and her." He had emphasized the word mother and spoke altogether with force and deep iutensity. Mr. Sutherland stood petrified. He had long ago given up this lad n lost. "I 1 wish to clilinge. 1 wish to be as great a pride to you as I have been a shame and a dishonor. I may not succeed at once, but 1 am in earnest, and If you will give me your hand" The old man's arms were around the young man's shoulders at once. "Frederick !" he cried, "my Frederick!" "Do not make me too much ashamed," murmured the youth, very pale and strangely discomposed. "With no excuse for my past, I suffer intolerable apprehension in regard to my future, lest my good Intentions should fall or my self control not hold out. But the knowledge that you are acquainted with my resolve and regard it with an undeserved sympathy' may suffice to sustain me, and I should certainly be 'a" base "poltroonif f should disappoint you or her twice." He paused, drew himself from his father's arms and glanced almost solemnly out of the window. "I swear that I will henceforth act as If she were still alive and watching me." There was strange intensity in his manner. Mr. Sutherlaud regarded him with amazement. He had seen him In every mood natural to a reckless man, but never in so serioxis a one, never with a look of nwe or purpose in his face. It gave him quite a new idea of Frederick. "Yes," the young man went on, raising his right hand, but not removing his eyes from the distant prospect on which they were fixed: "I swear that I will henceforth do nothing to discredit her memory. Outwardly and inwardly I will act as though her eye was still upon me and she could again suffer grief at my failure or thrill at my success." A portrait of Mrs. Sutherland painted when Frederick was a lad of 10 hung within a few feet of him as he spoke. He did not glance at it. but Mr. Sutherland did and with a look as if he expected to behold a responsive light beam from those pathetic features. "She loved you very dearly." was the slow and earnest comment. "We have both loved you much more deeply than you have ever seemed to realize. Frederick." , r "I believe it," responded the youat man, turning with an expressibu c. calm resolve to meet his'fathfr's eye "As proof that I am no longer lnseusi big ta ifiur affection. 1 have rnfle u

and Ring-, Etc., Esq. my mine! fo forego for your safe one of the dearest wishes of my heart. Fa-1 ther" he hesitated before he spoke the word, but spoke it firmly at last-'am 1 right in thinking you would not like Miss Tage for a daughter?" "Like my housekeeper's niece to take the place in this house once occupied by Marietta Sutherland? Frederick. 1 have always thought too well of you to believe you would carry your forgetf ulness of me so far as that, even when I saw that you were iufiuenced by her attractions." "You did not do justice to my selfishness, father. 1 did mean to marry her. but I have given up living solely for myself, and she could never help me to live for others. Father. Amabel Page must not remain in this bouse to cause i division between you and me.1 "I have already intimated to her the advisability of her quitting a home where she Is no longer respected." the old gentleman declared. "She leaves on the lOA" train. Her coDduct this morning at the bouse of Mrs. Webb who, perhaps, you do not know was most cruelly and foully murdered last night was such as to cause comment and 'make ber an undesirable adjunct to any gentleman's family." . Frederick paled. Something In these words had caused him a great shock. Mr. Sutherland was fond enough to believe that It was the news of this extraordinary woman's death. But bis son's words, as soon as be could fiud any, showed that his mind was running on Amabel, whom he perhaps had found It difficult to connect even ln the remotest way with crime. "Sbe at this place of death? How could that be? Who would take d young girl there?" The father, experiencing perhaps more compassion for this soon to be disillusionized lover than he thought, St Incumbent upon him to show, answered shortly, but without any compromfse of the unhappy truth: "She went. She was not taken. No one, not eveu myself, could keep her back after she had heard that a murder bad been committed in the town. She even intruded into the house and when ordered out of the room of death took up her stand in the yard In front, where She remained until she bad the opportunity of pointing out to us a stain of blood on the grass which might j otherwise have escaped our attention.'' ; "Impossible!" Frederick's .eye was ; staring. He looked like a man struck dumb by surprise or fear. "Amabel "Impossible Amabel do thist You are mocKing me, sir." d0 this? You are mocking me. sir. or 1 may be dreaming, which may the good God grant." His rather, who had not looked for 60 much emotion, eyed bis sou in surprise, which rapidly changed to alarm as the young man faltered and fell back against the walk "You are ill, Frederick. You are really ill. Let me call down Mrs. Harcourt. But no, I cannot summon her. She is this girl's aunt." Frederick made an effort and stood up. . , "Do not call anybody,'" he entreated. "I expect to suffer some in casting this fascinating girl out of my heart. But I will conquer the weakness ultimately. Indeed I will. As for her interest in Mrs. Webb's death" how low his voice sank, and how he trembled "she may have been better friends with her than we bad any reason to suppose. I can think of no other motive'for her conduct.' "Admiration for Mrs. Webb ami horror" i "Breakfast is served, gentlemen," j cried a thrilling voice behind them, j Ajnabel Page stood smiling in the doorway. i CHAPTER YII. A CHOICE BETWEEN WEDLOCK AD THE ; GALLOWS. "Walt a moment, I must speak to you." j It was Amabel who was holding Frederick back. She had caught him j .by the arm as he was about leaving the room with his father, and he felt himself obliged to stop and listen. "I start for Springfield today," she: announced,- "I have another relative; there living at the house. When j shall I have the pleasure of seeing'youj ln my new home?" . "Never." It was said regretfully and j yet with a certain brusqyepess occasioned perhaps by overexcited JeeJ ing. ! nam as it is ror me to say it Ama-, beL it is but just for me to tell you that after our parting here today we will meet only as strangers. Friendship between us would be mockery, and any closer relationship has become impossible." It had cost him an immense effort to say these words, and he expected, fondly expected. I must admit, to see her color change and her head droop: But instead of this she looked at him steadily for a moment, then slipped her baud down his arm till she reached his palm, which she pressed with sudden warmth, drawing him Into the room as

itt JV "C

she diso and shnttfpr.fhe door behind

item, lie was speechless, for she never had looked so handsome or so glowing. Instead ofishowing depression or humiliation even she confronted him with a smile more dangerous than any display of grief could have been, for !t contained what it bad hitherto 'lacked, positive and irresistible admiration. Her words were equally dangerous. "I kiss your hand, as the Spaniards say." And she almost did so. with a bend of her bead which just allowed him to catch a glimpse of two startling dimples. He was astounded. He thought he knew this woman well, but at this moment she was as Incomprehensible to him as if he had never made a study of ber caprices and ever shifting expressions. "I am sensible of the honor." said he, "but hardly understand bow 1 have earned it." Still that incomprehensible look of admiration continued to Illumine vber face. "I did not know I could ever think so well of you," she declared. "If you do not take care, 1 shall end by loving you some day." "Ah." he ejaculated, his face contracting with sudden pain, "your love, then, is but a potentiality! Very well, Amabel, keep it so and you will be spared much misery. As for me. who have not beea as wise as you" "Frederick !" She had come so near he did not have the strength to finish. Her face, with its indefinable charm.

j was raised to bis, as she dropped tjjese words one by one from ber lips in lin gering cadence. "Frederick do you love me. then, so very mucb?" He was angry; possibly because he felt liis resolution failing him. "You know!" he hotly began, stepping back. j Then with a sudden burst of feeling that was almost line prayer ne rej sunied: "Do not tempt me. Amabel. I ! j have trouble enough without lamept- I Ing the failure of my first steadfast j j purpose." . j "Ah." she said, stopping where shei I was, but drawing him toward her by I ! every witchery of which ber mobile j features were capable, "your geueron; j impulse has strengthened into a pur-i pose, has it? Well. I'm not worth it, Frederick." - j I More and more astounded, under- ; standing her less than ever, but charm- ' ed by looks that would have moved an i i anchorite, he turned his head away in j a fain attempt to escape an influence ! ! that was so rapidly undermining his j ; determination. j Site saw the movement, recognized j the weakness it bespoke, and in the triumph of her heart allowed a low laugh to escape her. j ner voice, as I have before said, was unmusical though effective, but her r laugh was deliciously sweet, especially j when it was restrained, to a mere rip- I pie. as now. ! "You will come to Springfield soon," she avowed, slipping from before him so as to leave the way to the door Pen Amabel: His voice was strangely husky, and the involuntary opening and shutting of his hands revealed the emotion under which be was laboring. "Do you love me? You have acknowledged It now and then, but always as If you did not mean it. Now you acknowledge that you may some day and this time as if you did mean it. What is the truth? Tell me without coquetry or dissembling, for I am in dead earnest, and" He paused, choked and turned toward the window, where but a few minutes before he bad taken that solemn oath. The remembrance of It seemed to come back with the movement. Flushing with a new agi tation, he wheeled upon her sharply. "No, no." he prayed; "say nothing. If i you swore you did not love me, I i should not believe It, and If you swore ; that you did I should only find it hardi er to repeat what must again be said, i that a union between us can never take place. I have given my solemn promise to" "Well, well! Why do you stop? Am I so bard to talk to tbat tbe words will not leave your lips?" "1 have promised my father I will never marry you. He feels tbat he has grounds of complaint against you, and as I owe him everything" He stopped, amazed. She was look- ! ing at him intently, that same low laugh still on her lips. "Tell the truth." she whispered. "I know to what extent you consider your ; itiuier s wisaes. iuu iuiuk j ou uukui m not to marry after what took place last j : night. Frederick, I like you for this evidence of consideration on your part, but do not struggle too relentlessly with your conscience. 'I can forgive much more in ypu than you think, and if you really Ioye me" "Stop! Let us understand each other." He had turned mortally pale and met her eyes with something akin to alarm. "What do you allude to in speaking of last night? I did not know there was anything said by us in our talk together" " : "I do not allude to our talk." "Or or in the one dance we bad" "Frederick, a dance is innocent." The word seemed to strike him with the force of a blow. "Innocent" he repeated, "innocent." becoming paler still as the full weight of her meaning broke gradually upon him. . "I followed vou Into town." she whis pered, coming closer and breathing Hie i words Into his ear. But what I saw; you do there will not keep me from ' obeying you if yon say: 'Follow me I wherever I go, Amabel. Henceforth our lives are one. " "My God!" It was all he said, but It seemed to create a gulf between them. In the siience tfcat followed the evil sDirit la-! tent beneath ber beauty began to make itself evident even in the smile which! no lon-er called Into view the dimples ' which belong to guileless mirth, while j upon his face after the first paralyzing effect of her words had passed there appeared an expression of manlv re-1 sistance that betrayed a virtue which as yet had never appeared in his selfish and altogether reckless life. That this was more than a passln? Impulse he presently made evident by lifting his hand and pushing her slowly back. - "I do not know what yon saw me do." said he. "but whatever it was It can make no difference In our relations." Her whisper, which had been but a breath before, became scarcely audible. "I did not pause at the gate you entered," she said. "I went ln after you." A caen of drresistible feeling escaped 1

him. but he did not take bis eyes from ber face. "It was a long time before you came out." she went on. "but before that time the shade of a. certain "window was thrust aside and" "nushl" he commanded. In uncontrollable passion, pressing his Band with impulsive energy against her mouth. "Not another word of that or I shall forget you are a woman or that

I I have ever loved you." Her eyes, which were all she cad remaining to plead with, took on a peculiar look of quiet satisfaction and power. Seeing it he- let his hand fall and for the first time began to regard her v.ua anyiuing out a lover s eyes. "I was the only person in sight at that time." she continued. "You have nothing to fear from the world at uirfce-

i ear. . ! an Interval of nameless recoil, he rose The word made Its own echo. She: and attempted to stagger from the had no need to emphasize it even by a . place he discovered that she had been smile. But she watched him as It!,wnind ln h.hn hv or thrM

sunk into his consciousness with an intentrless it took all his strength to sustain. Suddenly her bearing and expression changed. The few remains of sweetness iq ber face vanished, and even the allurement which often lasts when the sweetness Is gone disappeared io the energy which now took pos

session of her whole threatening andjeaTe town."

inflexible personality, "That Is what we wish to prevent," "Marry me." she cried, "or I will j declared a talk thin young man who proclaim you to be the murderer ofj,MIned to take tDe IeaL "Until the

Agatha Webb!" Sbe had seen the death of love bis eyes. in CHAPTER VIII. THE HOLLOW THEE. Frederick Sutherland was a man of finer mental balance than he himself perhaps had ever realized. After the first few moments of stupefaction following the astounding alternative which bad been given him he broke out with the last sentence sbe probably expected to bear. . "What doyou hope from a marriage with me that to attain your wishes you" thus sacrifice every womanly instinct?' She met him on his own ground. "What do 1 hope?" She actually glowed with the force of ber secret deaira fan rnn aclr n nnnp fri -l film mj born in a tenement house, but with ... . . tastes and ambitions such as are usually only given to those who can gratify them? I want to be the rich Mr. Sutherland's daughter, acknowledged or unacknowledged the wife of one who can I enter any bouse in Boston as an equal. With c nnclflAn llbo I .or rli anything. I feel that I have the natui ral power and aptitude. I have felt it since 1 was a small child." "And for that"- he began. "And for that." she broke In, "I am quite willing to overlook any dark spot on your record. Confident that you will never repeat tbe risk of last night, I am ready to share the burden of your secret through life. If you treat me well, I am sure I can make it light for you." With a quick flush, an increase of self assertion she bad probably not anticipated, he faced her with a desperate resolution that showed how bandsome he could be if his soul once got control of his body. "Woman," he cried, "they were right. You are little less than a' devil." , Did she regard it as a compliment? Her smtle would seem to say so. "A devil that understands men." she answered with, tbat slow dip of her dimples that made her smile so dangerous. "You will not hesitate long over this matter; a week perhaps," ' "I shall not hesitate at all. Seeing you as you are makes my course easy. You will never share any burden with me as my wife." , .Still she was not abashed. "It is a . pity," she whispered. "It TXvrxmzre sairou yoa sucli "unnece"gsary struggle. But a week is not long to wait. I am certain of you then. This day week at 12 o'clock, Frederick." He seized her by the arm and, lost to everything but his rage, shook her with a desperate hand. ; "Do you mean it?" he cried, a sudden horror showing itself in his face, notwithstanding his efforts to conceal it. ! "I mean it so much," she assured him, "that before I came bome Just jnow I paid a visit to the copse over tbe certain hollow " Woman, they irer right; you are little lens than a devil." yon and I have held more than one tryst conceals within its depths a met age containing over l,0f"0. Frederick, I hold your life in my hands." The grasp with which he held her re laxed. A mortal despair settled upon KTs features, and recognizing the im- t possibility of further concealing the effect of her words upon him, he: sank into a chair and covered his face rith his hands. Sl viewed him with an air triumph, which brought back some of ner beauty. When she spoke, it was to sa5": If yu wlsn to Jin m In Springfield before the time I have set, well and Kd- I am willing that the time of our separation should be shortened, but It must not be lengthened by so much as a day. Now, If you will excuse me, I will go and pack my trunks." He shuddered. Her Toice seemed to cut through him like a knife. Drawing herself uo, she looked down on him with a strange mixture of passion and elation. ' t "You need fear no Indiscretion on my pert so longr as our armistice lasts." said she. "No ne can drag the truth from me while any hoe remains of your doing your duty by - uie in the way I have suggested." And still be did not xaoveT "Frederick."

i iway. A

muring his name? Can the tiger snarl

one moment and coo the next? "Frederick. I have a final word te say, a last farewell. Up to this hour I have endured your attentions, or, let us say. accepted them, for I always found you handsome and "greeable. if not the master of my henrt. But now, now it is lore that I feel, love. And love with me is oo fancy, but passion. Do you hear?' A passion which will make life a heaven or hell for the man who has inspired it. You should have thought of this when you opposed me. And with a look ia which was blendeJ something of the light and darkj uess of the two alternatives she had ; promised him she bent and imprinted !a k)ss upon fc5s forehead. The next moment she was gone. Or to he thought. But when, after men who had Ju?t come In by the front door. "Is this Miss Tage?" they were asking. "Yes, I am Miss Tage Amabel Page," she replied, with suae politeness. "If you have any business with me. state it quickly, for I am about to inouest has been held over the remains of Mrs. Webb, Coroner Talbot wlshea you to regard yourself as possible witness." "Me?" she cried, with an admirable gesture of scrprise and a wide opening of her brown eyes, that made her look like an astonished child. "What b.a?e I got to do with it?" "You pointed out a certain soot of blood on the grass, and well, the coroner's orders have to be obeyed, miss. You cannot leave the town without running the risk of arrest." "Then I will stay ln It. she smiled. "I have no liking for arrests." and the glint of ber eye rested for a moment on Frederick. "Mr. Sutherland." she continued as that gentleman appeared at the dining room door, "I shall have to 'mPse UP "r iPttHt7 for few rlnra Inniror Tnp man nor Inform days longer. These men here Inform me that my Innocent Interest ln pointing out to you that spot of blood on Mrs. Webb's lawn has awakened some curiosity and that I am wanted as a witness by the coroner." ' 1 OUXUVIl.uu IIU a H"i le"!?1Td tbe disfDC between Mt and tne,8e unwelcome Intruders. -The coroner's wishes are paramount Just ! no"-- bu! the Ifok he gate his I son was not soon lorgonen vy lue spec- ! tators. CHAPTER IX. i 6IX LITTLE GRAVES. There was but one topic discassed in the countryside that day, and that was tbe life and character of Agatha Webb. Her history had not been a happy one. She and Philemon had come from Porchester some 20 or more years before to escape tbe sorrows associated with' tEeir native towu'. " They ha'oTlef t behind them six small graves in Portchester churchyard, but though evidences of their affliction were always to be seen In the countenances of either they had entered with so much purpose into the life of their adopted town that they had become persons of note there till Philemon's health began to fail, when Agatha quit all outside work and devoted herself exclusively to him. Of her character and winsome personality we can gather some idea from the various conversations carried on that day from Porchester green to the shipyards in Sutberlandtown. In Deacon Brainerd's cottage the discussion was concerning Agatha's lack of vanity, a virtue not very common at that time among the women of this busy seaport. " "For a woman so handsome," the good deacon was saying, "and I think I can safely call her the finest featured woman who ever trod these streets, she showed as little Interest in dress as any one I ever saw. Calico at home and calico at church, yet she looked as much of a lady in her dark sprigged gowns as Mrs. Webster In her silks or Mrs. Parsons in her $1,000 sealskin." As this was a topic within the scope of his eldest daughter's intelligence she at once spoke up: "I never thought she needed to dress so plainly. I don't believe in such a show of poverty myself. If one Is too poor to go decent, all right; but they say she had more money than most any one in town. I wonder who Is going to get the benefit of it?" - "Why. Philemon of course. That Is, as long as he lives. He doubtless had the making of it" ' "Is It true that he's gone clean out of his head since her death?" interposed a neighbor who had happened in. . "So they say. I believe Widow Jones has taken him into her house." "Do you think," asked a second daughter, with becoming hesitation, "that he had anything to do with her death? Some of the neighbors say he struck her while in one of Lis crazy fits, while ethers declare she was killed bv some stranger equally old and almost as infirm." "We won't discuss the subject," objected the deacon. "Time will show who robbed us of tbe greatest hearted and mo6t capable woman in these parts." "And will time show who killed Batsy?" It was a morsel of a girl who spoke; the least one of the family, but tiie brightest "I'm sorry for Batsy, she always gav me cookies when I went to see Mrs. Webb." . "Batsy was a good girl for a Swede allowed the deacon's wife, who had not spoken till now. "When she first came Into town on the spars of that wrecked ship we all remember, there was some struggle between 'Agatha and me as to which of ns should have her. Bat I didn't like the task of teaching her the name of every pot and pan sbe had to use In the kitchen, so I gave her up to 'Agatha. And it was fortunate I did, for I've never been able to understand her talk to this day." "I could talk with her right well," lisped the little one. "She never called things by their Swedish names unless she was worried, and I never worried her." "I wonder If she would hare worshiped the groand under your feet, as she did that under Agatha?" asked the deacon, eying his wife with just the suspicion of a malicious twinkle in his ey., "I am not the greatest hearted and mOSl- eanahlnTnaj jn.trum retr,rf.

flADE FROn NATIVE ROOTS. SAFE AND RELIABLE. That the roots of many native plants, growing wild in our American fomtA, pess remarkable properties for the euro of human maladies is well proven. Kven the untutored Indian had learned the curative value of some of thesn and tnutfht the early settlers their Ut.es. Tin Indian never liked work so he wanted hi squaw to uell as stwrn as i)$silIe thai he might do the work and let him hunt. Therefore, he dug "papooe root " for her, for thaf wiii their great remedy for female weaknesses. lr. Pierce uses the same root called Blue Cohosh in his "Favorite Prescription," skillfully combined with other mrents thai mak it n:ore effective than any other medicine in curinii all the various weaknesses and painful deraniiements peculiar to women. Manv atK io tea women have been saved from the operating table and th surf eon's knife by the timely use of Doctor lerce's Favorite Prescription. Tenderness over the lower pelvic region, with, backache, spells of dizziness, faintness, bearing down pains or distress should not iro unheeded. A, course of " Favorite Prescription " will work marvelous benefit in all such casea. and generally effect a permanent cure if persisted in for a reasonable hMigtb of time. The "Favoriw Prescription is a harmless agent, being wholly prepared from native medicinal roots, without a drop of alcohol in its make up, whereas all other medicines, put up for sale through druggists for woman's peculiar ailments, contain largrA quantities of spirituous liquurr which are very harmful, especially to delicate women. "Favorite Prescription contains neither alcohol nor harmful habitforming drugs. All its Ingredients are printed on each boule wrapper. It is a. powerful invigorating tonic, imparting; health and strength in particular to th organs disUnctly feminine. For weak and Piekiy women, who are worn-out," or debilitated, especially for women who work in store, ofhee, or school-room, who sit at the typewriter or sewing machine, or bear heavy household burdens, and for nursing mother, Dr. Pierce's Favorlt Prescription will prove a priceless benefit because of its health - restoring and strength-giving power. For constipation, the true, scientific cure is Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets. Mild, harmless, yet sure.

eu ma -.tvA.iug uer needles as sbe went on kclt'Iag. Id Mr. Sprague's house on,. the opposite side of the road Squire Flsae was relating seme ola tales of bygjina Porchester days. "I knew Agatha when she was a girl," be avowed. "She had he grandest manners and the most enehantiug smile of any rich or poer man's daughter between the coast and Springfield. She dlof not dress In cslleo then. She wore the gayest clothes her father ceuld bay her, and old-Jacob was not .without means to make his daughter the leading figure. In town. How we young fellows did adere her, and what lengths we went to win one of ber glorious smiles. Two of us, John and Jacob Zabel, have lived bachelors for her. sake to this very day, but I hadn't courage enough for that. I married and"- Something between a sigh and a chuckle filled out tbe sentence. "What made Philemon carry off the prize? His good looks?" "Yes, or his good luck. It wasn't his snap, of that , you may be sure. James Zabel had the snap, and he was her first choice, tee, but he got into some difficulty. I never knew Just what It was, but it was regarded as serious at the time, and tbat match was broken off. Afterward she married Philemon. You see, I was out of It altogether, had never been in It perhaps, but there were three good years of my life in which I thought of little else than Agatha. I admired ber spirit. you see. a uere was aomeming more taking in her ways than ln her beauty, wonderful as that was. Sbe ruled ns with a rod of Iron , and yet we worshiped ber. I have' wondered to see ber so meek of late. I never thought she would be satisfied with a brick floored cottage and a husband of falling wits. But no one, to my knowledge, has ever heard a complaint from her ljps, and the dignity of ber afflicted wifehood has far transcended the haughtiness of those days when she had but to smile to have all tbe youth of Porchester at her feet." "I suppose it was the loss of so many children that reconciled her to a quiet life. A woman cannot close tbe eyes of six children, one after the other, without some modification taking' place ln her character." "Yes, she aadrPhilemottJbaTebeen unfortunate but she -wasf splendid looking girl, boys. Iinerecfceevuch grand- looking' women4now."" Tin a little anerto!?e4cdttagVoja the hillside, a woman ;Wf Aura!&fjJt&y . and talking at the same' time'efrfffctha Webb." "I shall first baby wan. 1nat nnt ing no nearer riiXur?u,.r' Jn now, I was all alene on tle IjAllslde. Alec being at sea. I wM'ftero1$r-t.o know much 'about ickaese. but eethins- told me that Imna have help be fore moringor my bRwuVree. Though I could just waikaxSSthe floor, I threw a shawl' aroulf3 tnclfeitok : my baby in my arms -and opened .the door. A blinding gust of rain blew in. A terrible storm was raging,- and I had not noticed it, Xwa so taken up with the child. "I could not face that gale. Indeed, I was so weak-1 fell on my kceee-atat struck me and became dripping wet before I could drag myself inside. The baby began to moan, and everythkig was turning dark before me when I heard a strong, sweet voice cry out ln the roadway: "'Is there room In this housefor.me till the storm has blown by? I cannot see my way down the hillside. "With a bursting heart I looked up. A woman was standing In the doorway, with the loo'.i of an angel ln her eyes. I did not know ber. but her face was one to bring comfort to the saddest heart, fielding up my baby I cried: " 'My baby is dying. I tried to go for the doctor, but my knees bent under me.' Help me, as you are a mother I' T must Live fallen again, for tbe nxt thing I remember I was lying by the hearth, looking up Into ber fac which was bending over me. She was white as the rag I had tied about my baby's throat and by the way her breast Leaved she was either very much frri-'TTd or very sorry. (To Be continued.) Now is the time to start a Savings Account with Dickinson Trust Com pany. Begin with the New Year. 31-tf rise artificial gas for light and heat lOtf

Palladium Want Ads Pay.