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Mystery at Baldoon House PAOB • 9 22 . 54 74 . 94 ii8 VII. TheConspiracy Against Prof. GRihiDALE 148 VIII, Tragedy at Baldoon . . . .168 IX. Guilty or Not Guilty ? . . .199 X. Math and Aftermath .... 247 I ) I FOREWORD. "I think that the handsomest infant I ever saw! Most babies at this age look deformed about the head, but this one doesn't! And such lovely dimples in its features!" So discoursed to me a happy young father over the cradle of his first-born child, — a living mite, with the blackest of black hair, a very red face of no particular shrpe as yet, and not a dimple in it. By the way, the site of the old "Bfldoon House" was little more than a mile distant from the spot where the above remarks were made. The storv of "Baldoon" is my precious child, but 1 shall not speak of it as did that father of his offspring — whatever I may think. The chief object of this preliminary chat with the reader is to make the honest con- * FOREWORD. fession that whatever i„ this book met effectively expresses the humor, pathos, and strong passion of human life is mine only as I have had eyes to see and ears to hear that which was being done and suffered and en- joyed and said round about me. I knew the man, by another name, who in the zealous effort to marry off his daugh! ters, said: "Bless my soul, boy! Ef any young man comes to see my daughter Tane I 1. put him an- his hoss in the stable an' give him plenty hay an' oats to eat!" He was a real man who said to the ox- teamster, in my hearing, "Yer cattle will pull jest es well fer 'teapot' es fer cus.- words, ef ye only lay on the gad after sayin' ' The man called Bill Wilson is not a crea- ture of the imagination, but a real and well known character who confessed to fighting drunkenness, lying and stealing, but scorned to swear, and accounted for his peculiarity by saying: "Ef I should swear I shouldn't hurt the other chap by it, an' I should hurt i! I FOREWORD. >st id IS it 1- myself ; anyhow, George, I consider thet it's beneath a man of my standin' in sussiety to swear!" The rude chivaliy of Andy Harris, whose wife had been attacked by the gossip of a neighbor- woman with the "muckle De'il" in hei tongue, was that of a real man. Meeting Frank Somers, the unfortunate husband of the gossip, he put "he matter in knighily form: "Frank, Mary Jane is a woman, an' can't be teched; but somebody's got to be hurt fer Mary Jane, an' you're him!" Ten thousand times the human heart has felt but suppressed that which was voiced by strong-hearted Mary McGarriger — her husband lying dead in the house and her ears vexed with ill'-timed religious consola- tions — "Whaur wes the Ahlmighty last nicht, when that puir auld mon, that never did hairm tae ony body, wes bein' mur- dered?" To my knowledge it came to pass that the same blessed old lady repudiated Jock Ill FOREWORD. Richardson as an "elder and a pillar o- the kirk because he had lately been too "liaht o heels" at a dance. "A pellar o' the kirk said ye. Mrs. Gawley? He'll be a fallen pe ar, an' no muckle better than a cater- pellar!" And when Mrs. Gawley quoted the example of King David in justification of Jock Richardson, the sturdy daughter of the Covenanters made answer: "Weel aweel, woman; but King David didna dance before Betty McDonald!" Enough. If the reader shall experience as much pleasure in perusing as I have done .n wntmg "Baldoon" the satisfaction will be mutual, and as nearly complete as is pos- sible in this imperfect world. THE AUTHOR. I! BALDOON. CHAPTER I. THE FORKS. It/ 'The Forks" was a small village that grew up at the point vrhere, by a kind of aquatic matrimony, the waters of Syden- ham River, hitherto divided, are made one water. This happy confluence of the two branches of the river which wander thither from the east and the north is effected in the southwestern corner of Lambton County, in the Canadian province of Ontario, The little town was created by the lum- bering industry that found ample and remunerative scope among the primitive great oaks, black walnuts, whitewoods, and sycamores which abounded on the more elevated lands to the east and the north. 9 lO BALDOOM. Ilill For the most part the houses at The Forks were the least expensive and therefore the plainest the carpenter could build. The prevailing color was the dull gray of unpainted wood which has been long exposed to the weather. There were some pleasant exceptions, however, to the general unattractiveness. Doctor Martin's house and that of the wealthy Widow Cramer were adorned with white weather-boards, green shutters, fan- lights over the front doors, fancy moldings in the finish of casings and cornices, and with spacious porches supported by stately pillars which were fluted and crowned with richly carved Corinthian capitals. These dwellings, standing side by side, constituted the aristocratic quarter of our village. The dizziest summit of social distinction was to be on visiting terms with the Cramers and the Martins. Every young man among us held that the Cramer home, with Debby in it, was not many removes from the original innocence and beauty of Eden. It would ill THE FORKS. II le le )f 8 become me now to censure the young men for so esteeming it ; for I was one of them. Many years have passed since The Forks, being puffed up with the pride of life, took unto itself a more pretentious title. I choose to write of it, however, under the old name we used in the long ago, when it was new, and I was young, and Debby Cramer was in the June of her marvelous beauty. Moreover, as if in punishment of a haughty spirit, nothing worthy of mention in The Book of Chronicles has happened in the place since it refused to be called The Forks. All its romance was crowded into a brief period of its early history when it was known by the old and homely name. Whether by special decree of Providence, or by hap, it is not for me to say, but at the period I refer to there were gathered in and about The Forks a rare constellation of characters— good, bad, and eccentric— that put enough of comedy, mystery, pathos, and tragedy into life to make it exceeding lively. 12 BALDOON. And verily, barring the people, there was nothing at all to redeem the place from the ordinary fate of a frontier village, — a humdrum existence, and a doom of obliv- ion. So far as any show of elegance in the arts of life was concerned, or any attractive features in the face of nature, it would be difficult to find a less inviting spot. The surrounding country was settled very early in the nineteenth century by a few Scotch emigrants who came out with Lord Selkirk. Their original destination was the Hudson's Bay territory. But certain of them, being weary of the long wilderness journey, and not relishing the struggle with the Hudson's Bay forces already begun by Lord Selkirk, determined to try their for- tunes at the forks of the Sydenham. Ac- cordingly, they took up land and built their first houses a little to the north of the site whereon, years later, the village grew up. The principal man and acknowledged leader of these first settlers was one Dun- can Mactavish, a living embodiment of the THE FORKS. 13 e n a e e poetry, mysticism, religiousness, and super- stition that mark the temperament of the Scottish Highlander. Why it was that he named his residence ''The Baldoon House" I do not know. But so he named it; and partly because he was the chief man of the settlement and partly because the house came into evil repute as the haunt of witches and ghosts, it gave its name to the whole region round about. The entire district, including the future site of The Forks, was called Baldoon. And long after Duncan Mactavish and his family fled the unholy house and left the ghosts and witches in undisturbed possession, its name clave to the whole settlement. Enough, for the present purpose, about Baldoon House. It will reappear later, pos- sibly to shock the nerves of the timorous, certainly to exercise the ingenuity of such as are given to the solving of mysteries. I will not trust myseli: to describe that bit of country. You would think me prejudiced by my sudden transition from the rocks and '4 BALDOON. mountains of New England into that orig- inal Dismal Swamp of the world—Baldoon. OM George McGarriger, who lived on higher ground four miles up the East Branch, used to say of it: "Dod-a-bit, if I see what use the Almighty has fer Baldoon, onless it's jest fer the sake of holdin' the world together!" I prefer to offer you, presently, some extracts from a description of the original state of that country written by our local poet, of whom we ^re not a little proud. A son of the soil, or, more exactly, of ' the swamp, he would not set down aught in malice. I omit altogether our poet's treat- ment of the famous Baldoon House. That subject is reserved for my own purposes. Of the adjacent country he discourses thus: ''}• wish there were something both pleas- ant and true to say of the landscape, and so forth, but you must remember 'twas land- scape but part of the year; for in autumn and spring it was always a dreary water- scape, spreading for miles all around, show- THE FORKS. 15 ing hither and yon just the scalp of a mound that served as a buoy to tell the proprietor where his farm waited for summer to dry it. " In one of our literary contests this poem in prose form was submitted to criticism, and a prize was offered for every instance discov- ered of a transgression of the laws of rhyme. Needless to say, no prize was won by any or the competitors. Somewhere, often in the middle or near the end of a long word, the lurking rhyme was found, to the confusion of the sanguine searcher after blemishes. To resume: Turning from general to special features, and still endeavoring to cover up with humor the mournful minor cadences in which the song would sing itself, the bard further betrays his keen regret that he cannot find something to praise in his own, his native land. "I wish there were somewhat more pleas- ant to say of its local attractions, et cetera; but the truth must be told, though the heavens should fall, and the truth gives Baldoon no attractions at all. i6 BALDOON. *'But, contrariwise, it had bullfrogs with throats that 'volleyed and thundered' such horrible notes as were heard nowhere else, except just a few in the 'valley of death' the Six Hundred rode through. "It had snakes, — ^yes, it had! But, pray, have me excused! From the days of my youth none has ever refused to pass any statement I vouched for at par ; and those snakes were so many, so large, and so rare ! Pray, don't ask me to tell what my credit won't bear! "It has often been noted that things very small may persecute kings, disregardful of all their defenses, prerogatives, statutes and vetos ; and such was the case with the Baldoon mosquitoes. "Like the leaves of the forest, that no man can number; like a soul-pricking con- science, that scares away slumber ; like the Phoenix, and more so, for, if by mistake you killed one, a thousand would come to his wake; like the tongue of my Dame when she got fairly 'on it,' the day that I crushed I THE FORKS. 17 her last love of a bonnet; like my grocer that always presents a long bill, and never lets go till he's taken his fill; like mustard, that blisters; like toothaches, that plague you; like acres of nettles; like fever and ague;— but enough! there's no end to their evil dittos: like everything bad were the Baldoon mosquitoes." '' Nevertheless, to the amazement of every one, "Baldoon, with its bullfrogs and snakes, its mosquitoes and marshes, its agues and aches," was settled and redeemed from its evil state. All sorts and conditions of people managed to live there, and to secure the average degree of comfort. There, in time, grew up The Forks; and in and about it was enacted a larger than ordinary proportion of those things that make life interesting. Who was the bard? I am bound to pre- serve his anonymosity by a promise, the breach whereof would bring upon me the worst horrors possible to be wrought by the ghosts of Baldoon. It is commonly believed z8 BALDOON. among us that the said malignant spirits, that infested Baldoon House as long as one timber of it clave to another, still wander, homeless, in the vicinity of their late quar- ters, ever seeking rest and finding it not; and eagerly expecting until some one shall do a deed bad enough to entitle them to enter and possess both the doer and his home. The strange disposition of these ghosts to linger in our neighborhood in preference to going elsewhere was fully explained by Pro- fessor Grisdale when he was here. **It is due," he said, *'to an abnormal bump of inhabitiveness which was on the skull of each prior to death. They became attached to this locality, and will wait, if need be, a hundred years for an opportunity to take up new quarters in this vicinity." When Grisdale was with us lecturing on phrenology, he taught us many new and wonderful things. The profoundest sensa- tion of all was made by his remarks on phrenological knowledge as being necessary to politeness. i THE FORKS. 19 Not that the Professor failed to claim for such learning the first place in everything, from making a willow whistle to building the Great Pyramid which is in Gizeh, in the land of Egypt. But on the subject of polite- ness he was zealous to persuade us that in receiving a guest the first time, or on enter- ing into conversation with a stranger casually met, the proper thing to do is to feel his head ; this with a view to adapting our treatment of him to the tastes indicated by his bumps. "Ladies and gentlemen," the Professor said, "there can be no such thing as the practice of perfect politeness without a thorough knowledge of phrenology. "Fancy the dismal failure that must come of attempting to entertain with music a per- son having the organ of tune, i, and that of alimentiveness, 9! Or of discussing meta- physics with a man having constructiveness, 10, and ideality, 2! Or of using swear words in conversation with one whose bump of veneration towers like an Alp among his other organs! ao BALDOON. "In every such case, ladies and gentle- men, our noble science would guide your desire to please to a happy issue. It would teach you to offer the first, not music but turkey and cranberry sauce, with a follow- ing of plum pudding and ice-cream ; to dis- cuss with the second the merits of the latest improvements in wheelbarrows; and, in conversing with the third, to speak much and reverently of things and persons good and great." Now, there was little in the Professor's teaching, and still less in his character, that we liked. Nevertheless, the above doctrine concerning politeness took root in me. If ever any reader of these chronicles, desiring a personal acquaintance with the author, shall honor me with a call, down he will go, at the first greeting, into my best arm-chair, that I may explore among the heights and hollows of his cranial topography the way into his good graces. Doubtless Grisdale ought to be credited, in part, with this descriptive chapter, offered THE FORKS. ts as a politeness due to my reader's bump of locality, which, like Tom Watson's Senator, has a sacred right to know where it is ♦*at." aa BALDOON. CHAPTER II. "my daughter jane. M By all odds the "original" of our whole countryside was old George M'Garriger--a man of Scotch-Irish lineage, but American by three generations. When the struggle of the Thirteen Colo- nies was finally and in a baptism of blood named a revolution instead of a rebellion George M'Garriger's father and family,' together with many more staunch United Empire Loyalists, came out into the Cana- dian wilderness for love of "Britain's laws and Britain's crown. And Britain's flag of long renown!" Being of a very plastic nature, there was left no trace of broad Scotch, nor of Irish brogue, on old George's tongue. Instead he had taken on the peculiarities of dialect his "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 23 parents had brought over from York State, and such as prevailed round about Syden- ham Forks, and had added to these many a cva,mt idiom and expression of his own invention. Everybody at The Forks, and for many miles east and north, knew old George per- sonally, or by repute. His sayings and doings were the rich reserves drawn upon for conversation when weather, crops, and "the health of your folks' ' had been discussed to satisfaction. Some new freak of his was more sure to be current than silver coin; and it was a part of good-fellowship to ten- der **old George's latest" just as the men passed the plug of tobacco and the women offered the cup of tea. Perhaps no man ever gained so wide a notoriety on so little of evil in character and conduct. Although he was no churchman, the innocence of a lamb and the tenderness and ingenuousness of a good child lived right on in old George into his sixties— the age he had reached when I saw him last. 24 BALDOON. 11 In voicing that strange disposition we have to make our remarks emphatic by the use of expletives, where other men used the nai^ie of the Creator and Savior of mankind pro- fanely, old George would put in, "Bless- my-soul!" and *'Dod-a-bit!" — very deliber- ately said, with a long pause between syl- lables, and a rising inflection at the end. One day, in answer to my question, "What do you mean by Dod-a-bit?" he said : *'W*y, bless — my — soul! boy, it answers jest es well es cuss words, and don't mean nothin'. See here, neighbor, there was old Bill Wilson — ^you didn't know him — he's ben dead this long time. But old Bill us't to do most everything thet wus bad. One day when he wus corned I sais to him, 'Bill, you git drunk; you ain't p'tikler to tell the truth; sometimes you take what ain't youm; you fi.ght; but you never cuss; what's the reason you never cuss?' Old Bill VfUi jest drunk enough to take it all right ; an' he winked his eye, an' said, 'W'y, "MY DAUGHTER JAP^E." 25 George, d'ye take me fer a nat'ral fool? I don't do nothin' fer nothin' w'en I know it! I git drunk to forgit some things, an' have a good time. W'en I fight it's to best the other feller. If I lie it's to gain a pint thet ain't in reach of the truth. W'en I take things it's becase I want 'em, an' can't git 'em so easy any other way. But if I should cuss, the other fellow wouldn't be hurt by it, an' I would. Anyhow, George, I c'nsider thet it's beneath a man of my standin' in sus- siety to swear ! ' " Then up spoke Joe Roach, a professional ox-teamster, who was listening: "Thet's all right. Uncle George. Your skim-milk swearin' may do fer common, but it's no use on special uccasions. It's jest plum impossible to make a string of five yoke of oxen pull, an' pull together, without swearin* at 'em in the old fashion— thet' s to say, with all the cream onto it. ' ' In some heat, that just showed in his red- dening face and kindling eyes, old George made answer: 96 BALDOON. it ' 'Joe, ye say thet. because yer ig'nunt. Lem me tell ye suthin' better to say on special uccasions. Next time ye hitch to a big timber with five yoke, or ten yoke, or a string of cattle es long es from here to The Forks, you jest jump up onto the butt an' holler ' Teapot ! ' Then rush up an ' down yer string of cattle shoutin' Teapot! Teapot! an' lay on the gad after it, like ye do when ye swear at em. Dod-a-bit! ye '11 find thet the oxen '11 pull jest es well fer teapot es ler cussin'." «In his way old George M'Garriger was as zealous for what he held to be right as any Hebrew prophet, and would lift up his voice like a trumpet in defense of it. He never became very uncomfortable to other people except when he took a fad. No Baldoon mosquito ravening for gore could be more persistent or more irritating than he when he once got his mind set on a certain thing, and the thing was slow in coming to pass. The fad possessed him wholly. Morning, noon, and night, and at Vi "MY DAUGHTER JANE." ay midnight, if opportunity served, he would thrust it upon you. Of course this was all explained to every- body's satisfaction when Professor Grisdale felt old George's head, and said: "This man has concentrativeness, io+, and firmness, 9; when one thing has him nothing else can get him, and he would buttonhole all crea- tion, and its cousin, in the interest of his fad." After hearing that we found it easier to bear and forbear. A man having 9 degrees of firmness out of a possible 10, and 10 degrees plus of concentrativeness, could no more help being a bore than Johnny Black could help having his big nose, that created hilarity wherever he went. There came a time, however, when old George's usually innocent eccentricities wrought ghastly mischief in his own well- beloved family circle. He had five mar- riageable daughters. One day he awoke to the fact that none of them was being sought after by the young men, which thing dis- a8 BALDOON. P turbed him sadly ; it was a reproach to the house of M'Garriger, and must be removed. Not so did Mary, his wife, regard the situ- ation. She was a canny Scottish woman, strong alike of body, mind, and heart, and as good as she was strong. It may have been in part because of her own experience in married life with one so peculiar as her **man" had proved to be, and in part because the mother altogether dominated her nature, but for some reason or combination of reasons she was well pleased to keep her daughters at her side. Young men who called at the M'Garriger home without some ordinary errand were received by the mistress so frigidly that few had the courage to repeat the visit. Mrs. M'Garriger's mental attitude and visible conduct toward such visitors resembled those of a mother-hen gathering her brood under her wings to protect them against the wicked hawks. As a consequence, the daughters had almost no opportunities in their own home of meeting young men in "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 29 those safe ways that lead on to honorable matrimony. In outward seeming the girls took their mother's view, and kept the young men at arm's length— and more. Now, when the fad of marrying off his five daughters took possession of George M'Gar- riger's No. lo-f- concentrativeness, and annexed thereto his No. 9 firmness, things began to come to pass; but not in the way he desired and expected. With purpose and plan matured, old George began to canvass the market. Whenever and wherever he met young men —and any unmarried man, bachelor or widower, was young in his sense— his tongue was eloquent of the theme upon which his mind had become concentrated to the tenth degree, plus. "Bless— my— soul! boy, why don't ye come up an' see my girls? Nice girls es kin be found; but somehow they're 'fraid o' the young men, an' the young men are 'fraid o* them. But ye don't need ! Fine, peaceable girls; an* kin keep house 's well's their I 36 BALDOON. mother. Jest you come up, an* I'll use ye well. "Now, there's my daughter Jane — han'- some es any picter, an' well eddicated; teaches school, an' kin fry doughnuts with any girl on the river ! But bless — my — soul ! how 'fraid she is o' the young men! Can't get nigh enough to tech her with a ten-foot pole! * * Say, if any young man comes to see my daughter Jane, dod-a-bit! but I'll use him well — I'll put him an' his horse in the stable an' give him plenty hay an' oats to eat!" To further his matrimonial enterprise old George made many * * bees, ' ' and invited all the young men within coming distance. His subtle thought was: "They'll see the girls ; and eat of the savory food ; and, may- hap, one of them will wish to mate with *my daughter Jane.' " One evening his hope rose very high. After the day's work the boys gathered in the front yard, as was their wont, to try their strength and suppleness in the various f "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 31 ways of country athletics— old George, meanwhile, looking on and expecting until the desire of his heart would come to pass. After jumping and wrestling to satisfaction, Tom Lyon, leading toward the house, said: "Come on, boys, it's time to go in an' see the girls. " Thereupon Si Snider, that mis- cliief of the world, planted himself in the way, and cried aloud: •'No, sir; not by a long chalk! The girls don't want to see you, an' you ain't goin' in there to- night!" I think George M'Garriger was never so angry as at that moment. In an instant he had Snider by the throat with one hand, and, some say, lifted the other to strike.' The next moment, however, his better nature asserted itself so far that he loosened his grip of the young man's neck. But rage still blazed in his eyes, and well nigh para- lyzed his tongue. When he had recovered his speech a little, though still stuttering with excitement, he shouted: •'Si, ye'r a blame fool! W'y don't ye let 8 3« BALDOON. the boy alone? Ye'r like the dog, an' the hay, an* the cow!" If old George's zeal to settle his daughters had had no other effect than to create amusement at their expense that would have been bad enough. But it did infinitely worse. It raised the question in some minds, *' What's the matter with the M'Gar- riger girls, anyway?" and it entered into one pair of nostrils that had a keeri scent for scandal, and set wagging a tongue that had a never-empty poison-bag at its roots. Mary Jane Somers was an anomaly. Pro- fessor Grisdale read from her bumps such a character for goodness that the new minister whispered in my ear: *' Surely, Brother Somers married an angel unawares. ' ' And, verily, while listening to her tremulant, sobbing voice when she "engaged" in the weekly prayer-meeting, one found it difficult to dissent from the minister's verdict. But somewhere in Mary Jane's make-up there was a mystery of iniquity that could not be appreciated by the phrenologist's ••MY DAUGHTER JANE." 33 fingers, nor by the uncritical ears wherewith we ought to listen to the voice of prayer. For cause we had come to dread her tongue more than we did the Day of Judgment. Like some others, Mary Jane began to make inquisition into the problems sug- gested by old George's eagerness to marry his daughters, and his utter failure to do so. She was not long in concluding that some- thing must be wrong with the girls— and in her vocabulary ''something wrong" with a girl meant but one thing. And because the innocent old man had most exploited "my daughter Jane"— she being the eldest of the flock— Mary Jane was soon wrestling in- wardly with the conviction that "if the truth was only known about that Jane M'Garriger folks would open their eyes fer once." Having been thus, by dark suspicions, rendered keenly sensitive to everything that would aid in convicting Jane M'Garriger of "something wrong," Mary Jane Somers went a journey of twenty miles up the East Branch, to attend campmeeting. There, 34 BALDOON. after her habit, and for the twentieth time, she was entirely sanctified. She was handled after so powerful a manrfer that she fell as one dead, and lay in a trance for sev- eral hours. In the intervals between services Mary Jane was guest with old George's brother William and his wife, their house being con- venient to the camp. To her great surprise — later, I fear, it became satisfaction — Mary Jane found in that hitherto childless home a bouncing boy-baby of two years ! On her return from campmeeting Mary Jane set forth, in a way all her own, the ugly patchwork made of what she saw at William M'Garriger's, and of what she drew out of her unsuspecting host and hostess by cunning devices. At various tea-drinkings and quiltings this mistress of the Black Art managed the conversation so that she appeared a pitying saint yielding up to pub- lic demand a little, only, of the abounding evil she knew of Jane M'Garriger, and yielding it reluctantly and in sorrow. *# I MY DAUGHTER JANE." 35 "I'm sure you all know thet I'm a woman thet keeps her tongue with all diligence, fer out of it are the issues of life. *'I always think es much es twice or three times afore I speak once, fer right well I know thet by our words we're goin' to be justified, an' by our words we're goin' to be condemned; an' thet if anyone offend not with her tongue the same is a perfect man. '*But things hes come to sich a pass with them M'Garriger girls! An' old George a- runnin' the country tryin' to peddle off 'my daughter Jane!' An' some of us hevin' daughters thet might go an* do likewise; an' some hevin' sons thet might git on- equally yoked together with sich as them!" Thereupon, for a space, the company mourned to one another over the perils that threatened their sons and daughters, and insisted that it was Mary Jane's solemn duty to speak right out. "Wal, I stayed at Bill M'Garriger's when I was up to campmeetin'— an' if any of you want to know what's the matter with 'my 36 BALDOON. daughter Jane' jest you go up there. Bill's folks never hed any childurn, an' couldn't hev any grandchildurn, but ther's a two- year-old boy-baby in their house. They say it's one they adapted. Mebbe it is. But it's the very picter of Jane M'Garriger; — leastwise, the part that don't look like her is Andy Harris over agin, the feller that skipped most three year ago, nobody knows why or where. An' then" (here her voice sank to a thrilling half -whisper) "Jane M'Garriger went up to her uncle Bill's two year ago; an' stayed there all through the summer vacation; an' come back here lookin' peekid an' distressed. Now, you jest put thet, an' thet, an' thet, together an* see what you make of it. ' ' The storm raised by the incantations of Mary Jane Somers raged over a wide area, having its center, in turns, here and there and everywhere, up and down the East Branch and the North Branch, and at The Forks. Jane M'Garriger's good name was blighted suddenly, is a fair flower is stricken ill "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 37 with the black death in a single night of frost. I was on my way to the M'Garriger home, having the conviction that no one else would undertake the painful duty of friendship. Half a mile from the house I met old George coming in search of me, and fuming with excitement. While he was yet a great way off I perceived that my errand had been forestalled; — the fury of the storm had burst upon them. "Bless— my — soul, neighbor, I'm glad to see ye! Say, we're in the blackest kind o' trouble at our house. You know my girls ; an' you know their mother; an' how they've ben raised es decent, nice girls es ever stepped in shoe-luther ! An' now they're sayin' thet my daughter Jane is — is — is ," but he couldn't say it. The grief and tears of fatherhood in sore affliction for a child to whom the uttermost calamity had come choked him. And, although my own heart was oppressed with the burden of his, I noted with a mournful satisfaction that old 38 BALDOON. George, commonly held in light esteem, was transfigured by this great sorrow into a man of much dignity. We walked into the shadowed home together. The girls had all vanished; but Mary M'Garriger met me at the door, and let fall upon my extended hand some drops that were like a baptism of holy waters. After uttering, between sobs, some things which I could not write without blushing, she went on to say : "An' noo, ye'r no tae be lik' ma' doitered auld man, there, an' thenk the warst o' Janie. She juist feenished tellin't a' oo'er tae me when ye cam' in at the gate — an' praise be! bad es it es it micht be muckle waur ! "As ye ken weel. A' wes aye fichtin' the lads awa' frae oor hoose. A' cudna thole tae pairt wi' ma' dochters tae ony o' thae feckless neer-dae-weeis that wrought on the timmer in wenter, an' wasted their wage in idleness a' the rest o' the year. An' A' wes aye sayin' tae ma lassies, ye'll see'n ye keep "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 39 yirsels tae yirsels till men come yir way that's ta'en up Ian', an' made hooses tae shelter ye. ' "Guid forgie ma', gin A' guidit them ill! A'm seein', the noo, that ane way or anither lads an' lassies wull mate, lik' birds in spreng. A' sair misdoot that the ane way A' leavit open tae them wesna the best. A lassie's hairt should be free tae coonsel wi' her ain mither, an' hae her laddie gae in an' oot o' but an' ben in her ain hame." When this very proper but very humili- ating confession was off her mind, and her soul began to revive under its good effect, Mrs. M'Garriger proceeded with growing emphasis: "It wes in the hoose o' Mary Jane Somers, that hes the muckle Deil in her tongue (noo, George, ye needna glower at ma' lik' yon, A' wull say 't, an' A' carena hoo mony hunnerd times she's been sanctifeed, her tongue's juist blisterin' wi' the fires o' hell!), an' it wes in her ain hoose that Janie tuik up wi' Andy Harris. I 40 BALDOON. H'lli I'll tc 'A'm no sayin' that Andy wasna a likely lad tae luik at ; nor that he wes ill-behavit. But he wes lik' the lave o' the young men o' these pairts, he didna hain the siller he \vroucht hard for in wenter, but wasted it in simmer idleness. "Weel, when Janie daurna breng her young man hame, nor tell her ain mither that her hairt hed gaen frae her; an' hed tae meet Andy in ither fouk's hooses, an' in hoors o' dairkness by the reever side; an' they hed grown weary o* it a' — at long last they commeeted a great folly. "Janie wes tae gae up the North Branch on a veesit o' three days. In thae three days a' the folly an' a' the sin they hae deen wes wroucht. "On the first day, unbeknown to ony o' her kin, Janie gaed awa' wi' Andy tae Sairnia, an' ower the reever to Port Huron, an' there tney were merrit by a juistice o' the peace. The second day, an' the third, they bided there, in Port Huron, thegither. On the fourth day they pairted in luve an' "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 41 good faith wi* ane anither; an* Janie cam* home es frae her veesit. But Andy gaed awa' west tae seek a fortune where there's gowd to be howkit oot o' the groon' ; for he daured na claim Janie o* me untel he cud tak' her tae a weel-plenished hoose o' hes ain. An' bein' feart that A' micht sus- peecion, an* mak* sairch-, an' fin' oot before their ain time o' lettin' ma' ken, Janie gar'd Andy tak' her merridge hnes wi' him. "When the tribble that the thochtless bairns hedna foreseen wes near Janie wes ready to dee for the bitterness o' it. Andy hed juist begood tae gather for their hame, an' she cudna ca' him back sae sune. An', wae's me that it wes sae at siccan a time, she wes frichtit o' her ain mither an' turned tae uncle Weelum's in her distress. •'A' needna be tellin' ye muckle mair. To thes day Andy disna ken that he's the faither o' a twa-year-auld bairn— 'deed, A' didna ken't masel, nor suspeecion onything o' a' A've tell't ye, till juist three days syne. 42 BALDOON. . '■ "Janie gaes nae mair till the schule; nor wull she show her face tae ony ootside o' thes hoose, untel Andy's here tae stan' by her side an' say, 'Thes es ma' wife; an' thes es ma' son, begotten in lawful wed- lock.' "Geordie an' me's gaen tae uncle Weelum's on the morrow tae breng the bairn tae his mither, that hesna daur'd tae see him but ance sin' he wes born. It wud fair break yir hairt tae hear the lassie mournin' tae me o' a' thae weekid thengs a leein' tongue hes thrapit upon her; an', syne, tae see her face clear, an' her een shine oot, lik' the sun o' Aprile glintin' through the rain, when she thenks o' her baby, that by the morn's nicht she'll be haudin' tae her breist." The day after my visit to the M'Garrigers two letters in a single envelope started west. They must have fallen upon the imprepared soul of Andy Harris with the impact of twin thunderbolts. *'Dear Andy: If you love me, and I know "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 43 you do, drop everything and come home. I meant to keep something from you, as I kept it from every one here but Uncle Wil- liam's folk; fori wanted you to stay until you would be satisfied with what you had made. But prying eyes have discovered my secret, and a lying tongue has set the whole place on fire with the vilest scandal about me. Andy, I have a baby, now two years old; atid people are saying that I have no husband, I know your heart and trust it. Come to your true wife. "Jane Harris." "Andy Harris: In the name o' the Almichty, an' in anither name that stands neist to hes in thes matter, an' that's ma' ain es Janie's mither, A' bid ye come hame an' faither yir baini an' husband yir wife lik' a man. Mary M'Garriger. " At the home coming of Andy Harris these events moved rapidly to their climax. Andy was more than a likely lad to look at. Great thews and sinews compacted together in manly symmetry, and a facial 44 BALDOON. expression of shrewdness, courage, cheerful- ness, and good will toward all men, women, and children, made him a general favorite. And then, although he did not come back to us a millionaire, he brought thousands enough to make him the richest man on the East Branch, with a half interest in a gold mine as a reserve of unmeasured and immeasurable possibilities. I am not equal to the stunning effect upon Andy of the two letters that went west; nor to the incredible swiftness of his movements in settling up his western affairs, and mak- ing that flying journey eastward; neither was I there to see. As for his meeting with Jane and his boy, no words of man could do it justice. On that subject no one could approach the eloquence of Janie's mother. "We didna ken when tae expec' him; but we suspeecioned that he'd no let the post ootrin him wi' a letter. An' Janie wes aye croonin' tae her bairn, an' sayin': 'He's comin'! Daddy's comin' lik' the win' across I t SI I "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 45 the big world tae his ain laddie. An' ilka day she gaed oot under the heavens an' luikit intae the west wi* the face o' ane that sees veesions an' hears voices that are no mortal. As sure's deith, it wud be the "west win' that aye whespered tae her o' Andy, an' tell't whaur he wes, at ae time an' anither, in hes journey. For on the morn o* that nicht when he cam' she cried tae me, 'Mither, thes es the day! Andy '11 come the day!'— an' it wes sae." "An', syne, she pit on her Sabbath goon, an' mad' hersel' denty wi' ornaments, an' tied a bonnie ribbon in her hair. As for the wee bit laddie, he wes lik' King Solomon in a' hes glory, wi' the fine thengs she pit on him. An' a' that day they gaed oot an' in, playin' thirsel's lik' twa schule bairns keepin' holiday, an' cryin' on ane anither, •Daddy's comin!' "Yi'll no believe it; but wjj^n at long last Andy did come, juist as the sun wes gaen doon, Janie an' me baith missed seein' him untel he wes half-way frae the gate tae the 46 BALDOON. hoose. It wes the lad that seid him first, an' ran awa' doon the path cryin' 'Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!' esif he ken'thisfaitherthe vera first glempse he ever had o' him! Wesna that wonnerfu'? But his mither had been learnin' him, mony a day, tae say that word. **Weel, when Janie an' me turned aboot tae see whaurthe bairn wes rinnin' tae, there stood Andy — an' a bonnie, big, broon man he wes — wi' hes son in hes airms, an' a spate a' tears poorin' doon his face. Hoo Janie got tae him sae quick A' canna tell. There wes juist a flash, lik' a glent o' the sun off o' a merror, an' she wes hangin' aboot hes neck, an' haudin' the boy an' him es though there wesna ony theng, nor ony- body else, in a' the warld. It wes lik' the voice o' some rejoicin' angel when she cried, 'O Andy! Andy! ma' ain dear man. A' ken't ye wud^aome when ye hard hoo it wes wi' me!' " Andy's meek acknowledgment of culpable folly, and his manly purpose to vindicate to 1 "MY DAUGHTER JANE." 47 the uttermost the good name of his wife, became manifest at once. First, there was the grand and memorable christening dinner at the M'Garrigers* the like of which had never been seen on the East Branch. In planning for it Andy said to his mother-in-law: "I ain't come back a pauper, mother. Remember thet it's my treat fer Janie an' the boy; an' make it somethin' scrumpshus. Hev chickens an' turkeys an' roasters, an' set out sech a meal es haint ben seen fer ten year. I want ye to ask all the folks, from The Forks to the Institooshun" (a colony of escaped slaves), "an' be sure to ask old Henson an' some of his niggers from the Institooshun. But Frank Somers an' Mary Jane ain't to be ast. I've got some settlin' to do with them, by'me bye; but fer now let 'em chaw on bein' counted below the niggers. You kin send up to-Sarnia fer yir own Free Church minister to do the baptizin' ; an' seein' it's a long ways to come here's two twentys an' a ten, in gold, fer his fee." ill! 48 BALDOON. The great day of the feast came. So did the multitude of guests, until the house and the grounds were thronged w" them. When the minister stood forth . a con- spicuous place to begin the ceremony he was stayed by the voice of Andy : ''Minister, before you begin, I'd like to hev you read this little document so's all the people kin hear you." And the minister read from the paper Andy put into his hand, as follows: "This writing certifies that on the twen- tieth day of August, 18 — , Andr Harris and Jane M'Garriger were marric^ by me, by authority of license, at Port Huron, in the State of Michigan. "John Gesner, J„ P." When the cheering had subsided that burst forth on the reading of Janie's mar- riage lines, the ceremony proceeded, and the lad was baptized Andrew George, for his father and for the proudest of grandfathers. The next day Andy went to Detroit, and returned in due time, bringing with him % ••MY DAUGHTER JANE." 49 some twenty copies of the certificate of marriage, printed on stout cardboard in letters of black and crimson and gold. These — save one— he nailed up in the most public places, having first written un the margin of each: •'To be left jest where it is fer a year an* a <^ay. Andy Harris." The reserved copy was destined to lead on to the one act of violence committed by Andy. On a certain moonlit midnight he nailed that copy, as a witness against Mary Jane, to a tree ' hat stood in the road in front of Frank Some -s' gate, with the written appendix : "Frank: This must be left jest where I've put it fer a year an' a day, or you must fight. Andx Harris." The first day thereafter, and the second, when Andy walked past the Somers' home, the card was in place ; but the third day he found it lying in scattered fragments on the ground. This was exactly what he expected to happen, sooner or later. He had no idea 50 BALDOON. that Mary Jane would tolerate for long such an accuser at her very gate. Two days she had writhed under the tortile of seeing every passer-by halt and read the card, and then glance toward her house with an expression of amusement and disgust. She nad entreated and even commanded Frank to take it down. But Frank, being no hero, trembled before the warlike appendix in Andy's handwriting, and did not obey. At last, in a paroxysm of mortification and rage, she, herself, laid violent hands on the obnoxious card, tore it into fragments, and trampled them under her feet. Andy looked upon the ruins of his card, smiled in a satisfied way, and went in search of Frank Somers. When they met there was a lively encounter. "Frank, thet card is down.*' "Yes, Andy; but I didn't tech it. It wus Mary Jane thet took it down." "I don't care which of ye done it; an* I'm ruther glad it's down. Lem — me — see; ye married Mary Jane, didn't ye, Frank?" % OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 59 In the silence of keen expectancy that reigned supreme Dan, alias Professor Gul- liver Gunne, arose, laid his open manuscript on the desk, and, having leisurely adjusted his gold-rimmed but lensless spectacles, began his "Celebrated Lecture on Insect Phrenology. ' * "Ladies and Gentlemen: In the few years last past the science of phrenology has made some wonderful strides. "It has been applied to matrimony in the way of aiding you to choose a congenial partner of your bosom — one whose temper will 'compat,' as it were, with your own. "By this useful science, for the benefit of mankind, you can select yourself as good raw material for a doctor, or a lawyer, or a preacher, or a president of the United States. "Very recently it has been discovered that, by phrenology, the brute-beasts may be chosen with unerring certainty for any special use. You can pick out dogs that will bark in the night when your enemy 6o BALDOON. 4 1 I I ! wants to sleep; and mules that will buck; and horses that will either balk or run away, as you may prefer ; and cattle that will horn your enemy, or will break into his garden and convert his cabbages and turnips, his cauliflowers and asparagus, into your milk and beef. I have a farmer-friend who never buys a sheep without first feeling his bumps. He selects only those that have combative- ness very large. Why does he do this? Because, when one of his sheep proves a failure for mutton, or for wool, he can sell him at a good profit among his dairy prod- ucts as a first-class butter. "But, ladies and gentlemen, the latest advance, and by far the greatest that phrenology has made at a siiigle stride, is to be seen in my own astounding discovery that it applies to insects as well as to beasts and to men. It is a fact, ladies and gentle- men, that under the microscope you can read from their cranial developments the char- acteristics of bees, flies, gnats, et cetera. 'Permit me a single explanatory remark <( ' i w OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 6x 1 buck; 1 away, ill horn garden ips, his ir milk never bumps, bative- ) this? oves a ;an sell ■f prod- latest t that ride, is covery beasts ;^entle- n read char- ra. em ark in passing. As most insects are nearly or quite baldheaded you can appreciate their bumps by vision alone, without the aid of the fingers. It is well to know this when the subject is a hornet." At this point Dan's lecture came to an untimely end. During the next thirty min- utes things happened in that room that made the soberest among us think that Satan had entered into some of our choicest people. When Dan finished the sentence, "It is well to know this when the subject is a hornet," he paused a moment to give the people time to see the point of his joke. Just then the first interruption occurred. Up from the southwest corner of the hall came the well-known, inarticulate sounds of a kiss— the lingering, luscious prelude, grow- ing in fervor, and culminating in a hearty smack. This was followed by a young man's voice testifying of keen enjoyment in expressions that sounded like "e-yum! e-yum! e-yum!" I 63 BALDOON. And then a shocked, tremulant feminine voice cried out, "Oh, Tom! Yeh didn't ought to, right before folks!" Every eye turned to the seats occupied by Tom Jenner and Jenny Mowat, — as well- behaved and bashful a couple as could be found in the county of Lambton. The smack came from that spot. The voices were the voices of Tom and Jenny. What could it mean? Had love overpowered rustic bashfulness and common decency? Under the hundreds of accusing eyes the young couple were distressed beyond meas- ure. Poor Jenny sobbed aloud. Tom sprang to his feet, his face aflame, and swinging his great' fists in challenge of everybody, roared, "I guess I know how to behave myself decent! I know I didn't ought to; an' I didn't! Whoever says I did tells a blame no sech thing; an' I want to see him outside, right now!" While the Tom and -»n •*^- ^ was swiftly moving to a cl er jually unaccountable, began. IHUy ish was the I i ** OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 63 landlord of the village tavern. He was an ideal Boniface — fat, bald, ruddy, jolly, and English. He set the example of generous living in all things, especially in the con- sumption of beer. "Billy is a beer barrel in the morning, and a barrel of beer in the evening," was a common saying and be- lief. At the moment when Tom Jenner was asserting his innocence as to the kiss, Billy Fish's deep voice rolled over the audience and up to the ears of the astonished Dan. "Say, Dan 'el, yeh don't suit me! Yeh make too much noise with yer mouth! That's all bloomin' rot about bald-'eaded hinsecks with phrenology bumps on their 'eads. Let's 'ave a word o' prayer!" Dan collapsed, utterly. Tom Jenner might be quieted down, he had thought, so that the lecture could be resumed; but Fish's outbreak seemed fatal to such a hope. White with wrath, he turned toward Billy and in tones that were awful in theii severity and judicial calmness demanded, «4 ■ baldoon. i I 11 j '1 1 "Do I understand, Mr. Fish, that you pro- pose to offer up a prayer?" The v'lilage landlord was on his feet in an instant, and in a voice that betrayed much alarm made answer: "No, Dan'el; yeh don't understand that I want to hoffer a prayer! Wish to 'eaven I could; but I ain't in that line, no more than you be, Dan'el! I 'eard wot you all 'eard, an' it sounded enough like me for to be me; but it wasn't me! Likewise, Tom Jenner didn't kiss Jenny Mowat. I was lookin' at 'em w'en the noise was made, an' they was both behavin' proper. It's my belief that Satan has broke loose in this 'ere 'all, an* I'm goin' away, immediate." While Billy was making his way out Deacon Brewer fell into sudden and appall- ing disgrace. The Deacon was seventy years old ; he was tall, lean and bloodless ; he wore a glorious crown of snow-white hair ; he never, on any occasion, smiled, and was altogether the propcrest man in the community. He happened, by an evil OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 65 chance, to be seated between his v/ife and Betsy Simpkins — an immaculate, mature, maiden lady, sharp of features and sharper of speech. Just as Fish was going out of the door the voice of Miss Simpkins, pitched in upper G, cried aloud : "Deacon Brewer! For shame! I'll thank you, Deacon Brewer, to take your arm away!" Surely, Billy had spoken the truth ! Satan had broken loose among us ! Mrs. Brewer, being of a peppery and jealous disposition, did not wait to investi- gate. With one withering, annihilating glance at her fallen husband she made for the door, her head high in air, and her eyes looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. Deacon Brewer, yet numb with the shock, struggled to his feet and called aiter her : "Miranda, Miranda, don't go, but ' hear me!" But Miranda went; and the slam of the door seemed to say that the way of reconciliation between them was closed for- T 66 BALDOON. ' I ever. Then the Deacon appealed to the audience : ** Brethren, you have known me, and you have known vSister Simpkins, these many years. The strange events that have hap- pened here to-night are beyond us all. We can only deny the disgraceful things which have been insinuated against us, perhaps by an infernal power. Tom Jenner says he didn't. Billy Fish says he didn't. I say I didn't. And I now ask Sister Simpkins whether she did or didn't say that evil thing about me ; and whether to-night, or at any time, I ever put my arm about her waist. ' ' Betsy Simpkins arose and said her say in a very decided manner : "No, Deacon Brewer; I hain't opened my mouth to say anything until this blessed minute. Now thet I hev opened it I will remark thet yeh never, in all yer life, put yer arm around me; if yeh hed, Mrs. Brewer would hev been a widder from that time. No man ever did, an' no man ever ^ OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 67 will, put his arm about Betsy Simpkin's waist!" Here the enormity involved in the mere supposition so excited Betsy that her voice ran up to a piercing cadenza, and then broke into sobs. The situation had become intolerable. The men were hopelessly mystified. The women were becoming hysterical. Dan thought it high time to seek the benefit of clergy. Happily the right man was in the audience —the Reverend Thomas Nivens, a Scotch divine whom every one honored for his sound learning, manly piety, and general nobility of character. If anything in his ways was less than pleasant it was a painful exactness as to language. Every word of his was according to the strictest canons of grammar and rhetoric. It would have been a luxury to have heard an occasional lapse in his speech. But to him words were grave responsibilities— things of power, not to be trifled with. Bad grammar, slovenly sen- I 68 BALDOON. tences, and slang, were next in enormity to an open breach of the Decalogue in his sys- tem of ethics. To this worthy minister Dan appealed. "Doctor Nivens, you have witnessed the strange things which have taken place here. They are beyond my comprehension. Will you speak a little, and say what you think of them? Are we bewitched? or bedeviled? Or have the old Baldoon ghosts looked in upon us to-night?" Very slowly and solemnly Doctor Nivens arose, cleared his throat, locked his fingers, braced his thumbs against one another, and began : *My brethren, it is not becoming to speak rashly concerning such demonstrations as have, but now, taken place in our midst. But I may say there is no evidence that they were produced either by disembodied human spirits or by witches. "I am i::clined to the opinion that, for our multiplied bins, Satan has been permitted to gain an advantage over us. One of the OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 69 descriptive titles given him in Scripture is the 'Accuser of the Brethren.' "Now, every one of these mysterious utterances has been in the nature of an accusation of persons whom we hold to be innocent of the things whereof they have been accused. I cannot believe that young Tom Jenner kissed his lassie in that public and indecent manner, whatever he may do in private ; nor that Billy Fish assailed the lecturer of the evening in the offensive words that seemed to fall from his lips ; nor that Deacon Brewer was guilty of embrac- ing Miss Simpkins. "Brethren, if Satan is doing these things he overreached himself when he suggested prayer. We will now take him at his word and vanquish him with the weapon he has thrust, as it were, into our hands ; for 'Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.* " There was a moment of solemn pause; all were listening reverently for the first words of prayer; but horror upon 70 horrors! saying : BALDOON. We heard the minister's voice 4 ((- 'No; we won't have no prayer, neither! Satan ain't half the feller most folks thinks he is! I'll be buttered ef I don't b'leeve I'm enough fer him, myself alone! Me an' Deacon Brewer is, anyway! Hooray! Come on. Deacon! You'n me agin old Satan!" While these words were being enunciated with infernal distinctness and emphasis the minister stood like one petrified, and then dropped into his seat as though some silent bullet had pierced his heart — the most astonished and horrified person in the room. Now, while all these things were going on I had been studying the situation, and had reached what proved to be a correct con- clusion. Just as poor Doctor Nivens went down I passed up to Dan a slip of paper on which I had penciled my solution of the mystery : ** Professor Grisdale is a master- ventrilo- quist. He has done all this to interrupt OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 71 your lecture. I guess he has beaten you, Dan, but roast him. " Very leisurely Dan closed his manuscript, and removed the gold spectacles from his nose. Then he laid aside the wig of curly hair and the swallow-tail coat. That was as far as he could go, then and there, in restor- ing himself to natural proportions, for the padding lay deep. Throughout these deliberate movements there was in his eyes a look not good to see — the shadowing forth of that kind of wrath that does not need to hurry, that never cools before due retribution has been administered. Fixing his gaze on Grisdale, and speaking in calm and measured tones, Dan said : "This part of the entertainment is about to close.- After that the lecture will be continued. "We assembled here for a laudable and lawful purpose. Satan came, also, in the carcass of Professor Grisdale. By the use of ventriloquism and the help of the devil these things have been done. 1 7a BALDOON. I it I , i 'As Billy Fish remarked, I may not be much in the way of prayer, but I can cast out devils, and I'm going to do it! Just watch me, and see how it's done!" With the last word Dan made a rush to the edge of the platform, and sprang toward Grisdale as a tiger leaps upon its prey. But the wily Professor had calculated everything, even to the manner of his retreat. Before Dan could reach him he was half-way to the door. In passing the stove he lingered by it an instant, and then disappeared into the street. Dan returned to the platform wearing a look of mingled triumph and satisfaction. Resuming v/ig and coat, and smartly throw- ing open his manuscript, he took up the lecture at the point where he had broken off: **As I was saying when Satan interrupted me, most insects are nearly or quite bald- headed Ke-choo! Ke-choo! Ke-choo!" Alas for our village satirist! He had cast out Satan ; but Satan had left behind him OUR VILLAGE SATIRIST. 73 something that could neither be cast out nor endured. As we learned afterwards, in passing the stove Grisdale had dropped upon it about an ounce of sulphur and cayenne ' pepper. In three minutes after his exit the hall was empty. Coughing, sneezing, strangling, the people fled for their lives to the open air, Dan leading the way. The victory seemed to be with Grisdale, for the moment, but it perched on Dan's banner at last. The Professor had lost caste. He became silent on the over- handled theme of phrenology; we were no longer importuned to buy charts of our heads. Nevertheless, Grisdale lingered on at The Forks, unaccountably, as we all thought, until it developed that he had designs and hopes concerning widow Cramer. If we disliked him in the character of phrenolo- gist, we learned to fear him in the role assumed later; and we had to resort to something stronger than satire to protect the widow against his machinations. 74 BALDOON. CHAPTER IV. I ; I li i OLD GEORGE S DETERIORATION. When Tom Brimmicom, fresh from the north of Ireland, came to Sydenham Forks it was like putting a portion of vigorous leaven into wheaten batter. He was young, stalwart, and passing good to look at. He had the easy and polished manners and speech of the best old world society. He was magnetic. He was Irish ; and, beyond most Irishmen, had a genius for adventure and misadventure. Having arrived at The Forks Tom inquired the way and the distance to one George M'Garriger's, and was told that he lived up the East Branch about four miles. There being no public conveyance Tom left his traps to be sent for, and made that last stage of his long journey on foot. It caused no small flurry in the M'Gar- OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 75 riger family when, just as they were sitting down to the noonday meal, a well-dressed young man entirely strange to them came with swinging step up the path that led to their door. Hat in hand he saluted old George, who had met him at the open door, and asked: "Does Mr. George M'Garriger live here?" "Yes, I live right here, neighbor. Come in." Seated in the pleasant dining-room, with the well-spread table in full view, the stranger said: "I see you were about to sit down to table ; but if you will permit it, a part of my errand ought to be done before you do so. When you have heard it perhaps you will let me join you." ' ' Bless— my— soul, boy ! Ye don't need to do any arrant before dinner. Set right up ! Yir welcome to sech es we hev. After thet ye kin talk, all ye want to. " "I shall be glad to join you in a few min- utes, for I have taken a long walk this morn- 1 76 BALDOON. ing, and have a sharp appetite. But before I sit at your table I want you to know who I am. it ' My name is Thomas Brimmicom — Tom, for short. I have traveled all the way from County Down, in Ireland, to this spot to find you. If I don't mistake you are my grand- uncle ; and if so, I bring you greetings and great news from the Irish branch of your family. Although there has been little if any communication between the American relatives and us, you perhaps know that your mother's grandmother was a Brimmi- com ; and she is the connecting link between you and me." While these statements were being made the face of old George underwent some rapid changes, expressing, first, perplexity, then a growing conviction, and, last of all, bound- less delight. Springing to his feet and seizing both hands of the young Irishman, he cried : "Dod-a-bit, boy! Yir right, an' you've come to the right place! Say, I've got all OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 77 both that, clean back to my great grandmother Brimmicom, in the old Bible my father brought from York State ! Yes-sir-ee! I'm yir uncle George; an' this is yir a'nt Mary; an' these girls are yir cousins Bell an' Debby an' Marget an' Norah — nice girls, too; but bless — my — soul! they're 'fraid o' the young men! "An' here's my daughter Jane, an' Andy Harris, her husband; ben married nigh upon four year; an' this little man is my grandson Andy George, the newest an' the cutest cousin o' the lot!" In response to this comprehensive and rapid introduction Tom was as heartily aunted and cousined as he had been uncled. Then Mrs. M'Garriger, taking thought of her duties as hostess, asserted the rights of the dinner-table : "It wuU no be guid manners tae keep ye frae yir dinner, seein' ye've come a' the way frae Ireland tae veesit us, an' hae walkit frae The Foarks the morn. But yi'U no objec' tae a meenute or twa while the lassies 78 BALDOON. pit a clean claith on the table, an* change the delft; for we werna expeckin' veesitors." Despite old George's protest, which was urgently seconded by Tom, the thrifty housewife had lier way. When they were invited to "sit by^" the table was resplendent with a covering of spotless linen, the new- est set of dishes, and some choice dainties, also — not usually included in their plain farmer's dinner. In the course of the meal Tom imparted some interesting information from over sea. A recent death in the family had brought about a redistribution of fortune. Tom's father had inherited enough to enable him to make Tom a regular allowance of ;^ioo a year; and he had come out to look about him for a while i?nd then settle down to push his fortunes in the new country. But the most startling news concerned old George himself. A legacy of ^10,000 had been left to the oldest male descendant of the great grandi.iother Brimmicom, and that descendant was, beyond doubt, George OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 79 change liters." cli was thrifty y were [endent le new- dnties, • plain iparted ^er sea. >rought Tom's lie him p^ioo a about Dwn to led old 00 had lant of tid that George M'Garriger! So much had been rendered probable by enquiries instituted by the legal gentlemen having the management of the estate. Tom was to verify the information, and communicate the result. Then the fortune— colossal for the time and place — would be transmitted to Sarnia, subject to George M'Garriger's order. How Tom settled down, a welcome guest, with the M'Garrigers, and how he became known in the community and was every- where sought after, need not be told. But before these chronicles of Sydenham Forks can be closed I shall have to record many things that go to show how like unto leaven was that highly vitalized young Irishman. The first effect of the coming of Tom Brimmicom was seen in the change that took place in old George; due, I am glad to say, not to personal influence, but to the great change of forture ne announced. Let no man say that he knows himself; or profess what he would or would not do in circum- stances as yet by him untried ! So BALDOON. Long before the fortune had arrived from Ireland it became evident that, unsuspected by his most intimate friends, perhaps oy himself, certain latent elements of the miser slumbered in the character of George M'Garriger. He began to have long fits of abstraction ; and would wander apart, mut- tering to himself and gesticulating, as if he inwardly wrestled with some perplexing problem. At last he unburdened his mind to Tom Brimmicom : "Dod-a-bit, if I know what to do, Tom! There's all that money — $50,000, you tell me — an' it's got to be took care of. An' thet's what's a-botherin' of me. Say, what do they do with money, in Ireland, when ther's sich a lot of it thet they don't know what to do with it?" "I dare not give advice, uncle. Every- thing in this country is so new to me that I might mislead you. The money is your own, to do with it as you please. **But I don't mind saying what a man in the old country, situated as you are in this, would OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. Si do. Being old, and having plenty to live on and to portion his daughters when they marry, he would retire from business. He would sell his land and add the price to the ^10,000. He would buy a snug home in or near some pleasant town, and make it in every way comfortable for his own and his wife's old age, and agreeable to his daugh- ters. The large sum remaining he would invest in mortgages on good properties. While waiting opportunities for such invest- ments he would leave his money in the bank for safe keeping." "Your talk sounds good enough, my boy, but, bless — my — soul, I'm 'fraid on't! S'pose the chap I lent my money to should skip? It's a way them fellers hev in this country. Then what'd I hev fer my good money but the land he couldn't make a livin' out of.? Or s'pose the bank broke? It's a way they hev in this country. Where 'd my money be? Ye talk like a book, Tom, but I'm afraid on't. Dod-a-bit, but I'll take another week to taste on't, an' 82 BALDOON. "!' >! I see how I like it. Money's a good thing to hev, Tom, an' a solhim dooty it lays onto a man; I mustn't make no mistakes." After a week old George renewed the sub- ject. He had been preoccupied every day and restless every night since the previous conversation. But now there was a pur- pose, born of conviction, looking out of his eyes, as he said : "Tom, see here, it won't do, nohow! Money's too precious a thing to hev it sunk in any number of acres of the airth ; or to hev it busted up in a bank. Ain't there some kind of a strong box, with a key to it, thet they keep money in, an' hev it safe?" The love of money, never before appealed to in any strength, had quickened at last in old George's nature, and had laid hold of his No, 9 firmness and No, io+ concen- trativeness! It did not need a prophet to foretell mischief; but no one lacking the gift of second sight could have foreshadowed the ghastly and far-reaching mischief that OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 83 was to come of George M'Garriger's deteri- oration. In answer to his uncle's question concern- ing strong boxes for the safe-keeping of money Tom told him of his father's iron safe, with a key unlike every other key in the world ; and how his father kept therein all his valuable papers and the ready money necessary for current use, and that if the house were to burn down the papers and money in the safe would not be injured. Eureka ! That was the solution of his prob- lem toward which the old man had been laboring without being able to reach it. "Now ye'r talkin*, Tom! 1 hat's what I'll hev! An' I'll put my money — every dollar of it — into my own safe, an' carry the key myself. wSay, Tom, don't ye s'pose I could hev one of them made in Detroit, an' hev it ready agin the money comes from the old country?" Tom didn't know. But he was quite sure that one could be bought ready-made in that city. When the purchase was determined 84 BALDOON. on Tom went with his uncle to Detroit, and together they selected a small but well-made safe weighing two hundred pounds, and hav- ing a key that delighted old George's heart by its ingenious and intricate workmanship. Tom did not note at the time, though he remembered it afterwards, that the sales- man was not only attentive and obliging, but also minutely inquisitive as to the pur- chaser's name, and place of residence, and the use he had for such an article. When the notice came that ;^ 10,000 had been remitted to the Gore Bank, Samia, subject to the order of George M'Garriger, the little safe was in readiness in a corner of old George's bedroom, standing enthroned on a block of walnut which he had sawn and squared and planed to the nicest proportions and finish. All these proceedings had been carried on with the utmost secrecy, to the end that none of the neighbors should know the whereabouts of the money. I am inclined to think that the first, perhaps the only, OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 8$ deliberate lie that George M'Garriger ever told was when he gave out that he meant to leave his money in the Gore Bank, on deposit. Certainly the three elements of a lie — an untruth, known to be such, and told for the purpose of deceiving — were involved in that statement. The expedition to Sarnia, ostensibly to arrange for the depositing of the money, was an event loi:g to be remembered for its thrilling possibilities, and its uneventful out- come. Tom went with his uncle, of course, and carried the brace of pistols he had brought from the old country; for there might be occasion to defend themselves; and, anyway, no well bred Irishman went far from home, in those days, without arms. The bank officials were pledged in the most solemn manner to always conceal, and never reveal, what disposition was made of the money. Then behind closed doors it was paid over in the identical sovereigns that had come across the sea; for, being unwilling to trust the paper even of the 86 BALDOON. Bank of England, old George had stipulated for payment in gold. With his multitudinous god stcved again in the original caskets, and the caskets in a strong leather portmanteau, and that secreted under the seat of the carriage, George and his nephew began the home- ward journey, timing it so that they would arrive an hour after dark. It was consid- ered all-important to smuggle the treasure into the house and into the safe unbeknown to every one but the family. The long drive was beguiled in various ways. At the first, and very copiously — albeit in a subdued voice — old George poured forth his jubilate to the divinity under the carriage seat. "Say, Tom, did ever ye see the like o' thet heap o' yellow boys? Don't talk to me about mor'gages, an' banks! Thet there shinin' gold is too good to be resked in them things! I'll hev it right where I kin see it every day, an' twenty times a day ef I want to, an' knov; thet it'3 all right! An' I'll 'i OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 87 take care on't — oh, yes; I'll take care on't— Dod-a-bit, but I will!" Tom acknowledged that he had never in all his life seen so much gold. But he ques- tioned the wisdom of his uncle's plan for taking care of it. Would the bank officials keep the secret? If it should leak out that he was keeping ;^i 0,000 in the house would he be safe from robbery? Were there not several bad characters hanging about The Forks, and up the North Branch? And, in pure mischief, he reminded his uncle of his own stories of horses stolen and run across the border by Black Dick Douglas, and about systematic smuggling carried on by Pewee, the Potawatomie Indian, and his white accomplices at The Forks, and many other lawless proceedings. Then he wickedly suggested that the peril might declare itself even before they reached home : "The fact is, uncle, I didn't altogether like the glitter in that cashier's eye when we were counting the gold. Suppose he is 88 BALDOON. Ill secretly in partnership with Black Dick, and has sent him word that we are taking ;^ 1 0,000 in this open carriage to your home on the East Branch! To be sure, we are two, and have a brace of pistols ; but Black Dick might come upon us with half a dozen, and by your account he's a terrible fellow himself. After we have passed The Forks there won't be much danger; but suppose they were to meet us on that lonely piece of road between Babee's Point and The Forks!" Then Tom took out his pistols to make sure that they were capped and otherwise ready. The distress of old George was pitiable to the last degree : "Bless — my — soul, Tom, ye don't think that, do ye? Oh, Tom, to think of all that gold thet they're after! But they shan't hev it, shall they, Tom! You'll shoot, won't ye, Tom! Say, d'ye s'pose thet chap a-horseback thet passed us away back yen- der wus one of 'em, goin' to warn Black Dick thet we're comin'?" OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 89 Tom didn't know, but thought he saw the bulge of a pistol in the fellow's pocket as he passed, and noticed that he looked at them very keenly out of the corner of his eye. Having passed Babee's Point and entered upon the loneliest part of their journey, old George insisted that they should keep in instant readiness for battle. He held the reins in his left hand and kept his right on a pistol lying in his coat pocket. Tom, like- wise, had a pistol convenient to his right hand, for he had not been altogether in fun when depicting the dangers that might beset them. As they were nearing a sharp turn in the road old George suddenly pulled up the horse and whispered, excitedly: "Here they come, Tom!" And sure enough, they heard a clatter of hoofs, as of a number of horsemen riding swiftly toward them on a stretch of the road that lay out of sight; for they were in a thickly wooded part of the country. Catch- lAAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) lA ^.r 1.0 I.I 144 111^ M IIM |M 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■* 6" ► %.. ^ om„ #■ ^^ o 7 % ^ Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 S'^ fe \ \ 6^ •4 V^ 96 BALDOON. ing the advancing sound, Tom's eye kindled for battle. *'Now, uncle," he said, "let's be men! They won't all live to enjoy your gold, if they get it at last. Don't shoot until you have a man covered within ten feet of you. Then spring out and fight with the butt end of your pistol, as I mean to do ; and, as Pat Phelan said to his son when the row began, 'Whereiver ye see a head, hit!' — except when it's mine." As Tom finished, three horsemen gal- loped into view from around the turn. When they saw before them the carriage with two men in it, each having a cocked pistol in hand pointed toward them, they pulled up so sharply that the horses were thrown upon their haunches. The misapprehension that threatened to cost some human lives and to betray the golden secret so jealously guarded, lasted only a moment. In the leader of the horse- men old George recognized Jim Blake, the deputy sheriff, who saluted him thus : OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 91 ** Hello, uncle George! Thet you? From the look of things I s'pose ye took us fer robbers; an' no wonder! This country is jest goin' plum to the dogs. A fine three-year-old colt was stole last night up the North Branch. Folks say it wus Black Dick, an' we're out lookin' fer nim; but I'm 'feared he's got acrost the line with the colt." On learning th.:'' George and his friend had driven from L ■ ta that afternoon enquiries were made for Black Dick and the colt, but the travelers had seen nothing of them. They were mightily relieved, how- ever, to know that Black Dick was busy get- ting out of the country with booty instead of lying in wait for them. The rest of the journey was made in peace; the gold was brought homi under the cover of darkness, and transferred to the safe, and no one outside the family knew its whereabouts. The deterioration toward miserliness of George M'Garriger did not stop while he 99 BALDOON. lived. In a few weeks after the trip to Sarnia he closed a transaction with his son- in-law, Andy Harris, by which Andy became owner of the M'Garriger homestead, and old George added $2,000 in gold to his hoard. It was hoped that he would build at The Forks and furnish handsomely in modern style, and thus give his interesting daugh- ters the benefit of his bettered circum- stances; but the greed of gold had possessed him. Instead, he purchased for a small sum and put in rfioderate repair the long- deserted Baldoon House, which stood at a considerable distance from the northern outskirts of the village. One little room he prepared with barred window and strong door as the hiding place of his safe and its idolized contents. That '' finished, he established his family in the renovated house, taking Tom Brimmicom as a lodger, at so much per week! On the moving day the safe came after dark, at the bottom of the last load of household goods, OLD GEORGE'S DETERIORATION. 93 and was handled to its place by Tom and old George. No one in our community had the faintest suspicion that the Baldoon House contained more wealth than any other private dwelling in the County of Lambton. And I fear that old George enjoyed and chuckled over the unsuspected presence of his divinity almost as much as he did over the daily, sometimes hourly, sight of it, when he went alone into his strong room and, having locked the door, feasted his eyes on the glittering treasure. Before these chronicles can be finished I shall have to record of George M'Garriger things more amusing and more exciting than any related in this story. But, to m.e, the sudden breaking down of his soul into utter, sordid miserliness was a tragedy more to be noted than even that later and more ghastly one that grew directly out of it. 94 BALDOCN. CHAPTER V. A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. There came a period when George M'Gar- riger bethought him a second time of a father's duty toward his unmarried daugh- ters. It was after he began to have a home feeling in his new residence, the Baldoon House; and after the delicious novelty of seeing every day more than $50,000 — all in gold, and all his own — had lost a little of its first relish. Bell was now the senior of the flock of four virgins that remained to him. She was a wholesome, full-bodied, bright-faced, happy-hearted brunette; and she was twenty-two. Looking at her one day, and calling to mind her age, old George shook his head and muttered to himself: "Dod-a-bit, but this must be seen to! These girls o' mine are so 'fraid o' the -til i I ■ A CASE vOP BASE DECEPTION. 95 young men thet they're goin' to stick on my hands. First thing I know, I'll hev a houseful of old maids; an' their mother don't seem to care a smitch! Bell must be married off, so's to make way fer the rest." Accordingly he began to look about him for a suitable match. His experience in Janie's case was not forgotten. He would make a careful selection, and take quiet measures to accomplish his purpose. At last the old man had a happy thought, and spent a moment or two in despising himself for not thinking it before. '•W'y, bless — my — soul, there's Tom Brimmicom, her Irish cousin, with a ;^ioo a year; an' young an' han'some; an' he ain't took up with any other girl; an' livin' right here in the house! Hooray fer me, this time! There's a ready-made husband fer Bell; an' I'll make it wuth his while to jine up with her, ef it takes ;^5oo fer to do it!" Thought, resolution, and action followed each other in rapid sequence. With more than his usual prudence George commis- , i 96 BALDOON. sioned his wife to sound the mind and heart of Bell, while he undertook to deal with Tom. It must be recorded to the credit of Mrs. M'Garriger that she protested against par- ental interference : "It's no canny, George, tae be pitten oot oor ain ban's tae guide maitters that only the Al'wise can unnerstan' an' govern tae a guid feenish. Ye'll min' hoo it wes wi' Janie, an' that ye wrocht naething but ill wi* yir gaeins on tae get her marrit whan, puir lassie, she wes a 'ready marrit upon Andy Harris. Tam's a fine sonsie lad, an' oor ain kin. I wad like gey weel tae hae him for a son-in-law; but let their hairts alane, George, tae come thegither, gin they wull, in the wey o' nature, an' no by con- strent o' their elders. ' ' But George was masterful ;.and Mary was persuaded at last to explore, as well as she could, the mystery of a maiden's heart. "Bell, ma lass, A'm tae tell ye yir faither hes set his hairt on seein' ye marrit upon r A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 97 Tarn Brimmicom. Noo, A' ken es weel's anither that Tain es a pairsonable man; an' able tae plenish a hoose for ye; an' that, in a' probabeelity, he wad make yir life es free o* care an' tribb^e es a life can be in thes senful warld. But A' ken es weel that the mestery o' the hairt es deep; wha can unnerstan* it? Noo, lassie, yir tae speak free tae yir ain mithir. It wad please me weel tae see yirsel an' Tam gae thegither. But, Bell, gin ye canna tak' yir hairt wi' ye, whativer yir faither an' me may say, dinna gae wi' Tam, nor wi' ony ither man wethoot it." Bell's face was anything but serene during her mother's discourse. It expressed, at first, a complex of feeling in which alarm and resentment were very conspicuous. Then appeared perplexity of thought, as if she had been put upon an instant choice between the devil and the deep sea. Before her mother had finished, however, something of Bell's usual brightness returned, and she answered with tolerable composure . 98 BALDOON. ..(I, ■ til ■ (( Mother, dear, I think it's too bad of father to act so ; and I think it's very nice of you to speak as you have. Oh, dear! whatever shall I do? I wish he had let us alone! Only think, mother, maybe Tom likes some other girl. If he does, and father speaks to him about me, then Tom will have to go. Whatever I might say about marry- ing him, he's a very nice cousin to have in the house. I'd be sorry to have him leave us, and sorrier still to have to meet him in company as the young man who had declined the honor of being married to me. Oh, mother, can't you make father keep still about it for another week at least?' Mrs. M'Garriger's pympathy was with Bell, and her will was good enough to silence her husband on that subject for a week and forever. But no grass ever grew under old George's feet when he set out to bring something to pass. Professor Gris- dale's hit on his bumps of concentrativeness and firmness was great enough to cover a multitude of misses. The very day of 1 I A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 99 Mrs. M'Garriger's interview with Bell old George met Tom between Baldoon House and the village, and waylaid him thus: "Say, Tom, don't ye think it's high time ye wus takin' a wife, an' settlin' down?" Tom was sure he didn't know, and that he hadn't thought much about it. And for some reason, at that time unknown to his neighbors, Tom blushed like a girl. Un- heeding the signal of distress— for he had not perceived it — the old man went on : "See here, boy, there's my daughter Bell, es likely a girl es there is at The Forks or anywheres, only thet she's so mighty 'fraid o' the young men. Jest you make up to her, Tom. A little o' the right kind o' courtin'll bring her round. Ye don't need to be 'feared o' Mary; she thinks jest es I do about it. Only yisterday she said she'd like to hev ye fer a son-in-law. An', Tom, the day yer married to Bell I'll give ye five hundred o' them gold sovereigns ye saw counted up to Sarnia, an' Mary'll give Bell a good settin' out. What say? Ye couldn't 100 BALDOON. better yerself, an' it'll be keepin' the money in the family." Tom's distress increased with the old man's vehement urgency. When his oppor- tunity came to speak he temporized in a manner suspiciously like that of Bell in answering her mother. **My dear uncie, you have taken me quite by surprise. I have not dared to dream of such an honor. Bell is good enough fci th« Prince of Wales! But such matters need much consideration. It is by no means cer- tain that her affections are free, nor that they could be induced to turn toward me, if they were. Give me a little time, uncle. And I must insist upon it that this matter must not be mentioned to Bell by any one but myself. ' ' Old George winked his weather eye, and said, with a satisfied and confident air: "All right; go ahead in your own way, Tom; but go ahead!" Now, the fact was, as we learned later, that just about the date of old George's happy thought concerning Tom and Bell A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. loi something happened that prevented its con- summation. I suppose that up above, where, they say, matches are made, it had been ordained from eternity that Tom Brimmicom and Debby Cramer should meet; — of course, their meeting could have but one result. I thought then, and I think now, that Debby was in every way as lovely and lovable as it is possible for woman to be. Don't expect analysis, definition, and description of her beauty. I am not good at that sort of thing in any case ; — in this, it would be, to me, a kind of profanation that I am not willing to commit. One general term I may use; she was satisfying. The eye was satisfied with the symmetry and exquisite molding of her form; with the lily-whiteness of her skin; with the heavenly blue of her eyes ; and with the manifold nameless graces that -played hide and seek, (( On brow, and chin, and dinipled cheek, And in her golden hair. " 103 BALDOON. ;!! The heart was satisfied with the evident qualities of her soul, being persuaded that there inhered in her proper self a reality of goodness and lovingness, allied with strength of purpose and reserve of power, sufficient to make one sure that she would not fail to be and do and bear everything required by her conviction of duty. At this distance of time I can command enough of magnanimity to say with Mary M'Garriger that Tom Brimmicom was "a fine, sonsie, pairsonable young man," — an altogether suitable mate for Debby. In view of the fact that there are three old men in the world who are bachelors to this day because Debby Cramer could not give her love to either of them, and could not deny it to Tom, the above admission is, to say the least, generous. The first meeting of Tom and Debby was well calculated to give effect to the will of the Power above that had set them apart for one another, Tom was r'fetuming in his canoe from the -I ■ A CASE OP BASE DECEPTION. 103 St. Clair flats, whither he had gone to shoot ducks. Debby was. shr^^i that evening on one of her long walks down the river from The Forks. She had wandered farther and later than usual, and on turning homeward came face to face with Peewee, the Potawa- tomie Indian, and he was drunk. The place was lonely, and the Indian was in a mood that made it dangerous for an unprotected maiden to meet him. With a leer part savage, part maudlin, and alto- gether disgusting, he addressed Debby in his nondescript dialect : "B'sho! B'sho! you wite squaw! Ah bin go to The Forks; an' Ah bin drink plenty, plenty, much good whisky! An' Ah'm go home, to mah place on island, in mah canoe, an' Ah'm take wite squaw 'long to be Peewee's odder wife!" Then, throwing his voice up al>out two octaves, and springing forward to seize the "wite squaw, " Peewee vented his drunken recollection of a tribal war cry, "Chit-ta-ya- ha-ha-yip!" 104 BALDOON. Debby had faced the savage bravely enough, looking him squarely in the eye, until that last '*yip»" ^^^ t^® reaching out of his horrid hands to lay hold of her ; then she turned and fled like a frightened deer. Unperceived by the actors in that stirring scene Tom Brimmicom had landed; and having burst through a fringe of willows that bordered the river, had placed himself between the fleeing maiden and her pursuer. When Pee wee found himself confronted by a man his surprise and rage broke out in the snarling expression, "Ta-a-a-ya!" — which I have reason to think is the wickedest kind of Potawatomie profanity, feeling, mean- while, for the handle of a long hunting knife that stuck in his belt. But Tom's right hand had been trained for emergencies of that kind. It shot straight out from the shoulder, and delivered a blow that made a very good Indian of Peewee for the next hour or tv/o. Looking over her shoulder as she ran, to A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 105 note the whereabouts of her dreaded pur- suer, Debby saw the blow struck that laid him low, and paused in her flight. Then, panting, and quivering in every nerve, she approached the spot where Tom still stood over her prostrate foe, and said in snatches : "Whoever you may be, sir, let me thank you. Oh, what should I have done if you had not come just as you did?" Tom, also, was agitated, less on account of the fray than by the surpassing loveliness of the trembling young lady. He managed, however, to pull himself together enough to say: . "I count myself fortunate to have been at hand at the right* moment. Things don't always happen so. My name is Tom Brim- micom, lately from Ireland, and very much at your service. At present I am living with my uncle, George M'Garriger, whom, possibly, you know. " "Oh, yes; we know the M'Garrigers well, and have heard of you. I am forgetting, io6 BALDOON. though, that you don't know whom I mean by we ; — Mrs. Cramer, of The Forks, is my mother, and I am her only child." So soon as Debby had ascertained that Pee wee was not fatally injured she proposed to set out at once on her return to the vil- lage. But Tom raised several objections to that course, all more or less valid and all intended to prolong his intercourse with the beautiful stranger. "Miss Cramer, the hour is late for so long a walk, and you are in no state for further exertion. Moreover, this Indian, although he is quiet enough now, will revive, and might cause you further alarm. J. see but one good way for you, and that is to accept a seat in my canoe. It will be no incon- venience to me ; and if it were otherwise I ought to take any trouble necessary to pre- vent the risks you would run in walking home alone at this hour." And so it came to pass, at their first meet- ing, that Debby and Tom got into the same boat and floated off together; which was A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 107 prophetic of a longer and more important voyage than that to The Forks. Why should I go on to tell in detail the sequel of tnat evening's adventure? Of course, Tom saw in Debby the incarnation of all womanly loveliness. And Debby, without making any sign at the time, shrined Tom in that sacred place reserved in every woman's heart for her manliest man. All which was, doubtless, very sweet for Tom ; but to some others, just as worthy of the blessedness as he, it gave a 'bitter taste in the mouth for the rest of their lives. And this was the something that happened just about the date of old George's happy thought, as he esteemed it, concerning Bell and Tom, and made the consummation impossible. When next Bell M'Garriger and Tom were alone together a very interesting but not at all creditable dialogue occurred. '*Tom, I want to say something to you, something very particular, but I don't know how to begin." io8 BALDOON. (C 'Well, you've made a good enough begin- nin;, already. The strangest thing is that I must say something particularly particular to you, and say it soon ; and yet my tongue refuses to utter it until the way is cleared, so that you will take me as I mean." *'Oh, Tom, if it's anything sentimental don't say it! For both our sakes, and every sake, don't! But how remarkable! You are afraid to say your say, and I'm afraid to say mine. But, Tom" (relenting), "you may, if you like, give me the tiniest little hint of what you want to say. ' ' "I'm afraid you'd think it very senti- mental; but I won't say it — that is, not yet — not until the way is prepared for it. Per- haps, Bell, if you would open your mind to me first, it would be a good thing for both of us." "I can't and I won't tell you, yet, what I meant to and must, sometime. But since you are my good and loyal cousin I don't mind trusting you with something else — a secret that only two people in all the world A CASE OP BASE DECEPTION. 109 know— r-^w, rm engaged to Dan Littleton, and we are only waiting until he gets his appointment as collector of customs at this port to make it known to father and mother and all our friends. There, now; what do you think of that?" "What do I think of it?" (throwing his cap into the air). "Why, I think it's the best hearing I've had since I left the 'tight little island, the gem o' the say'! No! by the powers, I don't think that, either! What was I saying? Bell, I'll give you con- fidence for confidence. The very best word I ever heard in all my life was spoken last night by Debby Cramer, when I asked her if I might hope to win her heart!" "Oh! Tom!" (her face as sunny as twelve o'clock). "How nice! I guess we can now tell one another those awful 'something particulars. ' I know I can tell mine. Tom, father wants you to marry me! Did you know?" "Yes, Bell; I knew; and that was what / wanted to tell you; and how to do it and no BALDOON. I ^^i 4 make you understand the impossibility of such a thing without seeming to hold you in light esteem I didn't know. Now every- thing is clear. You are disposed of to Dan. I will marry Debby Cramer or die a bachelor — so help me ! And our nice cousinly rela- tionship will continue. Old Peggy Shaw used to say, when things went to please her, ''Glory be to goodness!' and so say I." "And I, Tom, after my mother's fashion, say, 'Thanks be!' But everything is not clear, Tom. You don't know my father. He'll worry you sick over this plan to marry us to one another. What he'll do to me I can't imagine. I'm afraid it will end in mak- ing my life very uncomfortable for a while, and in your banishment from Baldoon. ' ' "It surely won't be as bad as that, Bell. Indeed, I've thought of a way to keep matters quiet, and have everybody well pleased until we shall be ready to declare ourselves. ' ' "That would be just lovely, Tom! How can it be done?" A CASE OP BASE DECEPTION. xil *'Well, suppose— for the sake of peace in the family— we appear to fall in with your father's desire. We needn't fib about it; nor actually make love to one another. But we can be more together than we have been. We can go out walking and canoe- ing. And, Bell, we can manage, when we go out, to meet the two people we're most interested in, and so give our true love a smoother course than it could have if we were openly resisting your father's will." **Oh, Tom! you're simply splendid!" Yes; these abandoned young people settled upon a course of deliberate decep- tion— all for the sake of peace in the family. And they carried it out successfully for a considerable time. Contrary to one's sense of justice, "the world went very well then" — for them. George M'Garriger was delighted to observe that Tom and Bell were taking to one another. When they went out together for a stroll, or down the river or up the North Branch in Tom's canoe, he would 8 112 BALDOON. wink at Mary with infinite glee, and say, "Bless — my — soul, Mary, ain't they gettin' thick? See what a little managin'll do! 'Nuther weddin' on hand, fust thing ye know, old lady!" The end was stormy. On a day, wh.ii pond lilies were at their best, Tom and Bell paddled up the North Branch some two miles in search of — something. Strangely enough, on that same afternoon another canoe bearing two people was propelled in the same direction. When the two parties came together the canoes were made fast, the passengers landed, and proceeded to sort themselves out after a new principle of distribution. Tom took Debby Cramer and strolled up stream. Dan Littleton took Bell and strolled down stream. All these proceedings took effect, vari- ously, on a solitary beholder who stood on the opposite bank of the river. As Tom and Bell paddled into view his countenance opened in a broad smile of approval, as if his heart were saying, "Bless you, my chil- A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 1 13 dren ! ' ' When Dan and Debby joined them, and they all landed, the beholder still smiled benignantly, 1 j if his heart expanded to take them, also, into the scope of his fatherly benediction. But when they proceeded to pair off by some new law of distribution, the smile on his face darkened into a terrible frown, and he hissed from between set teeth and compressed lips, "Dod-a-bit! Thefs it, is it?" George M'Garriger plodded home from that sight on the river bank well-nigh broken-hearted, muttering as he went: *'Bless— my— soul! Wot a desateful jade! Irish whippersnapper! Full o' consate! Thinks he's foolin' the old man! I'll start him ! Dod-a-bit, but I ' 11 start him! ' ' Tom and Bell came home that evening all unconscious of the pent-up cyclone that awaited them. The family were seated about the table, ready to begin the evening meal, when the supposed lovers came in. Then old George rose up in wrath that would not be controlled and smote them, hip and thigh, with words: 114 BALDOON. ti< 'I seen ye, up at the bend! Yes! Dod- a-bit! I seen ye w'en ye thought ye wus foolin' the old man with yer Deb Cramers an' yer Dan Littletons, an' yer huggin' an' yer kissin'! "Bell M'Garriger, ye're a desateful, ongrateful hussy! Thet's wot you are! But es ye're one o' the fam'ly ye'll hev to stay; an ye're likely to stay a long time. Ye can't bring no Dan Littletons here a-grabbin' fer my money. An' I won't, never agin, turn es much es my little finger to git ye married — no, not ef ye wither up an' blow away out o' my sight! "Es fer you, Tom Brimmicom, yer room'll be better than yer company to the folks thet live here. Ef ye feel like packin' up yer traps and gittin' out right now, before supper, ye won't be hendered. Yer wel- come's wore clean out!" It was pitiful to hear the old man as he waxed more and more wrathful until his words bolted out singly, detached and hissing, like so many fiery darts. A CASE OF BASE DECEPTION. 115 But they came to a sr.dden end. Mary M'Garriger, confounded at first, soon caught the meaning of the situation. George's attempt to marry Bell had miscarried almost as disastrously as in Janie's case; and it had driven the young people to prac- tice deception in order to escape his impor- tunities, and to follow their own hearts in peace. As soon as this light came to her Mrs. M'Garriger rose up from her chair, pale but determined ; and stepping swiftly to the head of the table, where old George stood bursting with yet unexhausted fury, she thrust him backward, so that he fell into the seat that was behind him, and said: "Noo, George M'Garriger, yi'll sit there an' cool yirsel', an' baud yir peace! Gin )'e canna, o' yirsel', A '11 power a bucket o' cauld water on yir heed! Save's a', man, yir gaen clean daft a' thegither! "Wae's me! A' wes feart ye wud mak' tribble fer Bell es ye did for Janie. But it's no sae bad yet that it canna be mendit. I ii6 BALDOON. Noo, George, seein' yir no fit tae speak for yirsel', A'm gaen tae speak for ye; an'" (shaking her forefinger at him) "yi'll see'n ye mak' guid what I say! "Bell an' Tarn's tae be let alane. Tarn can leave ye, gin he must, an' take the wey o' hes ain hairt in peace. But Bell's yir ain child, more's the peety! But she's no tae be misca'd an' pairsecuted because she canna get awa' frae ye, an' she shallna be while her mither's heed is aboon the grun'. An' I houpe Tarn '11 hae mair sense than tae tak' ye at yir ill ward the nicht, tae haud it agenst ye, an' agenst us a'." That was the first time in their married life that Mary had risen up to withstand her husband. He was astonished, and more: he was cowed to the meekness of Moses, and apologized to Tom and Bell for the violence of his language. The calm that came after the storm was an improvement on any previous state of the M'Garriger family. Bell had peace. Dan Littleton was made free of the house and, A CASE OP BASE DECEPTION. 117 later, won Bell for his bride. Tom Brim- micotn, however, sought other lodgings, partly in self-respect, and partly for the good influence he thought it would have on his uncle — to make him feel that his late outs rageous conduct was not readily overlooked. What of Tom and Debby? Much; but that must wait. The chronicles next in order are of mystery, conspiracy and tragedy. 1x8 BALDOON. -tl^^^BIl CHAPTER VI. 1 MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. Not very long after Tom Brimmicom left his uncle's family and found other quarters, it began to be observed that the M'Gar- rigers were looking strangely. Some of us attributed their altered appearance to regret for the well-known unpleasantness that led to the rupture. Others supposed that they sorely missed the presence of that cheerful and witty young Irishman in the home circle. Whatever the cause, the Baldoon family, without an exception, wore a look of distress and alarm, but said nothing in explanation thereof. When this state of things had continued for several weeks old George came to me, walking hurriedly and otherwise evincing in his manner a state of unusual excitement. When he entered the office he was careful to MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 119 close the door after him, and peered about as if he would make sure that no third per- son were present. Then, in a tone of great anxiety, and omitting his usual "bless— my —soul" greeting, he said: "Neighbor, are we alone?" I assured him that we were quite by ourselves. "Then, neighbor, I want ye to hear wot I've got to say, an' then tell me wot I'm to do. Ye've heard how the Baldoon House ust to be hanted? Wal, es sure es God, they're at it agin, an' hev ben fer es much es three weeks! 1 wanted to tell somebody, an' git advice, long ago, only Mary an' the girls wus 'fraid we'd git laughed at. But things hes ben thet bad the last few nights thet they're mighty willin' to hev me come to you now." This was very startling. Of course we had all heard the ghostly traditions of the house when it was inhabited by the original builder, Mactavish. But that belonged to the distant past. We had come to think that the spirits had followed the Mactavish family, 120 BALDOON. i 1 and would trouble Baldoon no more — Pro- fessor Grisdale to the contrary, notwithstand- ing. Here they were, however, as lively and mischievous as ever; their presence being vouched for by the testimony of Mary M'Garriger and her daughters, to say nothing of old George. My efforts to draw more definite informa- tion out of the old man were not very successful. They only elicited a medley of statements about mysterious lights that flashed through the house, and midnight sounds that could not be accounted for, and invisible powers that rattled and displaced dishes, furniture and the pile of night-wood on the hearth. Poor old George was too thoroughly dazed with the horrors of the situation to give a satisfactory account of it. So I comforted him with a promise that I would take Tom Brimmicom that afternoon and go out to Baldoon House for a long conference with the family, and that we would counsel them as wisely as we could. MYSTERY AT BALDOCN HOUSE. 121 During the walk to Baldoon I questioned Tom concerning the mysterious disturb- ances in his uncle's honse. To my surprise he seemed to know nothing at all about them. Since his rupture with old George he had only visited the family occasionally. He had noticed, as we all had, the signs of trouble of some kind; but he had felt bound to respect their evident wish to keep it to themselves. Tom's curiosity was kindled to fever heat by what I then told him of the traditions of Baldoon House, and of the renewed mani- festations that were terrorizing his uncle's family. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the entire household with every possible expres- sion of welcome and of gratitude for our visit. Without waiting for us to hear the details, old George proceeded at once to humble himself afresh before Tom : *'Dod-a-bit, Tom, I've ben thinkin' thet tnebby the phrenology man wus right about these Baldoon ghosts likin' to stay in 122 BALDOON. one place; an' thet when them Mactavishes went away the ghosts hed to git out an' stay out o' doors until somebody else would be livin' here, an' would do somethin* mean enough fer to give them the right to come back an' play their infarnal tricks. An' I've ben thinkin', Tom, thet I wus mean enough to you an' Bell fer to throw wide open every door and winder in the house fer the ghosts to come back in. Anyhow, they've got in ; an' it seems es ef we'd hev to git out. But, Tom" (the tears running down his cheeks), *'ef you'd forgive a foolish old man, an' come back, mebby the ghosts 'd hev to go. Ef ye '11 only do it, Tom, it shan't cost ye a cent es long es ye like to stay." The last traces of Tom's resentment van- ished before the old man's self-abasement, and the evident distress of his aunt and cousins. There was an unmistakable twitching about his mouth, and just a show of answering tears in his eyes when he took his uncle's hand and said: 'That's more than enough, uncle. All's it/ MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 123 right between us, from this on. In fact, I had made up my mind as we were coming here and I was hearing for the first time the kind of trouble you are in, that I would come back this very night, if you would let me, and join hands with you against ghosts or Hievils, as they may prove to be, or bad men, who are worse than either. ' ' There was great joy in the M'Garriger home when Tom announced his readiness to return. It seemed to them that with him in the house they could face anything, and could hope for final deliverance. I, however, was not so sanguine ; and re- quested Mrs. M'Garriger to give us a detailed account of the strange happenings. I want to put it on record, just here, that I believe any statement made by Mary M'Gar- riger as I believe the verities of the multipli- cation table. I record this because I could not accept the views of some who were in- clined to discount her understanding of the things she described on the grounds of her supposed leaning toward old-world supersti- 124 BALDOON. ■ii 1 M tions, and the influence of fear upon her mind. Neither could I force myself into accord with the materialistic theory of the entire episode entertained by Tom Brim- micom and Dan Littleton, who were more closely associated with me in watching it. Mrs. M'Garriger's account of what had taken place was as follows : "It was Sabbath nicht, three weeks, that A' seed the fairst o' thae uncanny thengs. A' wes wakit oot o' ma sleep — it wad be near tae the mednicht hoor — wi' a licht shinin' every whaur, but an' ben, through the hail hoose. It wesna like the sun, nor like a cannle ; it wes juist white an* deith- like. '*When A' fairst wakit A' thocht the hoose wes a' in a low, an' cried upon George tae wake an' gae up the stair tae waken the las- sies, for A' wes feart they wad be burnt in their beids. **Then A* gaed oot bye tae see whaur the low wad be. But Lord save's a' ! when A' turned tae luik there wesna ony smoke till't, MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 12$ but only the white, deevlish licht! A* kent weel, then, that it wesna o' thes airth; an' A'm feart, the noo, that it didna come frae heaven. "As A' luikit the licht lefted frae the lower pairt o* the hoose an' left it a' in dairkness; an' syne it wes in the upper rooms where the lassies sleepit, so that their wundies wesa-blazin* wi* licht as if they had a hunnerd cannels bumin' a' thegither. Then it lefted frae there, a' in a meenute, an' stood a wee while on the roof, an' then it gaed oot. A'm sure it wes no canny. "Twa nichts aefter that, at the same hoor o* the nicht, we wes a' wakit wi' a soond es o' a man thrashin' on the naked floor wi' a flail. Seven times it struck on the lower floor, an* seven times on the upper floor, an* seven times on the roof, an' aefter that it soonded nae mair. We a' hard it, an* wes sae sair frichtened that we didna daur tae rise. "Then, twa nichts aefter that, at med- nicht, there cam' a gret ruction a' through r '' :: I 126 BALDOON. 1 i H the hoose. The nicht-wood that George hed pitten in a pile on the hairth wes petched hither an' yon, frae end tae end o' the room, for a' the warld es if the ghaists wes peltin' ane anither wi' the sticks. An' the delft wes rattled oot o' place on the shelves, an' some wes crackit, an' some wes broken a'thegither. An' syne, ivery beed in the hoose wes lefted up by the feet, the maitter o' ten or twal enches, an' let fa' wi' a gret thump that shook the hoose frae bottom tae top. Then the chairs an' the tables, the pans an' the pots, an* ivery loose theng in the hoose wes shefted an' shoved aboot wi' a gret noise. *'A' micht gae on, an' gae on, an' then gae on agen, telling ye a' the deevlish thengs thae evil sperits hae deen tae us wha niver did hairm tae them. Ae nicht it's the un- canny low, that's liker hell-fire than ony- thing else; anither it's the flail on the floor; anither it's the tummelin' aboot o' ivery loose theng in the hoose. An' through it a' we hevna seen the form o* ony man, or MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE- 127 angel, or deevil; nor hev we heard ony voice forbye oor ain when we cried oot wi* fear. But whaever it es they're verra regular in their visits. They aye gie a nicht o' rest between ivery twa o' fricht. "Noo, gin ye men that are scholars can tell us the intairpretation o' thae gaeins on, an* hoo they may be brocht till an end, we'll a* be mair than thankfu' tae ye. For gin we canna get deleeverance, an' that richt airly, we maun flee frae thes evil hoose es the Mactavishes did, or be carried oot o' it, deid o' the fear an' the weariness o' the flesh tae bear it." Silence, deep and long, followed Mrs. M'Garriger's narrative. The family waited for Tom and me to speak in solution of the mystery, and to suggest some way of deliver- ance. But I was by no means ready to speak. The case was altogether beyond me. If Mrs. M'Garriger had rightly conceived and correctly reported the things she saw and heard, this was a call to stand up and wrestle not with flesh and blood but with 'fe. laZ BALDOON. wicked spirits of unknown powers; and it must not be undertaken lightly. And I thought Tom's eyes expressed some- thing of skepticism as to any superhuman agency in the matter, and a stern purpose to detect and punish the real culprits. I there- fore judged it best to avoid present discus- sion, and suggested, for the immediate encouragement of the fear-stricken family, that Tom should return to them at once; that Mrs. M'Garriger, knowing the One Being who could protect her against infernal powers, should cry to Him; and that Tom should come to my office every afternoon and report the state of things at Baldoon, so that, after further observation, we could together decide upon the cause and the cure of their trouble. These suggestions were accepted gladly, by all parties concerned, as a working policy for our first operations. I am sorry to say that Mrs. M'Garriger did not confine herself to my recommenda- tion. Perhaps she did not conceive my MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 129 meaning. Certainly the measures she took the next morning and the night following it were anything but those I intended. She made a cross of witch hazel and nailed it over her front door, and in the center of the sill of her back door she fastened a horse- shoe. That, and much more that was very lamentable, Tom told me in his second report. "When my aunt placed a cross on guard at one door, and a horseshoe at the other, I only smiled at what seemed a bit of harmless superstition. But I felt a good deal of shame and anger at what she did last night, for which the morning's work was only a preparation. "My room opens into the sitting room, into which open both the outside doors- front and back. Last night being the regu- lar ghost's night, I was on the watch for what might occur. "About eleven o'clock, when it was sup- posed that all in the house were asleep, my aunt came into the sitting room in her bare 13© BALDOON. feet, but otherwise dressed in her usual garments, put on wrong side out. ** Taking her stand midway between the outside doors, and clasping her hands above her head, she faced, in turn, toward each angle of the house, saying at the first, 'In the name of the Father,' at the second, *In the name of the Son,' at the third, *In the name of the Holy Ghost, ' and at the fourth her voice rang out as in a battle cry : 'Witch or warlock, ghost or Deevil, I defy your powers o' evil: Muckle Hornie cudna force you 'Neath the cross, nor o'er the horseshoe!' "Then she went back to her room, ard, I^ suppose, to bed. "An hour later, as if in scorn of her defi- ance, the flail threshed its seven strokes each upon first floor, second floor, and roof, in succession. A little after an extra num- ber was added to the night's program in the shape of a storm of leaden bullets that crashed through th( windows and fell rat- MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 131 tling on the floor. We gathered fifteen of them this morning. "As soon as the flail began to thresh I ran out of my room, pistol in hand; but there was nothing to be seen. When the shower of bullets came I rushed out into the yard, quite prepared to see some one skulking away, for it was good moonlight; but there was no sign of any one, neither had there been any report of firearms to account for the bullets. They must have been hand- thrown." Dan Littleton was present at this, and at every subsequent meeting held in my office for the solution of the Baldoon mystery. He ^was a keen fellow, was interested in the M'Garriger family, and had now become a person of importance in our village as col- lector of customs. I thought it well to add him to our number. When Tom finished his report Dan demanded of him : "Well, Tom, what do you make of all this?" *'I do not make anything of it— yet. I've T 132 BALDOON. no idea that either 'Witch or warlock, ghost or Devil' is doing these very devilish things. We can only watch and wait. But, Dan, when I get to the fellows that are working this, they'll need the benefit of clergy, mighty quick!" Dan was of the same opinion, and hoped he might have a hand in preparing some of the said persons for the clergy. And he electrified us by saying that already certain nebulous suspicions in his mind were gravi- tating into something very like a theory, which, if it proved correct, would put us in the way of casting the Devil out of the M'Garriger home, and 6f sticking one of his wing-feathers into the cap of the new Col- lector of Customs. We all agreed, however, that further observation was necessary ; and arranged to meet every afternoon to study the problem in its latest developments. Mrs. M'Garriger's next measure to obtain relief was equally unsuccessful with the first. The strange doings at Baldoon had now MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 133 been blazed abroad everywhere. Many were the callers from near and from tar; some being prompted by mere curiosity, others by neighborly sympathy, and yet others by a desire to try their 'prentice hands at laying ghosts or casting out the' Devil. For it was the general belief that such mysterious and terrifying manifesta- tions could be caused by no other agencies than either the ghostly or the Satanic. And there were not a few people in our commu- nity who were ambitious to test their powers as exorcists. Among others came Mrs. Gawley, an old- time Scottish crony of Mary M'Garriger's. Having heard everything that had hap- pened up to date, Mrs. Gawley upbraided her friend for not calling in some "man o' God" to pray in the house. "Ye ken weel, Mistress M'Garriger, hoo it wes in the days o' the Apostles— hoo men o' God hed pooer tae gar the evil sperits be subjec' tae them. "Noo, there's yir neebor, Jock Richard- 134 BALDOON. r son, A'm hearin' that he wes an elder o* the kirk in Glaisgie. Hoo es it ye dinna ask him tae come an' pray yir hoose frae tinder the rule o' Satan?" "Es sure es deith, Mistress Gawley, gin Jock Richardson wes tae face the sperits thet's in thes hoose, ye wadna gie a bawbee for a' they'd leave o' him. A' doot he's no the kin' o' man o' God they'd respec'. They'd deal wi' him es the seven sons o' Sceva wes dealt wi' that tuik in han' tae conjure wi' a name that they didna ken verra weel theirsel's, but said tae the evil sperit, 'In the name o' Jesus, whom Paul preacheth, we adjure thee!' Yiv read. Mistress Gawley, hoo he leapit upon them, an' drove them oot, wounded an' bleedin'. '*A'm thenkin', Mistress Gawley, that our Baldoon sf ■srits wud scorn such a thraun kin' o' a Chrestian es Jock Richardson; they'd speer in dereesion, *Wha are ye?' an' syne, they'd mak' wey wi' him a'thegither. " "Losh keep's a', Mistress M'Garriger! what gars ye speak sae o' a man that's MYSTEPV AT BALDOON HOUSE. 135 been, es A'm tell't, ane o' thepellars o' the kirk?" "A pellar o' the kirk, said ye, Mistress Gawley? Gin it be sae, he's a fa'en pellar, the noo; an' no muckle better than 2, cater- pellar! Dinna ye ken, yirsel', that he wes at the Coutts' dance but thes nicht three weeks, an' that no man there wes sae licht o' heels es yir pellar 0' the kirk ? " •*Weel-a-weel, wumman! Didna King David, the man aefter God's own hairt, dance?" "Yes, Mistress Gawley; King David, the man aefter God's own hairt, danced; Lt it wesna before Betty Mac Donald! " For like reasons Mrs. McGarriger de- clined to consider other suggested interces- sors beside Jock Richardson. She was something fastidious, no doubt; but the case was unique and -exacting. She had come to feel a kind of pride in the prowess of "oor Baldoon sperits." In her way of thinking it would take a veritable David to cope with these Goliaths. ■ 13^ BALDOON. Her choice settled upon a man of un- doubted piety — the Reverend Solomon Wel- don — a Methodist circuit rider whose parish included the entire of two counties. Having heard the tale of mystery and fear Mr. Weldon expressed unquestioning belief in the superhuman origin of the trouble, and confidence in the power of prayer to bring divine relief. He further comforted Mrs. McGarriger by telling of similar disturbances that had taken place, nearly a hundred years before, in the Epworth Parsonage, England, when it was the boyhood home of John Wesley, the ven- erable founder of Methodism. The service for exorcism was everything that such a service could be made. Mr. Weldon was supported by Uncle Nat Parm- lee and other doughty Christian heroes. Passages of Holy Writ bearing upon the situation were read and expounded — be- ginning with the incantations of the Witch of Endor, and ending with the sorceries of the Scarlet Lady of the Apocalypse. MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 137 Hymns were sung—in the spirit and with the understanding, also— that inspired faith in a name "High over all * In hell, or earth, or sky;" and possessed such power that "Angels and men before it fall, And Devils fear, and fly!" Then prayer was offered by men to whom prayer was the breath of spiritual life. But the only good effect of that memor- able service was a lasting religious impres- sion made on the members of the M'Garriger family. The ghosts seemed to be provoked by it to an excess of naughtiness. Tom's report of the night which followed the attempted exorcism was more alarming than any he had yet made. "You remember the bullets that were thrown through the windows? Well, Aunt Mary marked each one of the fifteen with a cross, and walked out to the river and threw them into ten feet of water. T r 138 BALDOON. Ill m:' "You'll find it hard to believe — my own brain is all through other with it — but last night, while the supper was cooking, there came crashing through the new glass that Uncle George had put into the sashes t/tose sauie fifteen bullets^ each bearing the sign of the cross! I ran out, hoping to lay hands on the thrower, but no one was in sight. ' ' Half an hour later there came from the kitchen, where my aunt was preparing sup- per, a startled cry mingled with a strange hissing sound, followed instantly by a roll- ing cloud of steam and ashes. We rushed to the spot to find my aunt on the floor in a dead faint. The kitchen was literally filled with steam and floating ashes. The fire on the hearth was nearly quenched, and the potatoes that had been cooking in a large pot were lying some among the brands and embers, and others far out on the floor. When my aunt recovered from her swoon she told of what had occurred in a faint and discouraged voice : 'A' wes juist bidin' anither meenute (i ( • MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 139 while the taties in the muckle pot wud be cookit, an- A' wes luikin' fair at the pot hangin' aboon the low on the hairth, when— Lord keep's a'!-it wes tippit bottom up, an' wes held sae, lang eneuch for a' the water an' a' the taties tae rin oot intae the fire, an' then it turnt back es it wes! Yill believe it noo, Tom, that we're bein' pair- secutit in thes hoose frae the bottomless pit; for the ban's that tippit the muckle pot wes no veessible tae mortal een ; an' they'll be tae be weel acquent wi' fire, tae reach intil't like yon, an' tak' plenty time tae wark their meeschief. ' "After a miserable supper— Bell being up m her room, and the other girls in the kit- Chen-there came, all at once, a triple alarm of fire. We who were in the sitting room saw tongues of flame issuing from between the north window casing and the wall. Bell screamed down the stair, 'Tom! Tom' my room is on fire!' And the other girls came running in from the kitchen, crying, 'Come quick, somebody! the kitchen floor is burn- X40 BALDOON. ing!' The fires were all seen in time to put them out easily ; but the sense of danger from invisible and undiscoverable causes became a torment without remedy. "At the usual time we retired; not, how- ever, to rest and sleep. From twelve o'clock we had, condensed into one, the several midnight programs which, hitherto, had been given separately. The light flashed. The flail sounded. The ruction with furni- ture, dishes, pots and pans was repeated with greater fury than ever. After that there was peace; and a little before day- light our overwrought nerves quieted down to the slumber point. "Now, gentlemen, hear me. The time has come when something must be done. I confess inyself beaten — not convinced. Some human blackguards are doing these things. Who they are, and why and how they do them, are questions quite beyond me. Meanwhile, my uncle's people are suffering past endurance. Bell, in particu- lar, is losing her nerve altogether. I MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 141 wouldn't answer for her life if she's to suffer another week under the excitements and alarms that prevail at Baldoon. "Dan, you said the other day that certain suspicions of yours were gravitating into a theory. In God's name, give it to us as it IS! If we can strike the right parties and wm relief, well and good. If not, my uncle's family must leave that accursed house at once." There was a promising glitter in Dan Littleton's eyes during Tom's last utter- ances, and he took up the subject, promptly, where Tom had dropped it; **The house is no more accursed than you are, Tom. I agree, however, that we should act at once, and with vigor. I could not have said as much yesterday; but since last night, I have been ready to strike. Let me give you, in brief, my theory and my plan of action. "I believe that smuggling has been carried on in this quarter since before Mactavishand his clansmen built their first houses. I think 14a BALDOON. the smugglers found the Baldoon House an inconvenience and a danger to their trade, because it was inhabited bv an honest family. I think they came to j that it would become not only safe for them, but also a convenience, if it were permanently deserted and shunned. "You will see the point of this when you call to mind the nearness of Baldoon House to a little lagoon that connects at one end with the North Branch, and at the other with Channel E'Carte and the St. Clair River. It may not be known to you that ' anoe can be paddled through that lagoc. lOm the North Branch to the St. Clair, and so on to Algonac, or any other convenient Michigan port. "I'm not quite sure that nature fully pre- pared that secluded byway for smugglers. From recent observation I am inclined to think that certain reaches of it have been improved by the midnight labor of man. "Well, Baldoon House, inhabited, was a danger, uninhabited, a convenience to the MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 143 smugglers; and it is my belief, gentlemen that .t has never been troubled by any other ghosts than smugglers. They frightened the Mactavisbes away, and gave the house a reputation so evil that, for yea.s, no one cared to live in it. Now they have under- taken to rout the M'Garrigers in the same way." Here I thought it well to break in on the speech of this decidedly clever young man I reminded him that Tom Brimmicom had been on watch for several nights, that he had seen and heard many marvelous and unaccountai ^e things, and had confessed himself bea. n. Then, in some heat I asked him how he accounted for the mys- terious light that flashed, the invisible flail that threshed, the marked bullets that were fished out of the muddy bottom of the river and thrown a second time through the win' dows, and all the rest of it, if the agency were merely human. But Dan was in an impetuous and master- ful mood, and answered me accordingly: 144 6ALD00N. •i "I don't undertake to account for these things, now. Ask me later, when there is more time to study their tricks. "Rut I am going to put a stop to them — right now! And here, gentlemen, are the documents that will doit." Thereupon Dan laid upon the table sworn informations against four men of shady reputation — Peewee, the Potawatomie Indian, of Walpole Island, Black Dick Douglas, Tone Le Roux, and an American, supposed to be confederate with these, named Julius Heyward, whose home was on the Michigan side of the St. Clair River, near Algonac. *'0n these papers," said Dan, "I can have the men arrested, and can hold them long enough to show whether or not they are the ghosts that haunt Baldoon. "To-morrow night is the regular ghost's night; but they will fail to connect. I shall send to the island to-night and take Peew'ie. Before to-morrow night I shall have the two Canadians in hand — for I will MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 145 sweat Peewee until he will be glad to tell me where they may be found. The Yankee may not be on our side cf the river But with three of the four in confinement, I'll go bail that no ghosts will disturb Baldoon to- morrow night. It may be impossible to prove any punishable offense against these men, but we'll find out the mystery of Baldoon, or I'm a Potawatomie!" "Yes, Dan," said Tom, looking grim, and speaking in a terrible voice, "and if it prove as you think, and I hope, we'll find out who to make ghosts of if there's any more devil- try at Baldoon." Pursuant to Dan's plan of campaign Pee- ' wee was arrested that night and brought over to The Forks. He proved, however, as subtle as . . an Indian. He pretended utter ignorance of the whereabouts of the other three suspects and denied having taken part in smuggling operations. Meanwhile, Peewee's squaw spent the night in finding Black Dick and Tone Le Roux, to whom she gave such a 146 BALDOON. warning as caused them to disappear before daylight; and the place which had known them so long and so sorrowfully has known them no more unto this day. Whether it was a mere coincidence or something else, it is a fact that with the dis- appearance of Black Dick and Tone Le Roux the mystery of Baldoon came to an utter end. Dan and Tom were jubilant, of course; and so was I, for that matter. But they exulted over me, more than was seemly, because the outcome appeared to justify their altogether materialistic theory of the case. Out of the wing of the Devil he cast out — to use his own words — Dan Littleton won two feathers for his cap. One was the warm commendation of the Minister of Cus- toms for having broken up a nest of smug- glers. The other was the hearty approval of George M'Garriger as a suitor for the hand of his daughter Bell. What do I think of it all, now? Well, I 9 MYSTERY AT BALDOON HOUSE. 147 hardly know. Baldoon House has long since vanished from the earth. I don't mean that it disappeared in a sudden and mysterious way, but only that it went out by littles, as do all things* left to the unre- sisted ravages of decay. In candor I must acknowledge that after Dan Littleton's exor- cism there was never any word of ghosts in that house. And yet, as I call to mind— after nearly forty year-.— the testimony of honest Mary M'Garriger, and the fearless and most thorough investigation made by Tom Brim- micom, and his confession that, being on the spot at the time of the occurrences, he could not connect them with human agency, I am confounded. I simply tell the story, and leave others to solve a problem too hard for me— whether Dan Littleton or the Reverend Solomon Weldon exorcised the evil spirits that once haunted Baldoon House. 148 BALDOON. CHAPTER VII. THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST PROF. GRISDALE. A great sigh of relief swept through The Forks, and far up both branches of the river, when it became known that the ghosts had ceased to trouble the M'Garriger family. The tension had been great — to the degree of positive pain and panic. People had been able to think and speak of little else for a whole fortnight. Pilgrimages from twenty, thirty, and even forty miles away had been made to the scene of the mystery ; much to the annoyance of the Baldoon household, already tried to the utmost of their powers of endurance by that which was transpiring within their gates. But now all that had come to a happy end, and people were again free to think of themselves a little — also, of one another. The first use Tom Brimmicom made of l!^ THE CONSPIRACY. 149 his permanent relief from the ghost^watch was to visit Mrs. Cramer, and propose, in due form, for the hand of Debby. He was approved by that lady, and accepted as her future son-in-law, with a heartiness that quite took his breath away, notwithstanding his great love for Debby. The question was raised in Tom's mind: "Why should a mother of Mrs. Cramer's wealth and distinction be so ready, not to say eager, to marry her daughter to one who is comparatively a stranger, and has only his allowance of ;^ 100 a year?" Moreover, being keenly sensitive to all the proprieties of life, Tom had noted and resented something in her manner not quite normal in a well-bred lady-mother when listening favorably to such a proposal as his,— a look of positive triumph, and a scarcely delicate suggestion that she would not object to any date for the marriage that the lovers might choose, however early. The explanation of the peculiarities in Mrs. Cramer's manner of receiving hit suit, ISO BALDOON. which had so greatly puzzled Tom, came very soon ; and had the effect of restoring her to the place she formerly held in his esteem. It also kindled in his chivalrous nature a great pity for her condition, and was the means, unintentionally on the part of every one concerned, of bringing his life into jeopardy, Debby t^ramer had a way of bidding her lover good night at the hall door which was very sweet to him, so much so that he came to look forward to it as the choicest of the wine reserved for the last of the feast. On such an occasion, not long after Tom was accepted and made free of the house, Debby, in parting at the door, said, "Tom, are you engaged for to-morrow afternoon?" Very deliberately, and with a delicious laugh, Tom answered, "Yes, Debby; I am. I'm engaged for to-morrow afternoon, and to-morrow forenoon, and all the to-mor- rows of the everlasting future, to the sweet- est," — but something cut short his honied speech with a vastly superior sweetness, THE CONSPIRACY. 151 something not too loud for discretion, and covered from all alien eyes by the friendly dark. '*Well, then, I want you to take me out in your canoe for a long afternoon on the water. I have a new and great trouble that I want to confide to you, now that you're one of the family." The communication made by Debby that day was long and serious, and led to grave results. In the kind of dialogue they used it took all the afternoon; it amounted, in fact, to a biography of Mrs. Cramer up to that time. It would make good enough reading, and would exhibit Debby in one of the finest phases of her altogether fine nature, her love for he^ beautiful mother— a love that was literally blind to certain inno- cent but perilous weaknesses of character in its object. But dearly as I would like to give it in full I must forbear. Condensed to almost absolute solidity it was, in substance, as follows: When Mrs. Cramer was Deborah Dean 152 BALDOON. ,.3 M •:all and twenty years old, living in the home of her parents on the coast of Maine, she was coerced into a loveless marriage with Andrew Cramer, a prosperous lumberman of twice her age. Very reluctantly she bowed to their will; for there had been a secret attachment between her and Horace Bristol, a young sailor, then absent on a long voyage ; but she yielded at last. When the sailor came home there had been one short interview, full of agony to both, and then they had parted, presumably, forever. Cramer failed in business, in the East, and a new beginning of life was made in the wilderness of western Canada, wherein he was loyally supported by his wife. Soon after he had amassed a second for- tune in the lumbering business, Andrew Cramer died, leaving his widow and Debby, then ten years old, well provided for. Mrs. Cramer had decided to live out the rest of her days at The Forks, partly be- cause a portion of the estate consisted of -I't! ^.11 il ■:!!!. :f|(i ■il 1 •lilli lome of »he was J with )erman ly she been a Horace ". on a e had '>ny to aably, East, in the in he 1 for- drew ;bby, ; the be- i of THE CONSPIRACY. 153 valuable realty not readily to be converted into its equivalent in money, and partly because she had made some warm friends in the place. So much of the history of the Cramer family is necessary to an understanding of what came of the revelations made to Tom that afternoon. Debby's trouble concerning her mother, however, was of a date as recent as the com' ing of Prof. Grisdale. Mrs. Cramer had been quite interested in the lectures on phrenology, and specially so in the doctrine that every one should have a chart of his own head and live by it. When Dan Littleton so pitilessly satirized the Pro- fessor's pretensions in that line she was indignant and immediately took Debby with her to the phrenologist's rooms and ordered two of his best, at $2 each. What began on that occasion, and con- tinued for some weeks after it, let Debby tell, in her own way. "After that horrid old Professor had 154 BALDOON. finished my chart he began with mother. I noticed that he was long about it, and seemed to make more motions around her head and before her face than seemed neces- sary. At one time he set the ball of his fat old thumb just between her eyes, and took one of her hands in his other hand and held her so for a long time, while he talked of the bumps along the lower part of the forehead, and explained what he called the ulnar nerve. "When he sat down to write the chart mother looked drowsy, and sat like one dazed until he took her hand again at our coming away ; then she brightened up. "It hurts me, Tom, to tell you the rest, but you can't help me unless you know everything about it. From that afternoon the Professor has had a strange influence over mother. She has always been thought exclusive, even over-particular, as to her associates; but she has allowed that dis- gusting man to call, and has made him wel- come. And they meet away from the house THE CONSPIRACY. 155 and take long walks together. She is so wrapped up in him that she won't hear the least word against him. Tom, I'm afraid sometimes . . . that he is determined to marry her for the sake of her money, and that she won't be able ... to refuse him. Oh, It would just break my heart!" And then Debby wept as if her heart were already broken with the bare thought of such a thing. At last she regained control of her feelings, and went on: "There, Tom; the worst is out. What do you think of it? Can't something be dcme to save my beautiful mother from that horrid man?" Tom did not tell Debby, at that time, all he thought. But he comforted her greatly by his answer to the last question : "Yes, my dear, something and everything neces- sary can be, and shall be, done to prevent your mother and her fortune from falling mto the hands of that unprincipled adven- turer, Grisdale." Tom's keen eye saw to the muddy bottom 156 BALDOON. of the affair. Mrs. Cramer was weak at certain points. She was very impression- able. Grisdale was more and worse tlian a wandering lecturer for a silver collection at the door. He was a hypnotist, without a grain of honor in his make-up. He had obtained control of Mrs. Cramer's mind through her highly susceptible nerves. And, doubtless, the two had already come to an agreement about marriage. That would explain Mrs. Cramer's unseemly readiness to give Debby to himself at an early date — it was in order that she, being settled in a home of her own, would no more have any right to object to her mother's union with the Professor. As the result of this swift working of his thoughts through the problem Tom swore very solemnly, to himself and his Maker, that he would never fix a day for his own complete happiness with Debbv un^H he saw Mrs. Cramer released frr c ^'er of Grisdale. The next day Tom ca :d a n eting of the The conspiracy. 157 Council of Three— so we had named our- selves during the reign of the ghosts-Dan Littleton, himself, and myself. Having pledged us to strict secrecy, he made known Debby's revelation and his own under- standing of the case. ••And now," Tom continued, ''we have on our hands a matter as urgent as was the disenchanting of Baldoon, and, if I don't mistake, vastly more difficult. But, by hook or crook, or by both, or by anything else that will answer the end, I am bound to pre- vent a marriage between that sleek humbug and Mrs. Cramer!" I sought to temper a little Tom's Irish blood, which was getting dangerously hot. I agreed that Grisdale was a worthless adventurer, and was evidently using hyp- notic influence on Mrs. Cramer to secure by marriage with her a comfortable nest for himself in his old age. Then I pointed out how impossible it would be to prove and, legally, interdict the practice of hypnotism.' While the professor paid his bills and «5« BALDOON. 1 abstained from the crimes forbidden in law he could not be touched. If Mrs. Cramer chose to associate with him, and even to marry him, there was no v.^ay of preventing it. ' But my well-meant cautions produced an effect the opposite of that I desired. I could see gathering in Tom's face, also in Dan's, the portents of a storm that might end disastrously. Tom broke out with great vehemence, "Sir, it is little less than blasphemy to say that a thing that ought to be done can't be done! This villainy ought to be stopped! As sure as God is God it will be, I don't care who says can't!" Though Dan had said little, as yet, his face showed that he was thinking hard ; and his dark hazel eyes blazed with suppressed excitem.ent. Answering Tom's passionate words, he said: *'Yes, Tom,- it ought to be stopped, and it shall '-^e; but how? We have no easy job on our hands. I suggest that we take twenty- tttE CONSPIRACV. 159 four hours to think through this thing sepa- rately, and that we meet again to-morrow afternoon to compare results. Out of the three plans we shall have developed we ought to be able to select enough of avail- able wisdom to circumvent the old fox. And Tom, find out from Debby Cramer whether that old-time lover of her mother's, Horace Bristol, is alive; and, if so, where he is, and whether he is yet a bachelor. I'll tell you why to-morrow." The next afternoon Tom brought us some Information about Horace Bristol. He was alive three years ago. After his bitter dis- appointment he had made one more voyage and then had gone to California. He had returned from the gold fields to Kenne- bunkport, Maine, a very rich man, and a bachelor. That was all Debby knew of him. When we came to the matter of plans for preventing the marriage, it was found that two of us had made no advance whatever. As for me, I could only say as before: 11 x6o BALDOON. **It ought to be done; but I can see no way that does not involve a crime. While she remains under the influence of Grisdale it would be useless to reason with Mrs. Cramer. The Professor would not be likely to run from his golden prospects here for a mere threat. The one possible way of de- liverance is impossible to us — the sudden transportation of Grisdale to the other side of the great gulf that lies between the living and the dead. Then Mrs. Cramer would be safe ; but it is for a higher power than ours to pass and execute that sentence upon him." Tom was more determined, but equally barren of any available expedient. **It has got to be done," he raged. "If I only had the beggar in Ireland I'd pull his nose as long as my arm. Then he'd either have to run the country or call me out and give me a decent chance to shoot him. I suppose that wouldn't do in this place, Dan?" 'No, Tom; and for excellent reasons: t(- !M THE CONSPIRACY. i6i You'd get your own nose out of joint with Mrs. Cramer; the Professor might shoot you; anyway, it's against the law and the public sentiment of this country. •'But I think I can submit a plan that will do quite as well. "Grisdale must be separated from Mrs. Cramer for a considerable time, so that his power over her will be weakened by dis- tance, and by failure to renew it. "When she is herself again, if it can be managed, her first lover— this Horace Bristol of Maine— must come forward once more and try to wake her heart to its early love for him. If I'm not in error he'll find that no difficult thing to do; at all events, the hope of a permanent deliverance lies in that direction. **Now, as to methods. It shall be your part, Tom, if you will consent, to go East and find this man Bristol. Should he satisfy your mind as a man and future father-in- law, and prove to have any lingering fond- ness for the lady in question, you must l63 BALDOON. bring him here as fast as cars and coaches can carry you. "In the case of Grisdale I must do a thing that will expose me to criminal prosecu- tion. That shall be my part in the conspir- acy. I think, however, that when we have Mrs. Cramer safe under the wing of Horace Bristol I can persuade the Professor that it won't pay him to prosecute, and that it will pay him to fold his tent and steal away from these parts, for good. •*No; I won't tell either of you what I mean to do with Grisdale. It might bring you into unnecessary trouble. But on the same night that Tom leaves for the East the Professor will mysteriously disappear from The Forks, and will be kept away from Mrs. Cramer until we know whether or not there is any help in Horace Bristol. *'And now, gentlemen both, if we adopt this plan there must be absolute secrecy. No one but ourselves and Debby Cramer must know or even suspect what will ^ave becon of Tom and the Professor." THE CONSPIRACY. 163 After laboring long and hard to dissuade Dan from undertaking anything contrary to law, we yielded to him. The conspiracy against Prof. Grisdale, out of which un- dreamed of complications and perils were to be evolved, was matured and for- mally entered into by the several parties thereto. The third night after our plans were set- tled Tom Brimmicom, supposed by the M'Garrigers to have gone to bed at ten o'clock, stole out of his bedroom window, and began his long and secret journey to the State of Maine. It had been arranged that Dan and Debby and I would rally to the support and comfort of Mrs. Cramer in the affliction we antici- pated she would suffer through the unac- countable disappearance of Tom and the Professor. But since the working out of the conspiracy got tangled up with other and more serious matters, it is as well to say just here that before the sun went down on the first day of their absence we all had as much 164 BALDOON. need of counsel and support as had Mrs. Cramer. And, since Dan was glad to confide to m( the next day after his exploit, the secret ot how and where he had disposed of the Pro- fessor, I judge this is the proper place for the account of it. When he undertook to spirit Grisdale away Dan turned for help to a band of pagan Potawatomies, settled on an Indian reserve on Walpole Island, which is in the St. Clair River, about six miles from The Forks. He had a genius for managing Indians; and this particular band were under obligation to him for repeated kind- nesses in the way of looking after their business with the Indian Agent at the annual distribution by the government of blankets and money. Dan sent for Sogosca, the chief of the Potawatomies, and made him understand that he wanted a favor that would involve some risk ; and that he would not let the Indians get into any trouble with the law for doing it. THE CONSPIRACY. 165 There was, he said, a bad white man at The Forks-a fox— that was so cunning that his mischief could not be stopped by the white man's law. He wanted him taken away in the night, and kept a good while— maybe one moon, maybe two — where no one but the chief and his band could find him. He was not to be hurt, but only to be kept there to stop him from doing harm to one of Dan's friends; and the Indians would be well paid for the service, and for the food the bad white man would eat. Dan, him- self, would let the chief know when to let him go, and would protect the Indians against the white man's law. Sogosca was willing, even eager, to do the required service for Dan, the Potawato- mies' good friend. In some subtle way it was so managed that the Professor spent the evening on which Tom effected his secret departure at a house on the western out- skirts of the village, and wrote a dollar chart. He left the house to return to his lodgings about ten o'clock; and that was the z66 BALDOON. - ! i i!i i last that was ever seen of Prof. Grisdale at The Forks! The rush of events that followed immedi- ately after left the public no time to miss either Tom or the Professor, nor to speculate on the causes of their absence, before a new and ghastly occurrence — with which they had nothing to do — suggested a theory of their disappearance as wide of the truth as it well could be. But that belongs to another part of the story. It is enough for the present purpose to say that on the way to his lodgings the Pro- fessor was seized by five stalwart Potawato- mies and bound and gagged and hustled into a large canoe so quickly and quietly that before he realized what was going on he was being paddled swiftly toward the place of his destined captivity. At the south end of Walpole Island, in a sort of cabin — half house and half wigwam — far removed from any other human habi- tation, and closely guarded day and night, the astute Grisdale had time to meditate on THE CONSPIRACY. 167 many subjects while Tom was making his journey to the East in search of a man, and returning again. On the night of their departure some other things were done which declared them- selves the morning after with an emphasis that threw every one into a state of panic,— the conspirators, most of all. These things must be told, however, as an interlude that came between the inception and the culmi- nation of our benevolent conspiracy in the interest of Mrs. Cramer. . :m • m t 1;; i68 BALDOON. CHAPTER VIII. TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. "Torn Brimmicom has been ten hours on his journey to Maine; Prof. Grisdale has been for the same length of time in the hands of Dan Littleton's bravos, whoever they are, and is now sequestered in some place unknown to any one but his captors ; and all but three of the dwellers at The Forks are totally ignorant of the fact that these two important citizens have mysteri- ously disappeared. ' * So my thoughts ran on, pleasantly enough, as I sat in the office at eight o'clock in the morning of the day that was to be the beginning of Mrs. Cramer's emancipation from the hypnotic spell cast upon her by Grisdale. And they continued, thus : "Perhaps at this very moment the land- lady is rapping on the Professor's door to TRAGEl^/ AT BALDOON. 169 warn him out to breakfast. ... At M'Gar- Tiger's it is possible- that old George is just now calling to Tom, whom he supposes to be sleeping late; 'Bless— my— soul, boy, it's eight o'clock, an' the breakfus' is nigh ready! Hadn't ye better be turnin' out?' "What a surprise is waiting in each case! No Professor! No Tom! What will they think? What will they do?" At that point the current of my thoughts was suddenly and rudely changed. Dan Littleton, wild with excitement, burst into the office and, without greeting of any kind, cried to me : "Have you heard that George M'Gar- riger has been murdered?" "George M'Garriger? Murdered?" "Yes! The poor old man is dead! mur- dered! robbed! They say he was found in his strong room. There was something, too, about his having kept a safe there with all his money in it,— his Irish fortune, you know, with other money he had put with it. The word is that he was found this morning xyo BALDOON. 1' ill •''= tk in that strong room, dead, murdered, and the safe, with all that was in it, gone ! But come, we must go out to Baldoon. Poor creatures! They must be all broken to pieces!" I had never seen Dan so completely thrown off his balance. Neither had I ever been so stricken by anything, myself. And to make matters worse I began to see some- thing in the possible outcome of the case that threatened to be even more horrible than the tragedy itself. So I called a halt. "Dan, Dan, we must pull ourselves together, and do some quick thinking! We can't go to Baldoon until we have looked a little further than the murder and robbery of last night!" • • Why ? What do you mean ? " . '*I mean that unless the real murderers can be at least indicated, and that at once, the disappearance of Tom Brimmicom and Prof. Grisdale, on the night of the crime, will fix suspicion upon them. And if the real murderers cannot be found at all it may TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. 271 become a question how to save Tom and the Professor from the gallows, should they get into the hands of the authorities. God help us all!" "My soul and body!" cried Dan in deeper distress than ever. ^I hadn't thought of that! But say, I can clear the Professor by the Potawatomies that have had him in their keeping since a little after ten last night!" It was then that Dan told me where he had disposed of Grisdale. "Yes, Dan," I answered, ''you might do that ; but the Professor would then be able to prosecute you for having him kidnaped. He is in no danger of being arrested for the murder while the Indians have him in cus- tody. Better leave him where he is. "But what of poor Tom, Dan? I fear there is no one in all the world who could prove an alibi in his case. The M'Gar- rigers will know of his retiring at the usual hour, long enough before the murder was done, and from that time no one will be able to give an account of his movements. If he T 172 BALbOON. »iii were to return to-day he coiild only assei t his innocence. His inability to prove where he was and what he did during last night would hang him, unless we find the real criminals ! * ' Verily, we were in deep trouble. We sat and looked in each other's eyes as would men mired in cuicksand and for whom there seemed to be no help. Dan> being desperate, was for making a clean breast of the whole affair at once ; and would have done so but for me. As I saw the matter, and impressed it upon Dan, that course would help no one but Grisdp.le, who was safe enough for the time. It could not benefit Tom in the least; for there would be no one who could testify to his movements during the night. The first evidence possible to be procured would show him many miles from The Forks, headed eastwar.l, and, to the minds of a jury, presumably fleeing from the scene of his crime. While we were yet groping in thick dark- TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. »73 ness which grew more dense every moment, I looked out of the window and saw Debby Cramer passing on the side^valk. Pointing toward her I said to Dan, ''We must see her before we go to Baldoon. Please ask her to come in." She entered at Dan's request; and when I had seated her I said, with intentional cir- cumlocution : "Miss Cramer, I hope you can brace your- self up . . . and do it all in a moment . . . for even a little time is precious just now ... so that you can bear to hear some very startling news. ' ' "What? Have you heard bad news? Has anything happened to Tom?" "No; we have had no news of Tom; but something very terrible was done last night, out at Baldoon — something that may bring him into trouble. It is necessary that you shall hear it; and that, for Tom's sake, you and Dan ar I Y shall agree upon some course of action to be taken instantly by us, and to be followed afterward without faltering." i74 BALDOOK. ■■J ■I I' I Debby begged me to keep her no longer in suspense, and promised to be brave. So I told her the shocking news from Baldoon. When the horror caused by the recital had a little abated she turned to me and de- manded, sharply, "What has that to do with Tom?" Then I pointed out, as cautiously and delicately as I could, that his disappearance on the night of the murder, his apparent flight from the scene of it, and, possibly, other circumstantial evidence would tend to draw upon him the suspicion of having committed the revolting crime. It was good to see the firm set of Debby's features, and the flame of indignation that kindled in her eyes — usually so meek and suggestive of heaven — and to hear the ring- ing confidence of her protesting voice : ' * No person who has ever looked into Tom Brimmicom's face will find it possible to believe that he has done, or could do, any- thing bad ; much less that he could murder and rob his poor old uncle!" TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. 175 But when I went on, as I had to do, and explained all the elements of danger in the case, and that the intentional secrecy in Tom's movements had made it impossible to prove where he was during the night, and what he was doing, Debby's courage quite collapsed. Shall I ever forget the brave effort that only partially subdued the expres- sion of her grief and wild despair; and the self-upbraidings wherein she bitterly accused herself of having destroyed Tom; and her mourning that his going had not been delayed for a single day? Dan and I tried to comfort the sorrow- stricken girl with such words as our own miserable hopelessness would allow. Noth- ing that we could say availed, however, until Dan began to point out the necessity for immediate action. "We must go," he said, ''to the M'Garrigers* almost at once; but before any of us three who knew the secret of Tom's absence put ourselves in the way of meeting them, or any of the neigh- bors, we must agree on a policy that we will I 76 BALDOON. hold to through the thick and the thin of anything that may develop in the future. ' ' Then Debby was all attention, in the fond hope that some way of disentangling Tom from the coil into which we had brought him was about to be suggested. She little dreamed how helpless we were. Should we openly and at once confess to the conspiracy and take the consequences of having kidnaped Grisdale, in the hope of thereby clearing him and Tom of the murder? Debby agreed with us that that course ought not to be adopted, seeing it promised nothing for Tom, and that the Professor was in no present danger. Should we keep our secret, then, and write Tom at Kennebunkport, Maine, warning him not to return to The Forks unless he had proof by which he could estab- lish an alibi? I confess with shame that both Dan and I favored this latter plan — it seemed the only one that promised safety to our friend. '■\J: TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. 177 But Debby Cramer instantly objected, and with much scorn. "You surprise me! You should not have proposed such a thing! Granted that a letter addressed to Tom would not start an officer to Kennebunkport the day of mail- ing, which I doubt, it would be a cowardly way out of immediate danger; and it would doom Tom to a lifelong suspicion, and to skulking in disguise to avoid arrest. I think I know him well enough to say that he would refuse to take that way. "No, gentlemen; Tom must come back as he intended when he started, and meet whatever may come of this dreadful affair. If he must be arraigned and tried for his life, and must even die for the crime he never, never committed .... that would be less bad than to live under suspicion and in hiding from the eyes of all who have known and honored him." Dan and I, like the Psalmist, were "dumb with silence" before a merited rebuke. For a space Debby, also, was silent, struggling 178 BALDOON. il ||! :•: iir :if'' with the emotion under which her last awful sentence had been uttered. Then she con- tinued : "How is it that you have so soon con- sented that only the worst for Tom is likely to come of this matter? May not the coroner's inquest discover the real criminal, or, at least, some clew that will lead to him? "I am only a woman, and have little knowledge of such things. But I will ven- ture to tell you the way that seems best to me. *'Let us keep the secrets of our conspiracy against Grisdale to ourselves; let the authorities take any course that may be suggested by such facts of the case as may be brought out at the inquest; let us three who have had to do with getting Tom into this danger form ourselves into a private detective agency to run down the real per- petrator of this crime in our own way; and let us pray God that we be in time to pre- vent the innocent from suffering for the guilty." I TRAGEDY AT BALDOON. I7«, well . . . she would punish him, a little^ as Timothy Brown, before granting him grace as Horace Bristol. It will be seen from all this how com- pletely our second plot had gone to pieces before we began to work it out. But we knew nothing of the psychological phenom- had he all him- to meet be pre- Brown? istions, conceal t of all 'n and same as a use, prove ie had false iteful him, le, as jrace com- ieces we lom- MATH AND AFTERMATH. 261 enon that had taken place; and walked ignorantly into the snare we had prepared for a very different purpose than our own entrapment. Tom Brimmicom's introduction of his friend was formal, even to courtliness, so anxious was he to carry on the deception successfully. "Mrs. Cramer," said he, "allow me to present Mr. Timothy Brown, who stood by me like a brother in my hour of need ; Mr. Brown, Mrs. Cramer. ' ' Such greetings as pass between well-bred persons when they are made known to each other followed. If there were inward per- turbations they did not show on the surface ; and that was, to me, the marvel of marvels. For, in truth, the occasion drew upon the several parties to that interview to the utter- most of their powers of dissimulation. Tom and Debby and Mr. Brown must sup- press all exhibition of their painful eager- ness as to the result of their attempt to palm off an old-time friend and lover as a stranger. In addition to that trial Mr, a6a BALDOON. Brown found it necessary to grapple with and subdue a mad impulse, that seized him the moment he came into Mrs. Cramer's presence, to declare himself at once as Hor- ace Bristol, and risk everything on the issues of the moment. And who can describe adequately the battle for self-control fought and won by Mrs. Cramer? Supposed to feel nothing beyond the ordinary experiences incident to the introduction of a new acquaintance, she was, in reality, finding it all but impossible to stifle the cry of her heart when a nearer view redoubled her assurance that the man before her was, indeed, Horace — Horace of the dear old days whose memories were redolent of school and forest and seashore! Horace who had been the first to establish mastery over her virgin heart! Horace of the plighted troth which she had broken, and he had kept! But . . . she must not, would not, give voice to her heart. Was not he there as Timothy Brown? And how did she know that he had come on the busi- MATH AND AFTERMATH. 263 ness of love? Very sternly she bade her heart be still, and waii. It is not to be supposed that these swift miental activities, and the emotions caused by them, took any appreciable time out of the conversation which naturally followed the introduction. Both Mrs. Cramer and her caller were experienced people of the world and succeeded in concealing what they did not wish to reveal, and in keeping up the pretense of strangerhood, with admirable skill, and without any awkward pause. "I'm dehghted to make your acquaint- ance, Mr. Brown," said Mrs. Cramer after she had seated her guests. "My daughter and Mr. Brimmicom have told me how good you were to them in the late difficulty. It was fortunate for Tom that he met you, whatever else happened on that strange journey which he don't care to talk about. Do you make a long stay at The Forks?" "That depends, Mrs. Cramer, on a matter or two that I have had in mind since I met 264 BALDOON. nl • 'I Mr. Brimmicom in the East. I learned from him that there are some fine timber limits in this region and, having some idle money to invest, came on to see them for myself. I don't mind saying to you who are here that if I find a proper opening, and Mr. Brimmicom will take a hand with me, I may locate at The Forks for some time." (Oh, Mr. Brown' How could you?) "If I do settle here I shall count it a great priv- ilege to have the friendship of yourself and daughter. The fact is I have had the bad taste to live a bachelor to this hour, and have no kinsfolk of my own. As a conse- quence I am equally at home and equally lonely in every place." Again, Mr. Brown, how could you? Not that he knew the effect his words were tak- ing. He only meant, as Mr. Brown, the stranger, to give a reasonable account of his coming to The Forks. And it was not alto- gether untruthful; for he and Tom had actually talked of a possible partnership in the lumbering business. MATH AND AFTERMATH. 265 But all the time Mrs. Cramer was listen- ing, not to Mr. Brown the stranger, but to Horace Bristol; and her heart was aching for the twenty-one years of loneliness to which she had doomed him. Moreover, Mr. Brown would have been interested in knowing the tender but earnest protest of her heart against the statement that in liv- ing a bachelor to that hour he had displayed bad taste. She was glad, exceedingly, that he had done so; and knowing now, by a woman's unerring instinct, that she was still beloved, she began to taste by anticipation the exquisite joy of consoling him for all those loveless years. In outward seeming the interview con- tinued and ended with no feature unusual to such functions; but I venture to say that seldom, since human hearts began to beat and thrill, has there been, on such an occa- sion, a like mingling of surface comedy that might speak at will and heart-deep pathos that was sternly denied expression in any form. After I learned that we had deceived a66 BALDOON. ^f'l wBp. ! ourselves instead of Mrs. Cramer I could not understand how they managed to get through that first half hour together with- out betraying the truth. Manage it they did, however, and Mr. Btown went away under the delusion, shared bj'- Debby and Tom and myself, that he had deceived J^Irs. Cramer. Thereafter the acquaintance grew apace. Mr. Brown was a frequent guest in the Cramer home. Mrs. Cramer and Debby, escorted by Tom and Mr. Brown, made many pleasant excursions to the beautiful St. Clair, explored the Indian Reserve on Walpole Island, and even went as far afield as Detroit. And Mr. Brown negotiated the purchase of one of Mrs. Cramer's timber limits. When the price was fixed it was arranged that he should pay but a half, and that the other haif interest shovld be con- veyed to Tom as a part of Debby 's portion at the time of their marriage ; this, in view of the business partnership about to be established between Tom and Mr. Brown. I could I to get Jr with- it they it away by and id J\Irs. apace, in the )ebby, made iiitifiil ve on afield ■d the mber was , and con- rtion view > be ti. MATH AND AFTERMATH. 267 The intercourse grew more and more agreeable. Mrs. Cramer m .de no effort to disguise the pleasure she took in the society of Mr. Brown. He would have been dull, indeed, not to infer that in due time, with ordinary good management, his way to the lady's heart would be sufficiently open to justify an advance. There was only one feature of the situation that was less than pleasant to the wooer: his success as Mr. Brown would imply that he had been utterly forgotten as Horace Bristol. But then . one can't have everything; and to win the one lady of his heart on any terms would be, in his estimation, as near an approach to perfect blessedness as ordinary mortals ever make. There came a day when Mr. Brown thought the time ripe for his advance. He was no longer a hot-blooded youngster, and would r ove in this matter with calm deliberation. After careful forethought it appeared quite clear to him that a warm- hearted declaration of love— much as he felt !' iv 268 BALDOON. disposed to make it — would be out of place in the circumstances. They were both a little advanced in years — not to say old, oh, no — but past the enthusiasm of youth in matters of the heart. Mrs. Cramer might be persuaded to listen favorably to his suit ; but was it at all likely that she could so far forget her early love for Horace Bristol and such affection as she had felt for Andrew Cramer as to kindle responsive to the ardent flame that burned in the heart of Mr. Brown? He thought not. Doubtless she would prefer to have him come forward in a cool, business-like way, befitting the time of life they had both reached. This worthy gentleman, Mr. Brown for the time being, made a few mistakes in his lifetime; this was, probably, the gravest of them. A woman of wholesome mind who will entertain a proposal of marriage at all — no matter at what age — likes to be loved by the man proposing; and the more he loves her the better she likes it . . . and him. f place both a )lci, oh, >uth in might is suit ; so far ol and tidrew irdent ' Mr. s she ird in time I for ti his 3t of who tall »ved he and MATH AND AFTERMATH. 269 Mr. Brown went to Mrs. Cramer prepared to put all necessary restraint upon the vehemence of his passion, and offer himself to her in a sober, sensible, middle-aged way,— the decorous phrases therefor being already arranged in his mind. By some- thing in his manner, when she received him in the parlor, Mrs. Cramer knew that the day of fate had come and prepared her mind for it. But Mr. Brown found his second advance upon that lady's heart about the hardest and most terrifying thing he had ever under- taken. His former battles with old ocean in its stormiest mood, with western bravos and savage Indians and Rocky Mountain grizzlies, were not so dreadful. And his first wooing of her had been a case of sweet, simple, almost unconscious drift— two souls graduating into manhood and womanhood hand in hand, and each accepting the other as the complement of itself. But now he came as an acquaintance of yesterday to contend for the coveted possession with two 270 BALDOON. I: * f m ji! i! m W I rivals — Andrew Cramer the buried husband, and his own younger, comelier, unrecog- nized self who had been well beloved under another name. And so Mr. Brown spoke of many other thin^j before he found courage to begin his real errand. The weather did service, of course; then, the new partnership between himself and Tom; then, Debby's marriage with Tom, which was to take place in a few months. At that last point, sailor-like, he got his bearings and laid a straight course for port. * 'You'll be very lonely after Debby leaves you, Mrs. Cramer." **Yes, I suppose I shall. ^ It might be worse, though. Tom's going into business Vv'ith you, and they'll live here at The Forks, where I can see her every day. Tom's so good about everything, too. He would be willing to share expenses and live with me. But Debby has notions of her own about family life. She holds that every married woman should be the sole mistress usband, nrecog- 3 under y other gin his ice, of etween irriage I a few ke, he course -)ebby lit be siness The day. He live ■ her very :ress MATH AND AFTERMATH. 271 of a home. I must say I agree with her, much as I shall feel being parted from her by our living in separate houses. ' ' "She's right, Mrs. Cramer. But all the same, for a good while you'll feel that this is a desolate house when you can't speak to* her at will, nor she to you; when you can't hear her singing about the house nor catch the sound of her feet. And what will you do when you come to put in your evenings alone? I'm afraid you'll be very unhappy. " "Oh, Mr. Brown! You almost break my heart beforehand ! I know it's going to be hard. We've never been apart a whole day except thgj time she went to Sarnia to attend T^.m's trial. Well, if it gets past endurance I know they'll give me a corner in their own home. I'll just sell this prop- erty, and give up to be an old woman living with her children." "Mrs. Cramer! You an old woman! Why, you've scarcely reached prime. With your splendid health, and beauty as fresh as that of a girl, I'm sure the best half of your 18 372 BALDOON. 1!* life is before you. Forgive me if I've said depressing things. You don't know how much I've suffered from loneliness all my life, nor how it makes me pity any one threatened with it. Do you know, I once set up housekeeping — as a bachelor, of course — to escape the utter weariness of life in boarding-houses and hotels, where I belonged to nobody and nobody belonged to me, and nothing that I used was my own. I stood it three weeks. Then I sold every- thing off for what I could get and went into lodgings again. I could have endured the days; but the deadly silence of the even- ings and the nights, with ne;icer the sound of a voice or even of a footfall in the place, was too much for me. I suppose the memory of it made me speak as I did." Just then Mrs. Cramer's dainty lace hand- kerchief went swiftly to her eyes; but poor Mr. Brown had no means of knowing that the tears she dried, almost fiercely, were not at all in self-pity, but altogether for the man whose life she had desolated. Pres- MATH AND AFTERMATH. 273 I've said tow how 5 all my my one I once ilor, of s of life here I ng-ed to )wn. I every- nt into ed the even- sound place, e the hand- poor r that were r the Pres- ently she resumed and, either by hap, or intentionally, removed the last barrier out of the way of Mr. Brown's approach by saying: "With your strong social instincts it's a wonder you haven't married and made a home for yourself long ago. " "Mrs. Cramer, I don't care to tell — even to you — the reason why I've remained single. But I do want you to understand that I'm not a man with a past that he's ashamed of. There isn't a woman in God's universe, living or dead, who can say that I've been less than honorable in my treat- ment of her^or less than true to any least promise I ever made. And now, let me tell you why I came here to-day. You are, or soon will be, alone. I am, as I have been all my life, alone. I can say truly, and I do say, that I esteem you above all other women I have known. There is no serious difference of age or fortune to stand in the way. I realize deeply that in securing a lady of your refinement and personal charms »u BALDOON. ) , for my wife the advantages will all be on my side. As a partial offset, however, I dare to say that you are the only woman in all the world whom I have loved and to whom I have proposed marriage. If you accept me I can give you a virgin heart; and that is something in a man of my years. I anticipate the objection that our acquaint- ance has been short. That is true ; but we are no longer in extreme youth. At our time of life we ought to be able to judge of one another safely on the acquaintance we have had. What will you say to me, Mrs. Cramer? Will you consent to walk the remainder of life's way by my side, as Mrs. Brown?" With what composure she could command out of a perfect riot of joy and amusement Mrs. Cramer made answer : "I will not pretend that your proposal has surprised me. I have seen it coming for some time. And I don't mind saying to you that I have enjoyed your society quite as much as you have seemed to enjoy mine, Math and aftermath. 275 be on ever, I nian in > whom accept d that rs. I luaint- ut we ■t our ig-e of -e we Mrs. the Mrs. land nent has for : to Jite ne, and would continue to find pleasure in it. But . . . there are reasons . . . why I can- not become Mrs. Brown. Since I must inflict what I hope will be only the tem- porary pain of a refusal, I feel that some explanation is your due. If ever, in the ten years of my widowhood, my thoughts have dwelt on the possibility of a second marriage they have always turned, like the needle to the pole, to a man I knew and dearly loved in my girlhood. I was plighted to him, and broke my troth under constraint of my par- ents. If he is dead ... or is married to some other woman ... or cannot forgive the wrong I did to him and myself . . . then I will walk alone to the end of life. Mr. Brown, it is written, and the decree will not be altered, that if ever I marry again it will be with Horace Bristol. That is why I cannot become Mrs. Brown." From that moment Timothy Brown was no more. He had been nothing but a name anyway; and the man who had borrowed him, for a purpose that he had 276 BALDOON. not served very well, repudiated him on the spot. "Mrs. Cramer! Debby Dean! Look into my eyes and see if you can't find Horace Bristol there! Debby, he isn't dead, nor married, nor unforgiving! He's here at your feet, with a greater love for you than ever! Do you doubt that I am he? See! (drawing from a place next his heart a golden locket) there you are as you used to be in the dear old days, and there, as near to my heart as I could get you, you have been every day since we parted. Tell me that I am Horace Bristol to you!" But before Horace got well through that "sober, sensible, middle-aged" rhapsody Mrs. Cramer was in his arms, convulsed with sobs and laughter, and all was well. A little later she replied in words : "Yes, yes, dear! There, there, there, that will do! Yes, you are Horace Bristol to me, and have been since the day you lifted your hat to me and Debby on the street. MATH AND AFTERMATH. 277 him on (( ook into Horace -ad, nor here at 3U than ? See! leart a used to IS near u have ell me fi that psody '■ulsed well. here, ristol you the How did I know? That's beyond me. Debby said, when you saluted us across the street, 'That's Mr. Brown'; but there was something about you that filled my mind with thoughts and memories of Horace Bristol, and before you came to call in the afternoon I knew you." I think this story has been carried to a stage from which it may be safely entrusted to the reader's imagination. Great amusement may be derived from working out the many taradiddles we had to invent in order to keep from Mrs. Cramer and the public the real reason of Mr. Bristol's appearance on the scene, and why he masqueraded, at first, as Mr. Brown. The three interesting couples on the way to Eden made good their entrance in the following order: — Tom and Debby, first; then, Horace Bristol and Mrs. Cramer ; then, after a year of mourning for Bell's father, Dan Littleton and Bell M'Garriger, baldoon. Which, think you, ailorded the nVh experience of life th^ , "'=''*'" people, or the atrr:??''^^"""^^^ -1 Mrs. Cramer; """^ ^™"" 'J THE END. Hi! ^ 5 W 4^ the richer he yoiing-er ace Bristol