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Show ITHjC fatal REQUEST I OR FOUND OUT by A. lTHmtIs Author ot "Mine Own Fnm'llar FrlnntL" elZ H Copyright, 1 e t 1 , ty Ua t $ 1 1 1 FiiWIiAIn; Company, U Copyright, 1 t 0 I , byBtrtit ,t Smith. M CHAPTER X. Continued. Long beforo tho scrvlco was over there wcro sounds of lamentation nnd walling from many of those present, and sovcrnl were compelled to quit tho church from the violence of their emotion. emo-tion. At last It was over nnd tho numerous numer-ous nnd variously compounded congregation congre-gation liroko up. Aftor partaking ot a frugal meal, Ted sat down to nwnlt tho nrrlval of Dr. Cartwrlght. Ho hoped that nothing noth-ing unforeseen would occur to cnuso him to put olT his visit, for ho was beginning to rely n good deal upon tho energetic llttlo man, who had shown himself nt onco shrewd nnd kindly in his dealings with him. Ho could scarcely believe ho had met him yesterday for tho first time and hero ho became nwnro of a brisk and familiar volco bolow. "How do you find yourself today, Mrs. Jlnmnn, nnd how's your lodger? Hope you'ro looking nfter blm well; giving blm plenty of now laid eggs and cream nnd that sort of thing? There's nothing llko good living to soften tho effect of n bereavement. Ted hoard tho volco gradually mounting tho stairs nnd tho next moment mo-ment tho doctor's head wns put In-lido In-lido tho door. "Hullo!" was his greeting, "thcro you are. Woll, how arc you getting on?" Ted said that ho folt pretty well. "Glad to hear It," wns tho next romarlt, as tho maker of It allowed Iho rest of Iris body to follow his head. "By the by, snw you In church this morning. Sad spectacle very! 3hnll wo be off?" They left tho cottngo nnd mndo tholr way In tho direction of tho station. sta-tion. When they camo In sight of tho lino thoy saw that thcro wcro still parties of men nt work, searching among tho heaps of rubbish for money or Jewelry or anything else thnt might havo survived sur-vived tho general ruin. right to do a certain thing, I always do it first ond Inquire nftorwnrds." Thcro was a noso of something metallic me-tallic falling. "Hullo!" cried tho doctor. "Whnt's that?" And, regardless of tho consequences to his clothes, ho bognn to gropo among tho shattered remains of tho flooring. In n fow seconds ho looked up again, flushed and grlmp, but triumphant. He held In his hand n conical shaped plccu ot lead. "I thought as much," ho Bald, as ho handed It to tho other "a ball from a revolver!" CHAPTER XI. Dr. Jeremiah at Home. Tho Inquest, which took placo at noon on Monday, was held in tho school house. Tho Jury, having bcon sworn In, proceeded to view tho bodies nnd on their return from this melancholy mel-ancholy duty tho coroner mndo nn unexpected nnnouncement, which caused n great sensation among tho closely packed audienco. "It having been brought to any no-tlco no-tlco that ono of tho supposed victims uf the late disastrous affair. Instead of losing his life, as wns conclude.! U tho time, through tho accident Jrt which bo many have, unfortunately, perished, has como by his dcal through foul play, It Is my Intention t hold n scparnto Inquiry upon tho body nt tho same hour to-morrow. I shall now proceed with my Inquiry ns to tho manner In which tho other passengers pas-sengers mot their death. Call tho first witness." I.nter In tho day hundreds of pcoplo gathered In tho churchyard to witness the Interments. The body of Silas Hurrttt had been taken bnck to the vestry, whero it would remain until his son fulfilled I tho promise ho hnd mndo and brought it homo. "Earth to earth, ashes to ' ashes, dust to dust," camo tho words "I thought as muchl A ball from n revolverl" Tho station maBtcr was watching tholr operations from tho platform, nnd to him Dr. Cartwrlght addressed himself. "Look here, Mullins, I want to know what you'vo dono with that carrlago tho fourth from tho engine that wo managed to savo from being quito destroyed with tho others. Tho ono, you know, In which wo found " Ho whispered tho rest in his car. Tho stntion master repllod, with n glance of curiosity nnd sympathy combined com-bined nt tho young man, who wus tho doctor's compannlan, that tho carrlago or tho remains ot It had been left nt tho sldo of tho lino, nbout ono hundred yards farther down. Thoy soon found it. ; "Ah, yos," said tho doctor, "this Is I tho vory carrlago. You see, It is a good deal damaged ; but I think, for all thnt, wo may bo ablo to find whnt we nro looking for. Tho first compartment com-partment Is the ono that concerns us." Ono door of this had been smasliod nnd beaten In by tho forco of tho conclusion; con-clusion; tho sent had been spllntored, and showed thnt the tiro hnd caught It In places, and tho flooring was torn . up. Tho other ond of tho compart-inont, compart-inont, though less wrecked, had received re-ceived more dnmngo from tho flro, tho cushions had entirely disappeared, tho woodwork was black and charred, and what romnlned of tho door hung from a single hlngo. "Now," Bald the doctor, Inking oft his coat before claraborlng In, "you hnd better stop outsldo; thcro Isn't room for two of us In lioro nt onco. It wns In this corner" Indicating that end of tho carriage which had ro-eclvod ro-eclvod least damago from tho flre "that we found him. "Ho was lying there, with his head against tho bnck ol the oompartmont, 'and tho lowor part of his body Jnmmod between tho broken door and the seat. Ills hoad, as you might Bay, rested here," pointing point-ing out a particular part of tho j adding ad-ding which yet remained. "Tho bullet, bul-let, which pa-ed through It, must have lodged somowhero about thoro. If so, wo nre sure to find it" Cutting what wns left of tho cloth In strips with his knlfo. ho bognn to Villi out tho Binding In handfulls. "I don't know whether tho railway company com-pany would havo anything to say to this," ho rnmnrked, as ho carefully pasted tho material through hln fingers, fin-gers, before passing it on to his companion com-panion outsldo, who did the same, "but whenever I'm In doubt about my of the burial service, as ono by ono tho coffins wcro lowered, and tho first spadeful of earth cast upon them. Ted Hurrttt stood bareheaded bo-sldo bo-sldo his now friend, tho doctor. Suddenly Sud-denly tliero was a commotion among tho crowd at a llttlo dlstanco and ho beard n Bharp cry. Then tho crowd opened, as though to mako way for somo ono, and ho saw a young man loading a flguro In liljck, whom bo recognized ns tho widow, whoso hopo-loss hopo-loss grief ho hnd beforo been a witness wit-ness of, but who now wns clinging to tho nrm of tho youth who supported support-ed her, and seemed ns though her sudden sud-den Joy were almost moro than she could boar. "I wan never In tho train nt all," ' ho was assuring her over and over again. "It was quito n mistake! What mado you think you recognized mo?" "Tlioro wns a bit of cloth Just llko your coat but oh, my boy, to think , I'vo got you again!" And tlio couplo I passed on, followed by tho sympathetic sympa-thetic murmrus of tho crowd. "Well, now, what d'you think of that for n sontlmentnl cplsodo? Sort of thing ono roads of but doosn't-be-llevo In, oh? Doar mo," nnd the doctor doc-tor took off his spectacles for no apparent ap-parent reason, nnd polished thorn carefully on his silk handkerchief. "You didn't boo tho meeting between them, did you? The women woro cry-I cry-I Ing nil round mo, nnd they'vo mado my spectaclos quito dull." . Thon, passing his nrm through tho I other's, "Come along." he said, "you'vo I had quite enough of this. Como nnd spend tho evening with mo. You know whero I Jive? No? Well, any-ono any-ono can toll you thnt. aoodbyo. I must bo off got a lot of sick pcoplo to look nfter." Tod had no difficulty In finding out tho house, Tho door wns oponed to him by nn olderly womnn sorvnnt, who, as Tod thought, Boemed to regard re-gard him with a certain amount of suspicion. Howboit, sho bado him enter. From an inner room a volco hailed him. i "Hullo! thnt you? That's right-be right-be with you In a minute Just wnlt until I'vo finished poisoning oft tho parish." And, through tho half open , door camo tho clink of s'ass and tho sound of liquids bolng poured from ; ono receptaclo to another. Tho noxt moment Ur. Cartwrlght gorged, from his sanctnm, and groet A him with croat cordiality. "So you'vo como thought you would. Glad to Bee you. And what do you think of my llttlo placo?" was tho noxt Inquiry, accompanied by a comprehensive sweep ot tho hand. "Protty snug, eh? Not bad quarters for n bachelor?" His visitor expressed approval of ? his surroundings, which certainly woro I well worthy of the appellation "snug" j bostowed titHin thein by their owner. t At tho same lime there was an air ot j compactness, of sevoro attention to j detail, which was suggostlvo of tho fact that tho present occupant had, nt j ono tlmo or other, been restricted In ( tho matter of elbow room. "Yes, I'm pretty comfortablo," tho ; doctor went on. "I'vo got a very l good housekeeper, on tho whole Her chlof fault Is that she's so confoundedly confound-edly suspicious!" "Suspicious!" ro echoed tho other. "Well, I thought sho looked nt mo rather strangely when sho let mo in," Tho llttlo doctor chuckled, and showed symptoms of great inward enjoyment. en-joyment. "Ah! you thought so, did you? Tho fact Is, slio's In mortal terror of my getting married!" "Woll, but that wouldn't mnko hor suspicious of me!" "My denr fellow, slio's suspicious of everybody. Sho's Jealous of overy womnn, single or married, becauso tho single ones, being slnglo, nro open to offers, whllo tho married onos nro llnblo to loso tholr husbands nt a moment's mo-ment's notice, and, as widows, would bo moro to bo feared than tho others. "But I belong to neither category!" said tho young man. "Suroly " "My dear boy," cut In the other, "as a young mnti you nro likely to possess pos-sess female relatives a sister or a cousin or nn mint, clthor of whom night ovcntually prove dangerous to aty pence of mind." Ted Uurrltt actually laughed, to tho llttlo man's great satisfaction, as tho Idea presented Itself to him of bis sister Mny as a posslblo aspirant to tho position of Mrs. Jeremiah Cart- ! wrlgbt. In less that n moment, however, how-ever, tho laugh had died away, and a corresponding expression of despondency despond-ency settled down upon bis features. "Ho thinking of thnt Inquest to-morrow," thought tho doctor, "nnd his father's body lying In tho vestry. I must got htm out of that groovo again. Horo" starting to his feet "como i and havo a walk round my promises beforo It gets dark!" Ho took blm out through tho surgery, sur-gery, nnd showed him n neat llttlo domain, which was divided Into portions. por-tions. In which grow, respectively, flowers, fruit nnd vegetables. At tho bottom wns n fowl run and n very small circular pond, nbout tho size of an ordinary wash-hand basin, In which paddled n solitary duck, who, ns soon as ho caught sight of tho doctor, for- IT Book his favorlto elomont, and camo fl waddling towards htm, quacking loud- n' ly. ii "Ho seems to know you," snld Ted. j (To bo continued.) I |