Show THE massing MAN by MARY R P HATCH author of the bank tragedy by bee and shepard CHAPTER V continued have yo i no photograph of them of either of thema no I 1 haven t t I 1 can tell ou something stranger than 0 o i ever heard in connection with this very matter Whet liei it will help sou in identifying ashley I 1 can t ay yo i know I 1 told vou they took a house on main well shortly after they left it and before a new tenant was found the story got afloat that on one of the windows fro n the outs de could be plainly seen the photograph of a man head and shoulders and those of a bonan the panes are large and the outi nes are said to be very dis they are sa d to be photographs of le and his wife and the theory is that they were looking through the at the river d ring a storm and a flash of lightning photographed them indelibly on the glass the p tures cannot be seen from the inside but that they can from tl e Is vouched for b a good many people in to I 1 don t understand photography myself and I 1 haven t been up to see the pictures but the cashier of the somerset bank has and he says they arp excellent likenesses of ashley and his wife I 1 should like to go up said bruce so should I 1 said mr hayes and if ou will call again after bubness bul ness bours for I 1 must go to my now I 1 will tal e you there behind my bays bruce gladly accepted the friendly offer and in a few hours was rapidly driving through the principal streets of valparaiso after the handsomest span of horses in the city calling a boy to hold them after a short drive mr bruce and mr aliases approached a handsome house on main street and easily got permission to examine the window which bore the photograph it was on the first floor and lighted the dinin room the adleys dined late and they perhaps arose from the table probably after dark or it may be turned down the lights the better to watch the storm and stood looking out at the river be this as it may the outlines of two figures a man s and a woman s were plainly in dilated on the pane his arm appeared to be about her shoulders her head rested lightly on his breast and a glorious veil of hair reaching down atiat of sight covered her right choul per the curves of her features the droop of her form showed her to be both pretty and graceful nora ashley as I 1 live ejaculated mr hayes with great excitement nora did ou saya yes that Is what ashle called her and that is ashley himself bruce scanned the figure with more interest even than he had the beautt ful nora but never having known hamilton personally he could not tell whether it closely resembled him or not in a general way he tl ought it coked 1 ke the photograph he had and which mr hayes had already declared to look like ashley the description given in the advertisement also agreed with what might be said of A hley ex capt that the latter when m val paraiso wore long wh soon after the two men separated with mutual good words and bruce so ng ra to his loom at the wil louet by house wrote a detailed ac count of what he had learned at val paraiso regarding ashley the bank de caulter who 1 e was inci ned to bel eve could be no other than hamilton him self indeed the presence of the woman called nora by ashley and having emerald colored hair seemed almost proof dosithe after detail ng the account bruce went on to say or rather to ask whether mr hartwell would tate pains to learn without a doubt what beard hamilton wore two years ago during his customary may journey it he had long whiskers in add tion to a nn stache also bruce desired to know the exact date when hamilton left edale whether it was as earl as the for it now appeared that abley came to valparaiso the mr hastings on the receipt of this letter from the detective was much perplexed how could he gain the de sired knowledge without going to mrs hamilton herself mr hastings was a straightforward man to approach her with subterfuge or conceal ments was bo repugnant that he would not entertain ert ertain the idea for a moment he made various fi tile inquiries and final ly decided to call upon mrs han allton and plainly state the case to her ask ing at the same time for the tion if she chose to give it he did so though not without ex reluctance mrs hamilton re ceded him in a polite it somewhat d stant manner and after a few corn mon place mr hastings broached the object of his call but please do not consider my re quest to be in the least imperative there Is no coercion about it j YOI are very kind mr hastings returned constance bending her fair face upon which the shadow of a gibat grief plainly lay but I 1 answer you truly and readily for the truth can hurt no one ane never a whiskers and I 1 can tell ou by consulting my diary for 1887 the very day be went awa she awe from her seat approached the writing desk which stood in the same room and took from a till a p ie of old d anes choosing tl e right one he sat down again and turned to the records of may ane and I 1 took a long drive to day the weather was perfect and vane complimented me or rather my new bat said it was mo t becoming was the record for may 1st onla a commonplace entry but it gave constance a start to read it for he the day well how happ the were but she turned an other leaf resolutely then still another and handed the book to mr hastings pointing to the sentence vane went away earl er th s 5 ear than usual I 1 tried to coax him not to go until next w eel but to no purpose the date was the ath of may thank you mrs hamilton said mr hastings handing her the book but his hand was quite unsteady as he did so 1 that what you wished to know she asked no he said greatly de pressed mr ha tings had refrained from making known to mrs hamilton the contents of bruce s letter relating to ashley and he said nothing now she evidently hoped he would tell her more but could not bring herself to ask him foi he thought it there w ere any good ne vs he would tell me and if there is nothing but bad I 1 could not bear it now I 1 hale had so marh aane vane this was her hearts cry but out she was calm 1 mr hast ings went away then she sat down overwhelmed with a nameless dread what m sery what misery was hers if the newspapers spoke trie what was she but a deserted wife the wife of a bani defaulter who had tor her for another woman it it was not as was bel eved then vane was detained somewhere against his will either by force or by severe ill ness or he was dead dead with the clods of opprobrium on his confined the outi nes of two agures form they might never be never while she lived while her chil dren lived and they would have to suffer tl e shame unmerited of having had a father who abused the conal dence of a trusting community could she bear it to know this were really true of hima could she bear it to know he were deada CHAPTER VI tony s D mr bruce was nearly convinced of the truth of h s theory when he re calved mr hastings letter some thing more than incidence h muttered on reading that mr carnu ton left grovedale Grov edale on the ath instant bruce as a la t resort again wei t to canada himself got detectives there to aid him and as thorough a search through the province was made as could be effected in the time he gave himself tor it several times he fane ed himself to be on the right tra I 1 but subsequent investigations the fallacy of fir t t ons still he could neier quite rid himself of the belief that he saw hamilton or ash le on one of the streets in al a day or two after he reached the ty it the min vanished so quickly that ance was amazed in full view on a not too crowded street then gone it v as 1 ke mag the man could not have entered a store nor an shed in a cellar there was no reason why he need th under surveillance ce si ent the day in the immediate neighborhood of the mysterious digap bearance pe arance but to no purpose and at last he reluctantly owned to himself that he might hae been mistaken anxious as he was to succeed in hia undertaking and earn the reward offered for anding hamilton or rather being the means of returning him to grovedale Grov edale bruce was at last corn belled to desist from his task midi time and money had already been si ent and other bus ness was press ng constance st II 11 continued to live in ier own home with her uncle and two ch idren the latter went to school and their mother put on their hats and issard them good by sometimes with a smile on her face to spare their young hearts too much knowledge of sorrow mr astler who was reuf a man of excellent qualities though somewhat ob red by m addle age inertia attended well to the bus ress at the mill with the help of mr henderson and a clerk recently added to the office at the bank an excellent t cashier filled hamilton s place for the present but it was uncertain how long he could be retained as his health ft as delicate and his means such as placed him above the necessity of doing any business tony was still there but his position seemed at times most irksome the on his nerves and temper ajr ing the invest gat ons left an ant impress on for he was sensible that for several davs he had been looked unon with s sp cion this fact placed h m in sympathy with haell ton and he had more than once been heard to say that he believed the missing cashier to be an innocent man he had been informed by president ances 1 veries in the west he had not tille i mrs hamilton since he carried her the is statement of her h bisband s return to the bank somehow he shrank from go ng there b it when he chanced to meet her he bowed with s grafty and respect the summer was wearing away august had come with its wilting days and bathers often sought tl e shaded river for a pi in its cool ng wat ers on the side a new railroad had recently been built the hilly tons had been leveled hollows filled up and immense rod s blasted hun deeds of men employed and the different gangs located about five m les apart many of them were italians and four of them were drowned in crossing it in quest of in toxicant Is said they were buried in the d mp and without ervice of any sort by their companions low and degraded they must have been and it is no wonder the people were glad when they left all this bocc ned to osborn one day in august when changing his bathing suit for h s ordinary clothes he saw in the bushed not two feet from the place where he had deposited his own suit a silk cap with a weather stained satin lining and an embroidered mono gram the letters certainly were V H however they might stand in color the or the H was as likely to stand first perhaps but tony felt con vinced that the cap he held in his hand was once the property of vane hamilton it was j st s ch a one aa wives see thears and daigh teis make tor their hrasc iline dependents to travel in and ton t he recollected tl at mr ham itan carried one in hia pocket his w fe would know ard whether ie tool it on his last trip if so it his presence afterwards in G as conclusive ly as the gold d had it was a peculiar incidence tl at in both in stances he should be the finder to be continued |