Manfred's Quest: Or, The Mystery of a Trunk — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

°° Are you permitted to open it?’’ ‘* No; unless there is some suspicion of foul play; and ina couple of days it. will g0 among the unclaimed bag- gage in the storage-room. ”’ ‘Then you will probably forget all about it.” ‘* T hope I may, for it worries me.”” The baggageman had alluded to a mysterious suicide which had happened near the town of C——, quite a thriv- ing place, located.on the Hudson. There had lived in the town. many years a mysterious. sort of man, who ee to live the life of a semi-recluse, as he never had anything to say ay toghis, peighhore, and never mixed with them in any. way. .- He had lived in the town rahowt. twenty years. He had first come and had purchased the property where he ever afterward resided. His purchase was a small comfortable house with a few acres of land, but during his residence he had not spent one penny on the place, and it had become greatly dilapidated. There was a lawyer living in the city who sometimes vis- _ ited the old man, and the former was the only party with | -whom he held intercourse. So singular was he that when he made purchases he merely pointed to the articles he “wanted, and tendered the money for payment of the same, and never was he known to speak to any one save the mys- terious lawyer who came up from the city. Indeed he pre- tended to be stone deaf, but.a boy had once heard him talking with his one visitor; and it was known that the deafness was a pretense; but nevertheless he persisted in maintaining silence, and was never heard to speak to any of his neighbors. “ Once he had been arrested for some trivial matter, a trumped-up charge, and he had been brought before the squire, but nothing succeeded in inducing him to speak, and he was finally discharged. Thus matters had gone on for twenty years, when one day it was noticed that the old man was visited by a young lady; she remained with him a few days, and then sudden- ly disappeared and was not seen again. Ihe recluse appeared to have plenty of money, as he al- ways paid for what he bought, and lived well as far as eating was concerned, judging from his purchases. Thus matters stood until there came a time when the old man was missed. .Two days passed, and he did not appear to buy his milk, meat, or bread; and the fact began. to be commented on. The third day passed, ‘and nothing was seen of him, when a number of villagers went to the squire, and told him it was his duty to make an investiga- tion. : The squire summoned the town constable, and, accom- penied by a number of the town people, went to the old man’s house. Lhe latter stood above on the edge of a copse of wood which had been permitted to grow since the mysterious man’s purchase of the property. : Upon reaching the house, the doors were found open, and the squire rapped loudly to call attention. There came no response, and the two town officials held a consultation and finally determined to enter the house. They passed through the rooms on the first floor, and found no signs of the occupant of the premises, but evidences that there had been no fires in the stoves for several days. The two men ascended to the second floor, and had passed through one room without making any discovery, when suddenly a scream fell upon their ears, and in the hall was discovered a lad, pale, excited, and with a face bearing a look so scared it would appear he had seen a ghost. ~MANFRED’S QUEST. The lad had followed the two town officials into the house, and while they had entered one room he had prowled into another, when suddenly he beheld a sight which caused him to recoil and utter the shriek that summoned. the others to his aid. CHAPTER IV. THE lad was trembling like an aspen-leaf, and muttering: i What is is it, boy?’’? demanded the squire. °* He’s there!’’ ~.** Who’s there?’’ ** Old Mr. Silver, and he’s dead!’’ The two men turned pale, but the constable dashed open the door, and a horrible sight was revealed. « A corpse lay upon the floor stark and ghastly; all the blood had flowed from the body through a gaping wound in the throat. An investigation had followed, and, AS the inquest was held, a man appeared from New York claiming to be the clerk of the lawyer who did all the old man’s business, and the stranger at once started the theory that it was a case of suicide; and a later careless investigation by the squire resulted in a verdict to that effect. Still, there were those who claimed it was-a murder, especially one of the village doctors. The squire was appointed administrator of the dead man’s effects temporarily, and a search was made fora will, but none was found. | Meantime, the man from the city, who claimed to be the lawyer’s clerk, asserted that there was a will, for he had seen it drawn and signed. The effects in the house were of little value; thohe was little cash found, and the furniture, including everything, was not worth fifty dollars; and, later on, it was discoy- ered that the deed of the house was not in the old man’s name, but in the name of another party, and who that other party was no one appeared to know. Lhe detective was aware of all the above facts. Singu- larly enough, the -medical examination revealed the fact that the man when found had been dead about four days, and that would bring the time of his death to the very night when our hero met the mysterious lady passenger, with blood-stains on her veil and clothing, who had entered the train at C——, and had showed signs of great excite- ment and trepidation, and who had so mysteriously disap- peared as the train neared the depot. Manfred had previously connected the mysterious pas- senger with the tragedy in his mind, but had, as stated, let his interest in the affair die out until it was revived by the accidental discovery of the trunk; and on the moment he resolved to devote his whole time to the solution of the strange mystery. He was satisfied that the trunk be- longed to the mysterious passenger, and he was determined also to gain possession of it. After some further talk with the baggageman, the de- tective sauntered away, and his mind was given to a plan for securing possession of the mysterious trunk. At length he hit upon ascheme. He knew that it was an ulegal procedure, but detectives are sometimes com- pelled to depend. upon their own integrity, and take the law into their own hands. He had no legal claim upon the uncalled-for baggage, and there was no legal method by which he could obtain possession of it; so he determined to resort to trick and de- vice, feeling confident of his ability to make good any loss cS boo Cr ee » : , + ea Ed “? @..>.. — . i - “ or 8. - = SE i a SU te =