Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 902 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

i? ee ee members of the Ferret band that she, too, could do clever Secret Service work. In fact, she had shown her cleverness in keeping her identity, as Nat’s sister, hidden from the entire band over which she ruled as queen. Olive’s first duty upon entering the man- | sion was to win favor with all. Of course she was eyed curiously by the other servants in the house, of whom there were holf a dozen. Her sweet ways at once won the esteem of ri the cook, her assistant, and the house-girls, i for she already had captivated the butler, b Sy kes. Mrs. Hammond regarded herin a way that rs would have embarrassed any one else than rr Olive. Bis The mistress of the mansion seemed to be trying to read her thoroughly, and began in ie a way that was meant to show her that hers was the will that ruled the Hammond man- sion, Olive was all willingness and sweetness % toward Mrs. Hammond, and before she had ‘ been in the house three days she saw that Mrs. Hammond trusted her implicitly, that the servants all liked her, that the butler might be regarded in the light of a lover al- ready, and Miss Benson seemed also inclined to take to her, Why she had been told by Nat to keep an eye especially upon Helen Benson, she could not understand, for the young lady ap- _ peared to Olive to be all that was lovely in churacter, But, the sister knew her brother's won- derful powers of reading human nature, and she said to herself: ‘lf Nat told ine to watch Miss Benson he has some good reason for it, and I will not | allow my liking for her to prevent my doing | my duty.” is Once only had Olive seen Mr. Hammond. ‘Fis rooms were in a rear wing of the man- mt fe gion, on the second floor, overlooking a smali -}) yard, and with a fashionable church beyond, | go that they were remcved from the street and very quiet, ss He bad there his library and his sitting: | room combined, his bed-room and_ toilet |} * room, so that he lived apart quite to himself, i, ss Olive was sent to the rooms with some medicine for the master, and found him re- | _ ¢lining in bed, glancing over the morning ; " BF ia Phe doctor had made his daily call, report- Hen N ed the patient improving, prescribed another -_ - medicine, and this it was that Olive carried «She saw a man of fine physique with a “ia _ face strangely handsome and stamped with ; ie ie strong and noble churacter. Ab, miss, 1 beg pardon—can you be one \ aes ‘of Helen’s friends whom I fail to recognize?” -- gaid Mr. Hammond in his courtly way. — » Oh no, sit; lam only the new girl, sir, is Pri - Olive—Mrs. Hammond’s maid, and I was sent with your medicine, sir,” Bie -, “You are very kind, but you are one who | should not hold a menial position, and—” he © Fo ru sy sé ; fF _M | _ But, sir, necessity knows no law, Shall |. I give you your medecine, sir?” | Oy, ae sey Vaee wee ] suppose so, though really T cannot see that the doctor is doing me any good, DA Wied | seem chained to this bed, unab e to shake off the feeling of numbness that is upon me,” _ ** {will give father his medicine, Olive,” and Helen Bengon glided softly into the room and took the glass and tf e, while she whispered: a _** You need not tell my mother that you i here give the medicine, or that I was Spoon from “9 ¢ t , } ‘' Yes, miss; 1 understand.’ ’ . - req egies” Jeft the room and returning to Mrs. Ps wes asked: © A _ ** How does Mr. Hammond scem?” — #,\ ** This is the first time I have seen him, oC Me i eae, a Wap’? | : ; f ‘ madam, so can hardly tell.” Pie takes 1h PP Berting: more and more anxious 4 hd ‘y Oe Ye 3 nae j ' ; mF. iy, ‘ al ves «? hua ye “’, x." hee AR Fh 1 ae ae a j Ay ’ ar tit * : . So £350, aa i a o creased rapidly, ' i ‘ ti mal * re } ty 7 eae oan Dt PDN wo ie tel” 7 Wltos iad fs , ° _ » —— _ —— oF 4 —_ Nl Vea =-- YY es a . 7 . ‘ ‘ -% _ i! CF ‘ : - r a - 7 FN + ee < A Tew York Natin Colorado, § | a = Se are . ~ edtychepncetialintieiaanl ee a SE SA OS eS Se eee —— Nt about him, for he does not appear to im- ; was of age it was quoted ata million, while . prove, but L hope this newly prescribed | since then it has nearly doubled that xmount. 3 medicine will help him,” said Mrs. Ifam- ‘* Jack Hammond’s inheritance from bis Ha mond sadly. mother is allin the keeping of his father, so the Z ‘| hope so, madam, for it snust be terrible | wife had no wish to slight her husband in a | to be ill.” ‘* Yes; but get one of those novels from the table, they are the latest, and read me one, for I wish to be interested.”’ Olive did as she was told and while look- ing over the novels murmured: ‘“ Yes, there is a skeleton in this house, and some one is guilty of wrong, but, what is the wrong and who is the sinner? ‘Well, as Nat said the skeleton must be unearthed,” ———— CHAPTER XI. OLIVE’S LETTER, OLIVE had been a couple of weeks in her position when she went to her home one afternoon and received a letter from Nat. lt was written from Junction City, and in it the young Ferret told her that he and his two comrades were gleaning information that would be valuable to them. That they were preparing to start to the mines, but only as a blind, as they would return to Junction City after they had discovered what their going would discover for them. ‘‘ We expect,” the letter went on to say, ‘‘that our start will make certain men we suspect show their hands; in fact, they are not the men to ullow us to get to the mines if they can prevent it, nnd they are just the ones we believe can give us the in- formation we wish about the fate of Jack Hammond, so expect to have another letter before long with real news in it, sis,” The letter was written in ‘a cipher known only to Nat and Olive, and when she had figured it out, she sat down to write to Nat. His letter told her that they were about to start upon a pretended expedition, which would be nv more than a trap in which to catch those whom he suspected of having knowledge of Gentleman Jack. This caused Olive cousiderable uneasiness, as she knew that Nat’s experience with frontier crooks was limited: but then she argued that her brother always found a way of getting out ofa tight place, and also of winning any game of daring he entered upon. ra So Olive, determined to dismiss dread of evil to Nut from her mind, and at once wrote to him of what had taken place in the band, and how she had done her duty as a girl ferret. After telling him of all minor matters, she wrote, and in cipher ag he had done: ‘*Now, Nat, let me speak of my work here, and what I have discovered in my duty as lady's maid to Mrs. Hammond. ‘* Let me first enter into the history of the family [am living with ‘* After being here three days 1 saw Mr, Hammond, who is an invalid. “He is 2 mun of fine physique, seemingly possesses & strong constitution, but is suffer. ing from a disease which baffles his physi- cian’s skill, or at Jeast he gets no better, ‘*'The disease confines him to bis rooms, as he suffers from what is at times a partial | paralysis, being unable to command the use | of the muscles of bis limbs. ‘‘ He is a courtly, genial gentleman, and I. am sure that he has some cross to bear, ‘‘He married when very young the mother of the one you know as Gentleman Jack, and it was when dying that, Mrs. Hammond made the strange will leaving her wealth, for she | was heiress with a large fortune, to her gon, John Hammond. | | “The will further read that in case of Jack Hammond's death it was to go to his father, who however had a large fortune of his own.: “The riches left by Mrs. Hammond in- and, before Jack Hammond | 4 - ee a >20O”OO”_ O_O 0 OO ee :000€8C ern Sm OO Sa -CU EC > oa ee rr . . Swe ys fave | 4a: - iy ; on te * ray > a “ , ‘ + 8 \ieht a, om / : * nie bn Spee Mixes“ Pi bah <ey [eure +4 Salad ae ft 4 we Nef inet, Peas we; hha rer | i 7 Af merd . ‘4 , . ; “ah 5 Ay ¢ pe 444 3 ‘ ™~" * . ~ ° * os | evil, she is so young, beautiful and good. ienving it to her son, a, ‘‘Tam thus particular in stating this con- <) dition of affairs as to property, to see if you can discover any clue in it for certain hap- penings here, | ‘* Jack Hammond left here fortwo reasons, one being that he got into an affair where he was forced to take life, and which was at | first regarded as a murder, but afterward was proven to beaclear case of self-defense. ‘*Leaving as he did, under bad advice, to escape the supposed consequences of the crime he was charged with, it was then discovered that a forgery had been com- mitted for quite a large sum, and this was traced to him, but simply through the charge of guilt being put upon him by persons wha were under suspicion. ‘‘ Enough transpired soon after to show that Jack Hammond, if guilty, was not alone in his guilt, and his father tried to find him and urge his coming home to clear his name of dishonor. ‘* Butthe attempt to find young Mr, Ham- mond was useless, and then it was that his father gave it up and married the lady who is now his wife, ‘‘ She claims to be thirty-five years of age, but I do not believe that she is thirty, nor do I believe that Miss Benson can be her daughter, as sheisall of eighteen. | ‘‘Mr, Hammond: is certainly devoted to . his beautiful wife and equally beautiful step-daughter, and they are untiring in their devotion to him, yet I feel that there is something wrong somewhere, and cither Mrs. Hammond’is a wicked woman or her alleged step-daughter is, and which one is, or if both, I am determined to find out. “But now as to what has aroused my > suspicions, Nat,” and the ietter went on to state what it was, and which the next chap- ter will reveal, wae CHAPTER XII | THE HIDDEN HAND, ane “There is a Hidden Hand here in this house that is doing evil, but whose hand it is I am not able yet to find out,” Olive's letter went on to say. ? “hy ** My. Hammond: takes certain medicine — three times daily, and it is always prepared for him by Mrs, Hammond, who keeps the | bottles under lock and key inherroom, = | ‘She, Mrs. Hammond, mixes the medi. cines and I take them to her husband after breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. fs ae ‘‘Almost invariably Miss Benson meets me in her step-father’s room, tukes the glasses from me and says that she will give it to ihe patient, but she has never done so while | remain in the room, and if I linger too long she sends me away with some excuse, as though anxious to get rid of me, ‘This looks suspicious, Nat, on her part, | but what adds to it is that she always whis- ween pers to me not to let her mother know that + Me she was in the room. mlb) ‘Again, when once or twice I have taken the medicine sooner than usual, or later, and have given it to the invalid myself, Miss | Benson has seemed really agitated, butI © cannot find it in my heart to suspect her of — ~ - “Nor can I suspect Mrs. Hammond, as — she is also so lovely in character, and her kindness to me | can never forget. © ©, © «Already she has raised my wages,onmd though f have not wanted to take them, ste made me a number of presents of dresses — and odd things, justas goodas new.) ‘Of course I use none of them, but } eR ae them in case they may be wanted inthe fu. ‘When Miss Benson : a asny. * : * bee \) P | hacks rd et ote f whi pgs ea . tte : 7 AN ak A if * KC Pulp til eS CO re a : f } yy ‘ \ \, : “A \ ‘ + 4 ~ <) ; "| +d id. 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