Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
So
Louise, with her usual tact, decided to speak plainly.
"We have been much interested in the history of the Wegg family," she
remarked, easily; "and perhaps it is natural for us to speculate
concerning the characters of our predecessors. It was so odd that
Captain Wegg should build so good a house on such a poor farm."
"Yes."
"And he was a sea captain, who retired far from the sea, which he must
have loved."
"To be sure."
"It made him dissatisfied, they say, as well as surly and unsociable;
but he stuck it out even after his poor wife died, and until the day of
the murder."
"Murder?" in a tone of mild surprise.
"Was it not murder?" she asked, quickly.
He gave his shoulders a quiet shrug.
"The physician pronounced it heart disease, I believe."
"What physician?"
"Eh? Why, one who was fishing in the neighborhood for trout, and staying
at the hotel. Old Dr. Jackson was in Huntington at the time, I
remember."
The girls exchanged significant glances, and West noted them and smiled
again.
"That murder theory is a new one to me," he said; "but I see now why it
originated. The employment of a strolling physician would give color to
the suspicion."
"What do you think, sir?" asked Patsy, who had been watching the man's
expression closely.
"I? What do I think? Why, that Captain Wegg died from heart disease, as
he had often told me he was sure to do in time."
"Then what made old Mr. Thompson go mad?" inquired Beth.
"The shock of his friend's sudden death. He had been mentally unbalanced
for some time previous--not quite mad, you understand, but showing by
his actions at times that his brain was affected."
"Can you explain what became of their money?" asked Louise, abruptly.
West gave a start, but collected himself in an instant and covered the
action with another shrug.
"I cannot say what become of their money," he answered.
It struck both Beth and Louise that his tone indicated he would not,
rather than that he could not say. Before they had time to ask another
questioned he continued:
"Will you take the saucepan with you, then, or shall I try to send it in
a day or so?
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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