THE CLYMER DYE FORMULA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7232, 19 October 1901, Page 2

THE CLYMER DYE FORMULA.

(New York Sun.)l There was naturally 'hard feeling in the Clymer family over the disposition of the famous Clymer dye formula. Old Nathan Clymer, tie founder of the house, on the i *eryday of his death, sent his sons Egbert •nd Martin from the room, though ,long associated with him in business, and destfined to be bis successors, and then handed over the precious recipe to ibis daughter l)ebcmah, thus ignoring the rights of the two children of his first wife. Then he iied, as he had liA'ed, smiling cynically over the trouble he had .caused. , ; Deborah Welling Avas no timid, trustful Madden, yielding to her half-brothers' HKshes. She had had troubles of her own. £. runaway marriage, an improvident husband, and, after his early death, a struggle for existence. After months of privation in » foreign land, she had retentd with her little daughter Dorcas to Avrest^from her lather a scant allowance and a small cottage, after a campaign remai'lca'ble for the {Virulence of t3ie combatants. Then had fallowed lean years, the more thieerless for/the indifference of kindred, «rt>seqtriously reflecting the feelings of that angry old man, while Dorcas bloomed into (beautiful maidenhood, unnoticed by all rave fcer cousin Ralph. As Deborah though* over neglect and slight, the day of her father's death became for her a day of triumph. Why had that cruel, grasping man, who urould have let her starve had he dared', distinguished her so above the others? Doubtless it was a Greek's gift. The sly twinkle, vivifying Ms glassy eyes for the ■winent, had 1 warned her that Ihis mwtiva ivae fully as malicious as. secret. Well, •he would take the evil with the good.. The formula was hers, at all events ; hers to •ell for lie future comfort of her daughter,,iers to give away or utterly destroy, if need be, for her own present gratification. 6o Deborah mused, grim-faced, careworn, yet exultant, as she awaited at her cottage urindow the visit of her half-brothers. They were practical men, Egbert and JMartin, too worldly-wise not to know that recrimination would be futile. And so thiey «ame, bearing the olive branch, on compromise intent. . "We have no quarrel with your good fortune, Deborah," began Egbert. "Father bad the legal right to do what he pleased with his oAvn. If he tacitly deceived us, ttihat is our misfortune. After all, the Clymer formula is still the Clymer formula." ",.-,-,; _x- «i j. "In other words," explained Martin, let bygones be bygones, and come into business .With us as an equal partner." * "I had an offer from the Latrells tins morning," said Deboraih, quietly, "which I am going to accept." • "We avjll give you ten thousand more whatever it is," cried Egbert. •: " Besidte*. a third shar-e in the business, fcdded Martin. "Never," replied Deborah, looking a staffer negative. "You have no right to sell a family gecret to our rivals," shouted Egbert. "Yes, and w« Avon't permit you to do co, mark that, my lady," growled Martini; and then tbo smugness of , prosperity disappeared, and the two men! stood over her, shaking itisir fists and mmitfcing impossible threats, "which set old! Kate to crossing Irerself out in the kitchen until De'boraih's silent contempt drove them into the street. "When they were gone Deborah raised the •Ed and unlocked; *hie little drawer of the oldrfashioned desk and brought out the parchment on which hsr fatiher many years ;before had traced the symbols so unintelligible to her. Where had! !h» obtained the formula in tie first place? Nobody lauew. -He had not been deemed an able man on -■those times of want, not plenty, wni^Ji she could just remember, -winem, as her mother Ibadl often told her, he had' been a hindrance, not a help, to the friend who was his part,x!er. Then thet friend 1 had gone insane ftihaxragh worry and -work, aaaJi the, firm of Clymer an<J Clan had been dissolved. And (theo, why, then of a day had come riches • and! power to Nathan.' Clymer, discoverer of ye wonderful dye, with airoganc© and: greed in tbieir train. - A shadow swept over the parchment, lingered for an instant in grotesque profile lon the opposite wall and thm disappeared. Deborah, raised the window and looked out. -No onfs was in sight ; she could hear no sound. She gazedi about the room, at the Y arcmTie ' 1 * on k er kp> the "open desk, tin© unlocked drawer; and shook 3i«r head knoAvingly. Evening was falling, so she drew in the blinds and' lighted the lamp. She wrote a brief note, which she semfc old Kate to mail. She locked the little drawer . end closed the desk, and then, fcsing alone in the house, Avith no one being able to •py from -witihkmt, she f ound a neAv hiding place for the Clymer formula. Quiet was Deboß^Ji that evening, un- . tisually quiet and gietotle. Dorcas on returning from her work was impressed; by the lack of snappy fault finding and wept happy tears ere she fell asleep as she remembered an unwonted kiss ; nor were her slumbers disturbed by the fear that such a change in a hareh, self-contained nature might be ominous. And below in the .sitting room Avhere Deborah liad iber bed, the Mayflower clock in the corner ticked unconcernedly, though the peaceful, darkjiess had been rudely broken. Thte next morning ohf Kate, who had tovcrslept, rejoiced that a scolding mistress did not confront her. Then, Dorcas descended, pretty in her demure garb, and -v-astly pSeased to be able for t&« one* to call her mother. Sire rapped • there -was .sw) response. She tried, she shook the door ; it was immovable. Alarmed, they j summoned men. working near by, Avho forced an entrance. There, lay Deborah, a dreadful sight, on the floor, Avith the little .{desk drawer empty beside iher. The physician* came and dressed the terrible Avound in the poor Avcman's head. (They Avent, leaving no hope behind. And ;jDorcas sat alone by her dying mother. Deborah Avas unable to move a muscle ; naught but some overmastering purpose -kept her from insensibility. That purpose ll| throbbed an her battered brain and shone jfroth. unuttered words from "her eyes. DorTeas bent low as if to hear ; ehe bent loav, though appreciating that the rigid throat, :**iie stiffened lips could not resume their functions. And yet act they did, for one instant of vroe through a miracle of the will. Thrice r repeated came a few broken, disconnected {' sounds. A bewildered look stole into the VgiiTs face, into pity. She%;ould not understand ; her mother's mind must be TCandering. Deborah read the thought, so "gently expressed, in the last flicker of con- ' «ciousn€ss ; and over the anguish of failure • and despair her lids drooped and settled ■ior ever. ' The detectives came to discover clues ; t2iey went only to prove them valueless; ■ and the Welling tragedy remained the^en- " cation of the day. Old Kate, a thorough partisan, gave an account of the visit of the half-brrathers Avhich. lest nothing in the telling. Though the prosecuting officers ■ {hesitated foT lack of connecting evidence, *to the public mind the sequence was perfect. \' A trade secret had been left away from irSie firm whose success depended upon it. I The members of that firm fluid tried to Vget it by fair means, and failing had threatened to use violence. Then liad followed robbery and murder. What more need be said? The old rule, seek the ones benefited, pointed them out as guilty. And so the. kindred vrho had slighted Deborah had .» taste of humiliation and shame; while Egbert and Martin Were avoided and under suspicion and surveillance. To add to this trouble the Latrells,* an enterprising house, were by no means idle. Tlie formula Avas theirs, they maiii'tained ; Mrs Welling had accepted their offer by letter, which they received while she Avas dying of her injuries. Very Avell, then ; they had be«n robbed: ; deprived of their property and the reasonable profits they '' W. STRANGE AND CO.'S good'tailor. ing for fit, styis and value is unequalled.

had expected from it. Competition in business was all right in its Avay, but thalb Avas going a little too far. Therefore they proposed to make the Clymers smart for it, jf tluy had to bear the avliolc brunt of an investigation, and hang ths expense! Judge Marcelius, their counsel, to whom tihe Latrells "thus stormed, quieted them with the assurance that his oavii confidential man, Abe Cronkite, in Avhose detective. powers he had the utmost faith, should make secret inquiiy regarding 'the death of Mr! Welling and 1 the disappearance of the formula. Meanwhile, he advised, they had best not assert their right or the dead woman's heir might demand of them the purchase price. The dead Aroman's heir, it so 'happened, in the charming person of Dorcas Welling, was at 't ! hat very moment behind the screen an the corner, transcribing certain stenographic notes for the Judge Avho valued her work «nd frequently employed her.. The threats of the clients, being loud, naturally impressed iher more than the lawyer's quiet counsel ; and in her mind's eyes she immediately saAV nob only her uncles amd aunts, bub her cusins, and especially one cousin, -Immured in deepest dungeons, thence to the scaffold. It didn't matter much about the others, perhaps ; but Ralph, ah, that was different 1 And so it came about, when the Judge went off to court, and there was a. little spell of rest, that Abe Cronkite sat attentively listening to the tribulation which- had come into her young life. "And "tihat is why you announced one month ago that yoii* had taken your last notes, and the next month came looking for more work," exclaimed the sympathetic Cror.kite. "Well, well, such is life; it's hard lines to lose mother and fortune be alone in the world for a fact. * N*av, mark my words* my dear. Your uncles are innocent ; J- have never 'had the slightest doubt of it. Men of their nee and weight don't br.eak into houses and do murder. They get angry, to be s"Bre, but they ca&xp. down quickly out of regard for their health. * '"Above all, they are too shrewd to commit useless crime, and of -what use would the formula be to them in the present circumstances? vSo I'm going right ahead with the Judge-'s assignment, knowing that if I discover the murderer I will frie them from suspicion, and if I Tecover the formula I will make you a rica little woman. We must help each, other, therefore; and the Avay for you to help is to be brave and tell me once 'more just what your mother did and said during 'her last {moments." ■■• t And Dorcas, restraining her grief* repeated the pitiful tale of the dead woman s unavailing struggle against fate: the woriderful intelligence of her. gaze ; t)he miraculous A-oice as if from ft tomb ; the inconsequent senseless, words, resulting from so supreme an effort. Just 'as she frnis'hed the detective bent forward and pointed out a mistake in the type-Avritten copy on the desk in front of her* . " Yes," said the girl with a blush, I was about to erase it. Do you know when I'm tired I often make such inversions in writing. See here are two more: 'ebV fou the; and 'of for 'to' "We all know, too, agreed the detective, "that tired people often misspeak themselves, giving a thing the wrong name, sometimes saying the direct opposite of what they have in mind. Now, if fatigue may Avork such a change in a healthy brain, Avhat confusion in expressing an idea by speech should we not expect in the case of one so terribly injured as your mother was? From your account it is plain that the idea she sought to convey was -most distinct in her v mind. The importance of your, knowing it was so. great that it vivified for a moment her paralysed lips and gave them utterance. . " Yet this maternal will, grand and superhuman as it Avas, could mot Avork imi. possibilities; it could not repair the lacerated tissues of the brain, and make them perform their normal functions. Stimulated, as they were by her" desperate resolution, they at least remained tired ; and so they caused the poor dead tongue to uttei seeming nonsense. Don't cry, my dear. Perhaps your mother did not suffer in vain. Let me come to your house and see the room as she saAV it ; then if there was inA'ersion, or, Arhat is more likely what the, scientists call heterophemy, a big word' which simply means saying what you don't mean, we may be able after all to translate and learn the truth." Evening came, and again the lamp was lighted and the blinds were drawn in the room wherein Deborah Welling lived and died. Everything Avas fs the dead AvOman was wont to see it — the rocking chair by the window j the old-fashioned desk, with the key still in the little draAver ; the Mayflower clock ticking unconcernedly in the corner, as if human lives might come and go, but it went on for ever. "Tell me once more, my child," said Abe Cronkite, "just what your mother said." " She said ' Tribe, Tribe, beware Tribe,' " replied Dorcas, " and then she said ' Sewed on watch, sewed on watch.' And each time she spoke she looked as if this time I must understand; until, at length, she seemed to know that she hadn't said what i,she meant, and that, try as she might she couldn't say it. Oh, dear — her face, her ■sad, intense, despairing face, it haunts me night and day!" "Did your mother have a watch?" asked Cronkite. " No, she tised to say that the old Mayflower clock Avas all the watch she needed.'' "SeAved on watch," repeated the detective, " preposterous, even had she had one. But • fixed, stored away, pinned in that roomy interior; Avhy,^Avhat better hiding ■place could possibly exist?" He opened the door of the clock ; he searched with his hand Aviiihin he brought out the parchment which 'Deborah in her alarm had pinned inside of the case. " N oav," said Cronkite briskly, " Let's tackle the other part. I feel equal to more than a tribe, Avhatever that may mean." " Could it mean a person's name, do you think?" asked Dorcas timidly. " Surely. The name of the_ man who assaulted her. She recognised him, no doubt ; she strove to warn you against him. But Avhy do you ask:" " Because the name of grandfather's old firm was Clymer adid Clan, and clan is a tribe, you knoAv." " Go" up head, my dear," said Cronkite solemnly, " you rank me. That opens my eye to many, many things. Didn't you tell I me that this man Clan Avent mad years ago from worry and OA r envork and 'that your mother always doubted whether "your grandfather aa'us- the true disco A'erer of the Clymer dye? " Well, then, suppose the ovenvork anil worry Avere caused by the strain of (his very discovery. Suppose your grandfather, seeing his partner done for for life, boldly appropriated the fruits of 'his genius. Suppose Clan's insanity changed, giving him glimpses of verity at times, but leaving him, as generally happens, crafty iwid vengeful. Suppose, then, he escape from the asylum, Avith all his crooked thoughts and unbridled imaginings centred on this one great possession of Avhich he had been robbed. What then, ah, Avkit then, indeed! Tell me, Avhy did your grandfather give the formula to your mother; you say she didn't expect it; you say he never liked her?" "Mother said once that she feared itwas a Greek's gift." " Aye, filled Avith AA'iles and dangers ; But why, after years of security, did lie come to such a conclusion? In the polict inA-estigation, Avas anything said of a mispicious person lurking about your grandfather's house V" " No ; but old Kate Avould kuoAV ; she Avas Avith grandfather during his last illness." Old Kate, Avhen summoned from the kitchen, readily recalled llmt on the night before he died, Nathan Clymer had uttered a. sudden cry, pointing to the Avindow. Avhere she distinctly yaw a man's face for the moment, a Avild, distorted face, Avhiuh s-lie Avould always remember. "And, my Clod," broke off iho old avoman, all of a tremble, "There it is now."' Abe Cronkite rushed out and around the house, but no one Avas in sight ; and yet he himself Avas positive that the shade Avhich

1 old Kato indicated had: been brushed aside. He returned to propose a plan for tli?. solving of the mystery, to which Dcri ca.s. brave girl, Avillingly assented. An hour later, as Dorcas sat alone in the quiet, half-lighted room, a great hand reach sd' over her shoulder and snatched the formula from the desk. Hardly had her screams echoed, when Cronkite had the intruder by the throat, mastering him through the superiority of skill over brute strength, but not before the madman's teeth and hands had torn the parchment in shreds. With Clan's identification and return to the asylum, the Welling murder ceased to be a mystery. The formula, however, the famous 'Clynwr dye formulas was irretrievably lost. Though the fragments of the parchment Avere gathered and placed together, some bits Avere missing, and they Avoro 'vital to the secTet. Perhaps it was just as well that this inheritance of fraud and revenge should cease to Avork its influence on the family ; at all events, both Egbert and Martin, taught- by adversity, came to honour and love Dorcas, an example which 'her aunts and cousins, especially one cousin, were not sloav- to follow. _____________ .