CHAPTER XXXIV.
CONCLUSION.
Reader, we thank you for your kind attention. Our tale is told, and we shall impose upon it but a moment longer. It would not probably interest you to know that the twenty thousand dollars worth of forged notes, forged by the dead man, still remain in the hands of Mr. Jonah Nipper—and are likely so to do for all time to come. During the first three years of their married life, Ben and his beautiful wife received a letter without a signature. It told of a young girl that had been betrayed by a heartless man, and persuaded by him to leave her humble home. Harassed by her importunities in a moment of weakness to his cold, crafty self, he had allowed a marriage ceremony to be performed. Shortly after, the man's uncle died leaving provisions in his will that made the manhatethe poor helpless being he found himself tied to. Her death was his only release. A dark night on a Hudson River steamer, a blow and a splash in the waters, and he thought himself a free man. But the girl lived. Lived to hunt him down with the fury of a tigress. In poverty she pursued her revenge. As a tramp, in male attire, she tracked her would be murderer. At last revenge seemed to come within her reach. She would wait until he had violated the law, and then crush him and his hopes, as a bigamist. But meanwhile the love that had died blossomed anew. She thought to live and love once more. It was not to be. The object of her new love had given his heart to another. Still she loved him, and as a last offering of her love placed within his reach the idol of his heart, all unsullied.
Both Bertha and Ben strove to discover her whereabouts. From that day to this, "Tommy" has been neither seen nor heard of by them. They live in all the luxury wealth can offer. As happy as happy can be. Smythe, Hough and Wasson were at the wedding, and all claim to have provided Ben with this terrestrial paradise by sending him on that trip to New Orleans. The Cleveland's house is known to the fraternity of the foot-path far and wide. There is not a vagabond of them but knows that a hearty meal and substantial help await all who knock at that door. And their calls are numerous and frequent.