"No, sir, not much. He was always a silent man."

"Had anything happened to disturb him?"

"He got a letter this morning. I don't know what was in it."

"We had better search for it."

The body was taken down and laid on the bed. Dr. Park searched the
pockets, and found a half sheet of note paper, on which these lines were
written:


"Maria:--I have made up my mind I can ive no longer. I have made a
terrible discovery. When I married you, I thought my first wife, who
deserted me four years ago, dead. I learn by a letter received this
morning that she is still living in a town of Illinois. The only thing I
can do is to free you both from my presence. When you come back from the
store you will find me cold and dead. The little that I leave behind I
give to you. If my first wife should come here, as she threatens, you
can tell her so. Good-by.

"William."


The reading of this letter made a sensation. Mrs. Brown went into
hysterics, and there was a scene of confusion.

"Do you think I can go?" Carl asked Dr. Park.