The Skeleton

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Two friends, Tad and Jack, are conversing with each other at the Club, when Dr. Matthews, the wealthiest man in town, enters. In contemplating the rich man, the two young men speculate as to whether or not, with all his wealth, he is happy. The argument leads them to a wager. Tad bets $1,000 that there is something in the physician's life he would hate to have known, and that as a consequence he is unhappy. Jack accepts the bet. A short time afterward Jack is called away from home on business for an indefinite period. He leaves his wife behind. After a few months; during which Tad had been watching the physician's movements carefully, he follows the physician to Jack's home. It is as he thought. He will win the bet at the expense of his friend's wife. While he stands upon the porch sadly contemplating this, Jack returns. He sees that something is wrong. He suspects Tad. Tad tries to protect the wife, but Jack is dazed with the blow. They hurry into the house. Jack finds that his wife has just brought him a handsome baby. Tad makes his check for $1,000, and gives it to the new arrival.