A romantic story has been got up by the evening
papers about a Mr. Lidderdale, manager of Stuckey's branch bank at Ilminster. It is asserted that a lady of large means, who. was in love with him, has decoyed him on board her yacht, and is keeping him there in durance. The only facts known, however, seem to be that Mr. Lidderdale has disappeared, that his accounts are all in order, that the day before he vanished he drew from a bank £1,000 of his own money, that he was en- gaged to be married, and that somebody or other has published an advertisement of his death on the yacht Foresight,' which yacht does not exist. The story does not look true. A mil- lionaire might, we suppose, kidnap anybody if he was willing to pay a great sum down, and to submit to blackmail for the remainder.of his life, but millionaires generally avoid those unpleasing situations. The only real mystery in the matter is the advertisement of death, which justifies strict inquiry; but it will probably be found that this was published either to arrest inquiries, Mr. Lidderdale choosing to begin a new career, or to secure a mental pardon from the lady who, if the story of an engagement is true, was so suddenly deserted. Death has an expiatory effect.
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