The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-13

ture he bad only maintained sullen ST.
lence, but persisted in keeping his face
concealed from view. Now for the hrst
time he raised his head and looked around
with glance of defiance.
The Judge started, while murmur OF
surprise arose from those who were near
est him. The height, the figure, the COM
plexion, the shape of the head, were
almost identical, but those bloodshot eyes
and distorted features bore no resemblance
to Richard Blake's
He drew himself up and glared about
him like wild animal at bay.
Hell-houndsm he Kissed between his
shut teeth; $50 you have found me! But
you shall not gloat upon me on the scatfold
as you are gloating upon me now Thus
thus defy you"
As he said this he plunged dagger he
had managed to conceal, to the hilt in his
side.
In an instant all was terror and confu-
sion. Medical aid was procured for the
wounded man, but it was unavailing he
fingered until night, when he died, but not
until he had confessed that he had COM
mitted the crime of which an innocent
man had been convicted.
Subsequent developments revealed the
startling fact that he was a natural son OF
the murdered man. Years ago DR.. Hulk
ton had won and betrayed the love and
trust of an innocent, confiding girl. But
he soon wearied of her, and on the eve of
his marriage sent the mother and her child
into a distant State, quieting his con-
science by settling upon them sufficient, at
least, to keep them from actual want.
Deprived of the restraining influence of
father, and inheriting, no doubt, the law
less passions of which he was the offspring,
the boy grew into a hayward, headStrong
youth. Sensitive and high spirited, he felt
keenly his unfortunate position the taunts
and sights to which it often subjected him,
sinking as he grew older deeper and deeper
into his heart. He formed strong attach
mcnt for the daughter Of man who prided
himself upon his family standing, and was
rejected on account Of the stain of his
birth. This had most unhappy effect on
him. He shut himself up from society,
brooding over it until his naturally morbid
condition of mind took the form of actual
disease, and which finally eliminated in
the fatal deed by which, to use his own
words, he "avenged his own and his mo-
theirs wrongs"
In the mean time Richard Blake had
sought the asylum of foreign shore, and
it was some months before he received the
intelligence of his complete cXoneration
from the crime laid to his charge. Attera
years absence, he returned toreward, with
the devotion of his life, the noble girl who
had been true to him through evil and
good report. His old friends gathered
around him, anxious to do all in their
power to make him forget the past; but
he determined, for his wife's sake, no less
than his own, to leave for while the
scenes that reminded them of so much
that it was painful for them to remember.
He went to Italy, where he now is, a
promising and successful artist, with a
happy family springing around him.
Thus, after years Of prosperity and
honor, did the secret sin of DR.. Huxton's
youth find him out-onc Of the many cX-
COMPLICATIONS Of the old and significant
saying: -,
Goods mills grind slow, but they grind
exceedingly small.