The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1869-10-01

his side, and hurried away
go dcar!' he said to himself
"shc actually believes that I trump
cd up that story Of the pocl:c, ,ho !:
Tor az excuse to call or icr
! Wealth privileges her to b" il:;.*::
tincnt. But, ., if only larc,! t,
usc it,"
Harry Tyndall did not advertise
the lost pocllet-bool1, and when.
three days later, his note fell due,
he paid it, and was a free man.
1t is not necessary to recount the
successive steps in temptation which
finally led to the first dishonest act
of Il hitherto spotlcss life. How
the pocket-DooE came there he
could not even guess; but it was
there, it just supplied his moods, he
appropriated it, and was hcnccforth
branded a thief in his own eyes.
The process was gradual one.
Ages it seemed to him from the
time the gentleman who held his
mote entered his Office, unit! he
drew it from his safe and handed
it over to him. lie had already
decided to use it, yet he asked for
time. 1t could not be granted.
Minutes crowded with tho sharpcst
and bitterest agony of his life pas
,scd. lie thought of a bright,
.mocl1ing face, and a voice swcctcr
than a SIRENS; great beads of per-
spiration fell from his brow, and in
another moment the cancelled note
lay uron the table before him; his
visitor was gone, and lie was saved.
Those months of financial dis
trcss which followed were safely
tidcd over, and then he devoted
himself to his business with q mel
ancholy desperation born of con-
scious guilt. lie went little into
society, and espcci y did he avoid
Clara Berwick, who, with a perver-
sity Of moeking mischief tortured
himswith illusions to the lost pock-
ct-book Whenever she chanccd to
meet him. She was so thoroughly
good-natured about it, so utterly
careless and trifling, that he could
not accuse her of malice; yet, his
own conscience being his sharpest
accuscr, he imagined knowled &c of
his guilt when there was none.
lie did not conceal from himself,
that the desire to remain in Miss
Berwick's sphere was the principal
cause of his rash act; yet, now
that he was still where he could
meet her, he sllrunk from maxim 9
an avowal of his feelings, lie dared
not approach her with his love.
30 he argued to himself, thinking
that he was strong enough to with
stand the temptation. although he
knew he had yielded to a lesser
one.
But, disguise the fact as we may,
we are creatures of circumstance.
Wo say 81 will not do.so and So
and, 10! in a month or year We
have done those very things; and
! ut has become O mattor-of-course
that we should have done so. We
loudly condemn the thief, the mur-
dcrer, the suicide; but human ma
ture Is the same the world over.
Under the same combination OF
circumstances, we would have done
precisely as they did; for how
could we prevent IT,. BY the will
How many Of as will that such
and such things shall not be! Yet,
when did human will rise trium.
phant over the grinding and mex
orable laws of crcation-over those
stern, unqielding ambitions of law
which we call circumstance?
Even as, in spite of his will,
Harry Tyndall had appropriated
what was not his; 80, also, in spite
of that same will, he was at last
thrown into just such circumstan-
Ices as forced from, his lips decla-
hdon Of love. to Clara, though he
) trehAbled as he made it.
Clara arched her :brows q mo.
aent IN Pretended surprise las il
sne mad not known his struggles
all alongb, then, her. old merrv,
ockihg smile 1fahed, oyer5he,
feae,g and some banssrinp words
tzose 70 her lips, but they gere un.
} spoken; for there, Was earn estneas
enough and enough Of passion and
pain fn his face tosubdnae even her
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