Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-07-03
A Desperate Chance.
By CHARLES PORTER SUMNER.

"The internal serpent; he it was whose
guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, de,
ceived.'
-Paradise Lost: MILTON.
Why I have now resolved to dis
close secret buried in my own breast
for thirty years it boots not to tell
Perhaps it may be frora mere reck-
lessness, for l am a:desperate man,
and have been so more than half Of
my life, though none. have suspected
it. Be the motive what it may, I am
resolved, and, if the effort result in
tortures potent to rend asunder the
last,frail thread of my life, I will full
fill that purpose.
That 1 am guilty, this confession
will amply prove nor does it palllate
my guilt that T was tempted, Yet it
may be we'll to state the nature of
my temptation, for F. solemnly be
Geve that no mortal ever suffered the
same terrible experience,
It is, in fact, my deliberate convic-
ton that a veritable fend, commits
stoned by Satan himself for this very
design, encompassed nv destruction.
Not in the spirit did this demon
haunt me-; but'as a human being like
myself; warm, breathing, handsome,
flesh and blood-but none the less a
devil : For half a. score of years he
was my bosom friend. I fairly swof-
shipped him, and fondly believed that
his love for me was as shield OF
triple brass. And yet | killed him
Let me tell my tale.
My name-or rather the name. /
choose to use in this confession-is
Walter Carlisle. Left an orphan at
an early age, I succeeded to;a mod
crate inheritance, and was adopted
by my maternal uncle, Jason Wilmer.
My guardian was childless widow
er, and, pleased with me in infancy,
determined, when I thus became de-
pendent on mis- protection, to educate
me as his heir. He was a merchant
of great wealth and high standing,
and beside myself, loved nothing on
the earth so much as the good name
of his commercial house. In this,
however, there was nothing selfish OF
miserly-for he was charitable to 9
fault, and all who knew him blessed
him for his kind heart and open hand
but he was jealous of the honor
his firm had acquired in the business
world, and regretted bitterly, till he
adopted me, that he had no direct
descendant who would perpetuate its
probity and Importance when he had
passed away.
When I came to him. lie fondly
hoped that he had at last found fl.
ting substitute for a son, who would
fulfill his cherished ambition. Ac-
cordingly- he resolved, in my boy
hood, that should succeed him, not
onlyin his wealth, bu: in his nalne
and business. | was tosbe Ga. isl
Wilmer when ! came into possession
at his death, and the name Of tie
firm was to remain unaltcred; l,>
will, which be executed whcn he
adopted ,ne, expressly providing that
I should not inherit unless carried
on the business.
A new life opened to him when he
had thus decided on educating me
for the position which he hoped l
would worthily 6llswhen he was gone.
My youth was one of fair promise,
and ere long he grey to love me as ii
I had been indeed his own son. In
those days OF. innocence-in fact, un
til the tempter and my crimes had
changed my aature-I returned, his
love. reyerenced him.as my father.
and as bright example, whose course
I was to follow Had any prophet
whispered in my ear, while / astAu&
grateful and free from sin. that 1
should one day be the asp in. his cup
of JOY to sung him unto death, l
should haye laughed the oracle, TO
scorn and considered him a madman
Time passed; my. school education
wss completed, and Twas introduced
into the cQunting-house to undergo
that thorough course of mercantile
training which was to fit me for my
important position in the future. NJ
pains were spared to induct me com
pletely into the mysteries Of CONNER
cial science, but my adopted father
was a shrewd man of the world and
knew full we'll youth was the time
for enjoyment. was, therefore, by
no meansclosely. confined during the
first years Of .dy probation; Mr.. Viii
mer justly arguing that my lovefot
business must be gradually inbibed,
that I might never consider it irk-
some through the memory Of any
hardship in my apprenticeship. Ac-
cordingly l shared freely in the pleas
ures OF those youths of my. own age
whom he permitted me to know, bis
only censorship consisting in the
choice of worthy companions for me,
and my allowance in money was more
liberal than that Of any Of my yoane
friends.
Those were halcyon days indeed,
and until eighteen l never knew It
care. At that age was fulfilling hi,
utmost wishes; / had never done a
wrong wilfully; l was steadily ac-
curing taste for mercantile life and
became strictly attentive to itstntie-;
and, as hn.ve said, ] loved an4srev
erenced him beyond all the world
There seemed to be no single cloud
IN the horizon OF my life, and could
have chosen my own lot ere | was
born, knowing and feeling what diti
then, would not have chosen differ
emily. But the dark days were swift
" coming nevertheless, and | turn
from the only pleasant retrospection
in my life to chronicle thei4. advent.
How and when | first met Arthur
de Chargny is briefly related. 1t
was on the occasion Of the celebration
~, rinoteenth hirtbdav h.,