Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-01-08

his business is urgent, but he won't Civ,
his name"
A strange gentleman, at this hour
and on such night" exclaimed papa
rising. "He must be some belatet
traveller. Show him in.'
We all looked at each other, an(
glanced toward the door in eager, nerv
GUS curiosity, as an elderly gentleman
with very white hair and beard entered
the room, made q courteous bow, which
embraced everybody, and proceeded tx
unbuttOn an enormous travelling cloal
in which he was enveloped. For mo
ment or so his eyes wandered round tht
room, as if in search of something, an(
then he smiled sadly.
"You don't know me, Mr.. Nevillep'
quoth the gentleman, after what seemed
an ominous silence, drawing more di
rectly into the light of the fire, which
blazed cheerily.
g | have not that pleasure. SIR" paps
replied. looking at our visitor more at
tentively.
"Ah! Yet my picture hung there
once" pointing to vacant space among
the portraits on the wall. My name ii
jeffrey Lawson"
jeff" cried papa and Aunt Edith
with one voice.
"Jeff!'' we all echoed in amazement
Here was the sequel to the story with 8
vengeance.
"You do not seem overjoyed to see
me, Robert" Mr.. Lawson said after
another pause. Well, perhaps YOU
are not to blame. But you. Edith-aftel
all these long years-might give youl
hand"
At that moment his eye rested or
aunt's helpless right arm, and the most
terrible, awkward, awful silence l ever
witnessed ensued.
Mr.. Lawson was first to recover his
self-possession. Forgive me-" lie said,
and there was tremor in his voice. &C
did not know-I am sorry" Papa re-
manned stern and silent. | really pitied
Mr.. Lawson, the odds were SO fearfully
against him. Not single kind or en-
couragihg glance met his eyes as he
looked up little haughtily, and con-
tinued addressing us all: 81 did you a
great wrong once, Mr. Neville. I have
travelled many thousand miles to Offer
what reparation 7 can. That will by
which l obtained five thousand pounds
was a forgery. But have come to pay
it back with interest"
Papa bowed his head, but +, manned
silent.
Money was absolutely necessary
then, for | had many pressing engage
n1ents to meet-my safety, my liberty
was at stake-I was desperate; bat
though my base trick succeeded, it was
too late. Absolute ruin and disgrace
stared me in the face, and l was CON-
pelled to fly, like thief in the night, to
escape the consequences of my folly.
That night | secretly left the house,
escaping by my bedroom window.
Concealing all the money l had, took
passage for Australia, where, by careful
speculation and hard work, / soon
realized considerable fortune. | had
no desire to return. I formed new
friends, new habits; squatter life
suited me; and so | remained year after
year. But was heartily sorry for and
ashamed of the part played about the
will, and l resolved one day to try to
make it square with you. Then the
gold fever broke out, and, the spirit OF
adventure being strong in me, re-
solved to go to the diggings. | was
successful, but others were
not so fortunate. One poor fellow who
went by the name of Down Ted" /
heard frequently spoken of as singularly
One day | was surprised to
receive message from this fellow re-
questing me to come and see him as he
was very i'll, and had an impo1 tant con-
fession to make. l went at once, and
saw at glance that the man was dying
but imagine my surprise when, on a
closer survey of his features, recog-
nized him to be Ted Judson, the son of
your old steward-good for nothing,
graceiess vagrant Ted, who got me into
as many scrapes as | got him
out of. With the utmost difficulty, for
he was dying, he told me a singular
story. On the very night I left Garrick
he tried to rob and murder me.
Hearing from his father that | had
a large sum of money by me, he re-
solved to have some of it; and entering
the house, in the dusk of the evening,
he concealed himself behind the corri-
dor window and waited til the house
was all quiet; then he entered my room,
and after searching in vain for the
money. he seized knife which lay on a
table and, in fit of drunken rage and
disappointment, resolved to cut my
throat if did not give up my purse.
Advancing to the bed where I lay sound
asleep, he lifted the knife and made a
slash at my throat; when to his horror
he saw the White Lady, who '.walks, y
bending over me. Throwing down the
knife he fed in terror, and made his es-
cape through the window he found open
In a moment it flashed upon me that
your room was mistaken for mine, and
my window, which / had left open
proved the means of escape for the vii
lain, as it had already proved the means
OF escape for me. hope the timely ap.
pearance of the White Lady prevented
any serious mischief
. 1t did to me" papa said, sadly
6 but the slash that missed my throat
cost my sister her right hand She was
the lady who saved me, Jeffreyn
'' l am better pleased to have the mys
terry cleared up than / would be to have
the right hand back again, if such 8
thing were possible" aunt said, softly.
1.-The knife Judson saw on the tablt
must have been your pruning knife
Robert, which | asked one of the ser
wants to return to you," continued Mr.
Lawson. Here is Ted's written anc
signed confession, witnessed by a magis
trate. And now let me once more en-
treat your forgiveness; and, as my mis-
sion is accomplished, / will not intrud,
any longer. should have remembered
that the Nevilles are not race to forge
or forgive"
Are the Lawsons, jeff" papa cried
advancing with outstretched hand. :"
so, claim yours. / have done You al