Litchfield enquirer., 1880-06-03
WHOLE t O)lL[.tEz ;s.N NO. s2795

Let me bear the burden, 'father, and do you live 'on.' That Ilet him do. so was a far mean I CT act even than the robbery of my kind em- ployers, yet infamously survived it. saw him leave his native land in shame and igno. | mlny j. knew that he. was parting forever from the girl he loved; knew that I was plugging others into unmerited misery but what was that to me, who did not spare my own flesh and blood. For four years have dragged on wretched existence, poisoned by the knowledge of my own vileness; and made more wretched still by the good opinion men expressed of me; till at last you, my employ CTS, heaped such benefits upon my unworthy head that even could no longer bear them. | lknowi now the full meaning of that phrase 'as coals of fire when applied to unmerited goodwill, and have found them insupport- I able. When you read this shall be a dead 1 man. The e2, 900 you have given me in such I mistaken kindness is untouched, and will of course return to you I have earned nothing at your hands but let dying sinner appeal to you in favor of the innocent My poor Fred my poor Fred forgive me, forgiye-" The letter had no conclusion, but the bottom | of its page was splashed and smeared with blood. dropped it Git had been placed in my hands by MT. Halland) with gesture of dis gust but not because of it's red .tnis. My soul was filled with loathing against the wretch l who had sacrificed his only son rather than take the consequences of his own mlsdeed, and for the moment poor Frederick's wrongs out-weighed with me those of Kate herself. What Roman, what Spartan, of them all had ever performed a nobler act of self-denial than this, to give up his good name, his love, and his country to save a fathers character from well-merited disgrace? What injuries had this old man wrought all round and among them thls personal wrong, that he had caused me to doubt the honor of my dearest i friend, and to desert him in the hour of need And oh, what misery for all these years had my sweet patient Kitty suffered '.s -,
 Mr. Hailand's grave voice interrupted these angry thoughts. eve have sent for you Mr. Clayton;' he said, ''to put you in possession of the contents of that sad letter, because we thought that the revelation was due to you It has been made known to no one else, and I need not say that we look to you in the inter- ests of wronged and innocent man, to pre- serve the secret. We do not know how things may have gone with your poor sister, | Here he paused and looked toward his broth CT, who struck in.
 | ''Mr Clayton could relieve us from some of our embarrassment in this matter by telling us frankly how things stand at home.' Then l told them not without some bitter ness how Kitty's life had been wrecked by that blast of ill report, though even yet she did not believe it; how the few years that had | intervened since Fredericks exile had been as | half lifetime to her and that when she died | 1t would be this miserable wretch who had cut short her days.
 softly
 'Yes, sir; but his deeds live after him." l "Your wrath is just" put in the younger brother; ''still, something may vet be done in the way of remedy. We shall telegraph this | day to Frederick Raynor, to summon him to take his fathers place here it is at once the | least and most we can do for him. If we can add, however, that your sisters heart is still within his keeping"
 "But supposing that his own feelings are changed?" suggested Mir. Halland That would place the young lady in an embarrass- ing position"
 ''To be sure had forgotten that, returned the other with touch of color; he was known to have been happy in his choice of a wife, and | when that IS so men are apt to believe in the | fidelity even of their own sex
 On my return home found strange alter alton in Kitty's face. It was always pale enough now, poor soul it looked careworn, though never grief-worn. But now her sweet eyes were red and swollen, and her cheeks showed the traces of many tears Unable to endure the spectacle of her misery, bade Her a nasty goodnight, and was about to take up my bed candle when she suddenly put this question, "Have you no message for me, | Frank p
 Message, darling? No. What news did you expect?"
 ''I did not say ,news,'" replied she in a strange tone suppressed triumph. ''It would be no news to ne to hear that Fred was inno- cent 1 knew that all alOng'
 'Mr. Halland has been here, then !" cried 1, in astonishment. 'He has told you what has happened"
 The shook her head, and from her bosom pulled out telegram wet with tears It was | from Frederick, and had arrived an hour ago s'l ameoming home, love-" Nor a word else He had not troubled himself to add, My in- noccnce is established; :" it would have been two sovereigns thrown away.
 l At that moment hanson dashed up to the door, and the next moment heard the voice | of the younger Mir. Haand asking the servant | if was at home. Iknew at once that Fred erick had sent his reply to his private house, and that this good man had driven over to me | at once upon the receipt of it.
 "lt is all right, Mir. Clayton" whispered he, as he grasped my hand. "He comes home by | the next steamer"
 | He came upstairs and well, to make it clear, suppose, how matters stood, or per- haps it was a. part of Fred's message that he had to deliver-he kissed Kitty and we sat up
 
 did we ever tell her of that question, "Are | you free ?" which had been sent so uuneces- | sarily across the world.
 It was the intention o the firm, Mir John | told us since they felt that man with such l an exceptional sense of duty as Frederick Ray nor was invaluable, to put him in his fathers place; while in the two months that must in- terVene before his arrival in England their at | tention would be devoted to the selection of wedding present for their junior partner. My wife, Miss Clayton, will do herself the honor-for such she will feel it-of calling on you tomorrow" were his last words. had no conception that 'Johnny," as we clerks used to call him, was such a noble fel- low.
 The next day we were all summoned before the partners and informed that a grave and terrible mistake had been made in the dismiss sal of Mir. Frederick Raynor, who had been proved wholly innocent of the crime laid to his charge. But not a word was said as to the actual offender; and though all sorts of sur misses and suspicious were of course excited among my fellow clerks, not one of them ever dreamed of accusing that exemplary and pub- a lie spirited man, Mir. Jacob Raynor, for whom, indeed, a sympathy greater than ver was now aroused from the sense that he had been hur- red to his death by the calumny that had ex- lied his only son. And here AVas manifested the wisdom of making Fred partner, for in any lower position he would have been ex- posed to'some painful interrogatioBs concern ing the true culprit which now no one would dare put to him when it was once understood that he wished to be silent on the point. It was felt by both his employers-or, as 'Emay now say, by his -partners-that the chief point to be aimed at for. Frederick's sake was to keep that secret, for which he had already sacrificed so much, from the world at large D
 It may naturally be imagined that some thing like renewal of springtide came to- my poor Kitty (since she was SO soon to be Fred erlck's) after the weary ,winter-time she had endured. But strange to say, this was not the case. She had shown a natural exultation at the proclamation of his innocence, though sine had required no proof of it herself; and l O IL.