Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-31

PhiiGdelphiG Letter.
''For Mrs. Joseph AshbrOoke." A let
ter-carrier the other night threw down
heavy envelope with three or four foreign
stamps on the upper right-hand corner on
the marble counter in the office of the
Girard House and hurried away. A
clerk tapped a bell. "For Mrs. Ash
brooke he said, as he tossed the letter to
a c0lOred servant. who popped up in re-
Spouse to the silver sound. ga letter for
you, Mrs. AshbrOoke, said the servant to
an elegantly dressed woman. ga foreign
letter.' exclaimed Mrs. Ashbrooke, look
ing at the stamps and post-mark. cit
seems to be from Australia"
She slowly tore the envelope open and
drew out the contents. She curiOusly I'M
folded long and broad sheet of paper,
such as she had never received before.
Up in the left-hand corner she read in
neat, precise letters, ''Bolton & Bolton,
solicitors, Melbourne, Australia" The
paper began with the formal F'madam" in
a cramped hand, and as it went on the
writing grew worse, and ended in a long
scrawl that the lady took to be the law
firms name again. 1t was all hard to
make out, but some of the words were
clear enough to awaken Mrs. AshbrOokes
intense curiosity. She remained at it un-
til she mastered it all. Then, pale and
trembling, she called her husband and
said 81 have been made an heiress to
$4,000; and so, too, has each of my two
Sisters!'
The story that the letter told was a
weird romance. Thirty years ago Mrs.
Ashbrooke's father, Henry Devon, was
the American Consul at Rio Janeiro,
Brazil. He had IN his employ as conf
Dental clerk or agent George w. Ander-
son, who had been born in Pennsylvania
and drifted to South America. Mr.. Devon
had been living in Brazil for many years,
and had acquired large estate Two
daughters were born to him there. Be-
fore the one who afterwards became Mrs
Ashbrooke was born his wife sailed for
home, and his latest child first saw the
light on shipbOard.
Mrs. Devon had not been at home a
month when she received advices that her
husband was dead. He had been sick for
a few days only. When his affairs were
settled up large amount of money was
found to be missing. 1t could not be
traced, nor the amount definitely deter
mined, though it was known that a few
days before his death Mr.. Devon had a
great deal of money in cash on hand. Lee
gal inquiry was made, but without result
The estate was sold out and the matter
forgotten. Mrs. Ashbrooke heard of it
in childhood, but it left her mind years
ago. She heard no more of it again until
Jne IebU6f lFOHn AuSbTdlld came. Inc let
ter recalled it, and cleared up the mys-
terry.
The lawyers wrote that they had been
solicitors of George w. Anderson, who had
died in March of this year in hospital at
Melbourne. He had confessed, when dy-
ing, that he had embezZled $42, 900 intrust-
ed to him by Consul Devon. After Mr..
Deven's death his faithless agent wan
dered restlessly over the earth. He wound
T.
gold diggingS, and made large fortune
and lost it. He had after that become the
owner of an extensive sheep ranch. He
grew rich again rapidly, but lost heavily
in speculations. At last he went into
trade. He made money more slowly now,
but kept what he earned and put by
thousands. Age and privation, and the
wear of wandering, however, broke down
his health. He never married, and was
almost friendless in far-Off land,
He grew so weak and i'll that he was
forced against his own desire to enter
hospital. His nurse here was Sister of
Charity. She was an English woman
who had Travelled much upon her mission
in other lands. She was the embodiment
of cheerful meekness. She talked freely
and hopefully with her white-haired pa
tient OF life on earth and life beyond the
grave. She seemed to him, the solicitors
wrote, to be the only friend that he had
ever known. He watched her wander
in her black gown and wide white bon
net among the sick beds until his old
eyes grew weary. He asked her what
made her so cheerful amid her weari-
some tasks, and she answered-faith
and hope. He added charity. She AVA
kened in him thoughts of home,
At his own desire a clergyman was
called to his bedside after a time, and he
was baptized into the communion of the
Roman Catholic Church. In telling of his
faults the embeZZlement of thirty years
ago found a place. The priest told him
that no forgiveness could be had for such
sin until he had made restitution so far as
lay III his power. No matter how old the
crime the spiritual director said repara-
ton must be done. If the man from whom
the money had been taken was dead, his
children, if living, were, as his natural
heirs, entitled to the money. The penitent
full of zeal, said that he would do every
thing required. He had a deed of trust
drawn up, dividing $4,000 among the
children of the man whom he had wronged.
Two men during his life had learned of
the embezZlement, but had never spoken.
He required, as a condition precedent to
the payment Of the money under the trust,
that the fact of the restitution be pub
lished, so that he might stand confessed
before the world, and his memory be
cleared before those men. A few DAYS
after everything had been arranged he
died, and his solicitors, in carrying out
his wishes, wrote to Mrs. Ashbrooke.
ssIndeed," said Mrs. Ashbrooke, II was
surprised when / received that strange
letter. My mother, / know, had CORE
sponded with Mr.. Anderson after he left
Brazil, though she never suspected that
he had wronged us. He has kept track
of us in that way, no doubt, though the
correspondence dropped long ago. 1t
will be necessary, before / can come into
the trust, TO prove my identity, as was