The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-12-20


church. The stranger worked on in
silence until his task was completed;
then, tossing aside the sprays of ever
green and holly, he stepped into pew
and sat down. Something lying on the
! floor at his feet caught his eye. He
| picked it up and looked at it curiously.
1t was large key, and he turned and
twisted it in his fingers, idly wonder
! ing what it was for. Suddenly the
! thought flashed upon him that it was
! the key with which he had seen the
sexton lock the closet door. Evidently
! it had fallen from the sections pocket.
4" / wonder what it was he locked up so
carefully" he said, his eyes wander
/ ing To the closet in the wall. :" might
as well take u look nothing wrong in
that. | fancy" Going up to the closet,
! he put the kew in the lock, turned il
and pulled open the door. A dazzling
array of silver. carcles5ly piled upon
/ the shelf, was revealed. The church
communion plate he muttcrcd Il
wonder why it was left here. 1t must
be solid ware taking cup in his
hand and looking at It intcntlv. \
| slight noise caught his ear. Shutting
/ the door hastily he put the key in his
/ DothtI sllNl ave IL HUlCh Gldutt dlOUuN.
All was quiet and lonely as before.
:" It's only the rector moving about in
his study and he gave nervous lit
tie laugh at his own fears, then glanced
up at the great clock. 1t pointed to
! 1880. The sexton ought to be com
! ing back soon,' he thought Yielding
/ to a su ldcn impulse he hurried again to
the closet and opened the door. How
easy it would be to tie the plate up and
+ then escape through Il window? Going
to one of the back easements he looked
/ out. Only Jump of two or three feet
into a little paved courtyard below.
Then narrow alley that ran back be-
tween two great black buildings lead.
/ ing to n deserted street beyond. Both
yard and path smOoth-swept from snow
no danger of being traced after once
! getting out. Going back to the closet
he looked long and earnestly at the
massive plate. - 1t would get me out
of this cursed country and help me to Il
new start in some better place." he
I thought. God knows that. bad as
! I've been, I've never come to this as
yet; but then. how would any one be-
/ lieve mellow would he? No use OF
my trying to get out of the shadow in
my life; | ight as well make the best
of it and enjoy what can. Hark! !
heard that noise again"
Shutting the door, he turned the key
in the lock and no selessly creeping
along the passage he paused before the
door of the study. 1t stood aiar, and he
looked in. kneeling before Il chair was
the figure of an old man, holding in his
hand IA crumpled yellow letter and n
lock of dark-brown hair, on which the
tcar-drops were yet glistcning. The
Man in the Shadow brealhed quick and
hard. Suddenly the letter fell to the
foor unnoticed by its holder. The Man
in the Shadow picked it up and looked
at it. ITO Rev. Arthur Drayton.' he
read, and then staggering back into the
hall he sank down on chair and eager
ly tore the sheet open. Just ten years
before, the datr-the name at the end
and the handwriting his own! His
thoughts went back to another Christ
mas Eve. He tried to recall it. but
there was only a confused recollection
of a boyish scrape and his meeting with
his father in the old church. Stern,
hal,l words on his fathers side, and
first submission and then defiance on
his part-and then the separation.
Here was the letter he had sent him,
written that night in the heat of his an
ger and wounded pride that fatal let
ter, in which he had barred himself out,
as he thought, forever from his father :
house. But what could all this mcan?
His father living in the city. He had
not been mistaken then, after all, in his
recognition of the old man under the
lamp-poSt. But why--what did it mean,
what he had seen within? Could there
be such love as this after that bitter
parting, that hooking, insulting letter,
these long years of arrangement and
neglect still waiting for him, an out
cast, wanderer and Che shivcrcd as he
glanced behind him) almost thie;?
Out from the half-openel door came
the low tones of prayer, and bowling his
head he listened intrntly, with the tear
drops falling all unnoticed on the Old
letter. A name-it was his OWN aught
his ear, and as he heard it from his
fathers lips he arose and stepped to the
door of the study. He stopped, with
his hand on the knob, As he saw the
ropes that swung the great he'll lie in to
tighten, pulled by some unseen hand,
then opening the door he stepped into
the room as the first sweet chimes rang
out upon the still midnight air.
1.-The m0st curious thing
ever l came across. Molly" said Sex
ton Davidson, as he rccountcd the
events of the night to his wife the ne1 t
morning. "Just to think that the
young man that | took in and
saved from freezing to death at our
own church door should turn out to be
the rector's own son, when nobody
knew that the rector had son at all!
couldn help thinking, though, when
| was talking with him last night, that
he looked and acted like Il gentleman
otherwise / wouldn't have offered to
take him home with me. But the
strangeSt thing is about the key of the
closet that held the communion service.
You see it had been used the other day
and | couldn't put it back in the safe
because the lock was out of order SO
just clapped it into that closet of mine,
where | keep most everything, until |
could take it down to the bank. When
| had to come home last night | was
just about going OFF and leaving that
strange young man there in the church
with that closet unlock | went back
and locked it and put the key in my
pocket. Well, would you believe it.
when | got back to the church | found
the key in the lock and the-rectors son