Dodge City times., 1883-12-20

behind Sexton Davidson, sending long.
hollow echoes through the lonely
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.
it was a large key, and he turned and
twisted it in his fingers, idly wonder
inc 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 sexton's pocket.
81 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 look--nothing wrong in
that, fancy" Going up to the closet,
he put the kew in the lock, turned it
and pulled open the door. A dazzling
array of silver, carelessly piled upon
the shelf, was revealed. 1.-The church
communion plate," he muttered. 81
wonder why it was left here. 1t must
be solid ware taking a cup in his
hand and looking at it intently. A
slight noise caught his ear. Shutting
the door hastily he put the key in his
pocket and gave quick glance around.
All was quiet and lonely as before.
"It's only the rector moving about in
his study" and he gave a nervous lit
tie laugh at his own fears, then glanced
up at the great clock. 1t pointed tc
1850. 1.-The sexton ought to be COM
ing back soon," he thought. Yielding
to a sudden 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 a window? Going
to one of the back easements he looked
out. Only Jump of two or three feet
into little paved courtyard below.
Then narrow alley that ran back be-
tween two great black buildings lead
ing to 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. '.It would get me out
of this cursed country and help me to a
new start in some better place." he
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; l mig ght as well make the best
of it and enjoy what l can. Hark! l
heard that noise again.. y
Shutting the door, he turned the key
in the lock and noiselessly creeping
along the passage he paused before the
door of the study. It stood ajar, and he
looked in. Kneeling before chair was
the figure of an old man, holding in his
hand a crumpled yellow letter and a
lock of dark-brown hair, on which the
tear-drops were yet glistening. The
Man in the Shadow breathed quick and
hard. Suddenly the letter fell to the
floor 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
1y tore the sheet open. Just ten years
before, the date-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 confused recollection
of boyish scrape and his meeting with
his father in the old church. Stern,
hard words on his fathers side, and
first submission and then defiance on
his part-and then tn. separation.
Here was the letter he ha5 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,
Us he thought, forever from his fathers
house. But what could all this mean?
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 a love as this after that bitter
parting, that mocking. insulting letter.
these long years of estrangement and
neglect waiting for him, an out
cast, wanderer and Che shivered as he
glanced behind him) almost thief?
Out from the half-opened door came
the low tones of prayer, and bowling his
head he listened intently, with the tear
drops falling all unnoticed on the old
letter. A name-it was his own-caught
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 bell begin 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.
"The most curious thing
ever came across, Molly" said Sex
ton Davidson, as he recounted the
events of the night to his wife the ne3t
morning. "Just to think that the
young man that l 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 ali!
| couldn help thinking. though, when
l was talking with him last night, that
he looked and acted like 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 l couldn't put it back in the safe
because the lock was out of order. SO
{iust clapped it into that closet of mine.
where l keep most everything, until l
:HOuld take it down to the bank. When
had to come home last night l was
just about going off and leaving that
strange young man there in the church
with that closet unlocked. l went back
and locked it and put the key in my