Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-10
" FOR her WHEN | AM DEAD. ;
a STORY.

have written. but l am a bad hand at put
ting things on paper. You ought to have
been the first to hear Of-Of the change in
my plans: but l suppose you know it.
Those cOnfOunded newspapers get hold of
everything, somehow. as soon as it hap
pens"
Paul DOrman spoke aWkwardly and half
alphabetically, keeping his eyes fixed on
the meerschaum he was trying to rekin-
die, and away from my face. l smoked on
in silence, not helping him by question or
comment.
q never was fit for the work" he went
on. Its completely out Of my line, and
l should never have undertaken it. You
were the right person."
II don't think that was the general
opinion l said, not BITTERLY was very
careful how 1 spoke on this subject-but
as stating matter Of fact.
NO he agreed with me; "but you
were less unfit than 1 and, after all, the
choice lay between US, you and me. 1t
seems strange now 70 think that we were
all the world to poor old Cyril. Well. Fve
done my best, as far as it goes. and now |
have come TO beg you to take up the work
where L have left it. You won't refuse
me:'
1t had never been my way to refuse
Paul anything he asked, and still less
should l do so now. | might have said
Of myself. as he had said of my dead
cousin, Cyril Blest, all I had in the world
had been Paul and Cyril, and Cyril was
dead.
''Still, owe you an explanation" he
went on. his pipe between his teeth and
his face turned to the fire: sand | de-
clare ne broke out suddenly, there's
not man in London 10 whom | wouldn't
sooner make it, or who wouldn't find it
easier 10 accept it, than you, old fellow"
and he flashed one Of his old, frank, atfec-'
tionate glances az me while be laughed
embarrassedly.
! started. His words fell like a blow on
an unhealed bruise, He had touched IN
aWares the one tender, aching spoc m -. ~
-suloAe-drled, case-haTdened. feelings. T
was a hard, selfish man Of the world in
M eyes and those Of society generally:
!! 'Is uils - -...l a the responsibilities of
ufe and to secure TO myself share of
such of its good things as came in nv
way, without brain or heart enough to rise
to the higher levels Of enjoyment. if too
calculating and emOtiOnless by nature to
sink to the lower. That was Paul Dor
mans idea Of me, David GWynne and he
pitied me and loved me nevertheless. Cv-
ri Blest had done me greater Justice but
he, too, gently despised my aimless, self
absorbed life, aud lOved me nevertheless.
VIZ I''' - 5, we three, linked !
y, JOnds forged in the young days when
only such strong glow of sympathy and
white heat OF enthusiasm as weld men tc-
gether can be felt. We were at college to-
gether, Cyril and Paul, the two most noted
men Of their day, each in his different
line; /. perhaps, the least; and cur COM
partnership vas a standing marvel even to
superficial observers. Cyril was dry,
quiet. pale little man, with a bent head
aud thoughtful blue ewes under his spec-
AaaTrz hp
to- and then giving short, concise answers,
very much to the point, in a low, uuem-
phatic tone. Paul was a stalwart athlete,
full of animal spirits, and rather given to
"gush' in his cOnYersatiOn-and gush was
less universal in those days than nova
Tigbt-mindCd, kInd-heaIted, fairly intelli-
gent boys His nalr has grown thin on the
temples, and ne goes through instead On
over a 1Ye-barred gate when he comes
across one now, but he has hardly out
grown his bOyhOOd vet. / cannot describe
myself and / think Paul or Cyril would
have been equally at a loss to do so. Cyril
sneered softly at me because l did not
read; Paul ieered openly at me because
could not row, run, or play tennis. And
vet we were inseparables, aud no one
guessed how the successes Of one or the
other would set my heart leaping and my
head swimming with excitement. while
TIT 4AAlAEEls AlD0L ALEd5ulEu NDEtl1 OF
comment were all that would rise to my
lips.
There is no need to recall their varied
is tiuctiOns here. PauFs wife has his by
heart. He is the i ia1a, country Squire
ana NJ. T., with model estate. COnserva- !
for his wife. ''''''
wills career was public property 1t
was brief and brilliant, and the details
are. or were a month ago, IN eyerybody's
mouth. :,
should not understand il If L did. l am
content to glory in all hear OF his mar
veIOus talent, patient industry, and in
spired insight, and to know that his book
will stand as a monument of life given
to a worthy labor long after am dead and
forgotten.
We never drifted far apart, we three. l,
living in the narrow little world we call
society. saw faces come and go; fashions
change: bright households disintegrate
and vanish. leaving dreary blanks; houses
of mourning burst fOrt1 into merrymaking
for one CAV season and sink into gloom
once more: beauties fade, and regulations
arise and fall. And l have played my own
mOnOtOnOus little part IN the show; but
nv real life was lived with Cyril in his
OIiaiut Id-cOuntry home. unchanged from
ening and heightening of the drift Of pa
pers and proof sheets and the lessening of
the space accorded to human beings. He
would come TO me in town sometimes,
and. establishing himself in a corner of
nv chambers, work away peacefully be-
tween his visits to the British Museum
and his publishers. But he never went
to PauTs home; he could find nothing to
do there. he said, and preferred that Paul
should come to him.
In that quaint old house he died, sud-
denly and painlessly, without shadow
of warning. There he was found one
grav morning stark and cold at his desk,
the ink dry on the pen in his fingers, the
other hand stiffened on the page Of book
of reference beside him.
They sent for me as his nearest-in
fact. his Only-relative, and 1 summoned
Paul. His Will, dated in the Cambridge
davs, was found at his solicitors. In II
ne shared his property equally between
us-that is a certain sum of money was
left TO me. and his house, his library,
mauuscripts, and personal belongings to
Paul. ] had the lions share, and 1t hurt
me that it should be mine.
AIso. Paul was left executor, and that
hurt me. too. ! know 1 had made score
Of cynical observations on thepOsthumous
nuiSances men made of themselves TO
fheir friends 10y laying burdens Of trus-
that C'vril should have taken me at my
word cut me TO the heart.
/ stood aside, leaving Paul TO his duty,
ana feeling for the first time dropped out
Of the fellowship. This feeling was in
tensified before long.
Hardly had the last screw been turned
in the coffin lid before ''The Romance of
Research: a Memoir Of the late Prof.
Blest. with Diary and Correspondence"
was advertised as in preparation, with an
utterly unknown name on the title page
nv way Of an authoritative check to the
notification. Paul, by the advice of the
Solicitors. and at the urgent request of
CvriTs publishers, was induced to an
n61lnce that he was at work on Life and
Letters from the only authentic materials.
The notice served its purpose, the catch
nanny publication never appeared, and
soouer than could have believed posi-
Ne the first volume Of PauPs memoir
cama ont. II was uncOmmonly we'll done,
80 e,caTvone said. / contributed all that
was asked Of me in the way OF cores
pondence or verification Of dates or incl
dents and that was all. l had taken for
Granted that il was on some such quest
mat Paul presented himself unexpectedly
this November evening, and was more
imam perplexed at his manner ana words