The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-25
Frinted BY sprcial Arrangement Vaa The Aathor.
ALL FOR HER
BY HAIRY w. FRENCH.
copyrighted 1885, by the Author-An Rights
Reserved.
A S TO Y.

Reseryeu.l
If you part with friend in Boston, and. reach
ing New York by the quickest possible route, at
once meet him leisurely walking down the street
there, as though nothing had happened, you are
naturally astounded What, then, if you have
said farewell to him forever; seer his body cold
and dead, covered in the grave, only to return to
your deserted hearth to find him sitting quietly
in his accustomed armchair
You smile. Absurd" you say "a vagary
of Imagination Nonsense of spiritualism. And
can only reply: My friend, am not spiritu-
alist I am ignorant of even its simplest theo-
ries and am. and always have been, radically
opposed to anything pertaining to it. have al
ways believed that when the grave covered a
man that was the end of him, at least so far as
we remaining had to do Nevertheless l have
passed through precisely the above experience.
/ can only say it. If you cannot believe, let it
drop.
My friend was noble, determined, generous
fellow: just as poor as any young lawyer who
has hardly stepped from under his college debts,
and just as sure to succeed eventually as any
man of courage, ideas, will and correct physical
and moral Development could be. A bond of
friendship united us, such as exists between few
men upon the earth. We had come up together
almost from the cradle, and even to the end of
college days were classmates and room mates.
Unfortunately I was possessed of a moderate
fortune. 1t was just enough to kill any fear of
the wolf, and also to destroy the offspring of
necessity. Conscious only of a anguid pleasure
in the great world of letters, took picturesque
little cottage in one of the delightful suburbs of
Boston, where my friend studied and was now
practicing law. There INDUCED myself, as the
spirit moved, in random strokes toward ltera-
ture, indifferently expectant that some day 1
should do something by mistake, which might
suddenly make me famous My bachelor life
was never unhappy, consequently it was never
exceptionally happy unless perchance, upon
the two or three evenings week when Dick
came out from the city to spend the night with
me.
A real joy, and the greatest could have asked,
would have been to share with Richard Halstead
my modest fortune; but money was the one
thing which no amount of urging would ever
persuade him to accept. The day he was twenty
nine however, | succeeded in beguiing into his
camp fine gold watch as the country could
furnish. Two days later he was to spend the
night with me, but we should meet earlier in the
evening. at the house of the nabob of our vii
lage, VIII ere brilliant reception was to be given.
/ think his face was never so radiant with hope
as when first saw it that night That was the
great difference between u.s. He hoped.
never. 1t was curious fact that though so
different in temperament, and in way related
by blood, we yet bore to each other such
strong resem blance that when together we were
often declared twin brothers, and when apart
were very often mistaken.
Bob said he graspng my hand, shat watch
was a good omen. 1t came with the turning of
my tide to fortune. God bless you, old boy! You
thought l needed something better than my old,
warped ticker, bruised in many college blow;
and so did. So shall soon, at all events, for
two of the biggest strokes of luck, pure luck,
have followed right on the heels of this watch
The first is patent case. Several millions at
stake. They gave the case to me for economy in
a lost cause, bless their souls! Ten thousand
dollars if | succeed and only three hundred re-
tainer to settle everything if lose. 1t shows
how little they thought of me and how sure they
were of defeat. But yesterday 1 discovered
trail and to-day followed it till I've got at the
whole business. Clean out-and-out stealing, and
the man who stole has confessed the whole to
me- Ihe case is mine, beyond shadow. Ten
thousand! Think of it! And then the reputation
But the whole is nothing, a bubble compared
with the other stroke. Come out in the air.
must have more freedom and more solitude to
tell you of that"
We went out 1t was perfect night in early
june only that it lacked moon. 1t was diff
cult walking on the uneven lawn We turned
and walked into the road, aud, unconsciouslv,
took the way leading through valley thickly
wooded on either side, lying between us and my
home. Incidentally, the railway station, ac-
commodating the two halves of our village, on
the two hills above this valley, was very near the
house where the reception was given, and about
a mile from my home.
| minded little where we We're going, for the
news which Dick was unfolding was not, in all
its details, wholly agreeable 1t was of his en-
gagement to marry. That alone was, of course,
to be expected, but the method of this particular
case struck against the vital prejudices and
opinions of my entire bachelor creed. This was
his story, IN brief: A year before he had met a
woman so beautiful that his very life went out
to her in great food of love-
Alas. he discovered that she was
already bound by marriage promise
to another. He struggled to forget her. 1t was
impossible He struggled to escape her, but
many an unsought incident threw them to.
gether. His infatuation grew, and, though no
word was spoken between them by the voiceess
language of the soul he felt sure that she loved.
too. Suddenly he learned that the most disloyal
irregularities in the conduct of the accepted
lover had caused the engagement to be broken,
and that the beautiful woman was free She
was wealthy orphan, with one brother as her
only relative. To him Dick went at once and
spoke of his love. The family belonged to that
noble blood of democratic Boston so appropri-
afalv christaned .,hlna Tho hrothan xrar