The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-05-27
2OTHA'S HONEYMOON.
4one moment, if you please. >


y leave the inner office.
Q Il suppose young Chester's marriage
s takes place tomorrow. Do you know
: anything of the connection that he is
forming?"
!, "Only good, sir. The bride, Miss
= Glyn, is daughter of my Oldest friends.
A truer-hearted girl than Rotha never
lived; and the praise, or blame, of
, Chester's introduction to her rests with
: me-"
'That should indicate" said Mr. Fres-
ton, smiling, that you estimate his
character highly"
Il have every reason for doing So"
THANK you, Mr.. Gascoygne. Kindly
tell Chester that wish to see him."
Rodney Chester, being junior cashier
to Messrs, Finch & Preston, bankers,
seldom entered their private office.
Therefore it was with quickened pulses
he obeyed Mr.. Freston's summons. That
gentleman greeted him pleasantly, albeit
he sighed half enviously, as he contrasted
his own gray hairs and declining vigor
with the stalwart proportions and hand
some features of the honest-eyed young
fellow awaiting his commands, every fiber
of whose being was tense with fullness of
life, power, and joyous anticipation.
$50 you propose visiting the Riviera"
Mr.. Preston said, concluding few words
of congratulation and inquiry. is Nice
included in your route?"
Probably we may see it; but Cannes
is our destination, relative resident
there having offered us his villa while
absent on a yachting cruise"
Then will you execute a small COM
mission for the firm? My request may
seem somewhat unreasonable at such
time, but it can only be entrusted to
confidential agent. Several years ago
a man named Warren became under
peculiar circumstances, our debtor for a
considerable sum, thereupon disappear
ing. Quite recently we have learned
that he now resides at Monaco, under
the alias of DuvaI. To recover that loan
will be your object. This paper" hand
ing to Rodney an envelope, contains all
necessary directions, sum for extra ex-
penses, and a cheque of which Mr..
Finch and beg your acceptance, with
our good wishes for happiness in your
new state"
! So ended the mOmentous interview.
But as he recalled it during his home
ward walk, Rodney Chester's whole de-
meanor underwent change. The pleas
ure-fush faded from cheek and brow,
interpretive thought filmed his eyes,
the glad anticipation of marital dignity
dropped from him like mantle.
Why should the name of Monaco, a
place he had never visited, ring in his
ears such warning knell, and chill his
veins with terror vaguely apprehended?
Why? Because, as at the invocation of
Endor's witch the semblance of a dead
prophet rose from vacuity, SO the ghost
of past believed by Rodney to be dead
indeed, rising at an unexpected word,
confronted him in the guise of a living
possibility.
When Rodney entered Finch & Fres-
tons bank in Glastonbury, his parents,
fondIy solicitous for his preservation
from the dissipation of city life, placed
him with a widow who boarded a small,
but select, number of youths. These she
termed cher boys" and labored under
the delusion that she so surrounded them
with home attractions, influences, and
refinements, as to erect an impalpable
but adamantine barrier between them
and coarser allurements. Deficient in
Judgment, and governed by impulse, |
both by and in her boys" she was con-
stantly deceived. One of them, several !
years Rodney's senior, Mark Eames by |
name, INSCRIPTIONS and unprincipled, |
was yet possessed of singularly attractive |
and persuasive power. His tolls were |
spun with a spiders perseverance and |
success. Subtly he enmeshed Rodney, |
initiating him into the mysteries of |
billiards, betting, cards and dice. Still,
not easily. A country wears son, trained
to wholesome prejudice against games
of chance, it needed nicely adjusted
pressure, and much sarcastic ridicule, to
accomplish his object.
A night came when Rodney staggered
to his lodgings weighted with gambling
debts amounting to what he deemed a
small fortune, granted by Eames but a
weeks grace, and possessed of no posi-
BILE means of payment.
Stay! was he not? Involuntarily his
hand clutched an inner pocket of his
coat, where, aforementioned till now, lay
by a strange coincidence the sum he re-
quired. 1t had been intrusted to him by
an old parishioner of his fathers for the
purpose of depositing in the Glastonbury
bank. Even in that moment of supreme
temptation, Rodney thanked God he had
SO far forgotten it. He had just returned
from a visit to his father, who was seri-
ously i'll. Eames met him at the station,
and, seeing his dependency, under pre-
text of cheering his spirits, invited him
to a restaurant dinner, supplemented by
wine and cards. The results to Rodney
we already know.
Again and again he repealed the devil
whispered suggestion to hberate himself
from Eames' power with this money, and
then labor increasingly for its repayment.
And he would have conquered had not
Eames, following him to his room, seen
the notes, which, in self-distrust, he was
fastening to place in security, pounced
on them like a hawk, and, rapidly
counting them oyer, stuffed them into his
pocket, while overwhelming Rodney
with a torrent of opprobrious epithets.
A fearful scuffie ensued, which alarmed
the household without benefiting Rodney,
who next day sought other rooms. De
nouncing Eames involved inculpating
himself, and mourning disgrace, dismiss
sal, and a ruined career. Eames, how
ever, made divers efforts at reconcilia-
ton, which, to his bitter resentment,
Rodney utterly ignored.
After weeks of mental anguish deliver
ance came in the form of an unexpected
legacy. The sharp recoil from shameful
despair to hopeful freedom struck at
first like blow. Then, falling upon his
knees, after pouring forth such a flood {
of confession, thanksgiving, cries for
strength and aid, as had never before
crossed his lips, or filed his heart, he
a solemn vow that never again
through life would he stake one farthing
upon any game of chance.
This was the specter which, confront
ing him upon his wedding-eve, whisper
ing the name of Monte Carlo, pointed
with cold, bony finger to a possible
And once again upon his
Knees, looking up into the myriad golden
eyes keeping watch over the sleeping
,ity, Rodney Chester reiterated those