Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1889-04-06
CHAPTER Xxx.

After ALL the true religion Of Fate has
been preached by George Eliot. when size
savs that our lives are the outcome of our
actions Every action. good or bad which
va do has its corresponding reward. and
Marx Frettiby found it So for the sins OF his
youth were nov beng pnnishnd in his old
aga No doubt he had sinnei gayiy enough
II. that far OIL time when lifes cur, was still
Drumming with wine. ani no asp hid among
the roses but Nemesis had been an unseen
spectator Vt all ms thou,htless actions and
now came to demand ner Just iues he felt
somewhat as Faust niust have felt when
Mephistopheies suggested a visit to hades, in
repayment for those years Of magic youth
ami magic power So long ago it seemed
since he nad married Rosanna Moore. that
he almost persuaded himself that IL had beer
only a dream pleasant dream with dis
agreeable awakening When she had left
nm he mad tried to forget her, recognizing
how unworthy she was OF good mans love,
He heard that she had died in London hos
pital and with passionate sigh for q per
ished love had dismissed her from his
thoughts forever His second marriage had
turued out happy one, and be regretted tis-
death OF his wife deeply Afterwards. all
his love centered in his daughter. and lie
thought he would be able to spend his declin
ing years IN peace This. however was not
to he an,i he was thunderstruck when Whyte
arrived from England with the Information
that his first wife still lived. that the daugh
ter of Mark Frettlhy was illegitimate
Sooner than this. Frettlby agreed to any
thing tut Whytes demands became too ex
ortitant, and he refused to comply with
them On Whytes death he again breathed
freely. when suddenly a second possessor of
his fatal secret started up in the person of
Roger Moreland.
rhe day after he had seen Moreland, and
knew that his secret was no longer safe, since
1t was IN the power OF "a man who might re
veal 1t at any moment in drunken tit or
out of sheer righteousness, he sat at his desk
writing.
There seemed to be only one way open to
him by which he could escape the relentless
fate which doggeh his steps He would write
. confession OF everything from the time he
hat first met kosariia. and then-death. He
would cut the Gordian knot of all his diff
cultles. and then ms secret would be safe
safe, no, II could not he while Moreland
hved When he was dead Moreland would
see Madge ami embitter her life with the
story of her fathers SINS. yes. he must live
to protect her. and drag his weary chain OF
bitter remembrances through life. always
with that terrible sword of Damocles hang
ing over him But still he would write out
his confession. and after his death, whenever
II may happen. II might help II not alto
gether exculpaLe, at least to secure some pity
for a man who mad been hardly dealt with
by fate His resolution taken. he put 1t into
force At once. and sat all day at his desk flling
page after page with the history OF his past
life, which WAS no bitter To him He started at
first anguidly. az IN the performance Of an
unpleasant but necessary duty Soon, how
ever. be became Interested in II. and took a
peculiar pleasure in putting down every
minute circumstance which made the case
stronger against himself He dealt with it,
not as a criminal, but as prosecutor, and
painted his conduct as much blacker than it
really had been Towards the end OF the
day. however. after reading over the early
sheets, he experienced a revulsion Of feeling,
seeing how severe he had been on himself, 80
be wrote defense upon his conduct, show
Ing that fate had been too strong for him. 1t
was weak argument to bring forward, but
still he felt it was the only one he could
make 1t was quite dark when he had finished,
and while sitting in the twilight, looking
dreamily at the sheets scattered all over his
desk, he heard a knock at his door and heard
his daughters voice asking II be was coming
to dinner. All day long he had closed bis
door against every one, but now his task
being ended, he collected all the closely writ
! ten sheets together. placed them In q drawar