Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-03-17
GOOD MANS DILEMMA.
IcornhnLl

fast NJ the Athenmum, walked down the
steps. eastward bound He was q man
Of fresh complexion and good presence,
OF tolerable means and some reputation
AZ the author OF curiously morbid book,
"Timon Defended" AS he walked
hriskly along sn unopened letter which
peeped from his pocket seemed-and
riehtly-to indicate n man free from
snxieties man almost without n care.
But before he left the dignifed still
ness OF Pail Mall he found leisure to
read this: 81 enclose" wrote his wife,
ga letter which came for you this morn
inc. trust, Cyprian, that you are not
fretting about the neutrality-suspicious.,
and get your meals fairly we'll cooked. .
The Archdcacon paused at this point and
smiled fdintly rs at some pleasant remi-
niscence. "Give my love to dear Jack.
Oh-h'm-I do not recognize your cor
respondents handwriting"
"Nor do / Z" said the Archdeacon
aloud and he opened the enclosure with
curiosity that had in it no feer OF trouble.
After giancing at the signature, however.
he turned into side street and read the
letter through. He sighed. "Oh, dear,
dearl he muttered. what can | do Z
/ must gol There is no room for re,
fusal. And yet-oh dear after all
these wears. No. II Sidmouth street,
Gray's-Inn road ? What place
1t was shabby third-rate lodging
house place, as perhaps he knew. But
he called cab aud had himself driven
thither without delay. AT the corner OF
the street he dismissed the cab and look
ed about him furtively. For man who
had left his club so free from care, and
whose wife at Sudbury and son at Lin-
coins Inn we're well, he wore an oddly
anxious face. 1t could not be-for he
was an Archdeacon-tha he was about
10 do ANYTHING of which he Was ashamed.
OF course not Bishops and others OF
that class may be open to temptations,
or have pages OF their lives folded down
which they would not wish turned. But
an Archdeacon? Oh, no.
Yet when he was distant house or so
from No. II he started guilty at very
ordinary occurrence-nothingm more than
the arrival of hanson cab at the door.
True, y young woman descended from
il, and let herself into the house with a
latchkey. But young women and latch
KEYS arc common In London, as COM
mon as-as dirt. IL could hardly be that
which darkened his face as he rang the
bell.
In the hall, where dun was sitting,
there was little to remove any prejudice
he may have conceived; little, too, IN
the dingy staircase. numbered with
plates and stale food or In the hrst-
floor rooms. from which some one
peeped and another whispered, and both
gieeled; or in that second-hoor room. at
once smart and shabby, and remark
able for many photographs OF one
Young girl, where he was hidden to
wait-little or nothing But when he
had pished and pshawed at the
tenth photograph be was called into
an inner room, where o strange silence
prevailed. Involuntary he stepped
softly. alt was kind OF you to come,
some one said-some one who was lying
in great chair brought very n Ear to the
open window that the speaker might
breathe more easlly-"very kind. And
you have como so quickly, too.
al have been in London some days,
he answered gently, the fastidious e1-
preston gone from his face. - Your
daughters letter followed me from the
country and reached me only an hour
ago. 1t has been no trouble to me to
come. am only panied at finding you
so ILL.,
"Ahi" she answered. Doubtless her
thoughts were busy, while his flew back
nearly thirty years to a summer evening
when he had walked with her under the
trees in Chelsea Gardens and heard her
pour into his ear-she was young
actress then in the first blush OF sue
cess-all her hopes and ambitions. There
was nothing in the memory OF which
he lad need to be ashamed In
those days he had been reading
for orders, and, having lodgings
in respectable street. came by
chance to know two of his neighbOrs-
her mother and herself The two were
living quiet. domestic life, which sur
prised aud impressed him. The girls
talent and the contrast between her no.
toriety and her simple ways had certain
charm for him. For some months the
peophyte and the actress were as brother
and sister. But there the feeling stopped;
and when his appointment TO country
curacy closed this pretty episode In his
life, the exchange of few letters had
but added grace to Its ending.
Now old feelings rose to swell his pity
as he traced the girls features in the
womsn's face. "You have a daughter.
You have been married since we parted,
he said.
eyes. 1t is for her sake have trou-
bIed YOU" was her answer. "She is q
good girl-oh, so good But she has no
one in the world except me. and L am
leaving her. Poor Grissel J"
"She is on the stage ?" he inquired,
gravely.
"Yes and she has succeeded young,
as l did. We have not been unhappy
together. You remember the life my
mother and led l think it has been
the same with us again.
She smiled ever so little. lie remem-
bered something of the quiet pathos of
that life. Your husband is dead 2"
he asked.
"Deadl No; wish he we're !" she
answered bitterly. the smile passing
from her face on the instant. "My girl
had better 10y far be alone than with her
father. All, you do not know When
he went TO America years ago, with an
other woman. / thanked God for it.
Dead? On, no There is no chance
that he is dead.
Mr. Yale was shocked. "You have
not got divorce ?" he said.
"No. Until last year, when Grissel
made good engagement, We were very
poor. Then / iell i'll, and there were
expenses. We had TO come here. Now
that her her name is known he will come
back and find her out She plays as Kit
tie Latouche. but the profession know
who she is, and-and what can | do ?
Oh, Mr. Yale tell me what can do for
her"
Her anxiety unnerved him. Her terror
of the future, not her own, but her
child's, wrung his heart. He had pre-
sentimept whittier she was leading him,
and he tried 10 murmur some common