Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-02-24
down tho shsky stairs and into the cab
that awaited him below.

bencn Walk anu tht uoNu Ociotp tbc
fire his facs was az white and CHASTITY az
the face Of the dead. lie had not been
a kind master to his old laundress, oui
SO pitiful was his condition that her
hear. was melted toward him. She
stayed long in the room in tho hope thsi
she might be OF service to him, but
he seemed to be unconscious OF her
presence. At last she asked him II she
could do anything for him. The sound
of hcr voice startled him from his reve-
RE, but when he realized who 1t was that
spoke he irritably told her to get home.
With bitter feeling that no trials OF
Affections could ever change him she
obeyed his order.
After her departures he sat motionlesa
for long time, gazing IN silence into
the glowing fire before him. What ago
nized feelings OF sorrow and remorse tore
his broken spirit What bitter recollec-
tons of the long distant but unforgotten
past-of his dead Edith and bis dead
boy-passed through his whirling brain
With q heart 80 firm and mind SO
strong as his the little griefs which vex
little men pass unnoticed but when the
great griefs come, the griefs that can
break such a heart and unssttle such q
mind, the agonies suffered are those OF O
giant.
The storm which had ragged the pre-
vious night was now gone and dead
calm reigned in its stead. Not sound
was TO be- heard among the leaiess trees
and deserted courts without not whis-
per of the wind, not an echo Of human
voice or step. Inside still deeper ST.
lence, if possible, prevailed. Not a
draught rustIed the heavy curtains not
a mouse scampered behind the ancient
wainscoting. Even the fire itself hal
ceased to hiss and craekle and lay IN
glowing embers on the hearth. No
noise broke the oppressive silence save
one. The great old clock in the corner
went on, tick-tick, tic&-tick, ceaselessly
and calmly, like the footsteps of an
ever-pursuing, inevitable fate.
As the old lawyer sat that night amid
that profound silence gazing into the
glowing Goals and musiny mOurnfully
over his sorrows. a strange thought en-
tered his troubled mind. Hitherto he
had been emphatically the strong man
who relied on his own strength. He
had laughed at those weak souls who
trusted to luck, or fate. or Heaven by
whatever name they called it he cared
little. For himself, he trusted only TO
himself, and he was convinced that by
his own right arm he could and would
shape his own destiny. Now it CO.
Cured to him for the first time that
after all perhaps he-he, John Stronge--
was a plaything in the hands OF an ire
sistible and unknown power.
The thought startled, staggered him..
Could it be that what be had laughed OF
as foolishness was the highest wisdom ?
Could it be that his whole life's work
had been planned on a wrong principle
that he had not considered what should
have been the chief consideration In
his weak, spirit-broken state he felt IN
cined 10 believe it.
Influenced by this &c him unusual
train Of thought, he reused himself and
searched out from among his books one
that he had not openei for many year.
1t was a present given to bin during
their courtship by his dead Edith. What
recolIections that old book recalled /
what recollections of youth. and love,
and happiness Of that sweet past, before
fiery ambition had hardened his soul as
clay is hardened in furnace
That book was the Bible. Opening it
at random he read. AS be read the
stiffness around seemed TO become more
and more profound. Outside nota muir
muir was to be heard inside the very
ticking OF the great old clock seemed
for the time to cease. 4 strange, in
tense, unnatural silence pervaded every
thing.
he read on, only half realizing what
he read his mind WAS too much occu-
pied by the fearful scenes and exps-
OF the day to be easily fixed on
ali, thing else. But gradually his at
tention became more aud more attracted
until at last it was rivited on the page
before him. A feeling Of fear, a Sense
of the supernatural seized upon him, for
he found that by some strange chance
he had opened the Bible ut that passage
viii h of all others spilled to his present
lie had opened it at the
parable OF the Prodigal Son. AS he
read the silence became more and more
intense.
land he arose." the old lawyer read,
"and came to bis father. But when he
WAS yet q great way off his father saw
him and had compassion and ran and
fell on his neck and kissed him.
"And the son said unto him, Father,
have sinned against Heaven and in thy
sight and am no more worthy to be call
ed thy son.
But the father said TO his servants:
Bring forth the best robe and put it on
him, and put ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet
"And bring hither the fatted calf and
kill it, and let us eat and be merry.
"For this my son was dead, and is
alive again -"
slap tap. tap" sounded suddenly on
the outside door through the preterna-
tural silence.
With gasp the old lawyer sprang TO
his feet. Holding by the mantelpiece 10
steady his trembling form, be waited for
a repetition of the knock /; 1uiyerIng
with fear, pale with excitement, he
waited. Everything was as silent as the
grave Suddenly the great old clock in
the corner chimed out the hour, loud
and clear. 1t struck 10.
Sweating with agony and terror, the
old lawyer stood waiting for renewal of
the knock. He waited in vain. None
came. Everything remained as silent as
the grave. There WAS no sound OF foot
steps on the stairs. There was no sign Of
human motion or human presence. The
knock seemed like a summons from the
dead
At length, almost fainting with weak
ness and fear, Sergeant Stronge sank
back into his chair aud sat there for
long time trembling. An hour had
elapsed before he had recovered suii-
cient calmness to think reasonably OF tho
sound he seemed to have heard.
q" My mind is getting unhinged. he
then said to himself My imagination
is playing me tricks. Trouble lis I'M
parvino mo aItooathar I rnnst null M "