Mohave County miner., 1889-07-06

but II was soon over Five minutes later
Medhurst was seated by the artists bed,
and the child. warm and dry, and safe and
sound. was lying In it beside him. He
was very strongly moved. and felt that II
he had tried TO speak he mnst needs havs
broken into tears. Somebody had carried
out Paul's portmanteSn, aud the young
fellow, when he had changed his garments,
In another room, came and raped gently
at the door OF his own chamber Med.
hurst. rising TO open the door. took him bv
the hand and wrung Il hard, without sAy.
Ing . word.
"Al! right, old man." said Paul, himself
more moved by the sight Of the fathers
emotion than he cared to show. "How
are We nowi Nice and warmi That's
well. I'm no great believer In wine for
children as general rule. Captain; but
don't think little drop Of port with hot
water and, maybe, just half an hours nap
after It. would do any harm In this case.
Shall send it up'"
Medhurst, not yet able TO trust himself
to speak, nodded In assent. and Paul slip
ped away.
"A gallant rescue, SIR" said the old doc
tor, warmly. n the painter appeared upon
tho stairs. Paul gave his order before re-
plying. and the old gentleman repeated
his encomium, and was even so far carried
from that repOse which stamps the high
bred Bostonian as to pat the young Her
cules on the back.
"Well. no." said Paul: ut don't take
much gallantry to swim fifty yards and
back in smooth water"
1T was most providcntial thing" said
Paul, the millionaire. that . strong
swimmer happened to he 80 near at hand" I"
II am with you, sir" Paul, the painter,
answered, "That's another pair of shoes.
That poor fathers in statep'
The recollection OF Mednurst's emotion
was too much for him, and he had either
to be silent or to break down. He chose
to be silent. and the doctor insisted upon
ordering bottle Of wine and made him
partsks Of It, though he laughed at the
precaution.
Medhurst administered the port negus
by the spoonful with some confused recol.
lection Of the danger Of taking nourish.
ment too rapidly after . long period of
hunger. Every now and again he set the
glass down to kiss the child, and alto
gether he experienced more emotion and
became aware OF tenderer affection than
any man who had known him would have
given him credit for. When all the negus
was consumed, he closed the jalousies at
the window, and drew the curtains.
''Try to 60 to sleep for little while. my
darling" he whispered. "snd you will
wake up quite strong aud well."
He took his seat by the bedside again,
and, waiting there IN the darkness, was
struck upon sudden by one curious and
unpleasant thought. This same Paul
Jones, who was not Q millionaire, had
saved his child's life, and he had won q
hundred and twenty pounds from him,
which the young man could Ill. indeed,
afford to lose. The Major had lost every
thing. There was q pretty heavy bill to
meet at the hotel Without that hundred
and twenty pounds. the firm would bs
very near poverty again, and yet it began
TO look base to keep IL. II was, of course,
impossible to return 1t openly.
Captain Medhurst mad certain natural
qualifications which would have allowed
him to shine as card con- juror, II he had
NuAN AoA WIG oobS VA AoHi~ Will ID W OC
earned In that direction. He preferred to
employ his cultivated gift In coaxing For
tune, whose proverbial iickleness of regard
grows stable when she 10 courted after u
certain manner. vulgarly, to interfere
with chance In game Of chance is said to
be TO cheat; and people who cheat at cards
are held up TO universal appreciation, even
by other people who cheat at cards and
have not yet been detected. The only plea
on which Medhurst could surrender the
money was that he had won IL unfairly
an altogether impossible confession. Med
hurst was not very delicate man: but
everybody has his limitation, whether In
the way Of virtue or its opposite; and he
did not like to rob poor people. Against
the wealthy his method Of war had q Ger
tain aspect OF fairness II q rich man
risked little money which was Of no
great value to him, Medhurst risked q
reputation, without which he was doubly
Of most people are full Of crookedness, and
to think straight 10 one OF the rarest of
human gifts. But when q mans morals
have gone crooked, and his Intellectual
part gives itself over to the task OF proving
that they keep the just right line Of recti-
tude, the sinuosities Of the mental way
grow curious indeed.
He thought Of sending Paul the money
and could find no means Of
doing 1t which would quite divert sus-
piciOn from himself. He would be seem.
ing to pay the painter for the child's life,
and that did not look like q chivalrous
thing in the circumstances. He thought
Of giving him Q commission TO paint .
picture, but that would he only to get
value for the money. One thing only he
resolved upon-the lad should not suffer
at his hands.
Major should have had his share Of the
and have got rid Of them in 20
insensate fashion. The burden would
fall entirely upon himself. and when he
had devised the means Of taking 1t up he
meant to bear it. Somehow. in the later
years Of his career, he was always begin
ming life anew. He felt half spite at
Paul for not being the parsonage he had
been taken for, in which case Generosity
herself could have asked no more than
that he should be allowed to 60 scotfree
for the future.
II shall be on the hard pan again."
unused the Captain. ats deuced hard
lines, as it turns out, that never learned |
TO SWIM"
Three hours later, Medhurst, Paul, and |
Lila were rolling smoothly along by train |
towards Monte Carlo, the child surveying |
her own personal appearance oddly. and
being subdued, and perhaps little fright |
ened, by the fact that she was dressed in |
A widow lady staying at the
hotel, with q daughter Of the child's age, |
had volunteered to Medhurst TO supply q |