San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-11-12
Paul Jones' Alas

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, as the painter appeared upon
| the 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; sit don't take
much gallantry to swim fifty yards and
back in smooth water"
st was a most providential thing" said
Paul, the millionaire, "that strong
swimmer happened to be so near at hand"
81 am with you, SIR" Paul, the painter,
answered, That's another pair of shoes.
That poor fathers in statel'
The recollection of Medhurst'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
u
partake 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 a 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 go to sleep for little while, my
daISing," he whispered, land you will
wake up quite strong and we'll"
He took his seat by the bedside again,
and, waiting there in the darkness, was
struck upon a sudden by one curious and
unpleasant thought. This same Paul
Jones, who was not millionaire, had
saved his child's life, and he had won a
hundred and twenty pounds from him,
which the young man could i'll, indeed,
afford to lose. The Major had lost every
thing. There was pretty heavy bill to
meet at the hotel. Without that hundred
very near poverty again, and yet it began
to look base to keep it. 1t was, of course,
to return it openly.
Captain Medhurst had certain natural
qualifications which would have allowed
him to shine as a card-conjurOr, if he had
cared for the sort of fame which is to be
earned in that direction. He preferred to
employ his cultivated gift in coaXing For
tune, whose proverbial fickleness ofregard
grows stable when she is courted after
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 it unfairly
an altogether impossible confession. Med |
hurst was not very delicate man: but |
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 Ger.
tain aspect of fairness. If rich man |
risked little money which was of no
great value to him, Medhurst risked |
and trebly ruined. The intellectual ways |
of most people are full of crOOkedness, and |
to think straight is one of the rarest of |
human gifts. But when a 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 it which would quite divert sus-
plcion from himself He would be seem. |
ing to pay the painter for the child's life, |
and that did not look like a chivalrous |
thing in the circumstances. He thought |
OF giving him commission to paint a |
picture, but that would be only to get |
value for the money One thing only he |
resolved upOn-the lad should not suffer |
at his hands.
He thought it rather hard lines that the |
Major should have had his share of the |
winnings, and have got rid of them in so |
insensate fashion. The burden would |
fall entirely upon himself, and when he |
had devised the means of taking it up he !
meant to bear it. Somehow, in the later |
years of his career, he was always begin |
ming life anew. He felt half a 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 go scot-free |
for the future
Il shall be on the hard pan again."
unused the Captain. tits deuced hard |
lines, as it turns out, that never learned |
to SWIM"
Three hours later, Medhurst, Paul, and |