Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-10-04
HALLAM'S BURDEN.
BY EVELYN THORPE.

When Hallam had secured his luoaaoe
at the Custom House he drove to a hotel
and registered in the name under which
he had taken his passage from England.
After that he walked about the city
casually for an hour or two. The next
day he inserted an advertisement IN one
or two papers.
Replies came to the same IN large num-
bers speedily. Hallam selected one out
OF the many, singing it out at once as
more likely to suit his purpose. In the
course OF the forenoon of the fourth day
after his arrival he found himself CON
Guiding arrangements with little old
gentleman in gold-rimmed spectacles and
baggy trousers for the occupancy of two
OF the latter's rooms. The advertisement
had said: "a quiet neighborhood. The
little old gentlemans house stood in A
street which the onward rush of metro
politan life had left, somehow, so com
pletely behind that it had not even been
invaded by commerce. The advertiser
also had described himself as a person of
studious tastes in the occupations apper-
tanning to which he did not wish to be
disturbed. The little old gentleman had
never, apparently, done anything more
active nor practical in his life than to
patter about among the dusty and mustv
books that flied his den on the ground
floor.
The same evening Hallam was installed
in his new house.
''He looks like the melancholy
Jacques, cried the Doctors daughter,
Judith.
The little old gentleman expostulated
wildly. Judith caught him about the
neck, laughed, kissed him and stuck to
her opinion. She had red hair, skin
like peach blossom, eyes that were never
twice of the same color and not a regular
feature in her charming face.
"Why does he want to make such a
mystery Of HIMSELF" demanded this
young woman.
"Mystery, my dear7 Nonsense"
Judith again showed her dazzling
teeth.
"He is mysterious, she affirmed. ga
very mysterious young man."
The mysterious young man had slowly
and deliberately unpacked his effects.
Books he had in plenty, as well as the
old gentleman down stairs. Hegel,
Schopenhauer, Plato's "Apology'-pon-
derous tones, brown. coated and we'll
thumbed. When he had leisurelv dis
posed his new abiding place to his liking
he drew forth pens, paper, ink, and, sit
ting down, wrote on sheets of foolscap till
late into the night. His document he
signed, affixing thereto his seal also.
Before retiring he looked out into the
still emptiness of the street, its remote
ness dimly lighted by the flicker from
the corner lamp-post.
Yes, he had certainly chosen his re-
treat well. The philosophic quiet he
had looked for be had found. Also the
secrecy-escape from prying curiosity. If
there seemed one family dissonant chord
in this satisfying harmony it was that
which vibrated as the face and figure of
the Doctors daughter was evoked by
memory. There was sarcasm in her
changeful eyes,a hooking in the dimples
around her mouth. If any consideration
so trivial could still have moved him to
any sensation whatever. Hallam felt
that he would have dislillcd that red
headed girl exceedingly.
The rext day he took the sealed en-
velope of the night before and presenting
himself to the old gentleman downstairs
begged him kindly to take charge of it.
"Until such time as l, or some one else,
shall call for it, or as circumstances shall
seem to demand that it be produced"
But in order to relieve him of any respon-
sibility, Hallam added that he had made
out a little paper stating that he had in
trusted the Doctor with the envelope and
its contents, which paper he had signed.
He suggested that the Doctor also sign
this little paper, which the Doctor, good
man, incontinently did.
When Judith heard of this affair she
broke into another of her irreventiaI
sprite-like laughs.
"And ever more mysteries !" she cried.
1t was not to be denied that Hallam's
mode of life gave some coloring to her
suspiciousness. Shut up IN his room all
the day, he rarely went out save toward
nightfall. He had no friends or acauaint-
ances. He received no letters, no COM
munications from any source whatever.
With regard TO his own affairs he was
immutably silent, and there was upon his
solemn face settled gloom which even
the good old Doctor thought, in his
vague, benign way, "strangc in such a
young man-in such Il nice young man.
too"
judith was mounting to her little room
one night when she heard latch-key
rapidly inserted in the hall door. Her
father was still deep in his books and did
not look up as Hallam let himself in,
swiftly and with curious noiselessness
shutting the door behind him. But
Judith, standing three or four stems
above their lodger on the stairs said In
stantly, in low voice:
"What is the matter. Mr.. Hallam?n
Every trace of color had left his
cheeks. His eyes had wild look. He
opened his lips as though to reply, but
no sound came from them.
With unhesitating presence of mind
and calm deliberation Judith came down
the steps and softly closed the door into
the dingy apartment, half library, half
office, in which the unsuspecting Doctor
sat-
"Now, Mr.. Hallam-"
But at the moment footsteps echoed
along the quiet street. 1t is not known
whether they really seemed to pause near
the Doctors house OF whether it only so
appeared to John Hallam's dlsordered
imagination.
Il have been followed I" we're the words
that broke from him. "They are on nv
tracx3"
Tie girl had grown almost as pale as
he. A great seriousness had come over
her lace.
''Comel" she whispered.
They sped up the stairs and along the
dark upper hall toward the back of the
house. There Judith turned. No sound
came from below.
"Mr. Hallam," she said, in low, trem-