The morning call., 1891-05-17
CHAPTER I.

"Have you got your letters by this mail,
L0ngden?"
mo. l haven't, my son. l never do get
any letters. l have left off expecting let
tiers"
His chum, who was new arrival, looked
surprised.
''Whv. man. [ have been here fifteen
vears-think of that think of that. Fiji
teen years. If I were a cO0lje dead and
buried fifteen years ago, my grave trodden
level with the ground, couldn't be more
forgotten"
But you've got friends at home. You
must have people"
Il have. There's my elder brother, the
Prig-Pve got him. Aud there are cousins
by dozens, first and second, aud second once
removed. And had a father, bat he is
dead, poor old man! Friends? Plenty Of
friends As for friendships-wel. But once
1 had a true friend. We outdid David and
Jonathan. So far as l know David never
but, then, Jonathan died young, and, per-
haps, there we're passages. Ours was
divine, an ideal friendshjp-no two friends
were more so; because you see in tile
higher planes OF friendship what one gives
the other has got 10 accept, The world
doesn't understand this, Tor there is no
friendship in business, and we are mostly
business men; therefore there are no
friends"
d" don't understand"
" No more do | now. 1t was magnificent.
but it wasn't business Well, as said, Ihad
true friend once-a more than pal, a closer
than brother. Where is that true friend
MOVIE"
" When you go home again
never shah 20 home again, sonny
This is my home. Very thankful l ought
TO be to have such a home. What more can
man desire? From 10 to the healthful
labor of the Office Home to this elegant
mansion at .. A stroll on the shore TIL hall
past yr SO. Duner-the finest dinner in
the world, with the best claret in the world.
No promotion, even, 10 agitate the soul"
% Nou will get promotion some day. You
must. Oh, it Is shameful
on will you boy. As for me, what
does il matter? ! draw 200 Tupees month.
am junior in the Audit Office. We live
in this agreeable mansion Of three rooms
and Vcrdnua lis walls are made or pack
Ing cases and its roof IS made OF the tin
which formerly lined those eases. Ii Is sur
rounded 10y a lovely compound containing
three ragged bananas and prickly pear,
and 1t is furnished sumptuously. Behold!
STYLE, Second Empire, for the most part"
The speaker, man With cOunteHance
still rUddv. spite Of his tropical experience,
and a big brown beard, Iarse-imbed man,
lay back IN his chair aad replaced his pipe
between his lips. He spoke bitterly, but his
face was not bitter, aud his eyes were as
kindly as the eyes Of any Silver kiug or
Lord of Nitrate boom could be. The other
was a young man OF one and twenty, Just
beginning his career IN the same splendid
service which had taken away the elder
mans youth. The united resources of this
mess were slender; and when the rent Of
twenty RUPEES a month had been paid, and
the wages Of their one servant and the
dhobie and the Claret (Which was dear at
pence the bOJtle) and the whisky and the
stringy teef and skinny chicken which
gr2ced their board, there was really very
little left for the minor Injuries. Yet. in
lands where twire year there falls
no shade on any side of rock or
house. the minuT luXurieS are to most the
simplest necessities. On the two sides Of
the room were TWO small bedrooms, in each
a bed, mOSqUl5o-cuTtain, an arnl-wiTe, a
chair and a WashstaBG. The room In front
opened upon a small yeTanda.
"Well, my boy" Longien went on, you
shall have better luck; you shall get pro-
noted early; you shall leave me and 1ess
with other promotions; chief clerk pres
emily, in your department; acting head
Of department.; sent off to some other col
Cuy as head; Colonial Secretary some
where else: observation-disclosures, c. Ii. c.;
Governor, K. c. NJ. q. Heart Up, sonny.
The world IS al before you"
at this outburst; when one is twenty it is
hard 10 understand that a man Of i've and
thirty. which seems an age so advanced,
and man who has stuck" IN his upward
fight and one who IS invariably cheerful
and apparently C1ntented, should ever have
had ambitions.
Loncden's case was exceptional. There
are plenty Of shady EnglShmen who get
taken on IN the colony IN obscure branches
of the Government services with never a
n NJ Dr h for
young man to be actually sent out by the
Colonial Office at the age Of 20 to begin, as
he should, with bis foot on the lowest rung,
aud then left there, is not common. After
fifteen years he renamed junior in his
department; he drew, it is true, $40
year. or double his original pay, but he
had been passed by all his contemporaries
aud now remained stuck fast apparently
forgotten. 1t was said that there was some
scandal about him which stood IN the way
of bis T0mOtion-something he had done.
What that was did not take definite form.
Here, however, was the fact: An English
gentlemen Of good family left in the lower
branches Of the colonial service, FIVE and
thirty years of age, possessed of every quail
lty that should command success. What did
it mean?
There's some news in the Commercial
special" said the young fellow. We've
got a new Governor. He comes out next
mail Here's the paper"
He tossed it over. There was q half
column hastily printed with summary Of
the month. L0ngden glanced down the
paragraphs. Suddenly he stopped, sat UP
and dropped the paper.
GOOD Lord" be cried.
What is it?' asked his companion.
LCnEden sprang 90 his feet. Then he
stepped ont uDOn the little veTanda before
the cottage and began TO walk Up and down
with an energy worthy of his native land in
an east wind.
Presently Longden came back and took
up tie paper aud read slowly a second time
the paragraph that had startled him. Sir
Henry DIVERSION Dunkeld, K. c. B., is the
newly appointed Governor Sir Henry
Dunkeld, the eldest sen of Major General
Dunkeld r. A, was educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge. where he obtained a
frst--lass and a fellowship in the year 1875
he was called 70 the bar in 1877. He sat in
the House OF Commons for the borough of
Chester on the Conservative side from 1879
to 1882 He was theu appointed Lieutenant
Governor Of Penang In 1884 he was made
Governor Of the Leeward Islands. Sir
Henry Is believed to possess great admins
tratiVe abilities. He is personally popular
lie IS said to possess great charm of man
ner, and his sympathies with any religious
and pnilanthropic movement are well
known"
Good Lord - said Longden, once more.
And L an assistant clerk In his Audit
Office"
CHAPTER IL
he stepped ont again upon the veranda.
The sea breeze had sprung up; the air was
refreshed; he drew long breath and looked
out into the darkness His memory went
back seventeen years. A morning came
back to him; he saw what happened. not IS
he saw II then, an actor on the scene, but lie
saw It, now from the outside, here as the
audience. The actors were two specters of
the past, young men both; the face of one
q la had fu