Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-05-25

you are to undertake To have the
hoy, Leo, To live with you till he i
i twenty-five years OF age-not to send
him To school, remember. On his
twenty-tiflh birthday your guardian
ship will end, and you will then with
the keys that give you now" (and he
placed them on the table, "oprn the
iron box and let him see and read the
contents, and say whether or not he is
willing to undertake the quest. There
is no obligation on him To do so. Now
rs regards terms. My present income
is two thousand two hundred year
Half of that income | have secured to
YOU by will for life, contingently on
YOUR undertaking the guardianship
that is one thousand year remunera-
ton to yourself, for you will give up
your life to it, and one hundred year
10 pay for the board of the boy. The
rest is to accumulate till Leo is twenty
i've, so that there may be sum in
haAd should he wish To undertake the
quest of which spoke"
"And suppose | were to die?" | ask
ed,
Then the boy must become the ward
of chancery and take his chance. Only
be careful that the iron chest is passed
on TO him by your will. Listen, Holly,
don't refuse me. Believe me, this Is to
your advantage. You are not lit to
mix with the world-it would only inn
bitter you. In few weeks you will
become Fellow of your college, and
the income that you will derive from
that. combined with what | have left
you, will enable you to live a life OF
learned leisure, aternated with the
sport of which you are SO fond, such as
will exactly suit you
He paused. and looked at me anxious
| ly, but | still hesitated. The charge
seemed so very strange.
"For my sake, Holly. We have been
| good friends, and | have no time to
make other arrangements"
VERY WELL" / said, Il will do ii, pro-
vided there is nothing in this paper to
make me change my mind" and |
touched the envelope he had put upon
the table by the keys.
Thank you, Holly, thank you
There is nothing at ALL Swear to me
by God that you will be a father to the
boy, and follow my directions to the
! letter.
Il swear it" / answered solemnly.
Very well; remember that perhaps
one day | shall ask for the account of
your oath, for though am dead and
forgotten, yet shall live. There is no
such thing as death. Holly, only a
change; and as you may perhaps learn
in time to come, | believe that even
here that change could, under certain
circumstances, be indefinitely post
| poned;n and here again he broke into
one of his dreadful fits of coughing.
There" he said, Il must 90. You
have the chest, and my will will be
/ found among my papers, under the au-
| thority of which the child will be hand
ed over to you. You will be well paid,
Holly, and | know that you are honest;
but if you betray my trust, by Heaven
| will haunt you!'
| said nothing being indeed too be-
I Nllbtltb W ol'Coh'
He held up the candle. and looked at
his own face in the glass 1t had beau
tiful face, but disease had wrecked it.
Food for the worms, he said Gu
rious to think that in few hours |
shall be stiff and cold-the journey
done, the little game played out All,
me, Holly. life is not worth the trouble
of life, except when one is in love-at
least mine has not been; but the boy
Leo's may be if he has the courage and
the faith. Goodbye, my friendr' and
with a sudden access of tenderness he
! flung his arm about me and kiss me on
the forehead. and then turned to 60
Look here, Vincey.n | said, "if you
are as i'll as you think, you had better
let me bring do tor
me, no." he said earnestly. promise
me that you won't. / am going to die
and, like a poisoned rat, wish to die
alone"
Il don't believe that you are going
TO do anything of the sort" ! answered.
He smiled and with the word "Re-
| member on MS lips, was gone. As Tor
myself | sat down and rubbed my eyes,
wondering if | had been asleep. As
this supposition would not bear invest
igation, gave it up, and began to
think that Vincey had been drinking.
| | knew that he was, and had been.
very i'll, but still it seemed impossible
that he could be in such condition as to
be able to know for certain that he
would not outlive the night. Had he
been so near dissolution, surely he would
scarcely have been able to walk and
carry heavy iron box with him. The
whole story, on reflection, seemed to
me utterly incredible, for / was not
then old enough to be aware how many
things happen in this world that the
common sense of the average man
would set down as so improbable as to
be absolutely impossible. This is a
fact that | have only recently mastered.
Was it likely that man could have a
son five years of age whom he had