The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-04
Chapter I.

It was a dismal evening in early Oc-
tober, with cold rain falling, and little
Grant gusts of wind blowing now from
one point of the compass and now from
another. The lamplighters had started
on their rounds, and the main London
thoroughfares were beginning to outline
themselves in points of yellow flame
For the last day or two nearly every
train had brought back holiday-nakerS
by the hundred. Presently the huge
pendulum of workaday London would
be once more i'm full swing. Every
thing spoke of the death of summer.
In nowise out of keeping with the
cherries evening looked Edgar Fair
clough, as. with gloomy frows. and
hands buried deep in the pockets Of his
lounging-jacket he slowly paced the
drawiRg-room of the pretty little fiat
occupied by himself and his wife in
Pendragon square. S W The lamp had
not been lighted; the CRATE yet was
innocent of its first autumnal fire; the
windows were blurred with raindrops.
The dreariness outdoors was matched
by the dreariness within.
But even had the time been the most
brilliant of autumn evenings. and the
scene one of those from which he had
lately returned. Edgar Fairclough had
''that within which might we'll furnish
food for dependency of the deepest.
He had just got back, several days be-
fore his holiday was at an end from
the south Of France. where he had left
behind him. I'm the pocketbook of Capt.
NerschOyle, a little document in which
he acknowledged his Indebtedness to
that gentleman in the sum of $3.50. The
scrap OF paper in question represented
the amount Of his losses at the gaming
tables. less his own ready money. which
had been the first to be swept up by
the crOupier's rake. But for the cursed
chance which had brought NerSchOyle
across his path. he should perfOrce have
fled the scene of his temptation the mo-
mcnt his own pockets were empty; but,
alas he had not been strong-minded
enough to refuse the captains pressing
offer of a loan, coupled as II was with
the comforting assurance that, If he
only persevered long enough, his luck
would be sure to turn Well, he had
perseHered. the captain cheerfully back
ing him up with ore loan after another,
till the sum total reached the amount
named: but the luck had never turned,
or only spasmodicslly and just suffi-
GENTLY 10 tempt him still further on the
downward path.
Then. one evening in the solitude Of
fis bedroom. Fairclough had taken
solemn oath that he would go near the
IA bles no more. The captain had seen
him of next morning by train his last
words being: II sh2'n he long after
you dear boy. I'll drop You a line as
soon as I arrive in town. and YOU can
look me up at the Corinthian.
Fairclough had understood quite well
what looking up the captain at his club
meant. on the very first occasion of
their meeting the latter would look TO
III hi n h1 nv
any chance fail 10 do so. he knew that
before he was dozen hours older the
story Of his detection would have been
whispered in a dozen ears. Nerschoyle,
as he was we'll aware. was one Of those
men who look for no quarter in the
battle of life. and who are careful to
give none when the advantage rests with
them.
Edgar Faircloug'l was a civil-service
clerk on a salary of 1850 year. which
income was supplemented 10 the eX-
tent of 1900 more by Mr.. Titus Ben
cough, a retired merchant. and his uncle
on his mothers side. He had been mar
ried four years, and this was the first
time since that event that he had gone
for his annual leave without taking his
wife with him. Clara had gone down to
Devonshire to help to nurse sick sis
ter. and he had been under the compul-
sion 10 take his holiday alone, with what
result we have already seen. for there
been with him. he would not have gone
within miles of Monte Carlo.
His marriage had not, perhaps, been
very prudent one from worldly point
of view. for he came Of good stock on
his fathers side and all his friends had
said that he ought to have looked higher.
which, put in other words. meant that he
ought TO have married somebody with
good deal more money than the
fl 900. which was all that Clara
Denison. the orphan daughter OF
a country rector had brought for dowry.
But they had loved each other. and that
Of itself had seemed an all-sufficient
reason for uniting themselves in the
bonds Of matrimony, nor had they yet
seen cause to regret their temerity in so
doing Uncle Titus had stuck 10 them all
through like the brick" his nephew
vouched him TO be. and his money it
had been which had gone far toward
furnishing the fat in Pendra gon square.
Clara's fl ,000 when she married,
had been left intact in the
bank. where it had been accommodating a
interest since her fathers death. There
had been a sort Of tacit understanding
between the young people that il should
be reserved something against "A pos
sible rainy day-as a provision against
one or other Of those unforeseen contin-
gencies from which not even the most
fortunate of us can claim TO be exempt.
But we know what often befalls the
best laid plans of mice and men. At the
end Of four years balance of
no was all that remained to the
credit Of Mrs. FaiTclough. the fact be-
ing that from the first the young couple
had lived considerably beyond their
means, and. as a consequence. had been
under the necessity Of drawing on the
nest-egg from time to time in order to
wipe off certain Accommodations of out
standing debts. At length, however,
they had begun to realize the folly of
which they had been guilty, and only a
few days before Fairclough set out on his
holiday he and his wife had sat in com
mittee, and had then and there drawn
up a scheme Of retrenchment which they
had promised themselves in all sincerity
that they would begin to put into practice
from the day of their return to Pen
dragon square. Then Fairclough had
started for his scamper on the continent
and If his purse was light, his heart was
no less 50; and then that terrible thing
had happened, the result of which his
own insensate folly. which had brought
him home before his time. and now
found him desperate and alone i'm the
chill October dusk. with the demon of
suicide lurking a baleful shadow. in
some inner chamber of his brain.
Had his debt to Capt. NerschOyle been
OF any other nature than that which it
was. ne might, perhaps. have summoned
up courage to go TO his uncle, lay his
case before him and appeal 10 him for
help; but that he should do so under
present circumstance was wholly out of