The true northerner., 1895-10-18


lsNains on the mantelpiece peering into
the fire until the butler had come and
gone. He then strobe TO the table, poured
out and swallowed q stiff glass Ut spirits
and faced his uncle with resolve ut his
H.
'Irhe fact IL, ancle.' ne said standing
viii his hack 20 rhe fire and speaking
calmly and deliberately. the fact Is.
uncle. that Julie Panron never knew
Charlie al all She mistook him for me.
apart. I was meant 20 De her -ictim.
That Is all and that Is what will have 20
be told at the trial rs even worse ,han
you had expected m afraid And when
,he ore man stopped speaking ,he other.
TOO. kept silent Indeed Cot another word
was said by either
How long be stood there waiting Edward
c.d not know Finally ne took his hat
vacancy
Such was the story. as near as could
gather II from Lord stonehouse and srom
my friend Edward Summers himself Lord
Charles had never beer intimate with.
but I am SIRE ,ka. no one could have Seen
the jealousy u dsso,ute woman than
was &c iearr that Edward had got entan'
gled IN he foul meshes Of such oce as
Julie Panton II was only the old story
Let US be open as the day.
Each one doth &c the ctser say
wher he would better h:de himself.
lwould have gone bail for Edwards
pureness OF living TO any amount. and
here he was. another Ulysses. who had
proclaimed 20 me a hundred times the
practicability of virtue. forgetting his
glory in the foul pleasures of .Ena With
the horrible trial that followed and the de-
tails of the vulgar intrigue my faith In
goodness took wings, and with Edwards
disgrace and sudden and complete disap-
pearance thereafter began my own loss of
self respect, my own rapid Generalization.
Not that appear very different probably
to the world than I did, for have learned
to patch up the gaps in my modesty with
hypocrisy which matches 1t well. In
speaking of which am reminded that the
last of poor Edwards canting lectures was
called forth by my remarking that hypOc-
risy is one of the healthiest signs In a
community, for 1t shows that virtue is the
fashionable rule otherwise there would be
no object in aping 1t.
Ten years have gone. Lord Stonehouse
died soon after the trial and all his for
tune passed TO Lady Charles Summers and
her children. Not word was said in the
will of Edward, and know that he had
practically nothing to live on. Attempts
from time to time to trace him have been
made, but TO no purpose. Wherever he
went he evidently assumed successfully
ctx... A ff.r all hn
rather fool to give himself away I'm
inclined to think should find him trifle
too virtuous for me and something of u
better as it is.
"Oh, it's you, Brown, is 1t? Why, de-
clare you quite startled me. was SO en-
crossed in writing that l didn't hear the
door open. A letter, Is its Thanks"
An envelope with South African post
mark addressed in strange hand. Inside
letter-by all that's extraordinary "a
letter in Edward Summers handwriting.
But what's this? Dated two years ago
MY DEAR GILBERT-Death, as remember
you once saying in the dear, good Old days
that are passed, death, the great arithmetician.
will one day reduce all to a common de-
Eo:.;:Ga.or. This write .-::h ; -c1ucs: 50
tached-that when / have gone ad majores IL
shall be forwarded TO you. Since last saw
you have suffered-something-b l have.
too. known something more than happiness.
Poor devil! He doesn't seem to have
got over his hypocritical phraseology.
And in this letter / propose TO myself the
luxury of being little ungenerous. Yes, so
far ungenerous as to let just one person know
that Charles was guilty, and that I was not
the hypocrite you imagine. Far, far my great
est trial has been the knowledge that l had
lost your love and respect and the love and re-
spect Of Flora Carew, whom / almost loved
better than my own soul. And here / solemn
ly charge you. by our friendship, to keep the
contents OF this letter to yourself, but feel
cannot die without leaving one heart loving
and one friend believing in me.
Gilbert, by the God In heaven above US,
swear To you Juiis Panton was unknown to
Inc, even by name, when she killed my brother.
EDWARD SUMMERS.
Phew! He expects me to believe that,
does he? No, my dear Edward, I really