The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-04-02

n day OFF, and shall order dinner to be
sent in from the hotel. And now, good
afternoon, my donr Gibson"
As matter of fact, nv name is
Osborne, but it ison of the Weaknesses
of uman nature, whenever q man is
addressed by the wrong patronymic,
to allow the mistake to pass. 1t would
have been far better for me had I
corrected The mistake, instead of allow
ing it to pass i'll my haste to accept tho
invitation to dinner
at half-past six on the Thursday
night entered Wanlcss' dining-roon.
Tho dinner was not all that could be
desired, but then Bcllamy was absent.
and the food was brought and served
by waiter from the hotel. The wines,
which were my hosts own, left nothing
to be wanted, the peculiar sherry was
there, and some wonderful champagne
OF 1874 vintage to which we both did
ample justice. BY the time we had
completed our rcpast, Wanless' ewes
were shining; and his manner had
grown little boisterous
And now no more winc," he said as
he dismissed the waiter. 81 shall suf
fer terribly in the morning from what
have had already, and Bellamy will
bully me in his polite way for week.
Let us go into the library and smoke.
We shall be quite alone, and can have
cozy chat. 1t is not often that have
the nerve to face my books, much as
love them. Time was when things
were very different, and"
Wanless broke off abruptly, and led
the XvDu 10 tho 1;J,,,,,,, A
on the table; little fire burned in the
CRATE; and yet, in that cheerful, book
lined apartment L felt singularly de-
pressed. l tried to shake off the feel
ing; tried to ignore the CLEAN that
flashed in the dark restless eyes of nv
companion. With as much ease as I
could assume, carelcssly examined
the well-flled shelves. You appear
to have good selection here" l re-
marked I'm SO select gathering, L
am nattcred at seeing volume of my
own" Any writer will pardon the in
noccnt vanity OF the remark. I heard
a short, sharp exclamation break from
my host. saw his eyes blazing as he
looked toward the book on which nv
hand lay lovingly.
"Oh, so you are Mat Osborne" he
said, in Il manner most uncompliment-
tary. 81 had no idea that vas enter
tanning SO great n man. All! abr The
laugh was about the most unpleasant
that l have ever heard
'Sit down." my host commanded.
"Oh, know your work very well, in
deed. In fact, know the work of the
whole gang of you. But haven't read
Il line of that volume Of short stories
you have there. The stories are quite
recent, I SUPPOSE"
replied as quietly as l could in the
affirmative, at least as quietly rs n
man can when his host, with eyes ''in
tipe frenzy rolling" locks the door
and puts the key carefully away in his
pocket.
Then, of course, you remember all
the deaoGcnont- word" Wanless
said, as he opened my innocent book
and glanced at the first story. eve
will have little mental amusement,and
you shall correct me if l am wrong.
see the first story is ghost tale,
called, The White .NIystcry.' And
here, looking casually through, 1 find
are two characters. They are brothers
one, bravo military man; the other,
nervous, imaginative youth, who is
scoifed ut by the brother because he
fears ghost. Let me forecast the end
OF the story. The youngster sees the
spooll, and dies of terror on the spot;
while the other fool can never speak
afterwards without trembling when
he rccounts the story. Doesn't he say
that he cannot speak of the nameless
horror OF that awful facc?''
"You have guessed it," said, with Il
stifled parody of q laugh.
But Wanlcss did not appear to be at
all elatcd by his success. He smiled
with bitter, weary scorn, and futtercd
over the leaves to the next story. 81
take no credit to myself for that dis.
covery," he proceeded. Here is anoth-
er little thing entitled My Uncle
Dick Heavens. what awful memories
does that hoaiy kind of title coniure
up. Let me prophecy again. Uncle
Dick is man of money; he is crusty
and curt; the hero of the story written
in the autobiographicalst yle-wants to
marry cousin; and the old boy won't
let him. Said old boy dies of apoplexy
after fit of passion, and leaves moth
ing to the narrator but an old deed
chest, in which are discovered securi-
ties Of priceless value. So they get
married, and live happily ever after,
ch?''
Your foresight is really wonderful"
l replicd. Anyone would think that
you had been writer of current fiction
yourself"
Wanless glarcd at me SO threatenly
that involuntarily moved toward tho
poker. His eyes were filled with hor-
ror, hate and loathing.
MAN, you don't know what 1 am.
You cannot understand what has
brought me to my present pitiablc con-