The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-01-12
Selrtt StOrp.
GOOD MANS DILEMMA.
From the eornhm Magazine.

The clock Of St Martin was striking
10 as Archdeaeon Yale of Sudbury IN
Glouceslershire. who had taken breakfast
AZ the Athenrum. walked down the steps,
eastward bound. lie was q man Of fresh
complexion and good presence. oi Iolerahie
means and some reputation a, the author
Of a curiously morbid back .Tinon De
Tended. As he walked briskly along an
unopened letter which peepesl fnom his
pocket seened-and rishtly--;e Indicate
man free from auxieties; man almost
without a care
But before he left the dignifei stiffness
of PAU Mall he found leisure e. read thi>
II eucl,-e. wrote his wife. letter
which came fur you this morning
trust, Cyprian, that YOU are not iret''ng
about the visitation question. and sei your
meals fairly ven c,oked The Nr-h-
deacon paused at this point and smiled
family a. at some pleasant u-mini~,enee.
Give nav lsve to dear Jack Oh-h III
/ do NJ; recognize your correspondent
handwriting
Nor 10 I said the Archdcacpu alrUd
and he opened the enrlo-ure With curio-sy
that had in If M fear of tr,nblr. After
elancine at the signature however. he
turned into side street and read the let
ter through. He sighed oh dear.
dear he muttered. What csn | d.
| must 90 There i, ne n.,m fer reitisal
And vet-oh dear,--after all the>e years-
No. II Sidmouih street. Gray. slim r'ads
What a place
Ii wa- q shabby third rate lodaing house
place. a. perhaps he knew. But he called
4 cab and had himself driven ihither With
out DELAY. At the corner Of the sirsei be
dismissed the cab and locked about HIM
furliyely. Fer a man who had left his
club 50 free from care. and whose wife at
Sudbury ami sau AZ lincoln Inn were
well. he wore an oddly anxious face, Il
could not be-for he w,.s an ArchdeaO'u--
thar he was about to do anything at which
he was ashamed. Of course not bishops
and other Of that cass may be open ."
Temptations. or have pages of their lives
folded down which they would No, wish
turned But an Arrhdeacun: Oh. M"
Yet when he was distant hog-o ~ 81
fram No. II he started guiluly Al very
ordinary ecurrence-nathing more than
the arrival uf a handsome csb aJ the door
True. Young woman descended from il.
and lei herself into the house with latch
key. But Young women aud latehkeys
are common 10 London, a. common as--a>
dirt. Il could hardly be that which dark
ened his face as he rang the bell.
In the hall. where dan was sitting,
there was little to remove any prejudice
he NAV have conceived little tao, IN the
dinev staircase. numbered with plates and
stale food: or in the iirs; Hnor roouis inDm
which some one peeped and another whis
pered. aud both giggled or in that second
floor room. al once smart and shabby. and
remarkable for many photographs Of one
Young girl. where he was hidden to wait
little or nothing. BUT when he had pished
and lshawed at the tenth photograph he
was called into an inner noon. where a
strange silence prevailed. lnyoluntarily
he stepped softly 1t was kind of you
to come. some one said-some one who
was living in a great chair brought very
near to the open window that the speaker
might breathe more easily very kind.
And you have come 50 quickly. too.
II have been in London some days
he answered gently, the fastidious expres-
sion gone from his face. Your daughter :
letter followed me from the country and
reached me only an hour ago. Ii has been
no trouble to me to come. Il am only
panied at finding you 50 Ill.
..Ahrt she answered Doubtless her
thoughts were busy, while his few back
nearly thirty years to a summer evening
when he had walked with her under the
trees in Chelsea Gardens and heard her
pour into his ear-she WAS young actress
then in the first blush of success-all her
hopes and ambitions. There was nothing
in the memory Of which he had need to be
ashamed. In those days he had been
reading for orders. and having lodgings in
a respectable street came by chance to
know two of his neighbors- mother
and herself. The two were living quiet,
domestic life. which surprised and i'm
pressed him. The girls talent and the
contrast between her notoriety and her
simple ways had certain charm for him.
For some months the neophyte and the
actress we're as brother and sister But
there the feeling stopped; and when his
appointment to country curacy closed
/ this pretty episode in his life, the exchange
Of few letters had but added grace to its
ending
Now old feelings rose to swell his pity
as he traced the girls features in the
woman's face. You have daughter.
You have been married since we parted,
he said
Yes. 1t is. for her sake | have trou-