Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1896-04-03
AN EDITORS STORY.
BY q. N. CARvALHO.

"What strange thing" murmurcd
Gregory Manvers, as he turned the last
leaf of type-printed manuscript that
lay on the desk before him. "Now who
can have written this?"
1t was n short sketch entitled: us
It Too Later" the record of love
scornfully cast away, and of conse-
quent regret and suffering. A common
theme enough, and not one calculated
to touch the heart of man accustomed
10 pass hours of each day in reading
similar illusions. But for all that our
editor knitted his brows as he read,
pressed his lips together and finally
dropped tear upon the paper.
Was it only q coincidence, he Won
dered, or had some one who knew the
story of his past life been cruel enough
to trade upon it? For the first chapter
was almost transcript of what had
passed between Helen Blakemore and
himself scarcely three years ago.
There, it must be owned, the resem-
himself, was not one to repent, as the
heroine of this poor little sketch had
done, still less to acknowledge her en-
TOR. Pride was her besetting sin-thc
north pole must touch the south before
she would admit she had been in the
wrong.
He turned the roll hastily to find the
name andsaddress of the writer But
It afforded no clew. 1t was signed with
initials, and directed to remote post
Office in the north of England, to be
left till called for.
That the sketch was unsuitable he
saw at glance. Setting aside his nat
ural reluctance to bring it before the
public, it was too long, too diffuse;
It had q dozen faults that disqualified
II for the pages of the journal he con
Quoted. So with fingers that trembled
slightly, he wrote on it in pencil No.
1854, put it into drawer set aside
for rejected communications, and tool,
smother manuscript from the pile at his
side.
For hours after that our editor
worked on, writing, reading, answering
/ questions; and, except that he was Il
little short-tempered, no one remarked
anything unusual in his demeanor
But the incident of the morning had
not been forgotten.
His task completed, he lay back in
his chair, and, shading his eyes fron'
the light, fell to reviewing his past
life, and wondering if Helen, knowing
as she must have known long since
that he had only told her the simple
truth, was still implacable. If he, fol
lowing the advice given by the author
of the sketch, were TO cast pride FROM
him, and plead his cause once more,
would 1t be of any avail? But it was
useless to dwell on this He knew not
where to find her. After the rupture
of their engagement, she had gone with
her parents to reside abroad, and he
had lost sight Of her.
The facts were these: A cousin oil
his, bearing the same name, had beel
guilty of obtaining money on false pre-
lenses, and had fled the country
Through the continuance of the rea
culprit, the public were led to believ,
Manvers was the defaulter, and thu
Blakemores, hearing the report, de-
manded an explanation. Circumstan
tial evidence CHANGED to be strong
against the editor, and he found il
difficult to prove his innocence. He
had never spoken to the Blakemores
of this cousin, and they were not will
Ing to believe in the existence of sucl
a person. The upshot was serious
quarrel, ending in his engagement tt
Miss Blakemore being broken off
Deeply offended that Helen, at least
would not trust his word, he accepted
his dismissal without making an,
further effort to clear himself, ant
strove to be content with the recol
lection that the law proceedings, wheI
published in due course in the news
papers, would exonerate him from al
blame.
It had been hard to Danish thesi
events from his mind at the time; |
was next to impossible now; but h,
struggled manfully to do it; and whel
autumn came, betook himself to Swift
erland for his annual holiday, thinking
thorough change would be beneficial
TO both body and mind. But by an un
toward accident, he sprained his ankl'
so severely that he was kept prisone
TO the sofa for some weeks, and thu
had more leisure to brood over his mis-
fortunes than was good for him. II,
was wholly dependent for amusement
on the kindness OF the visitors stay
ing in the hotel, many of whom wer,
exceedingly polite and attentive; on,
in particular young German of tn,
name of Muller-coming 10 the in
valid's room at all hours, and bringins
with MIN the gossip of the place.
II can't stay now, Mr.. Manvers,
this young fellow cried one nornin!
es he rushed in with pile of news
papers and periodicals under his arm
I'm off for the Corner Graf with thos,
men told you of last night - tn,
weather is glorious. But have don,