The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-03-11
AN EDITORS STORY.

Il " LD1 O1t ~ ~ Olt |.
"What a strange thing" murmured
Gregory Manvers, as he turned the las
leaf of type-printed manuscript that
lay on the desk before him. "Now
who can have written this ?''
1t was short sketch entitled: "Ts
| Ii Too Late?" the record of lov,
scornfully east away, and of conse
quent regret and suffering. A common
theme enough, and not one calculated
TO touch the heart of man accustom-
ed to pass hours of each day in reading
similar effiusions. But for all that our
editor knitted his brows rs he read
pressed his lips together and finally
dropped tear upon the paper.
Was it only 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 Blackmore aud
himself scarcely three years ago.
There, il must be owned, the resem-
| blance ceased. Helen, he reminded
himself, was not one TO repent, as the
heroine of this poor little sketch had
done, still less to acknowledge her er-
ror. Pride was her besetting sin-the
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 and address OF the writer. But
il 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 10 bring it before the
public, it was too long, too difIse :;
it had a dozen faults that disqualified
it 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 took
another manuscript from the pile at his
side.
For hours after that our editor work
ed on, writing, reading, answering
questions and, except that he was a
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 mis- eyes from
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 it 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 4 cousin of
his, bearing the same name, had been
guilty of obtaining money on false pre-
lenses, and had fled the country.
Through the contrivance of the real
culprit, the public wer9 led to believe
Manvers was the defaulter, and the
Blakemores, hearing the report, de-
manded an explanation. Circumstan-
tial evidence chanced 10 be strong
against the editor, and he found it
difficult to prove his innocence. He
had never spoken to the Blakemores
of this cousin, aud they were not will
ing to believe in the existence of such
a person. The upshot was serious
quarrel, ending in his engagement to
Miss Blakemore being broken off.
Deeply offended that Helen, at least,
would not trust his word, he accepted
further effort to clear himself, and
strove to be content with the recollec-
ton that the law proceedings, when
published in due course i'm the news
papers, would exonerate him from all
blame.
1t had been hard to Danish these
events from his his mind at the time il
was next TO impossible now; but he
struggled manfully to do ii and when
autumn came, betook himself to Switz-
erland for his annual holiday, thinking
a thorough change would be beneficial
to both body and mind. But by an un-
toward accident, he sprained his ankle
20 severely that he WAS kept prisoner
TO the sofa for some weeks, and thus
had more leisure to brood over his mis-
fortunes than was good for him. He
was wholly dependent for amusement
on the kindness of the visitors staying
in the hotel, many of whom were ex-
ceedingly polite and attentive; one
i'm particulars young German of the
name of Muller-coming to the in
vaIid's room at all hours and bringing
with him the gossip of the place.
l can't stay now, Mr.. Manvers,"
this young fellow cried one morning
as he rushed in with pile of news
papers and periodicals under his arm.
"Im off for the Corner Grat with those
men | told you of last night-the
weather is glorious. But / have done
my best for you. Everybody is out,
50 Eve made a clean sweep of the Eng
lish things on the readingroom table,
and here they are. Good-by. / viii
look you up directly / come back"