The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1896-07-31
AN EDITORS STORY.
By c. N. CARvALHO.

"What strange thing" murmurcd
Gregory Manvers, as he turned the last
leaf of q type-printed manuscript that
lay Oh the desk before him. snow who
can have written this?'
1t was q short sketch entitled: us
1t Too Latc?" the record of love
scornfully cast away, and OF consc-
quent regret and suffering. a common
theme enough, and not one calculated
to touch the heart of a man accustomed
TO pass hours Of each day in reading
similar effusions. 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 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-
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 eI-
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 Bu-
1t afforded no clew. It was signed with
initials, and directed to a 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 1t before the,
public, it was too long, too diffuse;
it had 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
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 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 1t 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 thesei A cousin Of
his, bearing the same name, had been
guilty of obtaining money ON false pro-
lenses, and had fled the country.
Through tho contrivance of the real
culprit, the public were led to believe
MuuFcl5 WIS OC1uulIC1v UllS CllO
Blakemores, hearing the report, de-
manded an explanation. Circumstan-
tial evidence CHANGED to be strong
against the editor, and he found it
difficult to prove his innocence. He
had never spoken to the Blakemoreg
of this cousin, and they were not will
ing to believe in the existence Of such
Thn hot cnyiS,,tc
quarrel, ending in his engagement to
Miss Blakemoe being broken off.
Deeply offended that Helen, at least,
would not trust his word, he accepted
his dismissal without making any
further effort to clear himself, and
strove to be content with the recoj-
lection that the law proceedings, when
published In due course in the news
papers, would eXonerate him from all
blame
1t had been hard to Danish these
events from his mind at the time; 1t
was next to impossible now; but he
struggled manfully to do 1t; and when
autumn came, betook himself to Swift
erland for his annual holiday, thinking
b Noultl
to both body and mind. But by an un-
toward accident, he spralned his ankle
soEeverely 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 stay
f,Ncr IL, fhA hntAl 80 xxrho
exceedingly polite and attentive; one
in particular-a young German Of the
name of Muller-coming to the IN
vaud's room at oil hours, and bringing
with him the gossip of the place.
Il can't stay now, Mr.. Manvers,"
this young fellow cried one morning
ps he rushed in with pile of news
papers and periodicals under his arm.
I'm off for the Corner Grat with those
men l told you of last night the
weather Is glorious. But have done
my best for you. Everybody is out,
so I've made clean sweep of the Eng
lish things on the reading-room table,
and here they are. Good-by. / will
look you up directly come back"
AS rule Manvers made point OF
eschewing all periodical literature dur
ing his holiday, but just now he had
little else to divert him; so when he
lad finished his correspondence he
opened the least trashy of the reviews
and began to read an article of one of
the leading politicians of the day. He
waded through it with praiseworthy
perseverance; then, noticing that there