The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-05-14
RISING SUN, CECIL COUNTY, MD, FRIDAY Il,


mood; oftener 1t was the presence of a
third person - either Duncan or his
wife, or Protheroe. After such battle.
mcnts Philip scourged himself dutiful-
ly, heaping abuse on his own head for
not overriding such trivial obstacles.
He insisted that he owed it to himself
no less than to Elsie that there should
be a clear understanding between
them; driven into words, the thought
would have been that he would be surer
of himself when there was no possibili-
ty of retreat.
Without doubt, and in the face OF
much matter for thankfulness, Philip
was neither good enough nor bad
enough to be wholly comfortable. Like
most compromises, the compounding
with ones conscience leaves the main
question still unsettled; and as to ben
efits, it was TO the giver and not to the
receiver that the blessing was prom
ised. 1t is true that Philip had found
an employment that called out the best
there was in him, and that in the bat.
tie he had somehow stumbled into the
path that led away from sickness and
dependency; but at times he was tor
mented by the thought that he had
paid too dearly for ambition and bet
ter health. 1t was If he had sold him
self for an extension of life and the
vherewithAl to make 1t worth the hav-
ing.
Two grains Of comfort he had man
aged to sift out Of the summers chafY.
added no fuel to the fires of conscience; !;
and the other was the news that the
bank in which the Thorndyke money
was invested was in difficulties. He
smiled at the thought that he was
able to extract comfort from this, but
so it was; the threat of disaster made
him throw himself with redoubled ar
dor into the case in equity. 1t might
easily happen that his attorneys fee
would be all that was left him when
the day of reckoning came, and under
the spur of this premonition he took
counsel of zeal ard taxed his resources
yet more persistently.
And in the matter Of resources Philip
had developed creditable measure of
that ingenuity which is usually buS not
always the handmaiden of experience.
He had attempted through various
more. He had tried to trace Gates and
his convenient witness. He had ran
sacked the old town, ferreting out
everyone who could give him the slight
est information about Gates or Kilgrow,
the tenantry of the farm, the raid of the
revenue officers, and such other scraps
of local history as might have bearing
on the case. He had ridden for days on
the mountain in a hopeless attempt to
find witnesses who could certify that
Kilgrow had not been in Allacoochee
on the 2Oth of May, 1885. And when all
these expedients had been pushed to a
fruitless conclusion, he had secured the
services of a New York detective, who,
after three weeks of painstaking inves-
tigation, threw up the case in disgust
and went back to the metropolis.
The forests on Jubal mountain were
beginning to hoist the ensign of au-
tumn when the professional thief-taker
boarded the train for New York, and
Thorndyke was already sitting his
brain for fresh suggestions, when the
laconic wires, supplemented by the tar
der but more explicit mail, brought
news of the failure of Hallam's bank.
1t was an assignment, and-so wrote
Mrs. Thorndyke, hopefully-the pub
ished assets were much in excess of
the liabilities, but letter from Col. Van
Cott went nearer the truth. When the
affairs of the bank should be settled
said the solicitor, there would be mc1
ey enough to satisfy the depositors and
other creditors, with possibly small
dividend for the stockholders. AS 10
the latter, however, the colonel init
mated that Philip would do well to
leave it out of his plans for the future;
IN the meantime, and for present neces-
sites there were few hundred dollars
which he, the colonel, had taken the
liberty TO transfer from Hallam's to
his own bank out of the last semi-an-
nual dividend, which sum was subject
to Philips order.
The same mail brought a letter from
Helen. The securities which had been
set aside for her marriage portion were
still safe, and her letter from begin
ming to end was an urgent appeal TO
Philip to divert the settlement to his
mother. Blinded by the dull rage
which lashes out indiscriminately be-
cause its real object is out of reach,
Philip was in no mood to search for af-
fectionate subtleties in letter which
to it's more hopeful depths. He read it
with unreasoning bitterness; wrote a
formal reply, thanking her for her dis
interestedness, and asking to be re-
leased from an engagement which, in
view of his losses, was no longer sup
portable to him; scribbled hurried
note to his mother, giving her the
barest outline of what he had done;
and, ordering his horse, galloped off to
Duncan farm to tell Elsie of the new
misfortune.
He got speech with her alone, for n
wonder, and she listened and answered
with ready sympathy, concluding by
asking him what he would do.
For the present, and until can get
justice for Kilgrow, just what I've been
doing all summer. After that it will be
for you to say"
81 don't understand, esaid, shrink
ing little from the half-menace in his
reply.