The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-11
(Chapter I Continued. J

led floors, and sparkling with broken ice
ike oew drops on its white unfoldeo
petals OF counters, and slightly somnolent
with the subdued inurmur of dronine
ioungers, who were heavy with its sweets.
Inc gallant Colonel nodded with cont
Dental atfability to the spotless- shirted
oar-keeper, and then taking Corbin by
Inc arm fraternaily conducted him into
small apartment in the rear of the bar
room. 1t was evidently used as the office
OF the proprietor, and contained a plain
desk, table and chairs. At the rear win
dow, Nature, not entirely evicted, looked
in with few struggling buckeyes and a
dusty myrtle, over the body of lately
felled pine tree that Haunted from an
upaung branch a still green spray like a
dropping banner lifted by dead but
rigid arm. From the adjoining room the
faint monotonous click of billiard balls,
languidly played, came at intervals like
the dry notes of cicala in the bushes.
The bar-keeper brought two glasses
crowned with mint and diademeo with
broken ice. The Colonel took long pull
at his portion, and leaned back in his
chair with bland gulp of satisfaction
nd dreamily patient eyes. The stranger
mechanically slipped the contents of his
glass, and then without having altered
bis reluctant expression drew from his
breast pocket q number of old letters.
difficult hand of cards, and with some
| thing of the air of a dispirited player, he
began:
yer trouble got this letter. He picked
out q we'll worn, badly written missive,
and put it into Colonel Starbottle's S
hands, rising at the same time and lean
| ing over him as he read "Y0u see, she
that writ it says as how she hadn't heard
| from her son for a long time, but owing
| to his having spoken once about me, she
| was emboldened to write and ask me If I
knew what had gone of him." He was
pointing his finger at each line of the let
| ter e he read it, or rather seemed to
translate it from memory with sad
familiarity. Now" ne continued in
parenthesis, you see this kind o. got me-
l knew he had got relatives in Kentucky.
l knew that all this trouble had been put
in the paper with his name and mine,
but this here name of Martha Jeffcourt at
the bottom didn't seem to jibe with it.
Then l remembe that he had left lot
of letters in his trunk i'll the shanty, and
looked 'em over. And l found that his
name was Tom Jeffcourt, and that he'd
been passin' under the name of Frisbee
all this tlme.'
Perfectly natural and frequent oc-
cheerfui n, aonIy last year met an old
friend whom veil call Stidger, of New
Orleans, at the Union Club, Frisco.
How are you, Stidger? said, / haven t
seen you since we used to meet driving
me, sir, said he. my name is not
Stidger. it's Brown looked him in
the eye, sir, and saw him CULVER. Then
l must apologize to Stidger,' said, for
supposing him capable of changing his
name He CAME to me an hour after all
in tremble. For God S sake Star he
said-always called me Star don't go
back on me, but you know family affairs
another woman, beautiful creature.
etc.. etc.-yes, sir, perfectly common, but
blank mistake. When a man once
funks his own name he'll turn tail on
| anything. Sorry for this man, Frieze-
| coat, or Turncoat, or whatevers his
name; but it's So
The suggestion did not, however, seem
to raise the strangers spirits or alter his
manner. His name was Jeffcourt, and
this here was his mother" he weEt on
drearily; "and you see here she says, :"
pointing to the letter again. "She's been
expecting money from him and it don t
come. and she's mighty Lard up. And
that gave me an idea. don't know, :"
he went on, regarding the Colonel with
gloomy doubt las you'll think it was
much; don't know as you would call it
a--fool idea, but got it all the same. !"
He stopped, hesitated, and went on. You
see this man. Frisbee or Jeffcoat was !ny
pardner. We were good friends up to the
killing, and then he drove me hard. 1
think told you he drove me hard-didn' {
1? Well, he did. But the idea got was
this. Considerin' killed him after ALL
and so to speak disappointed them, 1
reckoned I'd take upon myself the care
of that family and send EN- money every
month";
The Colonel slightly straitened his
clean shaver mouth ga kind OF expia-
ton or amercement by fines, known to
the Mosaic, Roman. and old English
law. Cad, sir, the Jews might have
made you marry his widow OF sister. An
old custom, and think superceded-sir,
properly superseded-by the alternative
of ordeal by battle..inathe medieval times
I don't myself fancy these pecuniary fash
ions of settling wrongs-but go on"
81 wrote her, continued Corbin, "that
her son was dead, but that he and me
had some interests together in q claim,
ane that 1 was very glad to know where
to send her what would be his share every
month. l thought it no use to tell her l
killed hiIn-maybe she might refuse to
take it. I sent her hundred dollars
every month since. Sometimes it's been
pretty hard sleddin' to do it, for l amt
rich; sometimes I've had to borrow the
money, but l reckoned that was only
paying for my share in this here business
of his bein' dead, and I did it. -
"And I understand you that this jeff
court really had no interest in your
CLAMP
Corbin looked at him in dull astonish
ment. "Not cent of course; l thought
told you that. But that weren't his
fault, for he never had anything, and
owed me money. In fact" he added
gloomily, sit was because / hadn't any
more to give him-havin' sold my watch
for grub-that he quo'llcd with me that
day, and up and called me 'sneakin'
Yankee hound told you he drove me
hard
The Colonel coughed slightly and re-
sumed his jaunty manner. "And the
er-motherswas, of course grateful and
satisfied?''
''Well, no-not exactly" He stopped
again ar d took up his letters once more,
sorted and arranged them as If to play
out his unfinished but hopeless hand,
and drawing out one among, laid it be-
fore the Colonel "You see this Mrs.
Jeffcourt, after a time, reckoned she
ought to have more money than l sent
her, and wrote saying that she had al
WAYS understood from her son The that