Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-05-22
MIR. HARBERTON.

"No, old man, Of course don't be-
lieve i'll spirits or nonsense of that sort.
Yet something that never quite under
stood once happened to me. You all
knew about that kind of thing, and per-
haps you can explain it.
"After left Oxford-without honors
Il spent a lot of time loafing at home.
1t was slow part of the country, nothing
much to shoot, and mother, an invalid,
louldn't stir out of her room.
81 didn't mean deliberately to deceive
her, but what life is there for healthy
young man, stuck down there, hanging
round ii sickroom from one month to
another? He must come to the surface
to breathe, whether the air be whole
some or not. AT first, when cut for a
day OF two, would call it business, but
the mater knew old Findlay had always
managed the investments, and the mon
ey and all that. So when took run
up to town and didn't return at night 1
had to invent q friend and to pretend l
had put up with him. That came as
easy as lying always does Only mother,
who had little to interest her, insisted
on hearing all the particulars-how my
friend looked, what he said and the
rest got into lot of tight places at
the start, till thought of a man 1 had
known two years before and kept to a
description of him.
"Harberton was his name He was
cruising on the Mediterranean for his
health when Twas Oh the Sayonara with
the Blakes. He was a queer chap-be-
lieved in occultism and rot of that sort,
and we all laughed at him for it. We
never thought him i'll, merely lazy. One
moonless night after dining on his yacht
we lounged on deck, with those myriads
of stars making us feel jolly small.
"Harberton lay on steamer chair
he used to pass the night there-gazing
at the sky with his inscrutable eyes. We
had all been laughing and chatting when
he came Oh deck. But somehow the i'm
mensity of it all had sobered us, and
we We're quiet and solemn, when Har-
bertCn, pointing heavenward, said in
his languid, affected drawl, Tomorrow
l shall know what these have to tell.
We believed it to be merely one of his
poses, but in the morning we were horri-
bly, startled by the news that he was
dead. He had died, lying there in his
chair, during the night
Well, Harberton's name occurred to
me when l was forced to invent a story
to satisfy mother, and, though couldn t
write story to save my life, whenever
l began jawing about him everything
came quite pat. Often l blessed his
memory when could go off for few
days, have a good time and return to
find mother quite pleased.
'"This went on for awhile, till mother
began to bother me with a request to
ask my friend to visit us at Frampton
Chelmsford. 1 tried hard to get her off
the notion. I said that he was busy or
i'll; that entertaining guests would hurt
her, and all manner of things But she
seemed set upon it-talked nothing else.
The doctor said it was sick fancy;
that i'll her weak state any craving must
be humored.
'Thus cornered, wrote letter urg-
ing My dear Harberton'-I hadn't the
remotest idea what his Christian name
was-to come to us even for a day.
Mother insisted upon adding line-she
who had not penned word for months
begging him to come that she might
have an opportunity of thanking him
for his friendliness toward her son. I
did feel mean when l took the invita-
ton into another room and burned it.
Il would have given anything to
have been able to produce an impostor.
But Harberton had been described so
minutely the mater knew him by heart,
as it We're, and would have detected q
fraud at a glance. Besides, have never
seen any one who at all resembled him.
l told her had heard from him that he
was coming. dreaded she would ask
to see his letter, but it CHANGED to be
one of her bad days, and she didn't.
Next morning he was to arrive. I
meant to fake up telegram somehow,
giving an excuse for his absence when 1
went to the station on pretense of meet
ing him. My mother was strangely we'll
that morning. Her customary lassitude
and pain had vanished. She was reclin-
ing on a couch drawn close to the open
window. Her cheeks were almost rosy,
and there was a lace arrangement over
her white hair that made her look pref
tier than l had ever seen her. She was
all impatience to see Harberton and hur-
ried me off to the station half an hour
too soon.
1t was lovely June day, and our
private footpath to the railway lay
through shady ways, but was wretched
and ashamed, wishing the thing over.
The remembrance of the sparkle in
mothers eyes, even of the effort she had
made to appear in full toilet, disturbed
me. OF her health the doctor had spoken
gravely on the night before. With a
heart affection such as hers might not
the shock of Harberton's nonappearance
be too much for her!
81 suppose one ought to believe in
Nemesis or retribution or that sort of
thing. l don't much; but, confess,
that summer morning / came nearer
suffering for my sins than I had ever
done before or have ever done since.
HNOvy vOn uepdn,t hn1ieva what fol.