The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-14

| while keeping my discovery dark till
had the means of proving 1t to all the
world, 1 couldn't quite refrain from talk
ing sometimes Of heredity.
| "Pontifex" my father, said before me
| once at my club, where he had been lunch
ing with the professor, don't encourage
! that boy in these queer notions any more;
| It's becoming monomania with him. Just
| set him off on butterhies
But the professor only fixed his cold grey
| eyes upon me, and answered slowly, It's
| an interesting study; most interesting
| study" And whether he was referring 10
heredity or to myself l was never quite
| certain
At last one day happened to have tooth
ache, and went to a dentists close by in
| George street. While waiting for my turn
I CHANGED to open a book of thirty years
earlier-the bound volume of an illustrated
| paper Of my fathers first manhood that
| lay upon the table. As / turned over the
| pages came suddenly face to face with
| woodcut Of a man, after a photograph of
| the period. which somehow. as II by
chance, instantly fixed me. l was aware in
| a second that / had seen that portrait be-
| fore. or rather, ! had known the man it
represented In fever of suspense 1
turned to the letterpress Major AIDE
| grave of the list" 1 read, whose portrait
we reproduce on page 140. was the victim
| of a sad tragedy near Dover on Friday
| last. The unfortunate oficer''-I ran my
/
| cliffs fall of two hundred
feet. picked up quite dead
no eyewitness of the dis
aster" My brain reeled round. What, Al
degrave OF the list? Poor old Aldegrave
found dead! Great heavens, this was terri
! blei
That instant my tooth ceased to ache as
| if by magic / left the house hurrledly.
l must get some fresh air. Aldergrave
dead! Poor old Aldegrave dead! 1t SEEM
ed somehow to stun me.
| 1 walked out into Hanover square, and
| let the cool moist air blow full on my fore
| head 1t relieved me little. After the
| first fierce shock of this unexpected recol-
! lection 1 began to consider whereabout in
my mothers life 1 could place the vivid
and most painful memory of poor old AL
degrave. But he didn't fit in anywhere.
| He seemed to grow haZier the more l con-
! eentrated myself on my mothers recollec-
! tons Poor old Aldegrave! Why, the
! phrase was a mans! Then came another
shock. Great God, 1 had found 1.-THE
| missing clue to my fathers memories!
| AldcgraVe Poor old Aldegrave! Smoke
and gossip at the club-the officers club
by the pier at Dover Lansequeret; note
| of hand; more champagne; more cham
| payne there! Losing, losing, losing; five
| hundred; thousand; two, three, four, five;
| there seems no end of it! Back to my
| quarters alone; Aldegrave gone out to cool
/
winningsl The edge of the cliff; peering
| peering over; dead body on the shore!
! So still, so strange! Poor old Aldegrave
dead. And it was I who had killed him!
With a flash more certain than the most
certain knowledge 1t came back to me now
I was crawling on my knees to the edge
of the cliff where | pushed him over.
| Crawling slowly to the edge, and peering
down below to see whether the fall had
really killed him.
saw it all at once-saw it and under
stood it in less than a second. The reas-
on why that woodcut restored the whole
story for me was simply this: 1t was the
widest fact in my fathers past history
It had burned itself like a soaring iron into
| the very core and fabric of his brain; it
| had been transmitted intact to his chill
| dren after him. Transmitted potentially
to all of us in the remote recesses of un-
| conscious thought; revealed to me in a
flash by the accident of that portrait
I went home to Curzon street with my
brain all seething. 1 could feel it at work
l was reconstructing as 1 went a new past
history.
opened the door with my latchkey, and
walked straight into the library. On the
bottom shelf stood old piles of back vol
umes of that illustrated paper. 1 remem-
bered now that my father had often quar-
relied with my mother because she
wouldn't turn out "those hateful old books
! so dusty and musty," to make room for
| others. l remembered also that he partlc-
| ularly hid away one half-yearly volume
l turned it up at once, and looked for the
| page with poor AldegraVe's death in It,
| Why, how odd 1t wasn't there! I ex-
| amined the place closely. Page 141 fol-
lowed page 1888. The intermediate double
page had been cut out of the volume. 1
could see the cut edge where a penknife
| had severed ii.
Just at that moment my father entered.
IIa n,1I- cd a.,
What are you doing with that book?''
he asked, glancing over my shoulder and
| recognizing the paging.
I floundered and blundered like a school
boy detected.
II was looking for something" I said
stupidity. There's a page cut out here. 1
was always more than half afraid of my
father.
His eyes met mine. 1 could not face
them. 1 grew hot and stammered.
What were you looking in that place
for?' he asked again, sternly.
My presence of mind forsook me- never
in my life could tell lie to my father.
THE account of poor old Aldegrave's
DEATH answered trembling.
Ny father drew back slowly, and meas
ured me from head to foot with his mill
tary eye. Then he said, in a clear voice
that never quivered for a second "Ponti-
fex put you up to this. He's been at his
devils work with you"
HE has done nothing of the sort" I
answered. Il saw it at the dentists. And
the moment 1 saw it, remembered every
thing
Everything"
Yes, everything. The note of hand, the
midnight walk, how lay on the edge of
the cliff and looked over at the body, how
l went back to my quarters, and what
men said at mess next day about it."
"Ha!
My father was looking at me with a fix
ed deadly look. He was not angry; he
was hardly even frightened; but he SEEM
ed to be thinking with incalculable speed,
a thousand things in a minute.
And what use do you mean to make of
this-fancy?" he asked at last, in tone
of derision.
None at ALL" 1 answered, "as far as
I am aware, at least But I haven't had
yet time to consider what 1 feel about it.
You see it's so sudden"
My father looked hard at me still. 1
quaied before his glance-I, who had been
a murderer.
t'VC,1 cold VOL, crarrlal - A.