Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-09-01
NIII.-CoNrINUED.

OF ms quest made impossible elsewhere.
and because he honestly wanted To be
true to the new ideal. and he went
oitener and stayed longer when he be-
gan TO feel the ground slipping from
under him in the small matter Of senti-
ment. He said rather bitterly that ne
must be true to something: that nc
should lose what little self-respect hi
tickle precipitancy had left him il nc
suffered himself to swerve from the
plain path he had chosen in the day OF
illness.
For some of the doubts and much
of the dissatisfaction. Elsie was her
self answerable. She was frank with
out being confidential; she was afrec-
uonate and sympathetic, but she never
gave him an opportunity 10 add a word
to those already spoken. She rejoiced
frankly in his stubborn perseverance
in the kilgrow affair. and she was
openly thankful when the tide OF IN
health began 10 ebb; but beyond all
this, Philip felt that there was a bar
rier which he had never been permit
ted 70 pass. He told himself that IL
was maidenly modesty-a nice refine
ment OF womanly delicacy which de
Tended her from the ambiguity OF his
impulsivc declaration; and in this be
lief he went about seeking the OPP
nortunity for palmer speech which
chance or something else pcrsistentlv
denied him. Sometimes il was Elsic'S
mood; oftener II was the presence of q
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 il 10 himself
no less than to Elsie that there should
be a clear understanding between
them; driven into words. the though.
would have been that he would bc surer
OF himself when there was no possibili-
~ 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 compromising
with ones conscience leaves the main
question still unsettled; and as TO ben
chts, II was 10 the giver and not TO the
receiver that the blessing was prom
ised. H. 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. Ii was if he had sold him
self for an extension of life and the
herewithal TO make il c,orth the hav-
ing.
Two grains OF comfort he had man
aged To sift out of the summers chat.
One was that Ielen's sistcrlv letters
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 ne was
able 10 extract comfort from this. hut
so ii was; the threat OF disaster made
him throw himself with redoubled ar
dor into the case in equity. II might
easily happen that his attorneys fec
would be all that was left him when
the day of reckoning came. and under
the spur of this premonition he tool.
counsel Of zeal and taxed his resources
Yet more persistently
And in the matter Of resources Philip
had developed a creditablc measure of
tnat ingenuity which is usually but not
always the handmaiden Of experience.
He had attempted through various
channels TO make overtures to Prag-
more. He had tried TO trace Gates and
his convenient witness. He had ran
sacked the old town, ferreting ont
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 a bearing
on the case. He had ridden for DAYS on
the mountain in a hopeless attempt 20
find witnesses who could certify that
Kilgrow had not been in Nlacoochee
ON the 2Oth of May 1855. And when all
these eNPedients had been pushed 10 a
fruitless conclusion. he had secured the
services OF q New York detective. y, no.
after three weeks OF painstalling invcs-
iigation, threw up the case in disgust
and went back to the metropolis.
Tie forests on Jubal mountain were
beginning to hoist the ensign Of au-
tumn when the professional thicf-takcr
boarded the train for New York. and
IhorndNke was already sitting his
brain for fresh suggestions. when the
laconic wires. supplemented by the tar
dier but more explicit mail. brough.
news 81 the failure ~ Italians bank
II was an assignment and-so wrote
Mrs. Thorndyke. hopefully pub
iished assets were much in excess Of
the liabilities, but a letter from Col. Van
Colt went nearer the truth. When the
affairs OF the bank should be settled
said the solicitor. there would be mon
cy enough 20 satisfy the dcpoSitors and
other creditors. with possibly q small
dividend for the stockholders. As t1
the latter however. the colonel init
mated that Philip would do well to
leave it out Of his plans for the future.
m the meantime. and for preseut uece--
stiles there were q few hundred dollars
which he, the colonel. had taken the
liberty 10 transfer from Hallam's TO
his own bank ont Of the last scmi-sn-
nual dividend which sum was subject
TO Philips order.
The same mail brought u letter from
Helen. The securities which had been
set aside for her marriage portion were