The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-10

will 1 tell here of our encounter, since,
as a general rule-though 1 am prone
to break 1.-THE end of a story should
come after rather than before the be
ginning. And the beginning of the
story goes a long way back; indeed, 1t
is now nearly 20 years since Fate, by
series of complicated and startling ma
neuvres. brought Mr.. Ledbetter, so to
speak, into my hands.
In those days I was living in Jamaica
and Mr.. Ledbetter was a Schoolmaster
IL England. He was in orders, and al
ready recogniZably the same man that
he is today, the same roIundity of Wis
age, the same or similar glasses, and
the same faint shadow of surprise in
his resting expression. He was, of
course, disheveled when I saw him, and
his collar less of a collar than a wet
bandage, and that may have helped to
bridge the natural gulf between us-but
of that, as 1 say. later.
The business began at Hithergate-on-
Sea, and simultaneously with MI Led
9etters summer vacation. Thither he
came for a greatly needed rest, with
bright brown portmanteau marked r
w L. new white and black straw nat
and two pairs Of white flannel trousers.
He was naturally eXhilarated at his re-
lease from school, for he was not very
fond of the boys he taught. After din
ii
alive person established in the board
ing house to which, acting on the advice
of his aunt. he had reSorted- IhlS
talkative person was the only other
man in the house. Their discussion con-
cerned the melancholy disappearance
of wonder and adventure in these latter
davS the prevalence of globe-trottlnS,
the abolition of distance by steam and
electricity, the vulgarity of advertise
1nent the degradation of men by CIVIL
iZation and many such things Har-
ticularly was the talkatiVe person elO-
ouent on the decay of human courage
through security. a security Mr. Led
better rather thoughtlessly joined MIN
in deploring. MIR. Ledbetter, in the hrst
delight of emancipation from duty,
and being anxious perhaps to estaDnsh
a. reputation for manly conVlVlallty,
rartook rather more freely than was
advisable of the excellent whisky the
talkatiVe person produced But ne olu
not become intoxicated, he insists lie
was simply eloquent beyond his SOBER
wont. and with the finer edge gone
from his Judgment. And after that long
talk of The brave old days that were
gone forever, he went out into moonlt
Hithergate alone and up the cliff road
where the villas cluster together.
He had bewailed, and now, as he
walked up the silent road. he still be
to such an uneventful life as peda-
gogue's What a prosaic existence he
led: so stagnant, so colorless! Secure,
methodical, year in, year out w nat
call was there for bravery? He thought
enviously of those rowing medieval
DAYS. so near and so remote, of quests
and spies and condottieri and many a
risky blade-drawing business Ana sud
denly came a doubt, a strange doubt,
sDrineing out of some chance thought
of fortunes, and destructive altogether
of the position he had assumed that
evening. Was he-Mr. Ledbetter-real-
". after all, so brave as he assumed!
would he really be so pleased TO have
RAILWAYS, policemen, and security, van
ish suddenly from the earth? The talk
alive man had spoken obviously of
crime. The burglar" he said, is the
only true adventurer left on earth
Think of his single-handed hight
against the whole civilized world!' And
Mr. I,edbetter had said: About the
only people who do Just think how 1t
must feel to wire a lawnl" And he
had laughed wickedly. Now, in this
franker intimacy of self-communion he
found himself instituting a comparison
between his own brand of courage and
that of the habitual criminal. He tried
TO meet these insidious questionlngs
with blank assertion. Il could do all
that" said Mr. Ledbetter. Il long to
do all that: only do not give way to
nv criminal impulses. My moral cour-
aee Restraints me" But he doubted,
even while he told himself these things.
Mr. Ledbetter passed a large villa
standing by itself. Conveniently sit
mated above quite practicable balcony
was a window, gaping black, wide OPEN
At the time he scarcely marked it, but