The true northerner., 1898-02-16
MIR. HARBERTON.

"No, old man, of course don t be-
lieve in spirits or nonsense of that sort.
Yet something that | never quite un-
derstood once happened to me. You all
know about that kind of thing, and per-
haps you can explain it.
After / left Oxford-without hon
ors-I spent a lot of time loafing at
home. 1t was a slow part of the coun-
try, nothing much to shoot, and moth
er an invalid, couldn't stir out of her
room.
Il didn't mean deliberately to de-
ceive her. but what life is there for a
healthy young man, stuck down there,
hanging round sickroom from one
month to another? He must come to the
surface TO breathe, whether the air be
wholesome or not AT first, when l cut
for a day or two, i would call it busi-
ness, but the mater knew old Findlay
had always managed the investments
and the money and all that. So when
took a run up to town and didn't re-
turn at night / had to invent friend
and TO pretend 1 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 particu
lars-how my friend looked, what he
said, and the rest. l got into lot of
tight places at the start, till l thought
of man 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 / was on the Sayonara
with the Blakes. He was queer chap
believed 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
smart.
'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 on deck, but somehow
the immensity of it all had sobered us,
and we were quiet and solemn, when
Herberton, pointing heavenward, said
in his languid, affected drawl 'Tomor-
row / shall know what these have TO
tell. We believed it TO be merely one
of his poses, but in the morning we
were horribly 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 / 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 / blessed his
memory when l could go off for few
days, have good time and return to
find mother quite pleased.
"This went on for awhile, till mother
began to bother me with request to
ask my friend to visit us at Frampton
Chelmsford. l tried hard to get her off
the notion. | 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 a sick fancy,
that in 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 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.
did feel mean when l took the invita-
tion into another room and burned it.
Next morning he was to arrive. l
meant to fake up a telegram somehow,
giving an excuse for his absence when
l went to the station on pretense of
meeting him. My mother was strange
ly well that morning Her customary
lassitude and pain had vanished She
was reclining on a couch drawn close to
the open window. Her cheeks were al
most rosy, and there was lace arrange
ment over her white hair that made her
look prettier than had ever seen her.
She was all impatience to see Harber-
ton and hurried me off TO the station
half an hour too soon.
Now, you needn't believe what fol-
lows unless you like. / often doubt it
myself / knew something was to hap
pen as heard the sound of the coming
engine, and as / watched the train
sweep around the curve Of the line