The Portland daily press., 1898-02-16
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COPYRIGHT 1893 BY me aurnoR.9

sently fitted the tips oI LIS hrin, piuk
fieshed fingers together. Over them he
smiled with infinite pity and sweetness
when Belknap ceased speaking.
"And doubtless, my poor boy, you are
thinking that never before was soul SO
sin dyed as yours. ~
81 am sure of it, sir. I don't want to
underestimate my folly, I assure you"
cts bad-pretty bad, know"
cts as bad as can be. Sir, I've been
recreant to trust. Nothing could be
worse than that"
"Nothing," said the colonel gravely
and promptly.
.sIt is an internal NESS" said Bel
KNAPP peevishly.
''Fuming does not remedy. There
must be some way out of the snarl, and
our first duty is to find that way. We
must combine brain power over it,
The colonel said this so cheerfully
and looked withal SO capable of coping
with the knottiest problem that for the
first time in weeks Belknap acknowl-
edged the possibility of recovering his
self respect.
s'Just show me the way to right mat
tiers. sir, and I'll follow it if it leads
me over redhot plowshares.
"Oh, you will have your redhot
ulowsharesl Trust conscience for that.
am going to begin my ministrations
as comforter in chief in novel fashion.
am going to tell you of a young fellow
I once knew who got into much worse
scrape when he was just about your
age.''
'sWorse?"
"Decidedly.'
ST don't see how anything could be
worse. This involves the happiness of
others-innocent ones toe"
"All wrongdoing does. So did his. :"
CT don't offer it as an excuse, colo
mel. but I was not myself when fell
into this trap, for so consider it."
"Neither was he."
ssI was drunk, beastly drunk, for the
first time in my life. -
$50 was he. For the first time-and
the Last
"And-and-yet-he got through the
woods? He never drew a happy breath
again?''
"He is before you, and though I will
not claim that he is the man he might
have been with a nobler record the
world ignorantly accords him its re-
spect''
"You? Never. You never could have
forgotten yourself as | did
s'I have been young, and now am
DID," said the colonel, and he passed a
hand slowly across his forehead as if to
| chase away some importunate memory.
"I've been all over the ground you are
| treading now, Belknap. I don't care to
rake over dead ashes merely for pastime,
but it may help you to know that I, too,
once thought the light. of the world was
quenched forever because I had fallen
and turned my faced toward its shad-
ows."
"Rut-you"-
"Resolved that by the grace Of God
and my own manhood one stumble
should not keep me wallowing in the
mire all my life.'
A look of high resolve came into
| Belknap's worn face.
"By the grace Of God and your help
7, too, make that resolve. -
The colonel seemed not to have heard
| him. He was gazing into the smolder-
ing fire with sad, interpretive eyes. He
was asking himself question. Gould
he, even for the sake Of lifting this
boys load of remorse, go into the de-
tails of the darkest chapter in his own
life? Presently he spoke again:
SIT is not necessary to go into the par.
ticulars Of my own dark days, my boy.
They were very dark, and-they left
such scars as God grant may never scar
ify your soul. Perhaps man is never
quite what he might have been without
any moral lapse, but if a little farther
removed from the angels he is just that
much nearer his fellow sinners and the
better prepared to help them up. and SO
somebody is the gamer.
Then in lighter vein:
"We know better how to sympathize
with the mumps or measles after we
have gone through our own attack. Ii
you think you can consent to be guided
by me in this matter, [ will see you
straight through it.
st would be only too grateful.
$50 be it. Now, then, I must know
the name of the scoundrel who has you
in his clutches.
Whitney-Dennis Whitney"
Whitney? Dennis Whitney,"
The colonel recoiled as if from a
blow, and his ruddy cheeks turned a
chalky white. Belknap's lip curled Bit
terly.
"Yes, sir; Dennis Whitney. Small
wonder that you stare. A man years
my senior. Riley tells me that either he
Or his father once overseed in this neigh
borhood.'
| "I know, know. have good rea-
son to know. It was on this very place
he lived. His father was employed by
my father. This Dennis is a big, black
eyed, handsome dog"
"Conspiouously handsome, super
fcially polished--in short, pretty fair
counterfeit gentleman. His plebeian
| I'll hor 81, in CHI ,oJ