Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-03-12
CHAPTER /.
AT THE GATES OF A SECRET.

s'Now then, move on-move on"
The words found their way to my
ears, inextricably tangled in a dream.
I had been going through the whole
wretched business that had spoilt my
life before it's sun had touched meri-
dan. Again / was Derek Napier (the
sHonourable Derek Napier" as l fig
ured in Burke and on envelopes), the
almost accepted over of Lady Marjorie
Tessett. Again / was living through
that horrib,, scene when, to save her
fSher from a stain which, like the
coward he was, he had foisted upon
me, ! had let myself stand ashamed
before my brother officers as a cheat
q common card-sharper. Again l CULVER
ed under the lash of public ignominy,
again the knowledge that / was CASH
tered, disgraced, for ever beyond the
pale Of decent men, was fresh as if it
had come to me to-day. l smarted
under the wounds to which l had de-
11berately barred my breast rather than
see M~arjorie's bright head bowed into
the dust; / realized once more-as I
had-too late, the mOmentous conse-
quenceS of one generous, perhaps ut
terly quixotic, impulse. l found my
self a stranger to my w elder broth
er, beggared of the money which.
through lack Of a just will, had come
to me by his bounty; my pay was
gone with my profession; myself a
penniless as we'll as a dishonoured out
cast. / was stabbed anew with the
pain of losing not only Marjorie (for
on that / had counted, after reason had
returned to mel, but her love and
trust.
I had seldom fallen asleep within
the past few weeks since my trouble
without being led back into the maze
OF anguish; but tonight it was more
vivid than before.
Somehow the words: Move On
move on" which reached me dimly,
as If cried from the edge of another I'M
known world. vaguely seemed to have
been uttered by Marjorie, telling me
to go from her, never to let her see
my bastard face again.
There had been a time when she
called me her handsome giant" a
name which, after a certain little brush
in India. had been bettered to her
"hero." Yet 10Y / was a cheat-a liar
"a thing to be kicked from her pres
ence like a dog, if l refused to go for
a rebuff. But I had not refused to go.
: had not tried to keep her trust by
eAing myself at the expense of
the titled gambler IN whom she de-
pended for her home, the bread she ate,
the clothes she wore. 1 had hoped that
she alone, out of all the world, would
believe me innocent, not only without
proof, but against it. l had hoped too
much; and l exclaimed aloud.
Goodbye, Lady Marjorie, for the
last time"
Somebody broke into a loud guffaw.
Goodbye, Lydy M~arjorie!!" the echo
came. and now, my Lord Nobody,
you've hidden the Lydy farewell, 'ow
much oftener ave l got to bid you
move h'on?"
With a great start, l came back to
realities; and instead of the dainty pink
and white drawing-room which a mo-
ment ago had framed Marjorie Tessett's
pale lovelineess. l found myself on a
seat in Hyde Park, with a policeman
~prodding my ribs, as if l had been a
bear in a cage.
1t was dark. and a mist of rain was
sprayed into my face by the rising wind
of night. For a moment, and a mo-
ment only, l was bewildered by the
sudden wrench which had torn me out
of dreamland; but then l remembered
everything; and. on the whole, l pre-
ferred all that 1 must confront on
waking to the p~oignancy of the vision.
The shame, and the partings, and the
ostracisms had been mine for some
weeks now, and with a dull callousness
of logged resignation I had accustomed
myself to them as companions which
would always go with me, step by step,
down the long vista of the future. l
was glad that they were not new ac-