The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-12-31

{ rauner singular. he was DasnruI- In ner
presence and lavished attentions upon her
which somehow did not impress me as
| the usual manifestations of an ordinary
attachment between brother and sister,
l confess 1t piqued my curiosity, and
watched the two with increasing interest
Julia received these attentions as a mat
ter of course. With all her education
and cleverness she was no philosopher Of
human relations. She was the most cred
ulous girl you ever saw, and she asked no
questions.
Finally my old friend lost all patience
He was dying to relieve his heart of its
burden.
81 must speak to you. You are the
! only man / can be perfectly frank with.
l am unhappy. This man who calls him
self my son is an impostor. l cannot
4 prove it, but l am sure of it all the same.
| Something told me so from the very be-
ginning At first 1 was too overcome to
mind the inner voice, but the young
mans demeanor makes my suspicion
stronger every day. There Is. something
in his manner, his voice, in everything he
says or does, which keeps buzzing in my
ear that l am being made fool of.
"If he were my son, | would experience
that instructive feeling which every parent
must feel for his child. My heart is cold.
1t never was otherwise. 1t was my brain
which accepted the logic Of all the evil
dence contained In that correspondence
between him and me. My heart has all
along refused to believe it. Why, man,
can't you see he is after some of my
money? 1t seems vulgar to speak of
these things, but he never talks to me in
free and easy manner, and he always
seems to be beating about the bush, as if
he left a great deal unsaid or wanted to
ask a favor and was too bashful to I'M
bosom himself to me-"
"But if he is an impostor it ought not
to be so difficult to find him out" l re-
I marked. "By a clever system of exami-
nation and cross examination it ought to
be easy to trip him up"
II have tried to draw him out. / have
examined him as closely as possible on
his antecedents, but he answers my ques-
tons in monosyllables, and he is so care
full of every word he utters that my eff
forts are all of no avail-except, indeed,
in so far as his replies to my queries in
tensify my CONFECTIONERY moral convic-
ton, do you understand ?-that the man
is not my son. No, no, no! He is not my
SON." My friend pounded the table with
his fist, and, getting up from his seat, he
fell to pacing the floor with great vehe
mence.
A few days later the young man called
on me. 1t was his first visit at our house.
and l could see by his manner that he
came on rather important business.
When we found ourselves alone in my
room, he said, without looking at me:
81 wish to come straight to the point
Have you time to listen?" | said, eyes"
and he went on. 81 know you are man
of honor l wish to confide in you a mat
ter which has been weighing ON ~ mind
almost since / set foot on the soil Of this
town. Well, wish to say that my name
is not Victor Hartmann and that | am
not you friends son. Yes, am an i'm
poster, but if you think / am a knave
you wrong me. / am an unfortunate fell
low, weak and capable of crime perhaps,
but l have a heart and a conscience and
know how to hate myself for being bad.
l am tired Of this comedy. | have made
up my mind to disappear from this town.
Tell your friend his son is dead. | knew
him. He looked somewhat like me- He
died two years ago in Honduras. When
/ found myself stranded, the evil spirit
guile OfSt WOulu
senate my chum (by that time had
learned who his father was) and get some
money out of it.
II was mistaken. have made botch
Of it. l have been wretched and awk-
ward from the start. That gave it all
away. Well-Julia is the cause of it.
would give twenty years OF my life to I'M
do it all, so as to be able to sue for her
hand, but, of course, that's out of the
question. | am going away. Tell Julia
l am no knave-at heart, at least And
If have acted like one, tell her my pun
ishment is severe enough"
Before l could say a word he whis-
pered:
Remember, l have told you all this be-
cause | think you a gentleman. Goodby,
and don't interfere with my going. Good
by, SIR"
When my friend discovered the truth,
he was angry with me for not having
handed the wretch over to the police,
but he was gone.-Adapted From the
German For New York Commercial Ad-
vertiser