The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-03-23

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effort, and next moment Ferney had
quickened his pace and was disappear
Ing down the road.
Mr.. Burstall never spoke word till
We had gone into his house and he had
rung for a bottle of port. He sat still
and flushed. and noticed that his
gayety had vanished When the SER
want had brought the bottle and he
had poured glass for either he turned
to me with "a husky laugh: II come
of age today-Im twenty-one. sir"
There was no pleasure in the laugh,
and he shook with his anger. repeat
ing it,
| why ] nearly took that fellow by the
| throat and shook his cursed life out
of him. BAH Could I have done it
| how"
He looked at the knots on his wrists
and half lifted himself, as If for u
struggle | thought to myself that i'm
all probability Ferney had been nearer
discontinue than he would have cared
to know. Mr.. Burstal bent forward
in his chair and went on.
why did | tell you I was just twen-
ty-one" I'm fool--it's thirty years
| today since then. Somehow | felt
your invitation, too, reminded me-
Glad you're coming" said lamely,
as he broke off again, without reason,
as 1t seemed. He appeared to be
| struggling with some bitter memories,
| for be began without noticing.
Thirty years-gone like dream.
There's a mans life for you--there's
splendid achievement. To be able TO
| look back on the day of ones coming
of age and know that the years be-
tween have passed like a dream"
You've done work." | said, trying
| to draw him away.
"A little hum-drum work--year in,
| year out the same-no interests--port"
| Che waved his hand at the bottle) !;
always more of IT: the man becom-
| ing the sot, as that fellow sad--the
| ambitious dying-dead. There's work
done He spoke in an excess of self
| contempr and continued passionately:
My God. Fancy thirty years Of
dream for boy who was bursting
with enthusiasm, believed everything,
hoped everything"
| was dismayed by his outburst, and
suggested some commonplace about
life being found always q poor thing
in the end. He rounded on me at
that.
mo, no; don't believe it," he said
Don't take it from me that the world
Is mean place or that life must go
dreaming. | never said 1t. | never
told young man yet that the things
he hoped were the things ! hoped. or
that, like my life, his would come to
nothing. I'm not that way. ] carry
a smile with most and most, | pray
have not hoped as much as / hoped
and lost all-all"
He drew himself up again.
"I'll tell you how it was, that you
may think the worse OF me, not of
life; and if / speak to you of a woman
l loved, I'm not blaming her"
He laughed hilariously, as if the idea
OF blaming the woman he loved were
beyond the pale of absurdty.
Thirty years ago l came of age, and
on that day | would have asked her.
She did not know. / remember ii so
Well-a garden-an English garden,
mats to say. green-greener than-but
! needn't tell you. Itll make you sick
TO hear an old man drivel on about a
garden and-and-"
lie reached for the bottle and poured
himself another glass.
Il would have asked her then, but I
got letter suddenly. And--something
happened-and I found myself bound
tor Australia-the ends of the earth"
prlcked up my ears at that mind
ful or the rumors. But he went on dis
Jointedly-all gaps.
she married-some one else-a good
man. She lived happily. / had homes
or returning some day until I heard
-that. Then my ambition went ont
like splashed candle. I ought to have
gone on hoping and doing things be-
cause l had the honor to love her but
i didn't. l threw my life away
Nothing very bad-only poor unworthy
of her" ''
Again he paused and mechanically
began to pour himself another glass of
the wine-then:
only tthe passion grew into his
Noice) i nave not forgotten, and some
tihes When some one presumes to
iaush at me for what | seem to him. II
comes back, and the boy of twenty-one
had temper-and, by heaven, they
nave no right to laugh at the man who
loved her. That's how 7 cave
of age"
lie sat back in his chair. YEARLY I
dare say'I put my hand on his arm
but he never moved, only adding,
And today come of age with a dir
ference. | can look back on the how
and his hopes. l have not got them"
He reached for his bottle filed his
glass and drained it, The bottle was
nearly empty then.
did not stay TO dine with him aftar
a'l pleaded haste, and promised to
fetch him next day. | wanted to trv
W thihk out the sequence of his story,
TO MI the gaps. What was this letter
that made so great change in his life,
anu why had ne gone to Australia so
suddenly? 1t could not be that the
ruhors, so industriously propagated by
rerhey teVeryone seemed to have heard
them through Ferney) were true
Again, for what purpose had the old
man been so anxious to call on him?
And why Ferney's malice?
In the end | had to wait until the
next day, and then the gaps filled very
suddenly 1t was when Mr.. BurstalI
ana were entering the drawing room
at the Manor House (for had induced
MN TO come, though his depression
continued) that / heard Ferney speak-
ing very rapidly, as the door opened:
"A drunkard and a scamp, that You
Knew But there's more-he's an Old
onender-sent to Botany Bay years
ago to serve his time-forgery."
We were inside the room before Fer
ney had finished speaking l saw Mr.
Burstall flush like boy. Ferney locked
uneasy. He had lounged In from rid
Ing, evidently and now he assumed a