Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-01-24

There WAS a short silence, then he
began to speak.
Il was born too late. | OUGHT to
nave come into the world 200 years ago.
the world of Drake and Froblisher and
Raleigh, the world when men lived and
dared, not the world of to-day. when
tney stagnate and exist. The curse of
some bygone ancestor was i'm my blood,
OF restlessness, of lawlessness, of I'M
tanned ambition. From my babyhood
L was a rebel, and rebellion grew ON
me. | could never he as Others were
could never bear the shackIes ard
trammels, and the emptiness of civ
lllzed life. For long, long hours would
sit ana ponder on way out. There
were things-the exploration of wild
and savage lands, for instance. but
they were for the rich, and I wa.
poor. 80 the years dragged by, and
1ried many things, and my lawless-
ness grew and grew, and then"
esq? She leaned forward, for
gettul of the hour, the circumstances.
or everything but the quiet. monot-
onous voice, with its ring of absolute
truth, the voice that seemed TO he
giving her kaleidoscope glimpses of
strong soul, hopelessly hampered;
soul that had somehow lost its yay
In time and space and strayed into a
wrong century.
And then-I met a woman. and
IoVed her, loved her as such man
would. And she-well, she was A
typical English girl, and she loved
me IN typical English fashion,
quietly, Extraordinarily, sereneIv. So
woke from my dream, the dream of
love that was impossible to her,
and faced the reality. We both were
poor, and that frightened me. Not
the poverty itself, but all it implied:
The monotonous treadmiu, the
straight, narrow groove one must
walk in always; the gradually tight
ening and strengthening bonds of a
civilization L loathed Until one
night, out in the midst of the waves
and the wind, with the wild exhilara-
ton of the storm in my veins, 1 saw
clearly that it was impossible-that
the curse bequeathed to me by that
bygone ancestor was stronger than
my love. And-I left her L was an
elemental person; she the product Of
an overripe civilization"
He paused, but she sat silent, SPELL
bound.
Finally, took to burglary, because
for me it was the one way out. It re-
sponded to the two strongest chords in
my nature, lawiessness and love of
danger Oh! / don't say it was the
best, but it was the second best, and
one mostly has to be content with that.
soon became power, and for 20
years now L have planned and helped
to carry out all the most daring rob
berries that have startled the social
worlds of Europe. For the wealth il
brings 1 care nothing-for the danger
and excitement everything. When L
am Carshalton, 1 am bored to death.
Ihat gives me the stimulus for devils
ing new schemes. And the end? Well,
L have plan for that, too"
And the woman?" asked the lis
tener, quietly.
There was just perceptible pause.
linen he said slowly, hesitatingly:
Il don't know. You will say it was
cowardly to leave her. Yet TO STAY
meant inevitably to break her heart.
And she was young. hope, / have al
ways hoped, that she learned to for
get. You are woman-do you think
she has forgotten?"
Il pray she may have" said Janet
kimbolton, softly. "Yet-women do
not forget easily. L could tell YOU a
tale of a woman who tried hard to for
get-for 20 years. But she didn't sue
coed"
Tell me-" he whispered.
Ills voice, with his impassioned
eagerness, must have struck her had
she not been once more absorbed in
that bygone dream.
HE had that double curse-amhi-
ton and poverty. So he left her. And
week later she came into a fortune.
But it was too late. He had gone,
why or where she never knew"
And the end?" queried the burglar
huskily.
There is NO end. She is just going
on loving him. That is aIl.'
The man turned and moved INSTEAD
lily to the door.
"Good-bys" he said, "yoar Jewels are
there"
Impelled by some obscure impulse
she CROPPED her way after him in the
darkness.
AS he stepped outside the street door
he turned and, taking her hand rever-
emily in his, kissed it. At the same
moment a ray of moonlight fell across
his face.
"Dickl"
He dropped her hand and fled down
the broad, shallow steps.
TOO late!" he groaned, "Goodrby,
little Jean, good-by."
Come backl Come backi" she
sobbed, stretching out her arms to
him.
He turned a white and haggard
face to her.
81 can't"
The words foated back to her in a
stifieG cry as he fed through the
square.