The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-02-11
CHAPTER XXXII.

CHAPTER XXXII.
Continued
A deadly faintness came over me.
and q sudden dimness Of sight pre-
vented me from properly examining
the letter. without doubt my dear
father was dead. and my one remain
ing wish could never be realized upon
earth. handed the letter to my wife.
who stood at my side. her little hand
afecuonately laid upon my shoulder.
and motioned to her to read II. which
she at once proceeded to do; and she
had not read many words before our
mutual fears vanished like q mist tn
presence Of the morning sun.
Holdenhurst Hall.
Bury st. Edmund's, April @, 49,
Ny Dear Boy-Come home. I shall
know NO rest until I see you here.
and learn from your own lips that
you are wiling to forgive my errors
of Judgment. Consideration Of the
strange circumstances in which those
errors were made. II not OF the fact
that you are my son whose welfare /
have never ceased to desire, should
induce you t. AFFORD me this sratif-
cation.
The treasure for which you SO indus
triously sought In face Of SO much
encouragement has been accidentally
discovered by your grandfather, minus
only the three sequins you used to
carry in your pocket; and not only
this, but also q quantity Of peculiar
Turkish jewelry and precious. stones Of
great value. Your grandfather and ]
have together carefully examined the
whole Of the vast treasure and have
placed It in safe keeping. secure from
further accident. to await your return;
FOR I have determined that II you will
but come home to me. the disposal
of the treasure shall rest entirely with
You. You deserve II, and ! declare It
to be yours. and yours only, subject to
the one condition. Of your coming to
Holdenhurst to take possession Of 1t.
Some time ago your grandfather pro-
posed that the old gabled granary ct
the back OF the ctables should be
pulled down. and 4 more commodious
sranary built IN another place. I
agreed to the proposal. and last week
the work Of demolition was begun. At
the north end Of the loft. separated
by O wooden partition from where the
white: fodder has usually been stored.
was stolen from the crypt and secreted
in the granary by Adams there can
be NO doubt, for the Venetian coins
were in the black chests which you
found empty in the crypt one memor.
able night. Believing, as I then did,
that the treasure had been quite other
wise distracted, l ordered Adams to
remove the empty chests from the
crypt and use them for frewocd. but
instead Of obeying me. he appears to
have conveyed them to his hiding.
place In the granary. and renlled them
with the coins. which he must have
taken from item not long before. 1t
II not unreasonable to suppose that
the man with the lamp whom you
saw in the crypt was Adams, and that
the occasion was his visit for removing
therefrom the last Of the coins.
Amongst our discoveries In the gran
ary il q leather bag containing six
hundred pounds odd in modern Eng
lish money. which I am unable to &C.
count for except by ~supposing that
1t represents the lifelong savings Of
the e~xtraordinary miser who vas my
servant.
/ address this letter to your uncle's
house, not knowing certainly that 1t
win find you there. Let me beg Of
you to take the hrst opportunity to
acquaint my brother with the discov-
cry OF the sequins. II You can con-
v~eniently do 50 perhaps you had bet
ter show hiur this letter. And in any
case be sur to impress upon him my
very great regret for what transpired
when he was last here. and what hap
plness 1t would be for me II that in
cident could be buried in oblivion.
Your grandfather, who on the very
day Of his daughters rash act re-
ceived from her q long letter taking
upon herself great part of the blame
Of her past life. and entire RESPONSE
bility for her tragic death. has no
longer any cause for contention with
your uncle. who, were he to come here.
would be- received with unrestrained
fricadship. Each member Of our
small family has been wonsed by
some other member; no n Of u
stands blameless-not ~ yourself.
Shall recrimination end only with our
lives? Is 1t presunptuous to hope for
peace. or must existing divisions be
permitted to widen with the lapse Of
years? o Ernest, my boy. If only
you could bring about the termination
CT feuds for which all concerned arc
the worse. end no M the better. you
would then have found q greater
treasure than that which awaits you
Mt Holdenhurst!
/ have heard that you arc about to
be married to Miss Marsh. but the in
formation reaches me very indirectly,
and ! am not assured Of its truth.
Should such happily be the cas- (for
have long perceived the disposition
Of your heart. I congratulate you. anu
wish O and your intended bride all
POSSIBLE human happiness.
Your afYectionate father,