Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1903-11-07

oo'Tah ms iears, and might have stag
gered stronger mind than his. In his
excitement he hardly noticed the az
fectionate beginning. which at another
time would have filled him with de-
light
My Dearest Rossiter: Rejoice with me-
my prother Richard has returned alive
and well lie arrived i'm England two
Gays ago, and reached us late last night
We were completely taken by surprise aS
you may imagine Richard has gone 10
Lakewood; can you guess why? Next RI
myself, OF course Marcia will be TO-DAY
the happiest woman in England am 50
glad, L can scarcely write coherentIv or
legibly-but know you will understanJ
Sir Arthur and he have made up their
quarrel.
Now. have a favor to ask: Nav I-or
we-bring Richard with us this evening?
He has promised to come Il Won will aSIr
him, although, as he says he Is mot
very fit But 1 do So want YOU to meet
and be friends. You remen,0er what Won
said the 9th o day | can imagine there
VIII be plenty CT things for YOU both to
talk about.
Send me a line to say Yes and be-
ueve me.
Ever yours affectionately,
STELLA.
p. ST. forgot to say that Rick saws
he is a very rich man, and he has shaved
OH that horrid Boards"
The presence of the man-servant
alone restrained Kane from some in
sane expression of emotion.
Richard Dysart alive and in En-
gland! Then he had not killed him,
after all! The thought brought with it
at first happy revulsion of feeling.
He was not a murderer
But Dysart was none the less his
victim, and he none the less a would
be assassin and an actual robber.
Why, the whole fabric of his fortune
rested on those stolen diamonds!
These thoughts opened up such a hor-
rid vista of new troubles and perplex-
tiles that he shrank from them in ter
ror. Yet 50 quickly and mechanically
does the human brain work, that
scarcely a minute had elapsed since
the perusal of Stellas note before he
had pulled himself together and drew
paper and pen towards him to indite
his reply. He even managed to say to
She man, decent, middle-aged fellow:
There must have been great times
at Denecroft last night?"
Never see such goings on, sir, since
Sir Arthur came of age" was the re-
ply. Master Richard, he walks in as
cool and am as if he'd only been away
a month. But he have growed, And
that rich. My! N.Y." shaking his
head as one utterly unable to do justice
to the subject.
Il judge Master Richard. as you call
him, is an old favorite of yours" said
Kane with a smile.
The man chuckled proudly.
ut was me as taught i'm 'ow to sit
a 'orse and old a gun and cast fly
afore e was twelve, sir. Twas a sorry
day when e went away, and there's
a many'1 be happier for lis 'ome-com-
ing
"I have no doubt of that" was
Kane's reply. Then he set himself to
answer Stella's appeal. Those few
minutes pause while old Carthew was
speaking had sufficed for Kane to de-
eide upon his answer, and this is what
he wrote:
My Dearest: Your happiness is mine.
and do rejoice with you and yours.
shall reserve my congratulations for your
brother until our introduction tonight
for, of course, he will be welcome. Pray
explain to him why send no formal in
vitation; nevertheless, the best robe and
the highest seat at the feast shall be his.
Devotedly yours,
''ROSSITER KANE"
When Carthew was dismissed with
his answer, Kane found himself alone
once more, and proceeded to confront
this new dilemma.
Was there ever a more grotesque and
puzzling or terrifying situationl The
man whom he had shot robbed, and
left for dead at the other end of the
world had returned to life and was
that very night coming to dance un-
der the roof of his assailanti
Kane laughed aloud at the bitter
irony of the thing. OF course, he stood
to be denounced on sight before all
his guests as an assassin and a thief!
A pretty ending to all his social
strivings after honesty and respecta-
bilityl
And Stellai What would she think
of it all? How she would despise him!
With what scorn would she lash the
man who had dared to approach her
with words of love upon his lips, while
her brothers blood was upon his hands
and her brothers property in his
pocketsi
A weaker man than Kane, physical
ly, mentally and morally, would have
turned tail and fed; a coward would
have ended it all with a bullet 1t
was characteristic of him that he did
neither; no thought of taking either
course entered his mind. He would
see it Throughout in callous lravado
or because he could not realize the full
weight of his impending punishment,
but from a sort of heroic determine
ton to take his medicine" like a man,
and from half-recognized feeling that
therein might consist part of his ex-
piation.
There was but one possible loophole
for escape-though even that could be
only a temporary putting off of the
day of reckoning. 1t might be that
Richard Dysart had not caught a
glimpse of his features on that memoir
able night; and if so, there was lit
tie danger of recognition or detection
from anu Othar SOurca