Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1903-06-05
accounts. By the by, he gets more lrreg-

accounts. Fly the by, he gets more iliee
ular daily"
More drunk, do you mean" says Fa-
bian. There are moments when MS h"n-
ner is both cold and uncompromislng.
yes! yes! just So" says Sir Chrislo-
pher, hastily. "But for the melancholy
story that attaches itself to him-anu
that, OF course, is some excuse for MN
l really should not feel myself Justiheu
in keeping him here much longer.
'What story" asks Portia. >.
ooh, well; it all lies in nutshell. 1t
Is an old story, too; one has so oIteh
heard it. A bad son-dissipated-in per-
oetual hot water. A devoted father. linen
one day very bad story comes, ana the
son has to fly the country. And then
some time afterward, news comes Oh MS
death. Slyme never saw him again. lie
broods over that, l think; at least he mas
never been the same man since the SON.
Matthew, left England. 1t was all
very unhappy business"
"For the father, perhaps. For the son,
he had more than ordinary luck to die
when he did," says Fabian. He does not
speak at all bitterly. Only hopelessiy, ahu
without neart or 1eellng.
Nobody knows how old Gregory got
him cut of the country so cleyerly," says
Sir Christopher. at was marvel now
he managed to elude the grasp of the
law"
"He satisfied the one principal CREDITOR
[ suppesep says Fabian indifferentlY.
ooh, impossible" says Sir Christopher
1T came 10 hundreds, you know; ana he
hadn't farthing. Well, good-by; I'm OIL
Exnect me and the bon-bons about din
ner hour"
He mods to Portia and Julia, who smile
Mt him in return, and, kissing Dulce, quits
the room. Fabian, following him, goes
on to the library, and, having desired one
of the men to send the secretary, Slyme,
to him, sits down at one of the tables ana
turns over leisurely the pages Of accounts
that lie there.
After brief examination he tells HIM
self impatiently that they are somewhat
muddlcd, or have, at least, been attended
to in q most slovenly manner. He has
Just discovered a serious mistake in the
row of figures that adorn the end Of the
second page, when the door opens slowly
and Gregory Slyme comes in.
"Wait moment, Slyme," says Fabian,
without looking up from the figures be-
fore him. A moment passes in utter ST.
!ence. Then Fabian, still with his eyes
apon the account, says somewhat sharply:
why, it is altogether wrong. 1t has been
attended to with extreme carelessness'
Did you, yourself, see to this matter OF
Younges"
He waits apparently for an answer
but none comes. Lifting his eyes, he fixes
them scrutinizingly upon the old man be-
fore him, and having fixed them, lets
them rest there in. disnleased surprise
Slyme, beneath this steady gaze, grows
0isibly uneasy. His eyes shift uncom.
fortably from one object in the room to
another; his limbs are unsteady-the hand
resting on the tablet near him is shaking.
His face betrays vacancy mixed with a
cunning desire to hide from observation
The heavness and sluggishness that is
overpowering him. The old man mutters
something that is almost unintelligible,
so thick and husky are his tones. His
eyes grow more restless-mechanica
and as though unconscious Of the act, he
leans his body stupidity against the book.
case near him.
"You are drunk" says Fabian, With
slow scorn-'leave the room."
81 assure you, sir" began Slyme. But
Fabian will not listen.
CO." he says, briefly, with a disdainful
motion of the hand, and in tone not to
be disobeyed. Slyme moves toward the
door in his usual slouching fashion, but,
as he reaches it, pauses for one instant,
lifts his heavy eyes, and let's them rest
upon the young man at the distant table.
This one instant reveals his thoughts.
In his glance there is fear, distrust, and,
above all, a malignant and undying hat.
red-such hatred as might project itself
from the eyes Of the traitor upon his vic.
tim. There is, too, upon Slymes face
contortion of the muscles, that it would
be sacrilege to call smile, that is re.
vengefu, and somehow suggests the pos.
sibilty that this man, however impotent
he may now appear, has in some strange
fashion, acquired a hidden and terrible
power over the young man, who moment
since had treated him with such scorn and
cOntumely.
The OLD secretary c0untenance for this
fateful moment is one brilliant, If wicked,
phantasmagoria, in which the ghosts Of
long sustained thoughts appear and disap
fear, going from fear and its brother
hatred, to lasting revenge. Then all van
lsh; the usual sodden look returns to the
mans face; he opens the door, and once
more, instead of the evil genius he looked
second ago, a broken-down, drunken
old creature crosses the Threshold sham.
bles over the hall, and is lost presently
among the many passages.