The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1906-09-05

was a kind OF srarrei s~wen my father
and Gersld's father: and yet when Ger
aid lost his father, no one ~as kinder TO
him than Minis. The old house was oyen
20 kIn'to pne to whenever he liked; my
! father did everything in his power TO give
him a start in life. There was no money
for Gerald to claim; but Sir Maurice
never let him realize how poor he was BE
stinted him in nothing, and Gerald al
wys professed to love my father very
deeply
"Mayhap / wrong him" Ben Coop said,
slowly but IL hrs his fathers son there
cannot be much that is good in his heart.
I speak very frankly, you see, sir; but !
remember lots of little things done TO the
village people by Mr.. Robert Tenby, and
I know what l am aging. They were not
the real family, you see that's Why We
found it hard 10 trust them. But l am
interrupting you sir"
u don't feel eager to go en-" Hubert
Tsnby said, "snd yet l feel that I must.
Instead IF taking my cousins advice I
struggled on as best / could, and here
Gerald helped me 20 meet my difficulties.
He arranged a loan. l dare say you IN
derstand What followed.s
"Ay," Ben Coop answered, quietly Il
am not a learned man, but l know what
borrowing means"
X managed to scrape along" Hubert
| said, and pay the interest as il fell due +;
but l did not realize till nearly a year
had gone that, instead of clearing tbs
way for myself. | had only put fresh STUN
bling blocks in my path. Gerald was al
ways coming to ask me either to settle the
loan or te pay a heavier interest, and
things got worse and worse, until | came
10 a kind of crisis and l had to find a
sum four times the mount of what l had
originally owed in a space of a few days.
1t was useless to ask Gerald TO show IRE
a way out of this difficulty, for he told me
plainly he saw none, except that of put
ting the matter before my father and ask
ing him TO pay the debt. l would not
hear what he urged. l made myself al
mosi III with worry l felt like a mad
man. lust at this time my old aunt and
godmother, Lady Charlotte Singleton,
wrote and asked me to go and stay with
her for a few days. She had a charming
old country house not far from Oxford,
and l was in the habit of going to see
her constantly. In fact, she was kind to
both Gerald and myself, although l be-
lieve that she, like my father, had had
good reason to quarrel with Gerald's faith
er. 1t was an open secret that Lady
Charlotte intended to divide what she pos
sessed between my sister and myself"
Hubert paused here with a little sigh I
then he went on with his story.
"She was not rich, but she had a GER
tain amount of property, and, among 9th
er things, she possessed a collection Of
beautiful jewels. of which she was very
proud, and which were valued at a fairly
large sum OF money. | was sorely tempt
cd to tell the dear old lady all that was
troubling me while l was with her; and
here again l see the working Of a malig-
nant fate, for if / had spoken then, Ben,
l might have spared myself all that fol-
lowed. Pride, however, and the nervous
fear lest she should imagine l wanted her
to help me, kept my lips sealed. When
l got back to Oxford the first question
Gerald asked me was il Lady Charlotte
would be able 10 help me. l replied sharp
~ that l had said nothing to my god
mother of the matter. He looked at me
in a strange way for a little while, and
then turned On his heel and left me, say
ing as he went You are about the big
gest fool l have ever known, and you will
realize it one day 1 was very angry with
him"
They had ceased strolling up and down
the little garden, and now they were sit
ting in the porch of the little cottage, and
the light of the lamp within shone on his
face. 1t was a sorrowful face for such a
young man to wear, and Ben Coop's heart
contracted as he looked upon it.
Next day Gerald and l did not meet.
l heard that he had gone away. / knew
;ha. he had been offered the post of trav-
eng tutor to an invalid boy, and t1ac
this was something he was very keen Ia
do. Generous as my father was to him,
it was an old story for me to hear no v
hard life was fer my cousin, and how
2Iuch there was he wanted TO do; and he
had been particularly keen on taking this
appointment, because it would give him
the opportunity of travelling and seeing
the world. l don't know that l was sorry
that we did not meet-at any rate, not
then. A little later it was a different
natter"
There was another pause. When Hu.
belt spoke again his voice was very hur'
.,aa 49, @.