The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09

It seemed fortunate TO Chester Wa1te
a. he drove from steamer toward hotel
that tho first person be recognized should
be his friend aud chum at Heidelberg
Prentice Dudd.
The drive was q melancholy one, both
people and place accentuattng Chestsr's
feeling that he was a stranger IN q strange
land. His mind recoiled from the present;
vet found only two bright spots In retro
s~pection.
go motherless son Of . SOured and
,enurious father, he had becn sont abroad
AZ an early ago and kept there; frst at .
cheap German school and than, with scant
income, at Heidelberg University. Cir
clmstanos and training combined TO
make him retiring and trresolute, though
without impairing natural kindliness and
grace.
The hrst brightness had come in the face,
the voioe, the cordial manner OF Constance
MoKenna. She thought him poor and for
ion, and that had drawn her to him; for
she was tho III paid companion Of Q wealthy
widow visiting her German kin.
The girls warm heart had waccd from
sympathy to indignation when she learned
that his sorry condition was due only TO
his fathers whims. She was inspiring him
TO flrmness and courage; she was rousing
the boundless visions Of love, when she
passed from his life a suddenly rs she
had entered II, and be dropped back to a
monotony void Of ambition and hope.
However, the other brightness soon came.
Chester found himself now and again being
addressed by professors and students by
an odd name. One day, he met Prentice
Dudd and they both laughed on r~ecogni2-
Ing at onos how much they looked alike.
Dudd wa q clever, impracticable sort
Of chap: fond of the physical sciences, q
dab at chemistry, an amateur photographer
Of high proficiency. The two became
close friends until Dudd drifted away from
Heidelberg as he had drifted there-no n
seemed to know anything Of his coming
or going-and again Chester was alone.
Then came the lawyers letter announo-
ing the death Of his father and summoning
him home to enter upon a large and I'M
restricted fortune; the departure, the voy-
age, the arrival and this present drive
uptown.
Perhaps Chester's physical state had
something to do with his mopish musings.
The voyage had been long and stormy.
Sickness Of no definite type had broken
ont among the steerage passengers, and
he had volunteered as nurse, enduring
c~heerfully loss OF sleep and fatigue.
Now he was wishing for some such absorp-
ton, to have even strangers TO care for and
tend. OF a sudden he saw a familiar form
strolling through the throng. With wildly
heating heart he pulled the strap and
halted the cab.
Yes, it was dear old Prentice Dudd.
Again he smiled at the freakish likeness
to himself; though now Prentice wore his
hair long and had a flowing mustache,
instead of the close crop and clean shave
they had both affected.
Chester sprang out and greeted his former
Chum with the dinging intensity that isola-
ton breeds. Dudd, too, was glad. He
insisted that the luggage should be sent to
the hotel, and that Chester should 60 with
him to his rooms.
1t would be like old times, he urged; he
was still doing the sans things, mulling
along over a thousand impracticable matters
which one day might become practi cal.
Chester could not have resisted had he
chosen. The daze Of fog. gale, toss and
wrench seemed to cling to him.
There was something else; a taste, a
scent, a chill, a blaze, combining into a
hostile personality, oonspiring to seize and
take him away from himself, more vivid and
vital now than when he had caught it lurking
in the sick ward, which must be avoided.
Indeed, he was glad 10 go.
This obsession chung to him throughout
the day, giving unreality to the familiar,
yet fresh and interesting thing % that Dudd
showed, the electrical devices, the solutions
brewing in tubes, the new light to be
tested, so effective in photography.
or course they talked, Chester volubly,
oonidentially, with the recklessness Of one
who cares not what he throws away so long
as he escapes. He told of the fortune
awaiting him, the letters he had received
from old Jacob Werner. his fathers lawyer,
and had written in reply, and his purpose
to go to the family home at Plaisdene and
enter upon his inheritance. But not a word
did he say, any more than he ever had said,
shout Constance McKenna.
A the night advanced, Chester grew
restless and %ervou complaining OF the
heat, pacing the floor, and gazing at himself
In the glass timorously and then with relief.
At length he snatched his hat, and with m
incoherent farewell, dashed down stairs.
Dudd, who had observed him even more
closely than ne had listened to him, fol-
lowed. peering guardedly III n down
the street, from the shaded vestibple.
Some one was staggering along toward'the
avenue. Some n fell, to struggle des-
perately to his feet, only to fall again.
After a while a policeman stood over
some ones PROSTATE form, trying in vain,
through various drastic means, TO excite
speech or motion. Then an ambulance
Came, and whoever it was in so hard a case
was bundled away. Dudd, from his
entry, watched and waited without thought
Of help OF interference, though he well
knew hat this hapless some one was his
friend, Chester Waite.
ii.
Wait a minute, Constance" said Judge
Marcellus. Il can see that this curious
R