The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-07-24
CHAPTER XIX,
Continued.

him what I have told you, sir, WINS
pered the young man, as he leant
over him.
The effect of his sons presence on
the canon was something marvellous.
His brightness and his tenderness
worked upon him for good, as the
sunshine and the rains revive the
dropping flower. A sort OF indian
summer seemed to have set in with
him; and but for his old friends ILL
ness I think he would have been as
happy as he ever was in his lie,
though not quite in the old fashion.
You may tell your Alma, Robert
said Aunt Maria, that her dutlful
advice to you has saved your fathers
life" She knew that way of putting
it would please him better than II
she had praised his own unselfshness
i'm coming to England. IF you were
not here he would hardly stand these
distressing visits to dear Mr.. Ma
;vors."
And, indeed, the spectacle of his
old friend and contemporary gradu-
ally losing his hold upon life gave
him u~nspeakable pain. There was
nothing, of course, terrible in such a
mans decease; no haunting fears or
d~istrust of the All-wise and All-merci-
full. Indeed, it would have been Curl
Gus to those acquainted with the turn
of thought prevailing among men OF
their stamp at Cambridge, that be-
tween these two men-both being
sclergymen-the subjects so common
'ly dwelt upon under such circum-
stances were rarely alluded to. They
spoke of old times with which they
were conversant, rather than of the
:unknowable; Of their lifelong
although undemonstrative) friend
ship, rather than of their reunion
hereafter; of their common friends,
alive or dead. Once, however, a
something of bitterness in some re-
mark made by the dying man, sug-
the inquiry from his compan-
ion, you are at peace, I trust, Ma
vors, with all men,"
= with all that m -worthy of the
name of man." was the stern and un-
expected reply. Then, as if regretting
his harshness, the tutor added, with a
smile, There is not much malice and
hatred in my heart, Aldred, I do as
sure you-nothing, I trust, to be re-
pented of in that way; a little envy
of yourself, my friend, that's ALL"
How 500"
Because you have great posses
sions-a son., a wife"
NAY, nay poor wife is dead" said
the canon, soothingly, as n speaks
to a sick man whose mind has gone
astray a little.
i Eyes, but you have the memory OF
her. Believe me, my friend, it Is
well to have such memories to dwell
upon"
The canon had no prescience that
he had beheld his friend for the last
time when he walked home n after
noon with thoughtful step that grew
'unconsciously more free and buoyant
as he neared the little home which
held his new-found treasure.
On his study table, however, was a
letter, the contents Of which, for a
moment, put even Robert out Of his
mind. 1t was in his wards hand
writing, which in itself argued moth
ing strange (for she had never ceased
to correspond with him in a sup
pressed, mechanical fashion, /; it had
mot, as usual, been sent on to him
from the Laurels, but was directed to
his present address. 1t must have
come to Sophy's knowledge, there
fore, that he had removed to ProVi-
dence Terrace. Though this was a
piece of information that might have
oozed out any day, he opened the en-
;ve1ope with no little apprehension
that she might have CLEANED still fur
Their knowledge, and the first sentence
convinced him that it was so.
"Kindest and best of friends, whom
Z have robbed and grieved-dear
guardian, whose care and love I have
repaid by falsehood and ingratitude
pity If you cannot pardon me If I
came to you in person (Which I dare
mot do, for the sight of your dear face
would kill me; and my life, other
wise worthless, is necessary to my
child)-I say, If I came into your
presence and groveled at your feet
with tears and prayers, I could not,
believe me, feel a greater abasement
than I do, as I sit here and write
these shameful words.
Until recently, though fully con-
scious of my base behavior to you in
other respects, I was not ware of the
ruin I had brought upon you. 1
thought that I had only lies and de-
ceit to reproach myself with-trans-
gressions that have brought their
own punishment upon me, and con-
corning which I thought, therefore,
that / had some sort of right-as If
such a wretch as I had rights at all!
an irremediable injury I have done
Ito you and yours, it seems to me that
mo sufferings in this world can be in
;,ficted on me commensurate with my
;offenses. That I was but an uncon-
scious instrument in the hands of an
other is no excuse for me, for, but
for my W misdoings, 1 should never
have fallen into his hands. The his
tory of them you will find inclosed
,t(there was a paper in the envelope
containing a short narrative Of her
first marriage, and the causes which
had, as she thought, compelled her to
make the second). and when you
have read it, after the first sharp