Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-04-01
WATERBURY EVENING DEMOCRAT MONDAY APRIL I, 1907

The mere fact that we shared bed room was bond in common, and be- fore the evening meal-it could not with overstrained courtesy be called dinner-was over. we might have known each other all our lives. Dur. ing a stroll later, he told me the req son of his being in the country at all. and of his venturing so far west. The confidence was certainly curi. ous one.
 He was an English solicitor, prac. ticing in small country town in the Midlands. For many generations his firm had been the confidential ad wiser of ducal families. and 1t was business connected with their house that brought him to Australia. The old peer was dead.
 The upshot of our conversation was that my drunken friend proved, after all, to be what he professed to be. duke.
 It was like . denouement of . French novel.
 As was riveting the last links of my companions chain of evidence, a half-caste boy came out of the dark ness and stood before us. He brought a message from my loafer friend, inn ploring me to come to him at once. He was dying, and had something to say to me.
 The solicitor accompanied me, we followed the boy. We found the duke lying upon heap of sheepskins and flour sacks in the corner of shanty, feebly coughing his life away After he had welcomed us. he glanced at my companion, and without betraying any surprise, said:
 "So, my trusty Denton, you have found me out at last? We'll, what do you think of me now that you are here?" The solicitors face was a piteous sight He was trying to recognize in the disgustingly dilapidated scare crow before him, the happy, bright. faced boy he remembered of old. When he did speak, his voice was choked with emotion. Your grace, how can I say"
 Assuming new air, that for mo- ment made one forget the gunny bags and the candle gutted in the bottle, the poor peer broke in:
 So the unnatural old scoundrel is dead, is he? The king is dead-long live the king. But, Denton, it has come too late. It's just my cursed luck all over! All through my life I never scored except when it was too late!" 1 There was a pause, and then he continued with satanic sheer:
 But he couldn't take away the title. I had him here. Ha! Ha! How he must have hated mel"
 He laughed as the idea struck him, and then he waved his hand round the room.
 What do you think of this as a place for a duke to die in? By the way, Denton, move into the light that I may look at you. An! you haven't changed much since the old days; you're just the same sanctimonious hound as of yore, I'll be bound!"
 The old man winced at the insult, but it was impossible to resent it. He moved to the bedside. Can I do anything to make your end happier, my lord-?'
 Your grace Denton. Don't rob me of that. Yes. you can help me. Where's my will?'
 After fumbling among his rags. he eventually pulled out the document we had untiringly put together.
 Overhaul that, and see whether 1t is legally correct"
 As he read it look of consterna. tion spread over the old mans face.
 Can it be that you are married?" he questioned, huskily.
 The dying man nodded his head. and called up the half-caste boy who had come to fetch us that evening.
 Let me present you to my son and heir. As dying man. Denton, charge you to do your duty to him. I charge-you-to to see-that-that -his-interests are-conserved. charge"
 He could get no further. It was plain that the end was near.
 Fully five minutes elapsed before he spoke again, and during all that time-it seemed an eternity-the law yer stood looking down at him, but never seeing him. Suddenly raising himself to a sitting posture, the dying man said, very slowly:
 "Denton-I give you my word was innocent-innocent. I swear it and"
 When he fell back on his rags we saw that it was all over What was before us was all that remained of the late duke of L.
 The solicitor took oil his hat and bent his head in silent prayer.
 The funeral was a very common. place affair, in spite of the many face tions jests elaborated by the towns folk on the subject of a monument to the memory of the ''Looney Duke"
 wonder what they would have said had they known the truth?
 The British Peerage" informs me that the present duke of l.. was edu. cated at Oxford. and is 3s years of age-a statement 1 can hardly recop-