The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-13

annual stipend in money, our great din- ner hall A sedate gentleman he is, in a peaked beard. with a run round his neck and a scroll below him in old Eng fish letters, Lord keep my memory greenp You know all about him, Mir. Redlaw2"
 T know the portrait hangs there Phillip" said Mir Redlaw.
 Yes. sir" said Phillip. He was helped to keep my memory green, I thank him Going around the halls with these branches freshens up my old brain. It brings back all the years. It seems to me as if the birthtime of our Lord was the birthtime Of. all I've ever had affection for or mourned for. or delighted in-and they're pretty many, for I'm ST.
 Merry and happy" murmured Redlaw to himself It seemed as If the room had begun 10 darken strangely.
 Excuse me for chattering," said the old man It's the sin of my time of life. Where's my quiet mouse?'
 The quiet mouse brought her calm face to his side and took his arm.
 "One moment" said the chemist 'T understand that you are nursing one of my students
 Its sick young gentleman, sir" said Mrs. William, and very poor. I'm afraid, who is too i'll to go home for the holidays and lives in Jerusalem buildings in but a common kind of lodging for a gentle man."
 Why have l never heard of him?" ex- claimed Redlaw. why has he not made his situation known to me? Sick! Give me my coat Poor What house? What number?"
 But you mustn't go there" said Mrs. William calmly and confronting him with her collected face and folded little hands. He said that of all the world he would rot be known to you, though he is a stu dent in your class
 Why did he say so?" asked Redlaw.
 Indeed can't tell" said Milly, after thinking a little, because I'm not at all clever, you know. He muttered some thing in his sleep yesterday about some great wrong done that could never be forgotten, but whether to him or to an- other person l don't know. Not done by him, 1 am sure."
 "Yes, sir" said MT. William, stepping close to Redlaw and whispering into his ear. Yes, sir. Mrs. William will look after him. She has done him world of good. And all the time the house the same as ever-father made snug and comfortable-not a crumb of litter to be found if you was to offer $50 for it. Mrs. William apparently never out of the way-yet Mrs. William, backward and forward, up and down, up and down. a mother to him!"
 Heaven bless herl" said the chemist.
 And not content with this. sir" whis- pered the proud and loving MT. William, Mrs. William goes and finds this very night a creature more like wild beast than a young child. shivering on a door step. What does she do but bring it home to wash it and feed 1t and keep 1t till our annual bounty of food and flannel is given away on Christmas morning! It's sitting before the fire in the lodge now at least it is if it hasn't bolted."
 Heaven keep her happy" said the chemist again. And you, Philip! And you, too, Williaml''
 T thankee, sir: I thankeey' said the old man. Lord keep my memory greenl It's a very good prayer that. very good and pious. Ameni Amenl'
 As thep passed out and the doors rever- berated in a train of thunders behind them the room turned darker. As the gloom and shadow thickened around him it seemed to take form. By a process not to be traced by any human sense the form seemed to take on awful like ness to the man who sat ruminating be- fore the fire This was the dread com panion of the haunted man!
 The living man and his image looked at each other. Did the spectre's lips move or did its meaning fashion itself in some unearthly way into words that had been uttered loudly enough to make the old rafters ring?
 Under the green and scarlet glory of the holly the phantom evoked again the dark and mournful shadows of the past-the early struggle through misery and pow erty; the toll that gladly sacrificed the joy of youth; the labor that lasted through weary nights and counted not cold or hunger; the sister who helped him, brave. loyal. bright companion of his strife; and, beautiful as she and as dear. that other who was to share their fire side when he had wonl
 And the friendl That true and de- voted friend" Had the spectre spoken?
 Let me blot 1t from my memory" cried the chemist fiercely. The spectre did not move. Slowly, remorsefully, 1t painted the picture of the friend whom the chem list had bound to his side, with whom he worked, with whom he dreamed. He saw the fireside of the past. He saw the growth of love between his sister and his friend. He saw again the glowing pictures in tho long dead embers of that vanished fire-his visions of the time when they would sit together before the flames, his sister as the wife of his friend and by struggled.
 Let me blot it out!' he cried again.
 The phantom glared on him with it's changeless eyes The chemist saw the friend, doubly traitor, forsake his sister and pass between him and the woman who was the center of his hopes. He saw his sister. doubly dear, doubly devote, uncomplaming, live on until she saw him famous, and then lie down to die gentle and uncompaining still.
 ''Thus," said the phantom. "I bear within me sorrow and wrong. Thus mem