The Washington herald., 1908-03-07

as cravat The same piece did duty
both by day and at evening
His clothes, for the most part. hung
upon his lean, shrunken limbs as though
they had been made for a much more
robust man, and his hats were indescrib-
ably greasy and out of date. When he
went to the city Levi compelled him 10.
put on his best silk hat and a decent
frock coat, but often of an afternoon
he might be seen sitting alone in the
park and mistaken for some poor, broken
down old man the sadness Of whose face
compelled sympathy.
This carelessness of dress appears TO
be one Of the inevitable results of great
fortune. a man should never be judged
by his coat nowadays. The struggling
clerk who lives in busy Brixton or cack-
ling Croydon usually gives himself great
er airs, and dresses far better than the
head Of the firm, while the dainty type
writer wears prettier blouses and neater
fOOtgear than his own outdoor daughters
with their slang their pals" and their
distorted ideas Of maiden modesty
But old Sam Statham had neither kith
nor kin. He was a lonely man-how
utterly lonely only he himself knew. He
had only his perpetual calculations OF
finance, his profit and loss accounts, and
Levi TO occupy his days He seldom If
ever left London. Even the sitting Au-
gust days, when his clerks went to the
! mountains or the sea. he still remained
in London. because. as he openly de-
clared. he hated 20 mix with strangers.
Curiously enough, almost the only man
he trusted was his private secretary.
Charlie Rolfe, the smart young man who
came there from 10 O'clock till 2 each
day, wrote his private letters and was
paid very handsome salary.
Usually old Sam was a very quiet-man-
nered man whom nothing disturbed But
that morning he was distinctly upset
He had scarcely slept a single wink. and
his deep-sunken eyes and almost haggard
face told OF great anxiety wearing out
his heart.
He tried TO add up a long column Of
figures upon sheet OF paper before him,
but gave IL UP with a deep sigh. Again
he rose, glanced out of the window.
audibly denounced In unmeasured terms
motor bus which, tearing past, caused
his room TO shake, and then returned TO
his table.
But he was far too impatient to sit
there long. for again he rose and paced
the room, his gray brows knit in evi-
dent displeasure. HIS thin. bOny hands
clenched tightly, and from his lips eseap-
Ing muttered imprecations upon some
person whom he did not name.
Once he laughed-a hard little laugh
His lip curled in exultant triumph as he
stuck his hands into the pockets of his
shabby jacket and again went 70 look
over the brise-brise curtains of pale pink
silk into the roadway.
For moment he looked, then, with
start. he stood glaring out Next in
slant he sprang back from the window
with a look Of terror upon his blanched
cheeks He had caught sight OF some
body whose presence there was both un-
welcome and unexpected, and the en-
counter had filled him with anxiety and
dismay.
As he had gazed inquiringly forth, with
his face close 10 the window pane. his
eyes had met those Of a man of about
his own age shabby. with gray. ragged
hair. threadbare clothes. broken boots
and soft gray felt hat. darkly stained
around the banda tramp evidently. The
stranger was leaning idly against the
park ratings. evidently regarding the
house with some wonder, when the sad
face of its master had appeared.
The pair glared at each other for one
single second. Then. Sam Statham, rec
ognizing in the others crafty eyes a look
OF cruel, relentless revenge, started back
Into the room, breathless and deathly
pale. He staggered to his chair. sup
porting himself by clutching at It's back.
Then they did not liel~ he gasped
aloud. ''He-he's alive-therefore. so It's
all overt II saw his intentions plainly
written in his face, I've played the game
and lost He has returned. therefore I
must face the inevitable. Yes he add