St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-07-20

y
the first words the girl caught.
mine! Bless my souI!'
her uncle's surprised voice broke in.
"You don't mean to tell me that all
those volumes l had boxed for Aus
traIia and which thought lost on the
Lord Nelson came ashore on your lit
tie coral isle?"
Came ashore on his coral isle! The
girl caught at the words. Of course
he had been saved-he who had saved
her from the wild sea. She had real
lied that after their last meeting at
Strathorn House. But how?
"Exactlyr' said John Steele succinct-
~.
"BIess my soulr' Sir Charles amazed
voice could only repeat. 81 remember
most of those books well-a brave ar
ray-poets. philosophers, lawmakers!
Then that accounts for your It is
like fairy tale"
ga fairy tale!' Jocelyn Wray gazed
around her at books, books on every
side. She regarded the door leading
out, was half l-indful to go, but heard
the manservant in the hall and lin
gered.
Nothing so pleasant, 1 assure you,"
John Steele answered Sir Charles
shortly. Then, with a few words, he
painted a picture uncompromisingl
The girl shrank back. Perhaps she
wished she had not come. This, truly,
was no fairy tale, but a wild, savage
drama, primeval, the picture of soul
battling with itself on the little, lonely
0n11I6 hn hot
feel its scorching rays, hear the hiss
ing of the waves. All the mans
strength for good, for ill, went into
the story. The isle became as the Dit
of Acheron.
'When the man woke" he had said,
che cursed the sea for bringing him, as
he thought, nothing. One desire tor
mented him. 1t became intolerabIe.
Day after day he went down to the
ocean, but the surf only leaped in de-
rision. For the thousandth time he
cursed it, the isle to which he was
bound. Weeks passed, until, almost
mad through the monotony Of the long
hours, one day he inadvertently pick
ed up book. The brute convict could
just read. Where, how he ever learn
ed, 1 forget. He began to pick out the
words. After that
Through the long months, the long
years, the man had fought for knowl-
edge as he had always fought for any
thing-with all his strength, passion,
energy.
"Incredible! By Jovep She heard
Sir Charles voice, awed and admiring.
81 am glad to have had your conf
Lo1J
happen to light on the law for special
study and preparation?'
"You forget that about half your su-
perb library was law books, Sir
Charles. A most comprehensive col
lectionw
''The law-the ramifcations it ere
ates for the many, the attendant re-
straints for the Individual confess
interested me. You can imagine per-
sonal reason or-an abstract one.
From the lonely perspective of tiny
coral isle, a system or systems-codes
of conduct or morals built up for the
swarming millions, so to speak-could
not but possess fascination for one to
whom those millions had become only
rs the faraway shadows of a dream"
GAS a boyv' John Steele repeated the
words almost mechanically. my par
ents died when 1 was a child. They
came of good stock-New England"
He uttered the last part of the SEN
tence involuntarily-s 81 was
bound out, was beaten. 1 fought, ran
away. In lumber camps, the drunken
riffraf cursed the new scrub boy, on
the Mississippi the sailors and steve
dores kicked him because the mate
kicked them Everywhere it was the
same. The boy learned only one thing
to fight. Fight or be beaten!
F'In a worldly sense 1 prospered
after 1 was rescued-in New Zealand,
in Tasmania. Fate, as if to atone for
having delayed her favors now lavish
ed them freely. Work became easy.
A mine or two that l was lucky
enough to locate yielded and continues
to yield unexpected returns
"And then, having fairly, through
your own efforts. won a place in the
world, having conquered fortune. why
did you return to England knowing
the risk that some one of these fell
lows like Gillett, the police agent.
might