The Washington times., 1911-01-06

~ AVID was still sitting DOWeu
amid the darkness when Mrs.
Humphrey knocked and called
to him that dinner waited. He
had not the least desire for food, and as
he feared his face might advertise his
discoveries to DR.. Thorn and Mrs.
Humphrey, he slipped out of the apart
ment and sent word by the janitor that
he would not be in to dinner. For an
hour and a half he walked the narrow,
tenement-cliffed streets, trying to force
his distracted mind to deduce the prob
able consequences of Morton's acts.
At length one result stood forth dis
tinct, nevitable-Morton' death was
not to save his good name. In few
days his embeZZlement would be dis
ton as to what he had done with the
money. Try as the committee might to
keep the matter secret, the embeZzle-
ment would leak out and afford sensa-
tional copy for the papers. Lillian
Drew, out of pure malevolence, would
manage to triple the scandal with her
story; and then some one would climax
the two exposures by putting one ana
one together, as he had done, ana de-
ducing that Morton's lamented death
was suicide In a week, perhaps In
three days, all New York would know
what David knew.
He was re-entering the clubhouse,
shortly after s o'clock, when the sound
of singing In the chapel reminded him
that the regular Thursday evening
prayer-meeting had been turned into
neighborhood memorial service OF Nor
ton. He slipped quietly into the rear OF
the chapel. 1t was crowded as at the
funeral. DIR. Thorn, who was tempo
rarily at the head of the mission, was
on the rostrum, but man from the
neighborhood was in charge OF the
meeting. The order of the service con.
sisted Of brief tributes to Morton, DrleI
II h n
their lives. AS David listened to the
testimonies, uncouth in the wording, but
splendid in feeling, the speaker some
times stopped by his own emotion
sometimes by sobbing from the audi
ence-his tears loosened and flowed with
theirs.
And then came a change in his view
point, He found himself thinking not
of Morton the individual Morton MS
friend, but of Morton in his relation to
those people. What great good ne hao
brought them! How dependent they
had been on him, how they still chung
TO him and were lifted up by his mem
oryI And how they loved him!
But what would they be saying ABOUT
him a week hence?
a knife. He hurried from the chapel
and upstairs into the dead mans study.
Here was the most CHASTITY OF all the
consequences of MOrton's deeds Nhat
would be the erect Oh SuCH lCNSldIloi
on these people? They We're not dis
crinfinating, could not select the good;
discard and forget the evil. He still
loved Morton. Impregnable at all other
points, temptation had assailed his own
weakness, conquered him, and turned
his life into complete disaster. But
David realized that the neighborhood
could not see Morton as he saw him:
They could see only the evil result OF
his one weakness, see him only as
guilty of larger sins than the most
sinful of themselveS-aS a libertine,
an embezzler, a suicide.
There was no doubt in David's mind
of the effect of all this upon them.
The words of an old woman who had
given tribute in the chapel stayed in
his memory. He has been to me like
St Christopher, what this place is
called FROM" she had QuaVered. He
holds me In his arms and carries me
over the dark waters" Exactly the
case with most of them. David thought
Morton. who had lifted them out of
darkness. was supporting them over
the ferry of life-tilI a few days ago
by his presence among them: now and
in the future by the powerful influence
in which he had charmed them. Once
they saw their st. Christopher as baser
than themselves. they would call him
a hypocrite, despise his support, and