Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-25
BY
LAM HAY,
AUTHOR OF ''THE RIGHT STUFF. IS

was too late. She was gone! She had
bolted, in some wild fit Of pique or senti.
mentalism. with that long-haired exponent
Of Byronism and water. Lance Gaymer
and had married him at a registry office
that very morning. Probably she had
fallen in with his proposals at the ball
after her interview with me.
well, Hughie. would rather pass over
the next few years. I cut her out OF my
scheme of things as completely as
could and went on my way. Fortunately
you began to engage my attention abou,
that time, and / rubbed along somehow,
and finally developed into the fine. old
crusted fogey that you know me to be.
"Ten years later heard from her. She
sent for me. 1 had never known where
she was, nor tried to find out. But did
not expect to find her where / did. She
was in a miserable. dingy house In
fianIy husband had left her after her Sec
ond baby was born-our Joey, that Is
and her old father had been dead eight
years. She had not friend in the world.
and yet she would not turn to me till 1t
was too late. Pride. pride. pride! Tor
with a little money her father had left
her. and which her husband had not been
able to get hold Of, and she had also
taken in dodgers. Lodgers, Hughie! il
was only when she realized that she was
going out for good that the thought OF
the kiddies' future began to brighten her,
and she sent for meat last!
II was with her during most OF the re-
naming three months of her life. to the
standardization Of virtuous Bloomsbury.
wanted to bring her to Manors which she
had often visited in her childhood, but
she said she preferred to die in London:
and as she was obviously going to die
somewhere pretty soon. ] did not press
life Of almost perfect happiness: and
when she finally slipped away. quite
peacefully-poor child! she was barely
thirty-two-and I took the youngsters
home with me. the long waste Of years
behind us seemed almost as though 1t
never had been, so completely had the
recollection Of it been wiped out by the
Intervening three months. Love can work
| marvels. Hughie, even though 1t come to
a man at the very last.
II may add that during the closing
weeks Of her life had the supreme salts
faction of marrying her, as we received
undeniable proof that her accursed hus-
band had died in South America. This
gives me a sort of additional hold over
| Joey, though I have never mentioned II
to her: nor do / think it necessary, for
had rather that her attachment to me re-
manned a purely sentimental one, for the
present at any rate.
And now. as regards the future. AS
said at the beginning Of this letter:
| back from this trip. If I don't. well and
good: Joey can take my money. II do
I am afraid ! must request the use Of II
for myself for little while longer. How
ever. you will naturally want me to fix
some sort Of time limit. and the question
has been occupying my attention q good
/, deal. My original idea was to make q
kind Of provisional will. leaving all my
property to Joey. and emitting her to
come into possession automatically In the
| event Of my not returning within five
years: but the lawyers tell me this ar
rangement won't work, as have to be
pukka dead before they can shell out. SC
I have fixed it this way. For the present
Joey will want nothing but her daily
bread and her fallals and a roof to sleer
under. as her so-called education is nov
completed. I have, therefore. let Manors
to the Laroys. on the understanding that
the child Is to live there with them fol
| the present. (Not that they required
much persuasion.) She is eighteen at the
| time of writing this letter.
Further. I have realized practically al
my personal estate. and placed the cash