The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1912-12-04
~ MARTHA BELLINGER
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4
mond's earliest convenience.
Holding the half-opened sheets In
her hand, the lady closed her eyes
and sat motionless, as IL in the grasp
OF an absorbing thought. With the
disappearing child. the signs OF life
on the hillside had diminished. The
traffic of the street passed far below,
the sharp click-click of a pedestrian
now and then sounded above. but no
one passed her way. The hum of the
city made a blurred wash of sound,
like the varying yet steady wash of
the sea. AS she opened her eyes
again, she saw that the twilight had
perceptibly deepened. Far away,
lights began to flash out in the city,
as IL a million firefiies, by twos and
threes and dozens, we're waking to
their nocturnal revelry.
On the hill the light was still good.
and the lady turned again to her read
ing. The other letter was written on
single sheets of thin paper in an old
fashioned, beautiful hand. Wherever
doubles occurred, the first was writ
ten long, in a style of sixty years ago;
and the whole letter was as easily
legible as print. Across the top was
written: ITO Agatha Redmond, daugh-
ter of my ward and dear friend, Aga
tina Shaw Redmond" and below that,
in the lawyers choppy handwriting,
was a date of nearly year previous.
AS Agatha Redmond read the second
letter, a smile, half of sadness, half
of pleasure, overspread her counte-
nance. 1t ran as follows:
"Ilion, Maine.
"My Dear Agatha: l take my pen in
hand to, address you. the daughter OF
the dearest friend of my life, for the
first time in the twenty-odd years OF
your existence. Once as a child you
saw me, and you have doubtless heard
my name from your mothers people
from time to time; but | can scarcely
hope that any knowledge of my pri-
vate life has come to you. 1t will be
easy, then, for you to pardon an OLD
man for giving you, in this fashion
the confidence he has never been able
to bestow in the flesh.
when you read this epistle, my
dear Agatha, / shall have stepped into
that next mystery, which is Death.
Indeed, the duty which am now dis
charging serves as partial preparation
for that very event. This duty is to
make you heir to my house and es-
tate and to certain accessory funds
which we'll enable you to keep up the
place.
"You may regard this act, possibly,
as the idiosyncrasy of an unbalanced
mind; it is certain that some of my
kinsfolk will do so. But while l have
been able to bear up under their
greater or less displeasure for many
years, / find myself shrinking before
the possibility of dying absolutely I'M
known and forgotten by you. Your
mother, Agatha Shaw, of blessed mem
ory now for many years. was my ward
and pupil after the death Of your
grandfather l think l may say with
out undue self-congratulation that few
women of their time have enjoyed as
sound a scheme of education as your
mother. She had a knowledge of
mathematics, could construe both in
Latin and Greek, and had acquired a
fair mastery of the historic civiliza-
ton of the Greeks, Egyptians and an
cient Babylonians. While these at
tainments would naturally be INSULT
cient for a mans work in life, yet for
a woman they were of an exceptional
order.
Sufficient to say that in your moth
er's character these noteworthy abili-
ties were supplemented by gracious,
wcmanly arts; and when she arrived
at maturity, | offered her the honor
OF marriage.
1T Is painful for me to recall the
scene and the consequences of your
mothers refusal of my hand. even
after these years of philosophical re-
lection u were idle for a man of
parts to allow a mere preference In
regard to his domestic situation to
influence his course of action in any
essential manner, and / have never
permitted my career to be shaped by
such details. But from that time,
however, the course or my life was
changed. From the impassioned ora
tor and preacher ! was transformed
into the man of hooks and the study,
and since then have lived far from
the larger concourses Of men. My
weekly sermon. for twenty years. has
been the essence of my weekly toll In
establishing the authenticity, first. Of
the entire second gospel, and second.
OF the ten doubtful verses in the fif-
teenth chapter. My work is now ac-
complished-for all time. believe.
"From the inception OF what I con-
sidered my life mission, / made the re-
solve to bequeath to Agatha Shaw
whatever manuscripts or other mate
rial of value my work should lead me
to accumulate. together with this
house. In which have spent all the
later years of my life. You are Aga
tina Shaw's only child. therefore TO