The Spectator., 1915-05-14
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CHAPTER xx.
He That Was Dead.

shouldn't get white over it, Arthur. It isn't worth while. I can see that you haven't changed much, unless it is that your hair is a little paler at the temples. Gray? I'll wager I've a few myself" There was a fiippancy in his tone that astonished Warrington's own ears, for certainly this light mockery did not come from within. At heart he was sober enough.
 To steady the laundering beat of his pulse he crossed the room, righted the chair, stacked the books and laid them on the desk. Arthur did not move save to turn his head and to fol- low with fascinated gaze his brothers movements.
 Now, Arthur, I've only little while. l can see by your eyes that you are conjuring up all sorts of ter. rible things But nothing is going to happen. l am going to talk to you; then I'm going away; and tomorrow it will be easy to convince yourself that you have seen only ghost Sit down. I'll take this chair at the left"
 Arthur's hands slid from the desk; in kind of collapse he sat down. Sud denly he laid his head upon his arms and great sigh sent its tremor across his shoulders. Warrington felt his heart swell. The past faded away: his wrongs became vapors. He saw only his brother. the boy he had loved so devotedly, Arty, his other self, his scholarly other self. Why blame Ar thur? He, Paul, was the fool.
 Don't take it like that, Arty," he said.
 The others hand stretched out blindly toward the voice. "Ah, great God, Paul"
 "I know! Perhaps I've brooded too much" Warrington crushed the hand in his two strong ones. "The main fault was mine. l couldn't see the length of my nose. I threw a tempta- ton in your way which none but a demigod could have resisted. That night, when got your note telling me what you had done, did a damnably foolish thing. I went to the club bar and drank heavily. l was wild to help
 
 the morning l thought l saw the way. Drunken men get strange ideas into their heads. You were the apple of the mothers eyes, was only her son. No use denying it. She worshiped you; tolerated me- I came back to the house, packed up what l absolutely needed, and took the first train west. If o11 AnnandnH uyb baf vntt'd Hn You let me go, Arty, old boy. l sup pose you were pretty well knocked up. when you learned what I had done. And then you let things drift. It was only natural. l had opened the way for you. Mother, learning that l was thief, restored the dedication to save the family honor, which was your future. We were always more or less hard pressed for funds. l did not gamble, bue wasted lot. The moth. CT gave us an allowance of five thou sand each. To this l managed to add another five and you another four. You were always borrowing from me. l never questioned what you did with it. I would to God had! It would have saved us lot of trouble"
 The hand in his relaxed and slipped from the clasp.
 "Some of these things will sound bitter, but the heart behind them isn't. So did what thought to be a great and glorious thing. l was sober when l reached Chicago, l saw my deed from another angle. Think of it; we could have given our joint note to mothers bank for the amount. Old Henderson would have discounted 1t in a second. It was too late. l went on. The few hundreds had gave out. I've been up against it pretty hard. There were times when l envied the pariah dog. But fortune came around one day, knocked, and l let her in. l returned to make restitution, only to learn that it had been made by you. long ago. A trick of young Elmore's l shouldn't have come back if l could have sent the money"
 Arthur raised his head and sat up. "Ah. why did you not write? Why did you not let me know where you were? God is my witness. if there is cor ner of this world unsearched for you For two years I had man hunting. He gave up. believed you dead"
 Dead? We'll. l was in a sense."
 You have suffered, but not as have. Always you had before you your great. splendid. foolish sacrifice. had nothing to buoy me up; there was only the drag of the recollection of an evil deed. and moment of pitiful weak. ness. The temptation was too great. Paul"
 How did it happen?"
 How does anything like that hap. pop! Curiosity drew me first, for at college never played but a few games of bridge. Curiosity. desire. then the full blaze of the passion. You will never know what that is. Paul. It is stronger than love, or faith, or honor. God knows l never thought myself weak, at school l was the least i'm. petuous of the two. Everything went. and they cheated mo from tho star,