Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1915-08-18

and great sigh sent its tremor across
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"
81 know! Perhaps I've brooded too
much" Warrington crushed the hand
in his two strong ones. 1.-THE main
fault was mine. / couldn't see the
length Of my nose. I threw tempta-
ton in your way which none but a
demigod could have resisted. That
night, when 1 got your note telling me
what you had done, / did damnably
foolish thing. l went to the club bar
| and drank heavily. l was wild to help
you, but couldn't see how. At two in
the morning / thought l saw the way.
Drunken men get strange ideas into
their heads. You were the apple of the
mothers eyes; l was only her son. No
use denying it. She worshiped you;
! tolerated me. I came back to the
house, packed up what I absolutely
needed, and took the first train west.
1t all depended upon what you'd do.
You let me go, Arty, old boy. / sup
pose you were pretty we'll knocked up,
when you learned what l had done.
And then you let things drift 1t was
only natural. l had opened the way
for you Mother, learning that / was
a thief, restored the defalcation to
save the family honor, which was your
future. We were always more or less
hard pressed for funds. I did not
gamble, but wasted lot. The moth.
er gave US an allowance OF five thou
sand each. To this managed to add
another five and you another four. You
were always borrowing from me. /
never questioned what you did with 1t.
I would to God I had! 1t would have
saved us lot Of trouble"
The hand in his relaxed and slipped
from the clasp.
0O1u0 u LuCS6 WILL 0ouAhN
bitter, but the heart behind them isn't.
So did what I thought to be a great
and glorious thing. l was sober when
I 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 it
in a second. 1t was too late. I 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 let her in. l
returned to make a restitution, only to
learn that it had been made by you,
long ago. A trick Of young Elmores.
l shouldn't have come back II 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 a cor
ner Of this world unsearched for you.
For two years I had a man hunting.
He gave up. believed you dead"
Dead? Well, I 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
pen? Curiosity drew me first, for at
college never played but few games
of bridge. Curiosity, desire, then the
full blaze of the passion. You will
never know what that is, Paul. 1t is
stronger than love, or faith, or honor.
. God knows I never thought myself
weak; at school I was the least i'm.
petuous Of the two. Everything went,
and they cheated me from the start.
Roulette and faro. Then put my hand
IN the safe. To this day cannot tell
why. I owed nothing to those despica.
BILE thieves, Craig least of ALL"
"Craig. I met him over there. PUN.
meled him."
II didn't act like man. Some day
a comfortable fortune would fall to the
} lot Of each Of US. But took eight
thousand, lost 1t, and came whining to
you. You don't belong to this petty
age, Paul. You ought to have been a
! fellow Of the round table," Arthur
smiled wanly. "To throw your life
away like that, for a brother who