The Washington herald., 1919-09-01

adventurer. Rigaud, a murderous jail
bird with dropping nose and ascend
ing mustache, who opens the rift still
further for the sunshine. He has dis
covered Mrs. Clennam's secret. having
stolen the strong-box that F1intwinch
had smuggled into Holland and in
which lay a page OF the will OF Ar
thurs uncle. a page which Mrs. Glen
nam had concealed for years.
Rigaud visits the strange old lady.
Leaning on the sofa, poised on two
legs Of his chair and his left elbow,
coarse, insolent. rapecious. cruel, he
reveals to her his knowledge.
Then. torn by the explosion of her
passion. the old lady vehementIy tells
her own story
She had learned. after Mr.. Glen
mans marriage to her "a marriage
commanded by his overbearing uncle).
that her husband had loved and gone
through a sort OF ceremony with a
beautiful young singer whom Freder-
ick Dorrit, a kind-hearted musician
(the uncle of Little Dorrit), was be-
friending and gazing an education.
She had obtained the first clue from
those initials in her husbands watch
which she found years ago signifying
DO Not Forget She accused both
her husband and the woman who put
the initials there.
Il said to her" declared Mrs. Glen
nam, you have n child; I have none
You love that child. Give him to me
and swear never again to see his
father. Then 1 will support you and
not expose your shame. And I will
reclaim the otherwise lost boy"
Thus IL had been that Arthur came
into the Clennam home.
At this point in her narrative Ri
gaud contemptuously fnterrupted.
Come straight to the stolen money"
he commanded
wretch" she responded. Know
then that I suppressed a part of the
Will of my husbands uncle"-the
part in which that uncle had re-
vealed the maternity of Arthur and
had left, as a repentant compensa-
ton. a legacy to Arthur's mother
and to the niece of the man who
had befriended her-"but found
that niece of Frederick Dorrit and
what l did for her was better for
her far than the money"
Instantly Rigaud. seeking to black
mail the old lady declared he had
deposited with the niece, little
Amy Dorrit, then at the prison with
Arthur, packet containing the
suppressed section OF the will with
instructions to open it at a certain
hour unless reclaimed by him. What
would Mrs. Clennam pay him to re-
claim it?
To the astonishment of all. the
paralytic old lady rises to her feet
and rushes from the house to tn.
prison; seeks Little Dorrit: calls for
the packet. and then bids Army read
1t, at the same time begging her to
forgive the past.
Il forgive you freely" cries the
generous girl.
God bless you" was the fervenr
and broken response.
And then came the good news that
Arthur's firm had re-established it.
self and that he would be able now
to leave the debtors prison.
So they were married-but not
before Little Dorrit had handed to
Arthur a folded bit of legal paper
asking him not to open it but to
burn 1t in her presence.
rs It a charm?" he asked, smil-
lngly. And does the charm want
any words to be said?" he added. as
he held the paper over the flames.
You can say Gf you don't mind)
I love you"" answered Little Dor
rit.
So ,he said it and the paper burned
away
with 1t died the secret of Artnur's
birth, never to be known to him:
with it also. Little Dorrit had vol
UNFAIRLY destroyed the evidence or
her own legacy.
And they were married with the
san shining on them through the
painted figure of Our Saviour on the
window.
Then they went quietly down into
the roaring streets. inseparable and
blessed; and. as they passed along
In the sunshine and shade, the noisy
and the eager and the arrogant ana
the forward and the vain fretted and
chafed, and made their usual uproar.
Copyright. 1919, by the Post Publishing %.
CThs Boston Post.) Copyright In the United
Kingdom, the onlinions. tis Colonies and depen-
dencies, under the copyright act, b. the Post
Publishing Co.. BoSton. Mass, o. 9, A. An
rights reserred)
published BY special arrangement With the Nc
Cfurs Newspaper Syndicate Al rights reserved }