The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1921-05-13


money was gone. Arthur's firm was
ruined and Arthur himself was thrown
into prlson-the same poor debtors
prison that had, for so long, been the
home of Little Dorrit.
The days dragged YEARLY on.
At last Arthur, respondent and
crushed. haggard from brooding and
stricken with fever, one day saw, as
In a vision, kneeling before him the
figure of dear Little Dorrit. She had
FASTENED to make happier the lot of
the man who had helped her family
in the same gloomy surroundings and
whom she loved. She nursed him in
his sickness. She offered him all her
money to help him overcome his dis
tress. And then, as he refused the
money, he realized, for the t1rst time
that she loved him-and that he, too,
loved her.
A feeling of peace comes over his
mind.
The clouds begin to break.
And strange to say 1t Is a rascally
adventurer, Rigaud, a murderous jail
bird with dropping nose and ascending
lnustache, who opens the rift still fur
Their for the sunshine. He has discov-
cred Mrs. Clennam's secret, having
stolen the strong box that Fllntwinch
had struggled 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 visited the strange old lady.
Leaning over the sofa, poised on two
legs of his chair and his left elbow,
coarse, insolent, rapacious, cruel, he
reveals to her his knowledge.
Then, torn by the explosion OF her
passion, the old lady vehemently 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 sort of ceremony with a
beautiful young singer whom Fred
eric Dorrlt, kind-hearted musician
1.-THE uncle of Little Dorrit), was be
friending and giving an education. She
had obtained the first clue from those
initials in her husbands watch which
she found years ago, signifylng "Do
Not Forget" She accused both her
husband and the woman, who put the
initials there.
Instantly Rigaud, seeking to black
mail the old lady, declared he had de
posted with the niece, Little Amy
Dorrit, then at the prison with Ar
thur, a packet containing the sup
pressed section of the will with In
structions to open 1t at certain hour
unless reclaimed by him. What would
Mrs. Clennam pay him to reclaim 1T
To the establishment Of all, the par
alytic old lady rises to her feet anc
rushes from the house to the prison
seeks Little Dorrit; calls for the pack
ct, and then bids Amy read it, at the
same time begging her to forgive the
past.
Il forgive you freely" cried the gen
erous girl.
God bless you'll" was the fervenf
and broken response.
And then came the good news thai
Arthur's firm had re-established itseli
and that he would be able now II
leave the debtors prison.
SO they were marrled-but not be
fore Little Dorrit had handed to Al
thur a folded bit of legal paper ask
ing him not to open it but to burn !
In her presence.
as it a charmT' he asked, smil
ingly. "And does the charm want an.
words to be said?" he added as b
held the paper over the flames.
"You can say (if you don't mind
| love you'll" answered Little Dorrit.
So he said 1t and the paper burne'
| away.
With It died the secret OF Arthur
birth, never to be known to him
with It, also, Little Dorrit had volur
tarily destroyed the evidence Of he
| own legacy.
And they were married with the su
shining on them through the painte
figure of Our Savior on the window.
Then they went quietly down int
the roaring streets. inseparable an
j blessed; and, as they passed alon
in the sunshine and shade, the nois
and the eager and the arrogant an
the froward and the vain frette'
and chafed, and made their usual VI
rear.
Copyright 1919, by the Post Publishin
Co. (The Boston Post). Copyright in n
. United Kingdom the Dominions, its Co
r onies and dependencies, under the cop,
right act by the Post Publishing CO
Boston. Mass, U. s. A. All rights n
served.