Evening star., 1923-09-16

lay dying. HE has sent
- me this. In another few
hours II would have been too late"
He lay in his heavy canopied bed.
in the big room in which he had been
born, seYenty-two years before.
The letter was from his only son.
whom he had thought dead these
twenty years. He had been sent out
OF the country in disgrace. to rein
state himself, IL he could. by work
ing honestly for his living in a new
country, where such men as he, OF
good birth and weak principle, can
show what they are made Of. away
from the temptations of wealth and
station. It had never been meant
that he should stay in Australia
longer than a few years. His father
had hoped much from the test; he
was sure that his son had good in
him. If 1t succeeded he could come
back and take up his inheritance,
with everything that had gone be-
fore wiped out and forgotten, fit to
talSe his place at the end of the long
line that had lived honorably and
cleanly for many generations.
But the test had failed. For three
years there had been constant de-
mands for money, and, yet, more
money.
Then sudden silence. Sir Everard
had waited for a year. hoping for the
hest. Then he had made Inquiries,
His son had disappeared. The in
quiries were continued, and 1t was
reported that he was dead.
Sir Everard had married again; he
had three young daughters by his
second wife, but no son. The heir
TO his title was a distant kinsman;
but his estates were unentailed. and
he could leave them as he liked.
And now. at the end of all things
for him, there had come letter from
his son. The test had succeeded after
all. He had made a man OF himself,
though it had taken him twenty years
to do it. and his achievement was
modified by bitter failure.
The letter was a sad one. but TO the
fathers heart ii was more welcome
30 than If it had been a report Of
triumph. His son had come sudden
~ to his senses, pricked on. it might
be thought. by the good blood that
was In him. He had changed his
name and gone onto the land, to begin
again from the very beginning, doing
the things that his remotest ancestors
had done, when England also had
been a new country. He had set
himself te the task of paying back.
He WSWtd not make himself known
again until he could come home with
q clean sheet, IL it took him years
10 do IL.
He had toiled and sweated year
after year Some times success had
seemed to be within his grasp, but 1t
had always eluded him. Under his
new name he had become known for
iil-luck, In a country where ill-luck
does sometimes dog the steps even
of the most deserving. But at least
he had nevAS gone under altogether.
He had goT on striving and hoping.
For twenty years. Now 1t was time
TO give up the struggle. 1t had only
been for an idea. He knew that his
welcome home was assured him. He
would come empty handed, but purg-
ed of his fault. He wanted to see
his father. and his old home. He was
tired, and no longer young. The
struggle of life had been too much
for him.
r ADY PROVOST sat by the bedside.
IL She was thirty years younger
than her husbands well-figured
woman, with a placid, rather ex-
pressionless face.
My dear" he said to her kindly,
reaching for her plump white hand
with his own weak, almost trans
parent one, this will make a differ
ence to you and the children, I know.
But I have never encouraged you to
hope for everything, have I? You
will have enough. If you want to
live here, at Sprouie-I don't know
poor Godfrey has never married-he
might be glad
please don't talk about that, Ever
ard she said in her low, level voice.
whatever you do win be right"
Her eyes had been fixed on the fire
in the CRATE. Now. in the shadow of
the lamp, where he could not see
them, they roamed the room rest
Iessly.
When he had talked a little more
about his son and about herself and
the other children and she had sooth-
ed him with quiet assurances OF her
sympathy in his satisfaction, and her
readiness to take the lower place
than would have been hers but for
the letter he held in his hand, he said :
I'VE must not delay. Unlock the
upper part of that press and bring
me tho two papers you viii find in
the lefthand drawer"
She took keys from tho place he
indicated and went TO an old piece
of furniture in corner Of the room.
1t opened to form table. disclosing
tiers OF drawers above the arrange
ments designed for writing purposes.
She had never seen this press opened
before, nor knew until now that he
had kept his will there. But she
recognized the two documents to
which he directed her as Wills and
brought them to him obediently. I'm
til his illness had made him dependent
on her, her husband had always
treated her with unquestioned au-
fhority and she would never have
thought OF asking him questions
about anything to do with his az.
fairs or his actions.
1t was with something of return
70 his dicta4ory manner that he told
her TO help him to sit up against his
pillows and to keep still while ne
examined the two documents.
II ala ,o% taEa him long KJe yzytb-