Show TH FATA A L im ed U 0 IT 0 R IF 03 U UN N D 0 v U T by A L harrl harris author dl aln own familiar frind fri tc ii I 1 copyright rip A 8 j a a x b tv y va as ea I 1 u 6 1 ll 11 A in q vo co mp a n ny v V co 0 p y v r d ig g A h 9 t i 1 f 0 0 I 1 b 1 y S B t r f i 1 it S m it 9 A CHAPTER I 1 we shall find it ot some som day about the th beginning of at the month ot of april 1884 tile family of air silas bur ritt observed a certain alteration in that gentleman a habits and demeanor it appeared to those who studied him that lie he bhame imbued with an air of anticipation that lat he started when FA a knock was an heard at the door and that the advent of the postman was wan awaited by him it if not with acx lety jety at any rate with an amount of eager which was tit in a gen eral era way quite foreign to him it was also observed obBer ved that the nearer they drew to th ht end of lit the month the anor these symptoms became ex ag and as an day after day went by by un an unusual oc currence to h was observed to shake his had hi ad with a hal famili and a half sigh nigh and mutter as an lie he thought to himself dead or forgotten after which lie he renial md lunged in tion for a considerable time it was his son eon hdward more igen gen orally known tin as red who ho happens I 1 to a 0 bad these words worda and they canned him no hornall amount of bo be wilderment wll derment lie stood with his bis sister may in the hall bell of mr bur ritts large old fayh honed loupe o at bulwich dulwich it was about 0 clock in the evening that as a the brother arid and slater sister were talking in low bolcen the former wan am interrupted by the found bound ot of an abrupt loud double knock theron there a the seen 0 clock post poat raid bald the 1 I wonder it if there a any thing for father this time it there hero is ill but as khe ibe turned towards tile the durec tion of the letter box the study door was thrown hurriedly open and an elderly gentleman rushed across the hall and extricated from its receptacle aclo one lettjr in a thin foreign looking on en delope the direction on which was rutn written rl tn in a lurge large scrawling hand which barely left room tar or the stamp there was a singular look upon his face on which seemed struggling with some pome other oilier emotion then lie he drew a long breath after all these years bearol he said raid to himself so he has ban kept his m nm rad ird after all lie he the hall i i e entered tile hla study and clobes the door As ho he did so BO both the young people heard the he licy key turn it in the lock evidently their lather father was waa antiona not to be disturbed la in the perusal of the mis dive whatever jt it night might be neither of them said bald any more om m the subject bt a the time but their were full of 0 it its as they each turned to lo so go thell theli different ways the one to the billiard roona room tor for a little private practice the other to the drawing room to try over ever the last new song 1 I wonder what it wag miss 7 soliloquized the former and what made the burnor so queer and himself at the eight of it ito however llo vever its no good troubling tro myself about it mr silas darritt remained shut up in his bla study all the remainder of the evening and only encountered his nor gon and daughter at breakfast th tho 0 next morning being thursday when ulten b he appeared to have regained his or alnar manner notwithstanding to two pairs of inquisitive i ung oung eyes there still seemed to be ft a certain at ab neat ent expression the he ot of a man not that they described it t to ta themselves in any each words inho ho bas been reviewing the past and whose thoughts still linger behind bi hani ni among the years that have gone by there was also a slight suspicion of about him and several ameral times be seemed on the point of saying something which he put off bioni one moment to another at last ho he made up his mind to speak penk my dear he said adil addie asloR tessing hla his wife 11 1 I am thinking that la Is I 1 haie made anade up my iny mind at any rate I 1 ani am ell ning amay for a day ot 01 so BO at least tr t r here ho be found that he had bad by po no means meana miscalculated the effect of I 1 too announcement for tits his voice at I 1 uala juncture puncture unc ture ma was 4 fl owned drowned by a fani fan lly alty i where tot what for now how long I 1 inlall you stay efow ow strange remark its ha it delro lemed deemed to paulhe axis e ili a 0 adrae little aenoi nce jmwa eigil A balk 1 i V slightly B g his ro AM I 1 tit angel 11 ami I 1 hame for or a asty 14 bif bull dullness ness iesU I 1 the last words came after a barely perceptible pause oil oh then it in 18 after all bi biake oke in his bis da daughter tighter may U with ith an air of hardly repressed triumph I 1 knew it was as I 1 said eald so HO directly I 1 saw the letter latter dian didn t I 1 ted taip ifor her father turned round upon her t lather ather sharply what letter the tile the letter that came lant night she he disconcerted by tile the unusual tone then reassert ing I 1 herself I 1 vaa in the hall you know when it came and I 1 thought it looked like busin business pAs her fathers frown fron relaxed as he be putted patted hr on the shoulder inquisitive little sirl girt he said what doc dok a it mutter matter to you what hat tit mi 3 letters are about out but it was waa maent I 1 it ta she bh pers istel in hr position ut of spoilt child well yes yeb that ali at la is partly so he an answered sered at least it was from an all old lie seemed edi to remember something and stopped short at any rate gutc lie he continued I 1 have to go to dover r re echoed tile the family Ys he raw rumpling tits his hair and apparently taking some caro care in the choice of hla his voids I 1 find I 1 shall aye ave to w 0 o thre there it la in rather incon lenient just now but it tan ant t ha be help ed though IL 11 will not lie ile more than a couple of lays laya at the outside 11 by y tho the by turning towards hit his helpmate it la not that I 1 may hi bi in ing g a friend back with me ine no it a no 0 one ne you know responding to the question he saw trembling on more than one pair of lips at any rate you had better have a room pier ared in case of that event halt an hour later mr darritt took a hasty but affectionate farewell of hla his family who as aa tho watched his de cle and waved their hands to him sald to themselves thema elvea that he be would soon be back agala again among ehni atu m in spite of this belief however they craned ja I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 jill k 41 V ilk d he re recreated crossed tile the hall their acks to it see the last of him binl A little later when hla his sister later be had again hail bad recourse reco urae to her piano was practicing hig zealeth like a trojan if the expression in ia allowable the young win tran put his head 1181 le the ibe lawr of the loom la which she was and the folio following ing brief con ersa tion ensued I 1 say bay may do ou oil know it has ban just occurred to me that the gas nor never mentioned the name of tile he friend he was colex to bring back with him the scale of Q major came to an abrupt to be sure eure he be dida t iio low funny but then aou see aee we forgot to ask jilin him I 1 know we did dia but ou would have thought that he mould have told us n without that however of course it doean t matter and I 1 suppose me 8 shall hall find it out some bunie day 1 atac I a tal I 1 in ill 0 off if CHAPTER 11 after alt all these thee years year mr air burritt arrived at hla his destination between six and seven alighting iw he kava gave a hasty and comprehensive glance lound an though ho be thought it halt half possible poa elble that lie be might bo be ulet met by someone then lie he left tho the station and proceeded in the direction of the biord warden arriving at that famous hostelry hoste lri he made a estain of the he matter who came forward to meet him to which the th reply was that the gentle man interred to had crossed by the boat that morning and had engaged a room leaving leasing word that ho be expected a friend from town who aho ia as to b W shown up immediately on giving hta his name my ally name Is autritt N as aa the reply then please to walk malk this way air 11 the man inan ashor cl him up tip a flight ot of stairs slid and along A corridor then in di cating a pat titular door said this thin Is the room the gent gentleman loman tins has taken 1 I will announce anno uiKo said mr air Bui budritt ritt and the man withdrew withdraw then after a pause of a few see sec onda he tapp tapped t at the door A wee front within cilitti come coma fat in and answering the HIP summons lie ho turned tho the li handle and the occupant of the tb a tall lean elderly man mail who waa mas looking ott ort of the min flow dow turned round sharply and con fronted the i isidor A looka look a strange wondering intent goolo between i them tsien then the he stranger atran pr male step J f silas he teas erd cr d at last and the mea ma graap ea hands 1 I hen fol followed lomed a 11 brief and imbres I 1 to all silence 0 nee during durine which each eager ly scanned the features s of the other and which mr burritt waa the first to 10 to break james ha be raid and there were wera traces of considerable emotion in hla his voice you lire are much changed I 1 should hardly have known you changed exclaimed the mhd other somewhat bitterly and in twenty years I 1 Is IB it to td be wondered at then with an alteration of tone but I 1 should have hate know you anywhere silas twenty deais I 1 repe repeated atod hla his mend friend ali ah well so HO it how flow quickly the ears hae base flown it seems nothing bothin g like that to me I 1 it Is that all the same name said the mothr it Is twenty years to the very day this Is in abo auh ot of april 1884 it was the of april 1864 when you wald maid rood good bye to me on board the in n which I 1 was to sell nail to a new country it is a long time to remain an exile a voluntary exile said mr bur ritt ou mallit have returned years aw ao had yon thoben chosen the other nian man shook tits his head gloomily I 1 have kept my vid vi 4 it d lie ho said lou remember my last 80 biet cell ch to oua I 1 said bald I 1 am going to lo begin a new life to make tny my fortune ili n twenty earn if I 1 have none cione so BO I 1 shall return by that time I 1 may hopp that ray my crime will have been foi gotten gotton it may be that in twenty ears some of 0 those who know my wretched stolly will ile be dead 1 I may even be dead myself but it if not I 1 shall to the country I 1 ani am now about to leave behind tor for surely in twenty bearg ears the disgrace which now tarnishes my name will mill be blotted out and forgotten until then farewell farewells and now he continued the term of my self 1111 banishment Is at an end I 1 have kept my word and I 1 have return returned fd mr air burritt laid his hand upon his friends friend s shoulder you judge yourself too harshly lie said raid the word crime Is to i severe vere a one to apply to that youthful indiscretion sin it if you will repented of as soon as committed repentance cried the other tin iro I 1 ati cutlY what la Is the rood good of repent anred ance will it lecover a lost loat caputa tion and wipe out a stain upon the past ahe fortune I 1 went to seek la Is mine but I 1 would ake it fill all tor for an unblemished record so no that I 1 might not be ashamed to to look 0 k any man in the face ali ah it Is a terrible thing to think that a child of mine should eye ever r blush for her father you are married then inquired mr air budritt gladly seizing the opportunity eunity thus reil of changing the dismal subject Is 3 lour our wife alto with mith ion 1 I am it a widower widow cr m was as the reply my aly wife dad ears ago hav ing me with one child a daughter tell me all about your daughter said eald wi mi budritt and how oil came cama to make up your sotir nahid to pait with her for so BO long I 1 biava lave it a daughter of my own as m well ell as the son who was born you lett ragland and though I 1 lave have been threatening to pack her off all to boarding school for the last tour four or five years I 1 never could reconcile myself to tit the idea of the separation and now ches too old nineteen last birthday and per father shook hla his head over lite hla own weakness and smil ed an indulgent parental smile I 1 that a the age of my agnes within a year said the other strange that we should have daughters daugh teis so nearly the be same ase age lie ile looked at his hig companion strange ily ay I 1 am sn in our hands silas he said iou oil can mill me in my childr child a eyes as well as in the ea e es of the world whenever you please to be continued tha rho real thing in Tooth toothache aches jumping moses lint hut it was tile the worst case of toothache I 1 ever bumped against he saia sal it was easi in the early yet pai t of the even ang but when midnight arrived it got busy for fair liniment hot and cold water and all the brebt of the standard remedies were applied without avail seven thousand devils with seven thousand red hot hammered hammered and hammered away at the throbbing nerve that tooth stood cupon upon its head rolled over the carpet and hung out of the window it prowled growled grumbled moaned and muttered laughed cried tan ran walked trotted galloped sailed flew dug and ex and did everything under the heavens but quit and go to sleep like a decent tooth and stop 1 but why didn dian t you have it extra clod just as aa soon eon as aa brown could get to the dentist a lle lie great scott man yn t it sour tooth no it was wa brown a |