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Show BBBBBBHBHeWHMHHHas'"n''''''''''''VMIMBBBBBflB JNTERNATIOMAL Ptfi ASSOCIATION. CHAPTER XVII.-(CoMTiNuna) . "Well, ma'nm, ulnce you know1 io tnucli, you probably know also that I have sold my pension. How am I lo live If 1 do not turn my hand to work?" Mrs. Westmacott produced a large registered envelope from beneath the sheets and tossed it over to the old rcamnn. , "That excuso won't do. There are 3'our pension papers. Just see If they nro right." He broke the seal, and out tumbled the very papers which he had made ovor to McAdam two days before. "Uut what nm I to do with tliene now?" he cried In bewilderment. "You will put them In a safe place or get a friend to do so, nnd, If you do your duty, you will go to your wlfo nnd Jteg her pardon for having even for an Instant thought of leaving her." The Admiral passed his hand over his rugged forehead. "This Is very good f jj'ou, ma'am," said he, "very good nnl Iklnd, and I know that you ure a stnunc i Ifrlond, but for a'l that those papei mean monej'and though we may hus been In broken water lately, we are not .quite in 3uclVtralts as to have to slgndl to our frl'flifs. When we do. ma'am, there's no jno wo would look to sooner .than to ." 1 "Don't be ridiculous!" snld the widow. "You know nothing whatever about It, and yet you stand there laying down the law. I'll have my way In this mat-'tcr, mat-'tcr, and you Bhnll take the papers, for It its no favor that I am doing you, but nlmply a restoration of stolen property." "How that, ma'nm?" I "I am Just going to explain, though you might take n lady's word for It 'Without asking any questions. Now, what I am going to say Is Just between ,you four, and must go no farther. I 'have my own reasons for wishing It It was who struck mo last night, Al- jmlral?" I "Some villain, ma'am. I don't know his name." , "But I do. It was tho same man who ruined or tried to ruin your son. It waa my only brother, Jeremiah." "Ahl" 1 "I will tell you about him or n. little about him, for he has done much which Iwould not.cnro.to.tallc of. nortyou toi 1 ,lltcntoWVIawtiaV,alWRya ' oYvlUaln,''j smooth-spoken and plausible, but ft dangerous, dan-gerous, subtlo villain all the same. It I Siave some hard thoughts about mankind man-kind I can trace them back to the childhood child-hood which I apent with my brother. He Is my only living relative, for my other brother.Charlcs' father, was killed In tho Indian mutiny, "Our father was rich, and when he died he made a good provision both for Jeremiah and for me. He knew Jeremiah Jere-miah nnd he mistrusted him, however; so Instead of giving him all that he meant him tb have ho handed me over a part of It. telling me, with what was almost his dying breath, to hold It In trust for my brother, and to use It In his behnlf when ho should have squandered squan-dered or lost all that he had. This arrangement ar-rangement was meant to be a secret botween my father and myself, but unfortunately un-fortunately his words were overheard by the nurs.e, and sho repeated them afterwards to my brother, so that he came to know that I held some money In trust for him. I suppose tobacco will not harm my head. Doctor? Thank you, then I shall troublo you for the matches, Ida." She lit a cigarette, and leaned back upon the pillow, with tho -blue wreaths curling from her lips. "I cannot toll you how often he has Attempted to get that money from me. He has bullied, cajoled, threatened, coaxed, done all that a man could do. I still held It with the presentiment that A need of It would come. When I heard of this villainous business, his flight, and his leaving his partner to face the storm, above all that my old friend had jbeen driven to surrender his Income In order to make up for my brother's defalcations, de-falcations, I felt that now Indeed I had la need for it. I sent in Charles yester-'day yester-'day to Mr. McAdam, and his client, jipon hearing tho facts of the case, very graciously consented to give back the papers, and to take the money which ho jind advanced. Not a word of thanks to me, Admiral. I tell you that It was very 'cheap benevolence, for It was all done with his own money, and how could I use It better? "I thought that I should probably hear from him soon, and I did. Last rventng there wns handed In a noto of tho usual whining, cringing tone. Ho lad come back from abroad at the risk if his life and liberty, Just in order that je might say good-byu to the only sls-er sls-er that he ever had, and to entreat my torglveness for any pain whloh ho had 'aimed me. He would never trouble mo tgaln. and he begged only that I would hand over to him the sum which I held In trust for him. That, with what he l ad already, would be enough to start lilrrt as an honest man In the new world, when ho would ever remember nnd pray for the dear sister who had been his savior. That was the style of the i-tter, and It ended by Imploring me to leave the wtndow-latoh open, and to be In the front room at three In the morning, morn-ing, when he would come to receive my last kiss and to bid me farewell. 'TJud as he was, I could not. when he trusted me, betray htm. I said nothing, 'ut I was there at the hour. He en-teid en-teid through the window, and Implored me to give him the money. He was terribly ter-ribly changed; gaunt, wolflBh and spoke jlke a mn.lman I told him that I had fpent the money He gnashed his teeth it me, anil swore It was his money. I old him that I had int It on him. Ut sfc.'d me how t c ild tn trylnfc- to mako im an hunc-st man, and In repairing the results of M lll.ilny i shrieked out Liua.. and pulling something out of Hie breast of his coat a londed stick, If think he struck me with It, and I re-T-fmibered nothing more." "Tho blackguard!" cried tho Doctor, "but the police must be hot upon his-track." his-track." "I fancy not," Mrs. Westmncott answered an-swered calmly, "As my brother is a particularly tall, thin man, and as the police are looking for a short, fat one, I do not think that It Is very probable that they will catch him. It 1b best, I .think, that these little family matters Nhould be adjusted In f-dvnte." ; "My dear ma'am." said the Admiral, 'If It Is Indeed thltf man's money that I ias brought back my pension, then I 1 -an havo no Bcruples about taking lu i'ou have brought sunshine upon us, nin'nm, when the clouds were nt their i 'arkest, for here Is my boy who insists 'Mon returning the money wllh I got. He can keep It now to pay his debts, "or what you have done I enn only ask Hod to bless you, ma'am, and as to thanking you I can't even " "Then pray don't try," said the wld-'v. wld-'v. "Now run nway, Admiral, and nalto your peace with Mrs. Denver. I im puro If I were sho It would be a long time before I should forgive you. As for me, 1 nm going to America when Charles goes. You'll take me so far. won't you, Ida? There Is a college I lnu built In Denver which Is to equip 'V woman of the future for the struggle strug-gle of life, and especially for her battle ' against man. Some months ago the committee offered me a responsible po-"Itlon po-"Itlon upon the staff, and I have decided de-cided to accept It, for Chnrlea' marrlaga lemovos tho last tie whloh binds me to Englnnd. You will write to me sometimes, some-times, my friends, and you will address your letters to Professor Weslmaoott, Emancipation College. Denver. From there I shall watch how tho glorious struggle goes on In conservative old England, and If I am needed you Will nnd me here again fighting- In the fore-rront fore-rront of the fray. Good-bye but not you, girls; I have still a word I wish to say to you. ' "Give me your hand. Ida, and yours. Clara, Bald sho when they wero alone. Oh, you naughty little pusses, aren'l you ashamed to look mo in tho facel Did you think did jou really think that I Wns SO Verv blind. nn,l onul.1 nnt a your llttlo plot? You did It very well, I must Boy that, and roally I think that I like you better as you are. Hut you had all your pains tor nothing, you little conspirators, for I give you my word that I had quite made up my mind no! to have him." And so within a few weeks our little ladles from their obsrvatory. saw a mighty bustle In tho Wilderness, when , ttwo-horsb ' SJUlaKS" ,camtr. .aria coachv "" I iffiSUilMjnvontoibiiarwriylthdtwo "' -. And they themselves in their crackling illk dresses went across, as Invited, to vhe big double wedding breakfast which was held In tho liouse of Doctor Walker. Then there was health-drinking, nnd Inughter, and changing of dresses, ant ' rlue-throwlng when the carriages drove up again, and two more couples started on that Journey which ends only with life Itself. Charles Westmacott Is now a nourish. Ing ranchman In the western part of Texas, where ho and his sweet little wlfo nro the two most popular persons In all that county. Of their aunt they see little, but from time to time thoy see notices In the papers that there Is a focus of light In Denver, where mightji thunderbolts aro being forged whlcl will one dny bring the dominant Be: upon their knees. The Admiral and hi' wife still live at number one, whlh Harold and Clara have taken numbci two, where Doctor Walker continues td reside. As to the business, It had been reconstructed, and the energy and abll-Ity abll-Ity of tho Junior partner had soon mad up for all the 111 that had been done by his senior. Yet with his sweet nnd re-fined re-fined home ntmosphere ho Is able to re- allzo his wish, and to keep himself free from the sordid nlms and base ambl-tlons ambl-tlons which drag down the mnn whose business lies too exclusively In the money markot of the vast Babylon. As he goes back every evening from the crowds of Throgmorton Street to the tree-lined peareful avenues of Norwood, so ho has found It possible In spirit also to do ono's duties amidst the babel of tho City, and yet to live beyond it. THE END. |